Less yarn, smaller project

Knit and knit and knit (or crochet and crochet and crochet), and eventually something will be finished. Actually, I’ve finished a few somethings lately, but cramming them all into one post is proving to be impractical.

The Simple Things shawlette was my project for the state fair, by which I don’t mean that I entered it, but that I worked on it while I was at the fair. Every year, the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild demonstrates knitting for a day in the Creative Activities building, and I try to be one of the volunteers. I was still working on Lintilla at this point (late August), but it was so long, I was afraid it would trail on the dusty floor, and even if it behaved itself, I didn’t want a pile of wool and alpaca on my lap on a hot summer’s day (no air conditioning). So I started a new project because it wouldn’t be far enough along by the fair to be inconvenient.

Yes, yes, yes, this is your basic triangular shawlette. The stockinette section is nicely mindless, for when you need to stop frequently to talk to people about your knitting guild. I chose this pattern over the multitudes of other triangular shawlette patterns out there because it calls for less yardage than most of them, which let me use one of my smaller skeins. The yarn is Resplendence from All For Love of Yarn, a local dyer, which is 50% merino wool and 50% silk, and soft and smooth enough not to feel scratchy against delicate neck skin. But the silk adds weight to the yarn, so 100 g of Resplendence is only 378 yards (346 m) and many of the shawlette patterns I’m queueing require well over 400 yards (366 m). Simple Things called for 360 yards (329 m), so they were a good match. (Even so, I was a smidgen short, so I eliminated a couple of the final rows.) I’m guessing it takes less yardage because the stockinette stitch grows faster than the garter stitch used in many other shawlettes. I’ve got other smaller skeins in the stash, so this may not be the only time I use this pattern. Okay, the next skein I’m thinking of using is also pink. But it’s a different shade of pink—that matters, right? Right?