Yes, Yyesss, Yyyeesssssss!




Look! Ella is finished. In case you hadn't guessed - ILOVEHERILOVEHERILURVEHER....Why? Well, I think my feelings are magnified due to the fact that I didn't expect to. When I bought the yarn, the colourway choices were limited to three, so I chose the one I disliked least (not good). And when the yarn arrived, I still wasn't sure about the colour combination - orange, purple, pink and grey (although when I say it now, it sounds okay). I started knitting and the yarn was splitty and a bit loosely woven (don't know the technical term for it, but the strands that made up the yarn were hardly twisted together) and these things were bugging me. The other thing was that shawls are meant for grannies (that's not really fair to grannies. My mother-in-law is 74 and she is one of the most beautiful and cool people I know). But you know what I mean. Anyway, how wrong I was! I can't tell you exactly how pleased I am with this shawl, but these are the reasons that I am:

It doesn't need the slightest bit of encouragement to "stay on". You just drape it over your shoulders and it stays there.

From the front it looks like a lacey, floaty cardigan and the bits that hang over the arms fan out slightly and look gorgeous. I haven't really managed to catch that in the photos.

It looks great with little summer tops (fab, actually) or any old jumper.

I do love the colours and it doesn't curl at the edges after all (well, not really).

I loved knitting it and am now almost bereft without it on my needles. Going to start another as soon as Get Knitted has the stock, maybe in the next ten days.

So, here are the details:

Knitted from this pattern, with the 6mm circs (not the 5mm lots of people used). Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Irving Park colourway x 3.5 skeins. This stuff is lovely to wind into balls, without tangling, not once. I didn't have a clear space large enough to block it properly with pins, so I put it on the floor on a big towel, sprayed it with water and, stretching it by kneeling on one part and pulling at another with my free hand, I ironed it on the hottest setting - risky, but it worked great. I wouldn't do this to a proper garment, though. Louisa Harding says you should always steam before sewing together the component parts of a garment, but that's just scary. However, the difference before blocking Ella, and after is amazing. The fabric drapes beautifully now and the lace has really opened up.

Suppose I'd better get going on my daria belt and Nick's sock....harrumph. Oh, but tomorrow I should have some beautiful Debbie Bliss Maya in pale blues coming my way, to knit the Woolly Wormhead Beret like Frankie's. Hope it comes out as good as hers did....