Sugary Confection Multnomah

As you can see, I am diligently working on my shawl.  This yarn is my merino/silk hand painted yarn in Sugary Confection.  I love how well it is knitting up.  I started knitting this shawl with my Addi turbo clicks and then I was in the local JoAnn's and saw Susan Bates Silvalume knitting needles.  I have no idea what thought struck me but, I picked them up.  I think it must have been because I absolutely adore Susan Bates crochet hooks.  They are my go to hook when I am crocheting.  I also use them for picking up stitches on socks. 

I am using size 4 US needles.  I love these needles, this particular yarn slides so well on them.  They also have a nice point.  The join where the cable and needle meets is smooth.  No sticking and since it is fixed, I find myself happily knitting with them.  If you can't afford Addi turbos there is an alternative needle out there for you.  The Susan Bates needles will work just as well as Addi turbos.  No problems with working the lace on this pair of needles since the points are nice.  They get under those tricky stitches with ease. 

My yarn is my favorite sock yarn, the merino/silk hand paint.  I love how well it stlides on the needles and it is a simple joy to work with them.  I even have printed out several more shawl patterns to knit with merino/silk sock and also merino/silk lace.  I have some gorgeous red merino/silk lace that I have been wanting to work with for a while. 

I am on repeat 4 of the lace work on this shawl.  If you want a shawl that really doesn't have many purl stitches, then this is the shawl for you.  I had finished the green one I was working on and decided I really needed to cast on for another shawl, one without so much purl stitches in it.  This is the shawl that I chose and several ladies in the sock group are actually knitting this particular shawl.  The smaller shawls are truly wonderful to wear as scarves.  I wrap my green one around my neck and go.  I love how soft it is and how light weight it is as well.  No heavy scarf to deal with.  I really don't like bulky items weighing me down. 

I personally didn't swatch for this shawl.  I just started knitting and chose to use my size US 4 needles.  The pattern calls for US 3's.  Too small in my honest opinion and since my US 3's have other projects on them, I decided to go up for this one and it is working out quite nicely.