fo: abyssal

I whipped up this little shawl in a couple of weeks this summer. I was losing my head to lace-shawl madness, having lost one shawl and abandoning two other projects that were looking catastrophic, and I desperately needed something to knit on the plane back to Paris, and I just wanted something simple to toss off. This little knit fit the bill. As you can see, it's tiny, despite the fact that I knit the larger version of the shawl. I think I misunderstood the pattern for the decrease/bind-off section and decreased too many stitches at a time, resulting in many fewer rows than I should have had. Ah well.

They're pretty much terrible pictures. This is what you get when you have about 10 minutes to try to do self-portraits in the rapidly fading November light with stereo speakers and bookshelves standing in for a tripod.

This is the shot where you can best see the shawl. It's mostly stockinette and I haven't yet blocked it, so it rolls ferociously (unless I'm clutching it as shown above.) The lace edging was very simple. Here are the stats:

Pattern: Abyssal by Karen and Karyn
Yarn: Isager Strick Alpaca 2 (came with kit for Clara dress, just over 1 skein.)
Needles: US 6
Began: August 23, 2011
Finished: September 6, 2011

The obligatory mirror shot. I actually love how this scarf goes with the jacket I'm wearing here. My toasty wristwarmers would also perfectly compliment the outfit, but I seem to have lost them after wearing them only once, and before I could take pictures.

Side note: This is how I wear my hair for at least some portion of every day (unless I have a pounding headache.) As soon as I get slightly warm or my hair starts blowing in the wind or I get bored, the elastic comes off the wrist and my hair gets unceremoniously bunched on my head in this blob that looks more like a rat's nest than an updo. I bought some special pin things this summer to do a slightly more elegant loose, wispy bun, but do I ever use them? Not at all.