I am doing my happy dance!  Woohoo!  Woohoo!  

This is George’s Shawl — the one he requested as a Christmas gift and which I gave to him “on the needles” 🙂 It is a big beautiful beast of a shawl!  And now, ma’am, just the FAQs:

Q:  Wow, I am kinda surprised that he would want a shawl — seems, um, like not a guy thing, you know?

A:  Well, in the more hip end of the Knitting World, ALL the guys are wearing shawls!  And on a practical note, George had noticed that I wear shawls most evenings year-round and he also noticed that his neck and shoulders got cold…So, this is intended as a cozy evening at home kind of shawl more than an out and about shawl, tho you never know….

Q:  So, was it designed to be a guy’s shawl then?

A:  It actually was designed by a guy — the very hip and successful world-famous knitting designer Stephen West (who wears shawls a LOT!).  “Stripescape” is the pattern and while shawls are not really gender-specific, I thought the deign suited a more masculine style, being all bold and angular with clean edges — and it is BIG!

Q:  How big?

A:  It measures a 92” wingspan and 23” from cast-on edge to bind-off edge.  You cast on 40 stitches and it grows through the transmogrifications of short row patterns and lace and brioche stitches to 526 stitches per row.  That is, to put it in technical terms, a heck of a lot of knitting!

Q:  Hot diggitty!  That IS a lot of knitting! How long did it take?  And what keeps you going on a project like this?  

A:  Six months — tho I was working on other projects too (“cause I am that kind of knitter).  Toward the end it might take all evening to get through 2 rows!  The different stitch patterns kept me intrigued, tho, and since they were all 2-color stipe patterns the color changes were stimulating.

Q:  How many yarn colors did you use?  Did George choose the colors?

A:  6 yarns — some are solid and some are variegated — but as they are worked in different combinations, they make the piece both interesting and cohesive (that is good design!).  I confess that I chose the colors to match our living room!  I figured that since I would be looking at the shawl draped over George in the evenings, I wanted it to go with our decor!  But since George has certainly been involved in our interior design decisions, you could say he did choose the colors…sort of…

Q:  So now that you have finished this shawl….?

A:  Oh, I am already working on a summer cotton lace shawl (of my own design)!  And I have yarn for another Stephen West shawl — for myself this time 🙂