2007 kicks off with a shawl

On New Year’s Eve I sipped my version of Kir Royale (raspberry wine with champagne), watched the various festivities and fireworks on TV, and worked on finishing a small baby sweater I started some 10 days ago. But what better way to start off a new year than with a new project, so I set the baby sweater aside and started a shawl New Year’s Day.

I have had my eye on the Icarus Shawl (Interweave Knits, Summer 2006) since that issue arrived in my mailbox. Yesterday I finally cast on with some Crystal Palace Yarns Kid Merino I bought a while back.

Here is last night’s progress: 

I intended to make a shawl with the Kid Merino when I bought it, but I made the mistake before of using a yarn that interrupted a lace pattern. The colors in this yarn are more variegated than the photo here shows  but they are subtle enough to work. When I made the Flower Basket Shawl I used two different colors of the Misti Alpaca held together and the pattern is a little hard to see. For Charlotte’s Web, I picked out the 5 skeins in different colorways the pattern recommends but the result was not so pretty. The lace pattern virutally disappeared so Ms. Charlotte traveled to the frog pond before I got to the border. The good news is I now have 5 skeins of Koigu awaiting other projects. It looks like a good weight for mittens or gloves. I have my eye on mittens, especially Eunny’s Anemoi Mittens.

Off I go to try to add another couple of inches before it’s time to hit the sack!