"Yeah, I'm gonna knit that Hometown Shawl for sure / I'm gonna knit 'til I can't no more." ~ me, not singing nearly as good as Little Nas X.
Got that song stuck in your head now? It's like Let it Go for adults. Ooops, now you have Let it Go in your head as well. But I digress. I want to tell you about knitting the Hometown Shawl.
Let's start with the specs.
Pattern: Hometown Shawl by Suvi Simola.
Yarn: Nympheas colourway on a Crysalis base from Essence of Autumn.
Weight: Fingering.
Yards Used: ~ 870.
Cost of yarn: CAD$84.50
Sometimes I buy the pattern first and then wait for the right yarn to come along, sometimes I buy the yarn and search for the perfect pattern. In this case I saw a post on Instagram about two skeins of Nympheas being available *right now* and I loved the colour so much that I forgot my own personal policy of never ordering yarn in USD. It helped that shipping was free to Canada, because that would have definitely been a dealbreaker. It was a sign, because shipping to Canada is almost never free, right?
While I waited for the yarn to arrive I searched for patterns to match the yardage. And out of a gazillion options the Hometown Shawl jumped out as the perfect match. There is no science behind it, I just knew this was going to work well together.
When the yarn arrived, it was even more beautiful than on Instagram.
I've only recently started knitting with yarn that does not already come in a ball, and I don't have a yarn winder yet. The first time I wound yarn into a ball I asked my son to hold the hank and that was a disaster. It took way too long for him and was way too boring and I almost lost my mind. For the last few times I used two chairs and draped the hank over the backrests. It's pretty tedious and I really need to buy the right tools. If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment. Thank you!
This project was the first time I've knitted with a silk base. It was a lot softer than I thought it would be, and very squishy. Not slippery and with good grip on the needles and for knitting, but still easy to work with. One thing that surprised me was how easy it tore. While I was winding it into a ball I tugged a bit too much trying to straighten out a knot and that's why there were three balls {picture above} instead of two. The end product still feels as strong as anything else I've knit.
The pattern was easy to follow and did not get boring with all the different sections. How to make the bobbles was explained in detail {with images} and while the silk yarn is probably not the best fibre for bobbles, they still turned out pretty good.
I love how the colours unfolded and the green and yellow speckles throughout are delightful! It's amazing how hard it is to take pictures that show the true colours of the yarn. All of the images above were taken in the same {natural} light, and the background makes a huge difference. The colours probably show up most accurately in the last image below.
I ended up changing the pattern a bit and finished off with the same ribbing that started the shawl, and I'm very happy with the result. I soaked it in cold water and just laid it out on my blocking mats. I usually have to block and pin down the shawls I knit, but the silk was so easy to work with that I didn't even have to pin it down. It dried within 24 hours and turned out beautifully!
What are you working on right now? Leave me a link in the comments, I'd love to check it out!
P.S. This post is not sponsored or endorsed by the pattern designer or indie dyer.