A well loved shawl

Ever have a stuffed animal when you were little that was simply loved to death. Well, that's sort of what happened to my Faroese Shawl. I literally wore it everyday during the winter for the last 3 or 4 years as the Faroese style lent itself to staying put on my shoulders no matter what I was doing. Plus, I could crisscross the ends and tie them behind me and have full mobility. Last summer, I even sometimes wore it when I would go for a walk in the evening if it was a little cool. Of course, nothing lasts forever and all of sudden it went from wearing a little thin to worn out.

So, for the first time ever, I knit an exact duplicate. The pattern was from an old Knitter's (K47, I think) and is also in the Best of Shawls and Scarves from XRX. It's knit with Laceweight Icelandic from Schoolhouse Press and size 8 needles. I needed just over 3 skeins of yarn. In fact, when I called SP to order it last year, I only ordered 3 skeins and had to describe the color over the phone. When it arrived, it was slightly darker than the original--probably just a dyelot thing. I knit the shawl in about 2 weeks (because I was cold and the other one wasn't really keeping me warm anymore) so, when I was nearly finished and ran out of yarn, I just sent an e-mail to Meg ordering one more skein figuring they'd still have the same dye lot (and, knowing that my CC# was on file with them and had a current expiration date). Well, a few days later the package arrived, along with a note asking me to send them a check as they had a minimum order amount for charges. It never even entered my mind, but makes perfect sense, and I think it illustrates what really "good people" they are there. Other places might have waited to contact me first and wanted payment before sending the yarn.

I can't wait to start wearing it!