Second Chances

The Ginkgo Shawl is finished! I'm so happy with the way this actually turned out. This is so light and airy, a perfect shawl for summer. The pattern is Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl by Maggi Magali. This shawl was a quick knit that I threw on the needles while I was waiting on more yarn to arrive for another project.


The yarn is Three Irish Girls McClellan Fingering in Georgia Peach. I came across this yarn originally because it had won a contest the Yarn Harlot had facilitated. The photo showed beautiful gradations of yellows, oranges and pinks - I ordered it immediately. Well, as you can see, the yarn I received was much more on the pink side, rather than the orange side. To be honest, I was a little dismayed. Pink is not exactly my favorite color and I don't wear it often. After much deliberation, I decided that it should be knit into socks.


Now, I am not a sock knitter (I feel like I say this all the time), but I decided to make an exception for these Kai-Mei socks by Cookie A. Right about the time I was nearly halfway up the foot, I found a hole in the heel of another pair of socks I'd knit. That was the stopping point for me. What's the point of spending all those hours knitting something, just for it to wear down and be ruined?

So, not liking the sock, and not really liking the yarn, this project got buried for about a year and a half. (Which, relatively speaking, is really not that long of a time.) When I came across the Gingko Shawl, I knew it couldn't be any worse. Why not give the yarn a second chance? I figured at least I'd have a small little something to toss around my neck on cool summer nights. It turned out perfectly :)