FO: Chastain Park Shawl

When I saw Noro Silk Garden in a gorgeous colorway on the Jimmy Beans Wool Watcher at a really decent price, I couldn't resist ordering three skeins. I then had to find a pattern to make with my pretty new yarn- something simple, so that it would show off the pretty color changes, but with a little bit of lace to add some interest. I settled on the Chastain Park Shawl pattern.

I loved the pattern. It was an excellent choice for the yarn. It was simple enough, yet still pretty. I managed to mess up on the lacy edge a few times, but that was totally my fault, not the pattern's. My only complaint is that I hadn't done much triangular shawl knitting in the past, and it wasn't really clear from the pattern that it was to be knitted from the top down- I was incredibly confused until I actually just gave up trying to understand and started knitting. Once you can see it in action, it's fine- but since this is a pattern that is supposed to be good for beginners, I think they should spell that out a little bit better to prevent confusion.

While the pattern was great, I was no so thrilled with the yarn. So many people seem to either love or hate Noro that I refused to buy it at full price, and I'm really glad that I did that. While most of the color changes are gorgeous, I really don't get the hype. There was way too much vegetable matter (twigs and bits of wood)- I don't want to get a splinter from my knitting! It went way beyond a thick-and-thin yarn- there were points where it was like a ball of fiber just got bound up with the rest of the yarn. I ended up having to trim these places. To make matters worse, while most of the colors were gorgeous (pinks, purples, and a little bit of blue), there was this awful mustard yellow that kept showing up. The yellow completely did not go with the rest of the yarn, and I ended up having to cut it out, leaving me even more ends to weave in- and I hate weaving in ends.

Luckily, I had a little more yarn than the shawl required, and I ended up making the lacey portion a little bit bigger- I basically kept knitting it until it looked like the yarn would run out.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden

Pattern: Chastain Park Shawl

Made For: Me

The Verdict: I love the finished object- it's really pretty, and the colors are perfect. I would definitely make the pattern again. However, the yarn was way more trouble than it was worth- It created a lot of extra work, since I had to pick out splinters, trim down the slubby bits, and cut out the yellow portions. I definitely would not buy Noro Silk Garden again. I might be persuaded to buy a different Noro yarn if it was really on sale, but even that isn't particularly likely.