One - Done

I completed Litla Dimun Shawl this weekend. Here it is:

(If you put your computer on the floor and then lie in your right side you will see this photo as it is meant to be seen! For some unknown reason Blogger has decided that even though I rotated this photo on iPhoto I must not really want it that way.)

No matter. I do love this shawl. In fact I've been wearing it all morning while straightening up my blog page a bit, since it looks like this outside:

Actually, it's a bit worse now, but I'd never get a good shot of it since the ground, sky, and trees are currently all the same color. We've been having freezing fog (I've never experienced that before this year) and drizzle.

No matter. The shawl is making me happy. Cheryl Oberle must be a tall woman as the photo of this shawl in the book hangs just past her waist, while on me it's down to my bum. There were a couple other issues with the pattern, like the gusset decreases on Row 151, and do you decrease 8 stitches in the main sections on Rows 151 and 171 along with the usual 2 decreases, or in place of ? No matter. I learned to just roll with the punches. Like "Shakespeare in Love":

"Strangely enough, it all turns out well."

"How?"

"I don't know. It's a mystery."

With the weather the way it is around here, I was thinking about all the women through the ages who ran about town or farm wrapped in a woolen shawl. I wear a down jacket, wool hat, felted mittens, and bulky scarf, along with one of many pairs of non-skid Gortex-lined boots. It wasn't always this way. Once again, I am in awe of those who came before us.

So that got me thinking and I googled the Faroe Islands. Wow - they're really out there! Eighteen islands are floating smack-dab in the middle of the northern Atlantic, northwest of Scotland and their Shetland Islands, halfway between Norway and Iceland. Now...they may be the final stop for the Gulf Current, but still...I bet they get some interesting storms rolling in.

Take a peak for yourself, it looks lovely when displayed by the tourism board! Faroe Islands (Check out the Gallery, and the Icelandic sheep on the roof!)

So, on to Tvey, the Faroese word for two. This is the cast on and first rows for Stora Dimun Shawl. Once again, I'm using yarn that is listed in the pattern, Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill Silk Blend in color red trillium. The yarn looks very red in the book photo, but is actually a lovely raspberry. The pattern starts the same way, at the base, and with more stitches, but has a very different feel with 75% wool and 25% silk.

Knit through everything!

LA