The Fourth and Final Clue

Here we are, at the fourth and final clue of the Lunar Phase Mystery Knitalong.  If you don't want spoilers, you might want to check this out later.  As for the rest of you, I hope you enjoy this project reaching its wholeness at long last!

The layout was one of the things I had the most worry about when it came to this.  I'm not particularly into small shawls, and by the second clue I was beginning to worry that this would be a big circle when it was finished.  I'm sure it would have been pretty that way, but I prefer practicality.  Most circle shawls fall off me quicker than I can put them on.  I am rarely ever sitting completely still (thus a big reason why I knit all the time) so having a shawl that can't handle me bounding around madly is essential.

This layout also reminds me of the triple goddess symbol that looks like this )0( if you're not familiar, and is a symbol that holds a special place in my heart for celebrating nature, femininity, and obviously the moon.

With all my celestial swooning aside, this was probably the most fun clue to knit.  The rows felt like they took forever since I was knitting clear across all of the active stitches, but it was exciting to unite the three pieces.  It was also nice that the night sky yarn was the only one used for this clue, because it mellowed out some of my bright colours a bit, making it something I'm far more likely to wear.  

Plus Larissa Brown included some nice short rows to even out the dips and likely save the knitters some sanity ;) . 

The icing on the cake though, was the 3-stitch i-cord bind off.  I considered not doing it because it would take longer than a standard bind off, but I'm so glad I continued to put my trust in Larissa Brown.  The i-cord bind off is springy, lays perfectly even and flat, and simply looks beautiful.  I fully plan to use it on other projects in the future.

After scrunching this in my hands like a cat for an hour I set up my blocking mat and got to blocking.

Then, much to my surprise, it grew to be twice its size!  I mean, I did my gauge swatch, and it grew, so I was kind of expecting it to grow but seeing it in real life was extraordinary! 

It's for the better it grew too, because now it's truly a proper shawl size and gave the shawl some much needed width.

After working on this and soaking up all of the beautiful pictures of others' shawls, my only sadness is that it isn't autumn yet.  I'm already looking forward to the cooler months when I can sport my shawls, sweaters, and other happy knits.

But I suppose these warm summer months will give me some time to prepare more beautiful knits to wear.

Stay sweet, stay crafty, and stay tuned.