Whippoorwill Blues

Ohhhh…where do I start?  Honestly, this shawl was so long in the making I feel as though I’ve forgotten a bit about the process.  Forgive me if I leave something out, I’ll do my best to remember what I can.

This is my favorite shawl to date.  It’s puuuuurrrrdy.   I’ve been wanting to knit Whippoorwill for a good, long time.  But there just hadn’t been much time for shawls and such until I scaled back on some self-imposed knitting requirements.  I cast on for the shawl as a birthday present to myself.  I wanted to make something for me, that I knew I’d love.  I deliberated over colors for a very, very long time.  You should have seen how many times I went to my computer, visited shop after shop, filled and emptied my cart and so on. I had settled on using some Handmaiden Sea Silk, but right before I cast on, I made the decision I wanted something like a gradient.

I couldn’t find the right yarn that offered what I wanted.  Instead I chose to purchase multiple skeins of yarn and make my own transition in the pattern.  My final choice was Tanis Fiber Arts, and I used Tidal, Peacock, Deep Sea and Midnight.  (As an aside, I love TFA and would knit with it again in a heartbeat!) While not a true gradient, I tried alternating colors at specific intervals to combine the colors in a different way. 

I will admit that the set-up rows had me confused.  I think I ripped out three times at least before I got it right.  And there were some futsy notes I read on other knitters’ pages before I really thought I could take this project with me on the go.  But once I got going, it went quickly. 

Then I put it down, unintentionally, for a couple months.  I had a spreadsheet of sorts telling me the when, where and how of my color changes so when I picked it up to finish it, it took me about a week to really get into a groove.  I probably made it way more complicated than necessary. 

 (The purl side of this shawl looks so neat!)

Alternating skeins was a hassle, but like many things, I like the finished object so I would do it again. 

I blocked this sucker out as big as I could in the space that I had.  And even though it’s waaay too warm to wear it this summer, I’ve attempted to do just that at least a handful of times.  This was mostly unsuccessful because it was just too darn hot.  But Fall will be here soon and then I will get a lot of use out of it.  It doesn’t feel as though it retained the size I blocked it out to, so I may try reblocking.  We’ll see.  It’s a big shawl as it is and I’m still trying to decide the best way to wear it. 

Because it’s four different colors, though, I fully expect it to match much of my very blue wardrobe.  ;)