Knitting Standing Up: FO Friday

First off - this is a brilliant pattern, if you're pondering whether to make it, do it! It's simple without being mindless. Interesting without being taxing. I think I will be making this again!

I used Zettl Treviso/Cortina yarn which is a sock yarn from Lidl. It isn't soft but it is pleasant and warm, not at all itchy. They're very good value and feel hard-wearing so I'm happy that this shawl will last well and not pill. I plan to handwash it due to some felting issues with the Cortina yarn. The solid colours really suit the graphic nature of the stripes.

I finished my stripe study about a week ago. I only did 11 stripes instead of the 12 in the pattern because I was fed up of the short rows! The border took aaaages because the stitch count got up to around 300, but I enjoyed the way it ate up the yarn.

If I was to make it again, I think I would persevere and make 12 stripes as the shawl is just a touch small due to the asymmetry of it. Theoretically, if I had knit all the stripes it would have added about 100 yards of yarn to my FO. It is currently around 785 yards, the pattern calls for 880 yards.

I like the colours I used, it's very unusual for me to use orange as it used to really hate it! But I think it is a positive colour and hope to use more oranges and yellows in the future.

I had a little problem with the blocking as you can see! But the stash guardians did guard it for me and aid the blocking process with their body heat! My blocking mats are not quite large enough for me to stretch the shawl out, so you can see that it's a little curved. The central spine is not as straight as I would like. When the weather warms up, I will re-block it but I think it's adequate as it is :)