Marveng’s Milanese Shawl: Road Trip Project

Picture from TO RETT EN VRANG – DESIGNSTRIKK (Publisher: Cappelen Damm)

When I saw Linda Marveng’s Milanese Shawl in her May 11 post, my fingers itched to knit it.  (The pattern is available both in her book TO RETT EN VRANG and at Ravelry.  I had a long road trip coming up, I rationalized, and this would be the perfect project to bring.

Earlier I knit one of Linda’s designs (which I will share once I wash and block it).  Not only do her patterns evidence careful attention to detail, but her designs make sophisticated garments that are equally at home with a pair of jeans or the favorite outfit you put on when you need a bit of a boost.  🙂

Committed to knitting the Milanese Shawl and ignoring my nearly overflowing large chest stuffed with skeins of wonderful yarns, the next day I ordered 3 skeins of Anzula’s “Cloud” (100g=575y=525m).  Cloud is 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon.  I find the blend curious.

When a wool is chemically treated to be superwash, the wool is weakened, which may explain the 10% nylon in “Cloud.”  I would have gone with an 80/20 or 90/10 blend of merino and cashmere.  Perhaps the makers wanted this yarn to be used for socks, but then why not leave out the cashmere (a soft fiber) and instead use an 80/20 or 90/10 blend of merino and nylon?

I knit a swatch and had to go down a needle size to get the gauge.  (I was not surprised, as that is common with me.)   I cast on and started knitting the Milanese Shawl on a size US1.  (The swatch looked fine knit up on a US2 – and this is a shawl so the difference isn’t critical – but I don’t want to run out of this rather pricey yarn.)

Today I leave to attend the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon.  On the way up (north), we will be driving by Ashland, Oregon, home of one of my favorite fiber stores, The Websters … which, coincidentally, happens to have an amazing button collection.  And the Milanese Shawl needs 8 buttons.  Hmmm.