WIP Wednesday - Jamie Crescent Shawlette

I enjoy making shawls but as you know from my post about my first shawl, I have always steered away from shawls that start at the top. There is something about casting on over 200 stitches that usually makes me turn away from a pattern. So when my husband brought me back a few skeins of wool from an Ottawa business trip (yes, he's well trained and he's mine, ladies!), I knew I had to "get over" my aversion because some of the yarns were perfect for a shawl.

One of the skeins he brought me was Baby Boo Lace from Turtlepurl Yarns, which is a 2-ply 80% Merino and 20% Bamboo. It is a lovely gradient of aqua blues to green and suits the name "Wanna Go for a Swim?"--don't you love some of the colour names? This Baby Boo Lace has 875 yards, so I can actually make a couple of small shawls or triangle scarves. And being Merino and bamboo, it's so soft and just eases through your fingers onto the needles.

So I found a pattern that was not an overly large shawl: the Jamie Crescent Shawlette designed by Julie Farmer courtesy of Red Heart, which I found the pattern in Creative Knitting of Spring 2013. It is the Easy Everyday Openwork & Lace pattern.

A couple of starts, a 243-stitch cast-on, and 10-stitch markers later, the cast on row is done and the shawl is under way!

Funny thing is, this pattern does start at the bottom, as most of my favourite shawl patterns do, but because this one is crescent-shaped (rather than a triangle) the wide bottom means I have to cast on a large number of stitches.

Unfortunately, so many projects on the go means something's gotta give. So, birthday knitting, consignment knitting and finishing other smaller projects have taken my time. But I will get to this eventually. I have to because it is sitting in my knitting room looking at me when I am working on other projects! It keeps saying, "What about me?" and making me feel guilty me when I pick up another project!