Meet me at The Ryman Wrap from Haus of Yarn - Day 4

Managing the middle...

Now we get to the knitty-gritty of length. 

Many shawls aren’t quite long enough for me—particularly the rectangular ones like this—but every inch I add compounds the number of hours its going to take me to finish this.

A scan of the pattern tells me the Section 2 patch of 17-row repeats—17 of stockinette and 17 of garter—forms the true middle of this piece.  I’ve elected to add several more of these repeats in order to achieve the optimal length for a woman of my height.  It’s a guesstimate, however, because blocking will change both width and length.

I’m glad I didn’t choose just a solid yarn—the flecks of color in this Fine Donegal add just the right touch of interest.  I don’t think this wouldn’t work well with a variegated or self-striping yarn, but you might get away with a very subtle tonal fiber.  As it is, I feel like I have just the right yarn for the job.  

I’m worried, as I always am with stockinette pieces, about curling.  Lots of times pieces lay nice and flat when you block them, but curl right up the minute you get them around your neck or across your shoulders.  I’ve already put so much time in to this shawl—with as much to go—that I’d be truly sad to see it curl.

There’s nothing to do but keep knitting and await the outcome.  I very much like what I’ve got so far.