Going Away Gift

Some good friends from church recently moved out of state.  I've known them for 25 years, so I was sad that they were leaving.  I decided to make a shawl for Cathy to let her know how much I appreciate her friendship and support over the time that I've known her and her husband.

I had a skein of yarn in my stash that I thought would be great to use for this gift.  It was Anne by Schaefer Yarn Company.  It's 60% Merino wool, 25% Mohair, and 15% nylon.  According to Ravelry, this yarn is now discontinued, which is a shame because I thought it was really nice to work with.  The pastel colorway of the skein I had was called "The Brontes."

Through Ravelry I was able to find a free pattern to use called Multnomah by Kate Ray.  It's a relatively simple pattern with the edging being a little more complicated, but still fairly easy.  I made this shawl larger than what the pattern called for, partly because I thought it looked too small when I got to the point where I should start the border, and partly because I just wanted to use all of the yarn that I had from this skein.

I knit the body of the shawl until I had 331 stitches and 53 yo’s. I then knit the border until I didn't think I had enough yarn left for another repeat. I didn't note how many repeats I ended up doing, but I think it might have been 8.

I'm really very pleased with how the shawl turned out.  Even better, Cathy was thrilled with it!  I was able to get a couple quick pictures of her wearing it during a visit back to the area.  Unfortunately, because they were quick pictures, I think I caught Cathy with her eyes half closed.

I hope she feels like this is a long-distance hug any time she wears it!