Quill

My 8th finished shawl for the 12 shawls in 2012 challenge, looks like I have a good chance of actually making it to twelve shawls by the end of the year! The recently released Quill pattern from Jared Flood is quite similar in construction to his Bridgewater shawl, the main difference being that the center square is knit from side to side (instead of corner to corner), and that even the lace parts are in garter stitch, which makes this pattern reversible.

I enjoyed knitting this more than I did Bridgewater, but, not surprisingly, again I did not enjoy the knitted-on edging. I'm not sure what the hang-up is that I have with knitted-on edgings exactly, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I see it as a part of the finishing process instead of the "actual" knitting, and because it takes way longer than normal bind-off, it seems like it goes on forever. I kept counting how many repeats of the edging chart I had left ( the chart is repeated over a hundred times in this smaller version of the shawl I knitted).

What I'm particularly happy about is my yarn choice. I think the new colorway called Mäuseschwänzchen of Wollmeise Lacegarn is the perfect match for this pattern. I think the slight variegation works really well with garter stitch, although in the photos the colors kind of blend together. Interestingly, they have this color in the Braun-Schwarz-Grau category, while I would put it in the Lila group. Sure, it has gray in it (more than is obvious in these pictures), but it's so dominantly pinkish purple, that I would not call it a gray colorway. I think this color is perfect for mom, for whom this shawl is going to ge gifted (just don't tell her!).

The Ravelry project page