Started: October 2014
Finished: November 2014
Fiber: O-Wool Local in colorway River Oat, 2 skeins exactly
Notes: At Rhinebeck this year, I picked out a good bit of O-Wool classic worsted for some hats, and was so excited about it that before we left the festival I swung by their booth again and on an impulse picked up these two skeins of Local. The yarn has this lovely variegated quality to it that goes from thick to thin and back again, but is mostly a worsted weight. When I was looking for the perfect pattern for this yarn, I was looking through my favorite patterns on my Ravelry page, and almost settled on something simpler, woolier. The original Mountain Moss Shawl pattern is knit in a fingering weight with a bit of drape to it, neither of which was true of Local. But for the past few months I've been reading through Jared Floods'old Brooklyn Tweed blog and inspired by his love of lacework knits in chunkier weights, I decided to go for it. While the original pattern calls for US 5 needles, with the worsted weight I moved the needles up to a US 8 and cast on!
This pattern is an awesome mix of simple garter stitch and the challenge of a lace edging, which is a world that I am now so excited to jump into more. The edging is added as you go, binding off and attaching simultaneously, which eliminated a bind off row and any seaming. Genius!
Things got a little hairy towards the end, as my calculations for the yardage weren't exactly, let's say, precise? The whole last foot or so of the edging I was terribly afraid I was going to run out of yarn. In the end, I finished with just two yards to spare! If I ever take it off, I'll see if I can add the final gauge and measurements in case anyone is interested in doing a similar adjustment.
I love this pattern and love this yarn. O-Wool is making it's way to the top of my Christmas list this year for sure.