Handspun Cladonia

It took me a while to get decent pictures, but thanks to Julie’s garden and Barb’s photography, now I do!

You might remember this yarn I spun back in October during Spinzilla. Both skeins together weighed 234 g and I had 594 yards.Inspired by this version of Kristen Kapur’s Cladonia shawl, I cast on. I left off the loopy edging but otherwise just followed the pattern. I made a little gauge swatch just to find out what size needle resulted in a fabric I liked – it was US 7. The pattern calls for US 7 but fingering weight yarn, and my yarn was fatter. Still, the wool/silk fabric is beautifully drapey while still being warm.

The finished shawl was a little longer than my blocking board, so I kind of improvised some extensions to get the tips pinned out:

The finished shawl weighs 206 grams and I only have 16 grams of yarn remaining (I guess there’s a little bit in the swatch, too). I am really pleased about using up so much of it on a single project! My calculations suggest I used about 523 yards.

Julie’s garden is enchanting. This is some type of willow tree with green and white leaves. I would never have guessed it was a willow, but she says it’s an unusual variety. There’s also a big flat boulder that is the perfect surface for showcasing knitwear:

We were at Julie’s for knit night. At some point in the evening, we realized that SIX of the project bags Judy made us were in attendance. So I put them together for a photo:

Judy chose the fabric carefully for each one and they are perfect for us. Mine is the center one in the front row – lots of blue and green. It is currently my favorite project bag!

UPDATED: Just had to spend 1 hour+ troubleshooting why Windows Live Writer no longer publishes to Blogger. It's a Microsoft problem. They abandoned their own product I guess. We'll see if this posts successfully.