Merope

What a difference a good blocking makes. Remember my Merope? The last time you saw it, it didn't look like much. Now? Things have changed.

Pattern: Merope [Ravelry link] by Rosemary (Romi) Hill, from 7 Small Shawls to Knit
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr (50% Chinese Tussah silk, 50% merino), colorway Pewter, approximately 450 yards (less than one 2 oz./630 yd. skein)
Needles: 32" US 4 (3.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Dimensions: 54" by 29"
Started/Completed: July 1/August 13
Mods: added one repeat of Chart B and bound off using applied i-cord

While knitting my Brandywine shawl as part of a Knitmore-along, I heard about Romi Hill's new e-book, for which the first pattern had just been released. When I saw the pattern page for Merope on Ravelry, I was absolutely smitten by the top picture on the page and knew that I had to knit one in a light silvery gray. When I found this Zephyr at Natural Stitches, I knew it would be perfect (it's actually a lot lighter than it appears in these photos).

Like Brandywine, this pattern starts at the bottom tip and is worked upward and out, with the border being knit at the same time. The zig-zag-like border of this shawl is really brilliantly designed, in my opinon. It changes direction, so to speak, by alternating k2tog and ssks framed by yarn overs, taking advantage of the fact that these decreases slant one way or the other to get the border to slant that way as well.

The pattern also includes two options for the shawl; both have the same border, but for one the body is in stockinette and for the other it's in garter. I decided on stockinette because I thought it was better suited to the delicate yarn I'd chosen (the pattern calls for a fingering weight and I used a laceweight). The stockinette version is the smaller of the two, but I decided to do an extra repeat of the body chart to get a slightly larger shawl.

The only real departure I made from the pattern was to do an alternate bind off. The garter version calls for a reverse i-cord bind off, but the stockinette version has a knit-on border. I started it but didn't care for how the edge looked, so I tinked back and did a regular i-cord bind off. I really love the clean, finished look this bind off gives the shawl.

The verdict? It's a winner! Romi knows what she's doing, and I'm excited to see the rest of the shawls in this great little collection.