Needlework Tuesday - Shawls Galore!

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

I've really only been knitting one project these past two weeks: the rainbow shawl (Celadon from ravelry.com.) I'm adding more stripes than the pattern calls for because I'm trying to use up some leftover yarn. I sort of mapped out a symmetrical pattern on paper according to how much yarn I thought I had leftover, but now I'm wishing I had included less symmetry and more randomness to the stripes.  I am close to the end on some colours, so I'll have to see what happens this week.

It's a little misshapen at the moment, but I'll fix that when I block it. I forgot to mention that this shawl is worked side-to-side rather than top down as some other shawls are. Eagle-eyed Heather picked up on that and alluded to it in the comments last week.

A new project from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month showed up this week. The project is a fashion scarf pictured on the yarn label below. I'm really on the fence about it. The yarn, Schachenmayr's Batiko Sun, is a slippery tape type yarn that I'm not used to working with. While I appreciate that the required needles (12mm, circular)  were included in the shipment, they are plastic and the yarn is slipping quite a bit on them. Had I purchased my own, I probably would have opted for bamboo/wooden ones.

Also, I've knit the first several rows a number of times, but I'm not happy with the result. For one thing, I've never heard of the "selvage" stitch and I'm finding it challenging. I think it might be a British/European thing. I Googled it and tried what they suggested, but it didn't quite work out right. I'll probably just slip the first stitch of every row and call it done. However, any suggestions or links to methods that you know work would be much appreciated.

I've decided that a girl can never have too many shawls or wraps. Since my local yarn store had a sale (15% off shawl yarn) for Mother's Day as well as a sidewalk sale with yarns 40% off, I decided that even though I'm not a Mommy I deserved a treat. Actually, I had to visit twice because there was some yardage confusion/sticker price confusion with the store-assembled kits I bought. It ended up costing me more than I expected to spend (and more than the sticker price), but it was straightened out by the helpful staff and I have enough yarn to keep me busy through the whole summer (if I have time to knit) and quite possibly fall and winter. For now, here's a shot of the yarn I purchased on the weekend:

The 5 balls of sock yarn (top of photo) were 40% off at the sidewalk sale.  I won't need it all for the shawl I have in mind, but I figured at that price my stash could use some fattening.   Also, since I haven't purchased the pattern yet, I reserve the right to change my mind and make something else. As I start work on these, I'll link to the patterns and provide better photos of the yarn.

This week I'm going to continue to work on the rainbow shawl as well as the new Mary Maxim project.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.