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Can you believe it?! Just under eight weeks of work and it’s finally complete, and so beautiful.
This time last week, I really felt I would never be done with this pattern. Even though I was two-thirds of the way there, I felt like the final stretch of stockinette was just refusing to grow, no matter how much I knitted. But I blogged through it, and the comments I got were so encouraging and positive and all round delightful that I couldn’t help but be spurred on.
The magic of blocking is once again astounding. It’s like bread rising – no matter how many times I do it, it still feels like a wonderful kind of sorcery. The shawl went from 51″ x 12″, to a grand 56″ x 16″. And despite not getting gauge at all – not even trying – that width is only one inch short of the pattern measurement. So, even though I had to knit about double the number of rows to get the right length, by some miracle the width is just… fine?
More importantly than all of that, it went from skrunkled up and gnarled to smooth and floaty.
This was my first time using blocking wires – this video informed me that in fact I could use TIG welding filler rod, which is the same product but half the price. So I bought some of that, and I had to sand the ends down before using it because it was well snaggy. Once that was done though, easy as anything to slip into the border and pin out. Such straight lines! I couldn’t stop admiring it.
Since I had to knit those extra rows, I used more yardage than the pattern indicated – 968 yards vs the suggested 875. A significant difference, but given that I started with over 3900 yards on the cone I’m not in the least concerned. Plenty to be used in another project (do I have the fortitude for a long top like SC.1 on Ravelry in such a fine yarn? Maybe one day).
The piece de resistance is defo the centre square – would you know it had been made in five parts? I don’t think so.
One last reminder: the pattern is Morvarch (Ravelry link) by Lucy Hague (designer’s link). The yarn I used is Yeoman Yarns Tibet 3-ply Tweed in Lagoon, purchased from Fankle Yarns.
I really am delighted with the final result, and grateful to everyone who’s taken time to like or comment along the way. We did it!
The Crafty Yarnster 