Stormy Sky Shawl

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I’ve been on a bit of a shawl kick lately.  My desk is next to the window so I get chilly at times and shawls are a fun way to snazz up my look on zoom calls.  The previous shawls I’ve made have all been half-circle shawls that are on the small side, so I was excited to knit up this pattern for a large asymmetrical triangle shawl.  (I played a bit of yarn chicken with this one, knitting almost all the way to the end of the skein so I could get a nice big shawl!)

The yarn here is hand painted in a beautiful blue colorway.  I love the subtle variation in color that adds interest but doesn’t distract from the stitches.  I knitted this on my new Prism needles from Knit Picks that have a delightfully pointy tip that I thought was going to be awesome for the lace, but I found that the metal needles were too slippery for the loose-gauge of these stitches (sock yarn on size 9 needles).  The pointy tips were nice, but I wish I had used my wooden circular needle set instead because those needles have more grip.  (I recently wrote a post about choosing the right needle material for your project and I covered this issue in more depth there).

Blocking this baby was a bit exhausting because it was so big (over 70 inches on the hypotenuse!)  I used blocking wires to get niece straight edges and I took the time to thread them through every other selvedge stitch.  (Often I’ll get lazy and do it every 4-5 rows or so, but I decided to do it the “right way” this time).  Here is a close up of how I threaded it. (I also think this is a neat picture!)

Finally, the “fancy” photo I posted above doesn’t show the shape of the shawl because it’s really difficult to stage a nice photo of something so large.  But here is a picture of it on my blocking mats so you can see it in full.  I didn’t think that the collection of mats I had was going to be big enough for this, so I bought a second set, but I was able to arrange them creatively so that first set was enough.  I’ll still keep the second set though, I imagine they will eventually come in handy.  (Here is a link to the mats I bought. They also come in a “premium” set that has a grid printed on them, but I was feeling a cheap so I didn’t splurge on that feature… though I kind of wish I did).

yarn details

Knit Picks Muse in Savvy
Fingering Weight
75% Merino (superwash), 25% Nylon
Machine Wash, Lay Flat to Dry
$15.99 per 423 yards / 100 gram skein
Purchased in November 2020

project details

pattern: “Stormy Sky Shawl” by Ksenia Naidyon (free pattern here)
needles: US size 9 (5.5 mm) circular needles with the longest cable that came in my interchangeable Prism set
yarn used: 410 yards (97 grams)
finished size: 70.5” on hypotenuse; 42.5 inches on adjacent leg and 56” on opposite leg (side note: writing down these measurements may be the first time I have ever used geometry as an adult… thank you, Mr. Chadwick!)
duration: January 5 – March 21, 2021