Pattern Review: Everyday Shawl

This project is AMAZING! And it better be, because by my calculations, it took me about 12 HOURS longer than it should have. A note about that: Kitchen scales that measure down to single grams are definitely your friend. More on that later...

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If you can knit, purl, knit front and back(kfb), and pass slipped stitches over, you can make this thing! Directions are actually very easy to memorize, almost too easy. So easy, in fact, that I knitted fully 120 more increase rows than I needed before switching to the next section, and each increase row took me about 5 minutes because of the tininess of the yarn.

The recommended yarn is a sock weight, which is close to what I used. So many options to choose from! But I've also never made anything in sock weight before(besides a few abandoned attempts at socks...), and it take some patience and dedication. Scared to use sock yarn? I really couldn't blame you, but I PROMISE, the fabric you end up with is heavenly, nothing like knitting with any other weight I've tried. (I'm an Aran, DK, or worsted yarn kind of gal.)

I used one of Hobby Lobby's new additions. I love that they have picked up on the popularity of yarn and started adding some superb and beautiful things to the aisles! It's Crimson Poppies Yarn Bee Rainbow Wrapsody Yarn. And they have so many other awesome colors. I may have grabbed a few other skeins to use for other projects later... stay tuned.

Now, here one of the main benefits of this pattern: You can use any yarn weight or fiber or sized needles you want. The designer, Jenny Faifel, says in the pattern itself that she has requested modification instructions on other patterns over the years and she took the time to put them into it already. So you don't have to buy a separate pattern to do a bigger, smaller, bulky, DK, or lace weight shawl. She gives two sizes already, but she also tells you how to modify it, easily, with a little bit of early planning.

Here's my massive mistake: I thought I could approximate how much yarn I had used and had left with a kitchen scale that only measured down to 20 grams... um, no. She says that you'll use 35% of the yarn for the increase part and 65% of the yarn, approximately, of course, for the main body. Well, I used about 55% for the increase row(also didn't pay attention to the repeats and ended up with massively more stitches).

That meant that I ran out of yarn well before I finished. And then I had to go back to Hobby Lobby and pick up another skein.. and some other yarn that happened to be on sale(oh, poor me!). That's also what cost me those extra 12 hours. And when you're trying to squeeze in knitting between homeschooling a kindergartner, working two jobs from home, keeping the 4-year-old from distracting the kindergartner, being pregnant, and also housewifing... let me tell you, that was a LOT of extra knitting.

This scale cost me $15.

A.B.S.O.L.U.T.E.L.Y. w o r t h it!

It's lightweight, slim, goes down to the gram, and uses almost no battery. I got mine at Walmart, but you can get an even nicer one on Amazon that is even more compact, is less than $15, and measures down to the tenth of a gram.

I realize now just how handy the thing is. I tend to alter patterns, and I design a few of them myself, so being able to tell how much yarnage(ha! not a word) I've used and how much I have left is super important. Even if you knit just for fun, it's a pain saver, for sure!

I LOVE THIS THING! My daughter calls it a blanket shawl because it ended up being pretty huge :-D.

You can find the pattern for it here! And then just go wild with ANY yarn you want.. as long as you get and use the kitchen scale, of course...

Happy knitting!

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