It shall be mine

A while back I knit an Aestlight shawl. I really liked the pattern, and happened to have some lovely Malabrigo sock in the stash. At the time, I didn't really know who I was making it for, I was just jazzed about knitting it.

Now, I've always said that I'm a process vs. a product knitter, but that went right out the door when I blocked this shawl. It was so beautiful (well, to me anyway) that I actually gasped when it was all pinned out. I remember calling Phil up to see it, saying "Isn't this thing just the most awesomest shawl ever?!?!?" (I believe he sort of smiled, mumbled something along the lines of "It looks great, honey" before slowly backing away from me.)

Sadly, by this point I knew it wasn't to be mine. My wonderful cousin Jessica's birthday had crept up on me, as it is wont to do every single September (you'd think I'd get a clue by now...), and she's a good person and we all really love her and she's a great knitted gift recipient and... well... much as I wanted this shawl, I did the grownup knitter thing, sucked it up, and gave it to her.

This left me in a state of considerable Aestlight yearning, of course. Yes, I had accepted that that particular version could not be mine, but I still wanted one, damnit. And a few months later, when the yarn I had selected for that month's Hat Trix pattern didn't pan out and I found myself with a skein of fingering weight yarn, all wound up and ready to go, I knew what I had to do.

Pattern: Aestlight Shawl, by Gurdun Johnston

Yarn: The Knittery 4Ply Sock (discontinued, sorry)

Colour: Kelim

Needles: 3.5 mm circulars

Size made: largest size

Modifications: none, I knit the pattern as written.

One of the great things about this pattern is that it works with variegated yarns. Both the garter and edging sections break up the colour sequences without too much pooling. The only thing that bothers me a wee bit about this shawl is the striping you see at the (sideways) lace edging.


I think this one's a keeper :)

Happy Knitting, Everyone!