Knitrospective - Shawls

What makes a great shawl? Colour? Shape? Size? Lace? Beads? Garter?

Shawls are a regular in my knitting rotation. I have a lot in my queue and library. Once I have completed one I am searching for the next one to cast on.

They are go-to accessory pieces, especially for my work wardrobe. Essential for combating the chill of air-conditioning and also for adding the "knitterly touch" to my outfits.

I began with small, one skein shawls like the Multnomah by Kate Ray, Mizzle by Patricia Martin and Pimpelliese by Christine Ebers.

Pimpelliese

I now enjoy larger multi-coloured, lace or beaded shawls. Although there is always a place for a more simple, one skein shawl in the knitting rotation (my recently knitted Reyna is an example of this).

Nuvem has been on my needles twice, and could definitely be knit again.

My Hope

The two most intricate shawls I have knit have not been for me, but made as special gifts. The My Hope for my sister on her wedding day and Bella Botanica for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Both had beading and lace work and I loved the process of knitting each of them. I know both have been worn numerous times, which makes me happy. What I am disappointed about it that in both cases I never took proper finished object pictures, only progress and blocking shots.

I think I will at some stage have to knit a lace and bead shawl for myself, but at the moment I am enjoying the squishy garter and fun colour combinations from patterns like Drachenfels and Moonraker by Melanie Berg.

Moonraker

A shawl that was in my queue for a very long time was Bloom, which I finished earlier this year. I wrote a full blog post on the finished object. I have worn it at work and received many compliments - it has some wow factor. I am thinking about yarn combinations for another one.

Bloom

So what is the best kind of shawl? It's much too difficult to decide, I guess I will have to keep knitting more to try out more patterns, colour combinations, shapes and techniques.