Charmayne

Charmayne

Charmayne, as you can see, is a heavily beaded shawl.  The free pattern comes from “Knitty” and you can find it HERE:  http://knitty.com/ISSUEss18/PATTcharmayne/PATTcharmayne.php

The pattern instructions specify you can make a small or a larger version of the shawl; I made the small version based upon the amount of yarn I had.  My skein of yarn was 100 grams; I had 15 grams remaining after finishing the shawl.  The yarn I used is hand dyed and comes from Andromeda Sock Yarn.  The yarn’s maker is from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and she sells yarn on line and also at my LYS (Yarned & Dangerous, Canon City, Colorado).  The yarn’s color way is “Take a Hike”.

Some completed projects are easier to photograph than others.  I feel as if this was a challenging project to capture in photos.  I am including a bunch of photos so you can see the shawl from a variety of angles.  

If you are interested to know, I think I used about 50 grams of beads in this project.  The beads are Unions 6/0 Miyuki beads and the color is Metallic Mix (01610).  When I started the project, I only had one tube of beads (20 grams).  As I was knitting along, it occurred to me that I did not have nearly enough beads.  After searching for a good long while, I found two more tubes of the same beads on eBay.  Phew... what a relief!

This was a super fun knit. The shawl starts with just a few stitches and grows from there.  As you knit along and the project grows wider and wider, you are pretty much just working in stockinette and then you pay close attention to one edge of the project where the lace and beads are being worked.  At the very end, when the project is quite wide, you complete the final lace border which contains gobs of beads.  I have to admit I was dreading the lace border. I was worried it would be fussy and slow and too labor intensive.  As it turns out, the lace border was not that slow and it was fun.  This is such an enjoyable knit that I can see myself making another Charmayne shawl.