Here’s my seventh shawl for the 10 shawls in 2010 challenge. It’s the Scroll Lace Scarf by Ysolda Teague from Whimsical Little Knits 2 (also published in Yarn Forward magazine).

The sample for Yarn Forward was knitted in Old Maiden Aunt alpaca/silk DK in a colourway called ‘Ysolda’. I’m afraid I was a complete sheep (heheheheh) and I bought exactly the same yarn. This isn’t something I do often, but I loved the colour, which is a light jade green, so much. It’s been sitting in my stash for ages.

The yarn is gorgeous. It’s soft and drapey with a halo, as you’d expect from an alpaca / silk blend (it also sheds like mad). The skein contains 256 metres, so this squeaks in as one of the smaller shawls for the challenge (must use at least 250 metres of yarn). I used 5.5mm needles, as directed in the pattern.

The shawl begins with a provisional cast on, from which you knit the lace edging. I’d almost got to the end of the 28 pattern repeats when I was idly browsing other Scroll Lace Scarf projects on Ravelry and I noticed the lace edging on mine looked different. The reason was an error in the last line of the chart. I ripped it all out and started again, grrrr.

Once I started the edging again, it knitted up quickly. You pick up stitches along one side of the lace edging to knit the body of the shawl. Again, I found the pattern confusing. It said to pick up a stitch every two rows, which to me meant every other stitch. Have I got that wrong? In fact, you need to pick up from every stitch to have the right number to start knitting the body. The body is shaped with short rows to form a gentle curve and ends with a picot bind-off. I wet blocked the finished shawl to open up the lace edging.

I like the finished product – it’s very soft and cosy. However, I was disappointed in the pattern. I’m a huge fan of Ysolda’s designs (I can’t wait for her latest book to come out) as they’re normally clearly written and easy to follow. However, this one took some guesswork.

I’m going to attempt to stashdown again – I’ve got way too much yarn. I’ve had the yarn for this scarf in my stash for so long, I think I can count this project as my first stash buster. 1 skein down…