Ok guys I promised you the full tale of my Color Affection shawl so here it is:
Ever since Ashley knit her Color Affection shawl she's had to listen to me moan about how much I wanted to knit one so when she proposed our RSBSYWinterKAL I LEAPT onboard, my excitement fuelled by the two huge boxes of Red Sock Blue Sock Yarn occupying my living room to choose my colours from. I don't know about you guys but decision making really isn't my forte. After an hour of indecision it was Ash that came up with this gorgeous colour combo.
This pattern only calls for three skeins of yarn and 1155 yards and there I was with six different colours of Comfort Sock, 1680 yards of glory and nothing but options. I was determined to use everyone of these colours but not really sure how. In the end I think I restarted this project four or five times before I could actually commit to a colour scheme... And that was before the short rows. I decide to bump my needle size to a 7 because I knew I had a lot of yardage to play with and because there really is nothing I love more than really massive shawls.
Before you start this project do yourself a favour, read the comment section on Ravelry. There is one teensy tiny little issue about the tightness of the border that quite a few Ravelers have noted. One of the proposed fixes for this is a yarn over between the first and second stitch on both ends that gets dropped (NOT KNITTED) on the flip side. I tried both with and without this yarn over and opted for it. I liked that it gave it a bit more stretch. This worked for me to a degree. Unfortunately as soon as I hit the short rows, because I was carrying SO MANY COLOURS along the side there was almost nothing I could do about the tightness. No matter how I tried that section of the shawl is ever so slightly tighter than the rest of it. Considering this was my first sort of attempt at multiple stripes I forgave myself.
The short row section of the shawl really was my biggest challenge. I originally didn't intend a four colour stripe pattern but I felt the two darker shades of orange and the grey was too sharp a contrast against the gentle gradient of the rest of the shawl. I felt like throwing the white stripe in there to soften things up a bit and tie that section to the rest of the shawl. My main problem was I couldn't find any resource anywhere on how to swing a four colour stripe. One month into our KAL progress stalled on my shawl. For three weeks. I carried it wherever I went. Pulled it out randomly. Mulled it over. Put it back. It wasn't until I went down to Ottawa on a visit to my fave Sister in Law (my only Sister in Law) that I could make any head way. Basically I did it like this:
Step 1) carrying the new colour behind the three other strands, knit the first stitch
Step 2) wrap this strand around all three of the other colours
Step 3) knit the second stitch
Here's what it will look like all lovely and blocked out:
Do you see how they're all neatly anchored to the side there in even stitches? It's perfect. If you're doing this make sure you don't pull those strands too tight. Give it a little room if you like to block really tight, as I do. Unfortunately for you guys, I didn't take pictures of the process so I'm hoping my three steps there are clear enough for you.
The end result is 2.21 metres of squishy heaven! Here she is all blocked out! Let me know what you think!
