Pattern: Marin by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina

Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)

Ravelry Link: here!

Traveling is one of the times I am most glad to be a knitter. While cramped into an airline seat I’m not fussing over how far the seat back in front of me is reclined or whether I will find room in an overhead bin. I am in my own fiber-y world knitting away on a project. This project arose when I was packing for Rhinebeck last year and realized my current WIP was not suitable for travel. Normally I agonize over my project and yarn pairings, but this time I grabbed a random skein and chose a project I had always wanted to knit and figured I’d work it out as I went.

I did work it out as I went, thankful to have Ravelry as a tool. I brought two needle sizes with me and was torn about which swatch I liked better. I decided to look at examples of this pattern in this yarn in those two needle sizes to compare. I was lucky that both items were popular enough for me to have enough data to do this comparison. And it was valuable because I learned that with the larger needle most people needed more than 1 skein! I only had this single skein so I cast on with my smaller needles.

I made one alteration to the pattern as I was knitting – you can see in the above picture that the cables above the shells cross opposite ways on the two ends of the shawl. Truthfully, it was one of those mistakes that leads to a good idea. I miscrossed the first one and then realized I’d love the symmetry of switching in the second half of the shawl.

Pashmina is kitten-soft and feels amazing in squishy garter. This spur of the moment project was definitely a success! This green is my Mom’s favorite color (I think she bought the yarn for me, actually), so I sent it off to her. I’m sure she’ll enjoy some smooth warmth this winter.

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