Contrast Shawl - Birthday Present

For my aunt's 60th birthday I made her the Contrast shawl from my Emotions Collection.

I decided to gift her a lace stole because it was June and I wanted her to have something nice and lacey that she can wrap herself in when she walks the dog in the morning or evening, and also have a classy accessory when going out.
And what would have been better than Contrast from my new collection!

 Since I didn't decide on this gift right in time, I thought I give it a try on the knitting machine.

I knitted the shawl in two halfs, adding one more stitch in the middle (what's going to be the middle in the finished shawl) for seaming.
It still took me a while to make the shawl because I hand manipulated the eyelets and sometimes there was a stitch dropped, so I had to go back and catch it. It wasn't as much smooth sailing as I hoped it to be ;)
But it got better and better the more I progressed. 

 When the two halfs were knitted, I weaved in all (what felt like) thousand ends from changing the colors every section and then seamed along the middle of the shawl.
Finally, I added the garter edges on top and at the bottom by hand because I don't have a transfer lock for my machine. (you would have to transfer all stitches to the other bed before knitting the next row, so I figured I'll be faster doing the few rows of garter by hand)

And finally, I wet blocked the shawl very aggressively to its final measurements of 200cm x 50cm.

 

The fun part is of course getting everything ready to be a present! :)
So, Contrast Shawl got its own label and a ribbon :)
At this point I was proud of myself because I really loved how it turned out! And seeing the shawl so nicely made into a gift just warmed my heart for a moment. (and everything was in time...a very happy moment)

I also love that the shawl came out 200 cm long (as planned by adding one extra repeat of sections 1 and 2), I think that's just the perfect length to wrap yourself nicely in it and still have some length left to style.







 

 
The color combo of light camel and maroon is outstanding in my opinion.
I thought about the right colors for my aunt for a while.
And I think I found them :)

The most rewarding part after all is seeing that my aunt loved the shawl! :)
The stole and colors suit her just perfect! So soft and airy, it came down to only 124g (having in mind the size of 200 x 50 cm).

Contrast is such a lovely shawl and I can't say it often enough: I so adore the luxurious alpaca and silk blend of the lace yarn. It makes the shawl truly the perfect summer accessory.

I loved working on my knitting machine for a second very beautiful project. (you can see my first "real" machine knit project here)
I am still learning so much! And I hope I can use some free time during summer or fall to practice and learn even more. (and create some beautiful garments while I'm at it ;) )


You can find the pattern for Contrast Shawl here. And for more infos on the project, there is a project page on Ravelry as well.

I wish you a wonderful and sunny weekend!
Love,
Stefanie

 PS. I am now on Instagram as well. I'd love to meet you there @thedrizzleofhoney