Well That Was a Surprise

When I'm knitting a shawl on a circular needle, I come to expect that point when the shawl is wider than the needle is long and I can't get an accurate idea of how big it is. That was certainly the case for my Malabrigo Stockpile shawl, though I really didn't expect it to be as big as it ended up being (probably helped in no small part by the fact that the yarn is superwash -- and we all know how superwash wool loves to grow).

I officially finished the knitting on Monday night, binding off just before my bedtime, but I didn't weave in all my ends and block it until last night. Unfortunately, this photo doesn't do it justice (it's been dark and rainy here all day, so it's not just the fact that it's now evening to blame for the lack of good natural lighting). It ended up being a section less than I'd envisioned because my yarn would have run out -- as it is, I had only 20 grams left of my two skeins -- but it's so big as it is that I can't imagine I would have needed those additional 20-odd rows.

So now you can see how the idea worked itself out in yarn. My thought was alternating sections of stockinette and garter, and as the shawl grew, the stockinette sections would gradually get smaller while the garter sections got bigger. Originally I'd planned for 10 sections, but my yarn only held out for nine (my favorite/lucky number, so I'm okay with that!). Although the construction and stitches themselves are fairly simple, sometimes I really love simple when I want to showcase a beautiful hand-dyed yarn. I already have an idea for a companion shawl, so clearly I'm not done with stockinette and garter shawls just yet!