Yarn Shortage Sequel

In April, at the  Knitters Frolic,  I spotted a pattern for Judy’s Ruffled Shawlette at the Cabin Fever booth.

The Cabin Fever sisters had  knit  up the shawlette in a beautiful fingering weight yarn that glittered with  touches of sterling silver.  It was gorgeous.

I purchased the pattern and tucked it, along with some Wellington Fibres Mohair, into my trailer knitting bag.  Once I came to  the obvious realization that I had nowhere near enough  yarn to complete my  cotton  Mieka, I dug out the Mohair and  cast on for Judy’s Ruffled piece.  

The  shawlette, according to the pattern,  requires “330 m for any weight of yarn”.   The only fly in my ointment was the missing information on the  Mohair ball wrapper.  No yardage was given.  But what the heck!  Considering that most patterns over estimate yardage (right?)  as well as  the fact that shawls lend themselves much better to stopping ‘short’ than sweaters, I figured that knitting the shawlette with my one ball of Mohair was   do-able.

And, do-able it was.   I have a shawlette. 

 

 Incomplete if compared to pattern instructions, but a shawlette nonetheless.  The pattern calls for 3 sets of Garter Stripes and 2 sets of Eyelet Stripes.  My piece doesn’t have all those stripes.  And there was grief.  Caused  by my  optimistic unrealistic outlook on how far my remaining little blob of yarn  would go.  When  it wouldn’t go as far as the finishing row, I had to rip back.  Rip back mohair.  Twice.  Great grief.  Altogether I stopped short by a full repeat of one pattern  (yep, it’s official, I am a one-repeat-short kind of girl) and completed the shawl with my own version of a crocheted chain, no- new-yarn-required cast off. 

Despite the yarn shortage and the repeated rip-backs, unlike Mieka, my version of Judy’s Ruffled Shawlette is complete and as hoped for,   giftable.  

 

 It will go, at summer’s end,  to my trailer neighbour.  She is  my early morning walking partner here in the north.  Walking with a partner is critical in bear country.  We, the two walkers,  think  -   ‘with two of us, what  bear would dare?’  Her husband thinks  -    ‘with two of them, the bear will have a better meal.’  So far,  the walkers have it.