Chesapeake Bay Ishbel

Wearing Ishbel near the bay

When I was at Stitches East 2008 I bought a wonderful skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks Orihime sock yarn. It’s a blend of 80% merino and 20% cashmere and just too nice for socks. I’ve been saving it ever since for the right project. It’s a gorgeous variegated yarn in colors from light aqua to midnight blue-green.

A million people on Ravelry have made the Ishbel shawl, and I’d had my eye on it for a while. I had just enough yarn so I decided to make it up!

Lace - ain't it pretty?

It was a really quick knit because a lot of it is stockinette. I completed this in just a few evenings of TV watching. The pattern has two sizes, and I made the smaller size based on the yardage I had. I had a good deal of yarn left over though, so I wish I’d made the larger size!

This was my first lace knitting project and I really liked knitting lace. I think yarn-overs are fun to do, the lace went quickly, and the pattern was easy to remember. One thing I really liked about the pattern was how it blocked out into neat little points on the lace edge. Mine isn’t so pointy, and I think it’s because I bound off too tightly. When it says bind off loosely, she means it!!

Ishbel on the bay

This is definitely a pattern that I’d make more than once, it’s quick enough and small enough that it’d make a great knitted gift. I may have to make up a couple of these to use up some sock yarn in my stash!

Last week I did my hair up in the fancy-looking, but super-simple-to-execute Gibson Tuck. Since I wasn’t looking like a wild savage, I pleaded and Jimmy indulged me with some finished object photos down at the bay, and I love the way they turned out. The colors in this shawl actually remind me of a stormy day on the Chesapeake Bay, and I named it thus and so!

Here’s my Chesapeake Bay Ishbel on Ravelry.

Ishbel