When I first started knitting, I obviously had no idea what I was doing. How the heck am I supposed to make anything out of two pointy sticks and a piece of string? But I was determined. I knew long ago that I wanted to learn how to knit, but I had no one to teach me how. Thank goodness for the internet!

Soon after I was knitting, mostly dishcloths and smaller items until I discovered socks and shawls. Socks is for another day but today is all about shawls. This particular one, in fact. It’s finished, and I could not be happier. Note: due to bad indoor lighting the colours are not the same in the photos to follow. The true colour of the shawl is captured in the modeled shots.


Presenting my very first Ishbel. It’s a lace shawl with a stockinette body designed by Ysolda Teague. She is a brilliant, young designer from Scotland whose designs are so simple and easy to understand.

And here she is, all 450 yards of her. I used to not like those Ishbels with smaller body and deeper lace sections, but I love the way mine turned out. Susan from Athens (hi!) commented on how she loved the depth of the lace. I love it too, Susan, thanks! I modified my shawl by adding 48 more stitches to the stockinette body before starting the lace sections. I then did 3 repeats of the AB sections followed by ACDE.

The beauty of larger shawls is that you can wear them as intended, as a shawl. The yarn I used has amazing drape so you can wrap yourself in the shawl and keep warm. Sundara Yarn’s Fingering Silky Merino has got to be one of the best there is, and of course you have heard me go on and on about Sundara’s colours, but it is true. The complexity of this colourway is stunning. I hope I did it justice. Oh and Sundara has a sale going on right now for the FSM base, go now.

And yes, you can wear it scrunched up as a scarf. This will keep you warm indoors during summer when the AC tends to be cranked way down to nearly freezing. Either way, shawl or scarf, I think the colours of this shawl will stand out.

Even though this project took me a long time to finish, thanks to the holidays, moving house and just general busy-ness, I loved every minute of working on it. Definitely not my last Ishbel! I have way too many yarns in my stash that are perfect for this. There is also a beret version of the design so that’s another possibility.

Project: God’s Promise – which is apparently what the name ‘Ishbel’ means (Raveled!)
Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino
Colourway: Tuscan Rose over Lemon
Needle: 4mm
Cast on: 29 Nov 2010
Cast off: 20 May 2011
Notes: Final blocked dimensions 26.5″ down the centre and 68″ wingspan