I decided to make Ysolda Teague’s “Ishbel” shawlette when realized I had the perfect yarn in my stash: red Koigu.

I made the smaller size on size 6 needles, and it only took a week of knitting! What a perfect gift! The pattern was very easy to follow and knit, and this thing just flew off the needles. I can’t wait to knit another one!

It also gave me an opportunity to perform my favorite magic trick: blocking lace! Here’s the lumpy mess before blocking:

And during:

I’m always floored by the difference a little blocking makes on lace, especially when using wool.

The finished shawl ended up being even a little bigger than expected. It’s a nice surprise, because it can be nicely draped around the shoulders in addition to being wrapped around a neck.

And the good news is that my stepmom seemed to love it! She said she had never seen a shawl like it before, so I was pleased. Also, I think it’s the perfect weight for the climate she lives in (Central California), where it gets chilly, but not freezing.

My stepmom, however, was too shy to pose in the shawl for my blog, so I coerced my stepbrother’s girlfriend to model it for me. Thanks!

You have to keep them a secret. This means you definitely can’t blog about them, especially if the intended recipient is a regular reader of your blog. This was the case with my Girasole by Jared Flood [Ravelry]. I was knitting it as a wedding present for a good friend, and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise!

On March 8, 2009, my Girasole was only two skeins of Fountain Hill Brushed Mohair full of potential.

Over three months later, I ended up with this final product:

Well worth the effort! Look how pretty and sparkly the yarn is.

Now is the time to bow down in deep reverence for Mr. Jared Flood. That man knows how to write a damn good pattern. Girasole was a labor of love, for sure, but its dirty little secret is how easy the pattern is to knit! Jared’s pattern breaks each section up into small, easy-to-follow charts. They’re repetitive enough to keep track of, but small enough that you never get bored.

I do have to say that I was pretty anxious to get this sucker off the needles after a while.

Lace is so lumpy and unattractive before blocking, but I kept the faith that it would turn out beautiful in the end. A few hundred pins later…

…and you got yourself a pretty lace shawl! Shazam!

Here’s some technical stuff for the other knitters out there. I used size 8 (5mm) needles, and all of two skeins of the Fountain Hill Brushed Mohair, which comes out to 1120 yards. I skipped one repeat of chart E because I was afraid I’d run out of yarn.

Turns out I ran out of yarn just at the end of the knit-on edging. I was really pissed off. So pissed off, in fact, that I swore I wouldn’t go buy anther 600-yard skein just to use 10 yards of it. I was actually finishing the edging during the Lakers’ championship game against the Magic, and my boyfriend’s delight at his team winning the big prize inspired me to keep on trucking. I HAD to finish that damn shawl.

So, in an effort to save yarn and get the damn thing done, I proceeded to fudge the edging quite a bit. Basically, I was knitting 3 stitches together instead of 2, and I kinda smushed the ends together. Guess what? It’s nearly impossible to see the difference… plus, what’s that whole thing about needing imperfections in your work so you don’t offend the gods? Yeah, that, too.

I gifted the shawl to my friend and now I have to say I’m kind of itching to knit another Girasole! This time, I want to make the blanket size. What do you think? Should I go for it?

(I’ll buy extra yarn this time if I do.)