Daybreak Hand Knit Shawl FO

It's only taken me six months to be able to say this, but ... I've finished my Daybreak Shawl ... Yay :)

I had a serious case of inertia with this project, and had to put it down on several occasions, but I did really enjoy this knit and am thrilled with the result ... I just got a little distracted with other projects along the way.

It all started with the idea to do a knit-along with some Instagram buddies.

I had been admiring this pattern on Ravelry for quite some time, and felt like I was ready to tackle it.

Being Autumn when I started the project, I decided on a sympathetic colourway with Ochre (a mustardy-yellow) and Cordovan (a rich dark chocolate) Malabrigo Sock Yarn.

And so I cast on ...

As with all shawls, I do love how the first handful of rows knit up really quickly, and then with frequent increases, they begin to lengthen ... especially with sock weight yarn. And so with this pattern I eagerly looked forward to being able to add my second colour.

It was really exciting to begin the stripes as I could then see the pattern start to take shape.

I became side-tracked quite a bit by other faster projects with bigger needles and chunkier yarn. Inertia sometimes happens when I'm faced with a project that doesn't grow quite quickly enough.

Picking it up and putting it back down again over the next few months, I made one last concerted effort to finish and gave myself a stint of a good few nights in a row ... and here it is, freshly off the needles and awaiting its first bath ...

And on to some VERY satisfying blocking ...

And then the utterly gratifying first trying on session, where all the blood sweat and tears were forgotten (okay, okay, I'm exaggerating a bit now).

And I must say I'm over the moon with my new hand-knitted shawl. It is a beautiful and striking pattern and I'm really pleased with my yarn and colour choice. I missed the boat to make the shawl in time for Autumn 2012, but will be wearing it with pride when the colder weather returns in September 2013.