FO – Dotted Rays shawl

In today’s episode of my finished (knitting) objects, I show you a shawl that has a long history. The more I have enjoyed every single stitch while knitting.

Two years ago the spinning virus attacked me. Since then, I spin my own yarn. The beautiful is the fact that you can produce the desired yarn itself: yarn weight, colour composition or plying. In any case, in the end, you always have something unique.

Last year I was brave and gave myself a spun fiber package of Sidi. This gives each month a fiber package – quality and color are unknown. So it is always a surprise when you open the package. In last year’s spring package was the subject of “Crocus” and the fiber quality was Merino / soy. The color combination was daring and I had no idea what to do with it.

Usually, fibers are sold in braids. When I disassembled the braid, the inspiration still lacked. The unusual colour combination was difficult. It’s just not my type of colours.

Thanks to today’s training opportunities I’ve assigned a spinning class at Craftsy about colours in spinning. This has inspired me that I want to spin a long gradient yarn. For the disassembly, I discovered a regularity of dyeing. That meant for me: I pulled every single color range apart and arranged them new: from purple to green to yellow.

The result is a gradient yarn in sport-weight, Navajo-plied (3-ply). It was pleasant to spin the soy fiber. The gloss is similar to silk, but the grip is firmer.

Now it had to find a suitable pattern for it. It should be a shawl. To show the gradient at best, it should be asymmetric and a simple pattern. With hand-spun yarns is enough a simple pattern, so that the yarn comes to the fore. So I decided for Dotted Rays.

Pattern: Dotted Rays by Stephen West
Needles: 4.5mm
Yarn: merino/ soy, handspun, 3-ply (Navajo), 685m/ 200g

I would not me if I wouldn’t make some modifications to existing patterns, isn’t it? Since I’m not a big fan of garter stitch, I worked in stockinette stitch.

The project I took on my last year’s road trip. The pattern is simple and yet interesting enough. Again and again, I marveled at my progress. Now I was finally able to block. It has spread its beauty.

I’m so happy with the result. Although it’s still not my colour choice. I am unsure whether I should give it away or sell it. What do you think? And how much should I shell out for it? Have you ever done that before?

Merken