Oaklet Shawl

It's finished and it's lovely. The Oaklet Shawl in Madelinetosh tosh sock yarn, in the Tart colourway. The yarn was delicious to knit and I adore the rich semi-solid cherry red colour - it's most definitely a cherry flavoured tart. 

But. And there is a BIG BUT.

See that tiny triangle around my shoulders? That is my delicious shawl. Shawlette. Kerchief. I can't tie it shut nor flick it over my shoulder. I can barely hold it together with my cute pottery brooch. Oh dear.

You see, I am loose(ish) knitter and usually find myself reaching for smaller needles to reach gauge, so I just grabbed 3.5mm needles instead of the 3.75mm suggested and got knitting. No, I didn't swatch... And, this was such a mindless, pleasurable knit that I just kept going and didn't stop to measure my gauge. It was only when I got to the lace that I became suspicious that this lovely red garment was looking a little on the tiny side. I still didn't measure it... just ploughed on, bound off and hoped it would come right with blocking. Nope, it didn't. It's about six inches too narrow and 3 inches too short.

I thought about unpicking the bind off row and knitting another couple more lace repeats. But, I didn't think I'd have enough yarn for that. I considered using the damson coloured Fyberspates sock yarn left over from Tess' Bella Mia... but the consensus in the Myrtle house was that it would look odd with a stripe of purple at the bottom.

Anyway, in the meantime, someone had caught sight of the lovely tart shawl and fancied it for herself. To be honest, it fits her perfectly. So, now it is Zoë's cherry red shawl! 

So, I've learnt a couple of things. Like, when a designer says right at the top of the pattern "It's worked on relatively large needles for extra drape" and "Gauge is not essential for this project, however a smaller shawl might be too small to reach around your shoulders".... don't just read the words. Actually digest them. What else? Measure... measure... and measure again. And, oh, make another one. With bigger needles. 

Remember I was knitting my Oaklet with some other knitters? Check out Evelyn at Project: Stash and Sarah at Sezza Knits to see how their Oaklet's are coming along. I'm sure they're bigger than mine!