Saturday 10 August 2013

Pick-a-boo shawl knit-a-long


 So here it is...finally off the needles, my Quite Continental shawl by Boo Knits

A first in a few respects for me...lace work and beading....who knew there was a 0.6mm crochet hook?

I bought my hand-dyed yarn on Etsy from Perran Yarns and I can't recommend Steph's yarn enough, it is beautiful, reasonably priced and is soooo luxurious.


The pattern, even for a beginner at something as fine as this, was easy to follow and any swear words that occurred were purely down to my rubbish-ness!  I was undecided as to whether I was going to use the beads, but I was glad I did, as I found them useful as a marker for where I was in the pattern.  In the beginning, I found I lost my place in the pattern repeat and couldn't 'read' the stitches quickly enough, but as I got into the swing of things, I soon got into a rhythm, and I even did some knitting and beading at the beach while watching three boys swimming and sandcastle building.....get me!

The shawl is perfect, blocking was my saving grace and it is a good size, although not so big as others (maybe I started out on too smaller needle?)  the mistakes which I'm sure I did, are not visible ....so I'll just keep quiet about them.

Thing is now....I am on a roll....I think I will be casting on another in the next day or so.  

In four days (whhoooppppeeeee!) we are off on our first 'abroad' holiday to Austria and I'm thinking another Boo Knits shawl would be a nice small project to take for the evenings.  Anyone who has any ideas how to stop three boys slapping each other in a 16 hour car-journey, don't hold back, I'm all ears!

Anyway....if you would like to catch up with any fellow Knit-a-long-ers  hop on over to Sarah's blog Crafts from the Cwtch with this week's link-up being hosted by the pattern designer herself....Mrs. Boo Knits.