FO: Pettine Shawl

I am on a bit of shawl kick this year. This is shawl #6, (though one has to remain secret still, so #5 that I can blog about). I am attempting 11 in 2011 so I am definitely on track! When I first saw the pattern I thought the top edge was something horribly complicated but was actually just a double yo. I love when something simple to work looks so great.

You can see my garter ridges are running up and down, not across - the shawl is knit sideways!! Start with a few stitches, increase till you have used up half your yarn, decrease, then finish on a few stitches. I loved the process - I'm not particularly a fan of those hundredsofstitchestobindoff rows at the end of knit centre-down shawls so this suited me perfectly. The lace was easy to memorise too which is always a bonus and while I wasn't so sure about it when I was knitting it, it blocked beautifully. I'm so happy with how it turned out in the end.

The yarn is FibreAlive - Merino Mania from Joy of Yarn. I have used this before - the same colourway Blue Lagoon on my aunt's Multnomah shawl and the berrylicious colourway for the Eiki shawl. I think the yarn looks so stunning in garter stitch I keep being drawn to using it whenever a shawl has a garter body. Love love love!!

My shawl has a new home in the USA now - with a lovely friend who was my secret swap partner in a shawl swap. I sent a little kete of New Zealand with it - some kiwi chocolate, paua stitch markers and other little bits and pieces that were made locally or were something "new zealand-ish". She liked it so I am happy indeed (but now thinking about knitting myself a Pettine!).