The Fisherman's Wife

I'm so happy to have finally finished the Fisherman's Wife. It's a beautiful pattern. (I used KP Shadow Vineyard and size 4 needles.) And I think the yarn is happy as well (and I hope the yarn doesn't mind being anthropomorphized ;) ). I first used the yarn on another shawl pattern. It just didn't look right. So, I frogged it. Then I thought it might look good with this pattern. It did and does. But, I had to buy a couple more skeins -- because this Faroese shawl is large. Well, I ended up having to frog a couple rows at the end because I didn't have enough yarn to bind off. It was interesting putting over 800 sts back on the needles but surprisingly doable. What I finally did was to put the pearls in early by lopping off the bottoms of the waves.

I've also found that I like the k2tog (without yarn in back) bind off when ending a shawl with garter stitch. I like what I call the yo bind off when ending a shawl with lace. That's what this shawl has as its bind off since the last 3 rows were k across (WS), k3, *yo, ssk* across, k2 (RS), k across (WS). I had to get the pearls in somehow, and this seemed the best way to get them in without major frogging.

I accidentally felted a wool sweater (in Paton's worsted weight wool). It looks nice and still fits (since it was short sleeve to begin with). But, the lower edge of the sweater is a little higher than I'd like.

I haven't cast on for Casablanca yet since I'm waiting to watch the movie again before casting on. In the meantime, I going to make a short sleeve sweater in CotLin Moroccan Red. I actually knit and finished the sweater last year and have worn it a couple of times. But, it's a little wider than I like. So, I frogged the entire thing and am going to start over. For some reason, I get a strange gauge with CotLin (4 sts and 7 rows per inch with size 5 needles) -- a ratio of sts to rows a lot different from most yarns I knit with.

I've also decided to make my k2tog's differently -- at least for the time being. With yarns that ssk's look better with just the first st repositioned, I'm going to reposition the first st on the left-hand needle before making a k2tog. That way k2tog and ssk match -- with the top st straight and the bottom twisted. (When knitting with cotton, I make ssk's the "proper" way. When knitting with a wool blend or acrylic, I reposition just the first st.)