*happy sigh*

It is done. Here you see the unnamed shawl having been extricated from the needles along with the hand drawn border charts. This is what I had last night at about 6:30. Unfortunately I had to be somewhere at 7, so I couldn't block it until about 10:00 pm.

But now, without further ado, may I present....


The Mountain Peaks Shawl. This shawl echoes my deep and abiding love for the mountains that surround my high desert home. From the many foothills to the craggy peaks all throughout the year. From rocky crags to sleeping snow-capped titans. I love my mountains!

Pattern: My own, soon to be offered to you, the knitting public!
Yarn: KnitPicks Shadow in the Sunset color
Needles: US Size 5 Addi Turbo 24" circulars
Gauge: About 5 spi once blocked.
Verdict: Absolutely love it. I was iffy about how it was turning out until I blocked it. I usually end up doing this with my shawls. I worry that they're going to turn out horrid and not up to snuff, but then I block them and the magic happens. It's different than my most recent shawls. They were more simplistic with clean lines, while this is much more traditional. I think it's echoing my state of mind. I've been reading a lot of books about the history of knitting lately, so I'm going more traditional. I really like the knitted on border. It allowed me to have more drastic peaks than a border that was worked as part of the whole shawl would allow. And it meant that although I spent a long time working on the border, I didn't have to bind off a million stitches with a finicky cast off. :)
Final verdict? I LOVE it and I'm very pleased. This shawl challenged my skill as a designer more than anything I've ever done before, and it taught me to trust my creative gut (so to speak). I hope you will all be pleased as well when it's available to you.

I also finished my pair of cotton/wool Regia socks, but I'll post about those another day. This shawl needs it's own moment. :)

M