A Mystery No More

It took me two nights to finish the picot bind off, but look what's finally finished!

Pattern: Through the Loops Mystery Shawl 2013 by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Louet Gems Sport Weight (100% merino) in Linen Gray (color A), Pewter (color B), and Caribbean Blue (color C)
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) ChiaoGoo Red Lace circs
Started/Completed: June 1/June 24

This was a really fun knit. I have long admired Kirsten's designs but had never knit one before now. After taking a lace design class with her a couple of months ago, I knew I had to knit one of her patterns, and I jumped at the chance when I heard about the mystery knitalong.

I decided on solid colors so that the yarn wouldn't compete with any pattern, and I'm very pleased with my choices. These colors go well with my wardrobe (I wear a lot of blue, black, and gray), so I know that this shawl will actually get worn. I'd worked with the fingering weight version of this yarn recently and really enjoyed it, so I knew the sport weight would be a great choice. Now that I've had some more experience with it, I like it even more. I think it would be a good yarn to design with in the future.

As to the pattern, I really like it. It was a very easy knit pretty much until the last clue, when I had to pay attention to both the right side and the wrong side of the lace. And it blocks out so beautifully -- it's attractive right off the needles but it's even more so once it's gotten a good soak and pin. I'd consider knitting this pattern again; I think it'd look really interesting in two colors, especially if one of the colors is a solid and one has long color changes. I might try it with handspun.

Someone wanted to get in on the action

If I have one complaint, it's the number of ends to weave in. It really doesn't make sense to carry the striping colors along the side when you're working the lace sections, so that means four ends for every striped section plus two for the adjacent lace panels. I tried to be diligent about weaving in as I finished each section, but it still made for a lot of work.

Photo by Rainbow

Overall, it's a winner. It was fun to race to finish each clue as it was released, and it's great to have a finished shawl after just a little more than three weeks.