quelle erqsome...: fo: aurantium blossom shawl

September 22, 2009

fo: aurantium blossom shawl

Pattern: Aurantium Blossom Shawl, by Alice Yu

Yarn: Fiddlesticks Laceweight merino/tussah silk (630 yd/50 g)

Needles: 4 mm

Comments: I love this pattern. This is a gift for Matthew's mum, Maureen, who is a wonderful woman and a great mother-in-common-law, but I've kind of got my fingers crossed she's going to turn around and tell me I don't know her taste at all and would I like it back.

This was the first Mystery Shawl KAL I've ever done, and the first one I've ever done through Twitter, and it was VERY well done. The charts are clear, the pattern easy to follow and the flow between sections at once logical and progressing, beautiful and exciting to watch develop. The way the small budding flowers transform into long tail feathers is breathtaking.

The only fault I can find in the entire experience is utterly my own: my daredevil knitting tactics and love of racing against the last few feet of yarn backfired. Fifty stitches from the end of binding off I ran out of yarn. This is in no way a reflection on the stinginess of Fiddlesticks, far from it. In fact, this is the second shawl I got out of a single skein (the first being my beloved Swallowtail). I can honestly and earnestly say that if you're looking for value for money, for more knit for your buck, Fiddlesticks is the way to go.

And if you're looking for under-estimating optimism, look no further. I was so sure I'd make it to the very end!

I unpicked an embroidery project, I rescued lengths from Christmas ornaments, which got me all of about fifteen stitches closer... Fortunately Ravelry is a wonderful place, full of wonderful people, one of whom very kindly sent me a sizeable length of Fiddlesticks in exactly the right colour and quite refused monetary compensation at all! Even when the posties' endless striking delayed its delivery by ten (ten!) days and she got so annoyed with Royal Mail that she sent out a second sizeable length in case it got to me first! All I can do now is stalk her stash and try to make sure I've got a ball of everything in case she's ever in the same position.

I was going to present the shawl to Maureen for her birthday in December, but I think I might pop it in the post this week and send it to her as a 'just because'. I've always rather liked non-occasion-driven gifting, and perhaps there's no better reason than because it's finished and the colour will turn the natural sparkle in her eyes a shimmering sapphire.

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