Handspun Shawl

I finally finished my very first handspun shawl! I spun this yarn about two years ago, and started knitting this shawl in June. It got sent to hibernation for a while, but now it’s done!

Pattern: Garden of Alla
Yarn: my own handspun, from Gale’s Art BBFL roving, in colorway ‘Stormy Sea’
(see below for more details on the yarn) – spun in November 2008
Needles: US 5
Started : June 3, 2010
Finished: November 2, 2010

Modifications: I only made one modification, if you can really call it that. I did the alternate lace edging that’s available on Ravelry, but I had to tweak the chart a bit because I stopped on a different row than the available chart indicates. (I was going to run out of yarn otherwise!)  I also added 4 extra lace edging rows as well.

Here’s how I spun the yarn:

(Gale’s Art BBFL Roving – 8 ounces)

I had a shawl in mind for this roving from the beginning, and I wanted to preserve the color progression.  So I knew I needed to try to get as much yardage as possible out of the roving.  I divided the roving in half lengthwise, and predrafted both at the same time, very slowly, so the color changes were mostly consistent between the two.

I then spun up singles out of each half, very thin and with a slight over-twist.  I then plied the two singles together – starting from the same ends to keep the colors together.

I ended up with about 620 yards of lace-weight yarn.

It was very satisfying to finish my first major project with my own handspun yarn!  (I did a hat and couple small things before this, but I don’t count those.  Well, and I did one other handspun shawl just recently, but I can’t show you that one yet.)  I’m extremely happy with the final result.

Happy Knitting (and Spinning) everyone!