FO: When You Wish Shawl

I first heard about the When You Wish Shawl pattern from one of my online knitting communities.  The shawl was designed in honor of grieving mothers.  Proceeds from the pattern sales were going (might still be -- I'm not entirely sure?) to SHARE, a group dedicated to pregnancy and infant loss support.

I have been incredibly blessed that I have not had to deal with this particular tragedy personally, but I have many close friends who have dealt with miscarriages and long, drawn-out, and frustrating attempts at maintaining a viable pregnancy.

Which, okay -- all of that is pretty much buzzkill city.  I'm glad I was introduced to the pattern though, glad that I was able to support SHARE, and glad that I now have this beautiful shawl that will represent that simply, "I grieve with thee."

This project has a lot to recommend it.  It took the variegated yarn and handled it like a champ, it has a great, crescent shape, interesting construction, and it changes the stitch pattern often enough to stay really interesting.

There are three different star motifs (hence, "When You Wish), separated by a section of ruching.

My favorite part of the project, and this is gonna make you laugh, is the fiddly-ass bind-off.  It involves a three stitch, knitted on edging, a bobble (or a nupp?  one of those), and -- and this is the best part -- knitting backwards.

I'd never done that before, so I was excited to get to try a new technique.  And counter-intuitive as it might seem, it was kind of cool that the bind-off was totally part of the design element, not just a final step to rush through since the project is pretty much already done.

Check Out that Nupply Action!

Since the backwards-knitting was a new technique that I'd never tried before, I headed straight for trusty Google.   I found just the thing at the New Stitch a Day website.

I did try to get some modeled shots. I changed my shirt and everything.  I drafted my husband to be my photographer, which, okay, never really quite works out. This is me trying to get him to hold the camera straight.

This might be the best of the lot

And then there's this one.

There's a lot going on back here

Oh well.  The shawl is pretty great either way.

Project Notes

Pattern: When You Wish by Amy Kenagy
Yarn: Into the Whirled Manchester Sock, in the il tramonto colorway
Total Yardage: 361 yards
Needles:  US 7 (4.5 mm) 24" Hiya Hiya circulars
Started: May 10, 2015
Completed: June 27, 2015