Technically the Hanami Stole was finished yesterday, but officially I didn't finish it until today when I unpinned it from my blocking foam.
Since Hanami is cherry blossom inspired, the first thing I did was go outside and take a picture of it in a cherry tree. My street is lined with them, and I figured it was appropriate.
Today was a perfect first day for this shawl's debut. The weather is very warm (18 degrees celsius), but there is still the spring coolness in the air. I think shawls were made for spring and spring was made for shawls. They complement each other perfectly. This one will be great dressed up or dressed down. I wore it today with dark wash jeans and a black tank top, and it did not look one bit out of place.
As usual the magic of blocking has impressed me to no end. I thought the blossom end might look weird, but as soon as I blocked it the eyelets opened up and the falling blossoms were revealed. The basket weave section also opened up nicely, and the few mistakes I made in that section do not show nearly as much as I thought they would.
I am definitely going to have to pick up some blocking wires. I just used a ton of blocking pins, and the fabric comes to a little peak in every spot that I had a pin. It's not all that noticeable, but I'd still prefer to have perfectly crisp straight edges. I've heard something about running cotton string through the stitches on the outside of the shawl and then pinning the string out, but I haven't tried this yet. It seems like blocking wires would be easier.
Here are the details one last time:
Pattern:
Hanami Stole by Melanie Gibbons of Pink Lemon Twist.
Yarn: Fiddlesticks Zephyr Laceweight in Pewter (a lovely silvery gray).
Needles: 3.5mm Addi Turbo lace needles in the 32" length.
Spring feels as if it has now officially sprung here, especially now that my 2008 spring shawl is done. I'm enjoying this Sunday with a Caramel Machiato beside me and I'm blogging from a chair on my deck.
Like the Gwen Stefani inspired "tall" hair? I can't decide whether it looks silly or cool on me. I'm leaning towards cool. Especially when I'm wearing my oversized sunglasses.