Wedding Shawl Ingredients Are Here!

Wedding Shawl Ingredients
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Remember my quest last year to find the thing to wear for my wedding? I had a kind knitter, Gena volunteer to send me her copy of the "A Girl's Best Friend" shawl pattern from Jade Sapphire, because I loved her version so much. Then, in January, Jody and I found some wonderful fiber to use, mostly a natural color but with a bit of golden tan. Jody had the fibers mixed by someone she knows, then we wandered Austin until we found the beads we wanted to use, which are simple clear ones with gold lining. Next, she up and moved to the Netherlands, and who could blame her for that? After all, her man got a job there, and there was no wonderful job keeping her here.

Thankfully, she hasn't been too busy discovering Europe, and was able to not only spin up the yarn but eventually find the post office so she could mail the finished product to me. Woo! It's here!

As soon as it showed up I made a swatch. It's a weird swatch, since it is 2.5 repeats of the top border, but it did give me a chance to get gauge and see if the beads would work or not (yay to me for having a collection of tiny steel crochet hooks on hand). And they dowork--just sparkly enough to not detract from the pattern! (They are more visible in a close-up view). I am glad I will be able to get the shawl done before the wedding. Actually, since we do not have an official date and I can't find any dress that looks like what I want, the shawl is the best planned wedding element so far. Besides, a job comes before a wedding, so first things first!

But, wait, I am still working on the Interweave Knits Drawstring Cardigan. See, there it is, at least the bottom of it. I may have gone a little slim on the gauge, but hey, at least it won't be gigantic. The colors look great together. I am glad a Ravelry reader encouraged me to just use 4 colors. They are fine. At the rate I am sitting around the house while waiting for the phone to ring, I'll have the cardigan done pretty soon. Note that I am also making sock progress, but that is pretty slow, since I am only doing it while riding in the truck with Lee.


I promised a photo of the Sideways Cardigan on me, so here it is, below. Thanks for asking, Colin! It is actually more flattering in person than in the photo, which makes it look somewhat clunky---it's really flowy and soft. I love how soft it is. I am taking good care of its whiteness and was smart enough to remove it before cooking lasagna last night.