Swallowtail

So the stashdown is not going exactly as planned. As of February I have increased my stash by 191,969 - 191,682 = 287 yards. Now, when you take into account that I acquired TWO sweater's worth of yarn in January, it's clear I actually moved a lot out of my stash, to only increase by 287 yards.

Also, I should point out, I didn't pay for any of the yarn. One sweater's worth was part of my birthday present from Ryan. The other was purchased by my dad because the sweater will be for him.

One of the projects that helped me move some yardage out (about 500 yards) was my Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A Clark. I loved every minute of making this.

I mentioned before, the first time I made this pattern early in my knitting career, it was a bit too hard and I found the experience unpleasant because I was making so many mistakes and having to tink back hundreds of lace stitches fairly often.  This time it was completely smooth sailing. 

Forgive my bleary face, I had just woken up.

I prefer to wear this pinned with one of my shawl pins. The one in the picture is my favorite. It's from Plover Designs, a local Portland craftswoman. I have several from her. 

The yarn I used is Malabrigo's new Rastita line. It's made the same way as their super chunky Rasta, but in a DK weight. It's a 100% merino wool single ply, but the single has been slightly felted to cut down on fuzziness and make it a bit stronger. The color I used is called Cereza. It was a complete joy to work with. 

Now I'm working on a heavily cabled cowl. It's slow going because of all the cables, and also not going to move that much yardage out of my stash, but after it's done, I'll be starting a sweater and that should clear a good 1,200 yards. On the other hand, our Madelinetosh order is due in at the shop any day...