Habu Spring Shawl

A couple of you remember my obsession with this Habu Spring shawl.  I looked at it online literally for years, inhibited by the $180 price tag.  Somehow I separately acquired the Shosenshi paper linen yarn and the cashmere required for the shawl, and the pattern itself.  When I started knitting it, I discovered that I didn't have enough cashmere and that the color I was using was discontinued.  I couldn't find it anywhere, or any substitutes that even remotely matched it.  I also discovered that I couldn't achieve gauge. 

Jump ahead to Winter 2011 - I found the shawl on eBay for half the price!  But by now, I had already bought enough yarn equal to the cost of the kit.  I should have just bought it in the first place.

Anyway, I'm happy to have it.  But I'm still not getting gauge in width or length, no matter what I do.  Given that it is a rectangular shaped garment, the width isn't as important as length.  You see, the leafy panels and stockinette panels are knit separately, then attached by picking up stitches on the edges lengthwise, then joined by a three needle bind off.  The knitter should begin first by stringing 121 beads on the yarn used for the bind off, then holding the right side  of the pieces on the outside and the wrong side in the middle, bind off, which hides the "wrong side" seam. The beads should be slipped between the stitches.

Still with me?

I barely have the patience to write about it, let alone do it.  And besides, as I've said, I can't knit the correct gauge for one piece, let alone matching gauge so that the joined pieces aren't skewed.  Frankly, cutting and rejoining The Coat was easier.  So.  The plan is to join the panels with hand-sewn chain stitch, picking up the beads as I go along.  Fingers crossed.

I still expect the unexpected with this shawl.  Stay tuned.