Nordic Wind Shawl

Hard to believe but it's almost ten months since my trip to Vancouver, BC, and what a busy trip it was - you can read all my posts here.   While there I visited the yarn store, Three Bags Full, and one of my purchases was five balls of  Istex Lettlopi from Iceland - it's an Aran/10 ply 100% wool.  

I've discovered, though now discontinued, it was also marketed in America as Reynolds Lite-Lopi but it's still available as Lett-Lopi.  There's also a chunky version called Lopi Yarn.

The pattern I fell for at Three Bags Full is Nordic Wind shawl by cabinfour - available here on Ravelry and finally, in November at Narita airport waiting to board the plane home from an incredible trip to Japan, it was a miserable grey day brightened only by casting on my shawl and enjoying my Yarnit and Knitpick needles.

By the time I got off the plane the shawl was almost finished, I'd knitted the whole journey home and hadn't slept a wink.  Ready only for the final colour change, as soon as I got home I took a quick glance at the pattern again, I'd memorised it before take off.  Oh no, I couldn't believe my tired eyes, I'd knitted the whole thing incorrectly.  I read the pattern again and again and there was nothing for it, I had to unravel the whole thing and start again; no time like the present so that's exactly what I did.  

Here's a pic of the shawl before I unravelled it.

 What a pain but that's okay, I knew I couldn't live with knowing it was wrong, I'd enjoyed knitting it and it knit up pretty quickly so before I could get fed up with the project and cast it aside I started it again.  

Cast on again and this time Chris remember to check the pattern before you knit Row 1, then recheck before you knit Row 2, same for Row 3 and Row 4.  Chris! Chris!! what the heck have you done?  This pattern is exactly the same as you knit last time!!!  Yes, that's right, I hadn't knitted the pattern incorrectly the first time around, the pattern changes for the final colour and that's what I'd read and assumed I'd done it all wrong when up to that point I'd knitted it perfectly after all.

Good job I had enjoyed knitting it first time round because that's exactly what I did again over the next two nights and didn't stop until it was finished and I could be rid of my frustration with myself.  Lesson learnt - don't trust your judgement when you haven't slept for almost two days and you're jetlagged.

Best to mention now, just in case you decide to make your own Nordic Wind shawl, the ladies at Three Bags Full amended the pattern slightly and added a fifth colour - here's a link to their pattern amendments.

The finished shawl was a bit scratchy and the bottom garter stitch edge curled up at the point where the stocking stitch ends.  Here's how I fixed it:

1: I washed it in my best quality hair shampoo.  I mixed a good dollop of shampoo into warm water and soaked the shawl in it for two hours.  Then I gave it a good rinse.

2: Next I mixed a good dollop of my best quality hair conditioner in warm water and left the shawl to soak for ten minutes.  Another good rinse then I rolled the shawl up in a large fluffy towel and pressed hard to squeeze out much of the moisture.  

3: Finally I took a brand new dry fluffy towel and laid the shawl out flat on it, shaping it and placing weights along the garter stitch edges to flatten them and left it until absolutely dry.

 The end result - a beautifully soft shawl with a perfectly flat garter edge. 

Above is the reverse stocking stitch side which looks good too, in fact, my husband prefers it.

After all that, the finished shawl is too large and thick to wear as a scarf, it just won't squeeze under my down coat and travelling by subway, when one minute you're freezing and the next you're way too hot, it's too bulky to be pulling it off and on and popping in my bag.  However, I do like to put it around my shoulders at home when it gets nippy and, trust me, that happens plenty living on the Hudson River!  

So my Nordic Wind shawl now lives on the back of one of my sofas 'ready to wear' as it were.

I love how I get to admire the colour gradation this way too.

The only problem is my two troublesome pups ...

... we've seen before how they love to play fight and snuggle on my makes, rest assured it's only things destined for my own home that make it out of my workroom and into their playful grasp!

If you're new around here they're my Havapoo and Havanese, Thatcher (known as Tatty) and Watson - butter wouldn't melt!

So have you used Lett-Lopi, did you soften the yarn and if you did how did you do it?  Or have you made the Nordic Wind shawl, did you make any changes or use another yarn? Share your experiences with us in the comments.

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Linky Parties This post may be linked to some great Linky Parties, always a great source of inspiration too.  If you click through to my 'Fave Linky Parties'  page you can see where I like to share my work.