Reyna Merry Christmas Down On You

Yes…I know that’s a quirky name. But I like to give my projects quirky names. I mean…there are 3717 Reyna shawls that have been knit on Ravelry but only 1 Reyna Merry Christmas Down On You.

But…getting to my point of this blog post.

IT’S DONE!

Admittedly late, but better late than never I always say.

I started this shawl on December 4, 2016 with plans to have it finished by Christmas. Actually I was hoping to have it done in a couple of weeks because I had other projects that I wanted to do before Christmas. This shawl was a gift for my son’s girlfriend. Well…obviously I didn’t make it. (And I didn’t make it on those other projects either.)

But I REALLY wanted to give this gift to my son’s girlfriend for Christmas. I tried my best to finish it. I really did. Knitting every free moment I had (which wasn’t a lot) right up to the time my son and his girlfriend arrived at our house on Christmas day. But I just couldn’t conceive of giving it to her any other day but Christmas. So…as they were walking in the door I was finishing up a row and then very nonchalantly slipped it into a box and under the tree.

When she opened it there was a moment of confusion on her face. I’m sure she was thinking what is this and I sure hope she’s not expecting me to knit it. But once I explained (and apologized) she totally got it.

Today I’m happy to say the Reyna shawl is finished. Right down to weaving in the ends and blocking.

The actual pattern name is Reyna by Noora Laivola. This was an enjoyable knit. I really liked making this shawl. The pattern was simple but still interesting enough and I love how it turned out.

I knit this shawl in Madeline Tosh Light in the colorway Pecan Hulls using only 1 skein. I still have 2 skeins of this yarn left and I’m so happy I do. I would love to knit myself something in this yarn. This was my first time knitting with this yarn but I loved it. The yarn had a slight varying of thickness and loft which I thought lent an interesting factor to the shawl. And I loved the variation in color. The yarn is super soft too both when I was working with and after I blocked it.

I would definitely knit this pattern again and knit with this yarn again. One thing I would do differently though, if I were to knit this pattern again, is make it larger. Although the shawl is a good size I would have liked it to be just a little bit large. I did omit a few rows in the last mesh section because I didn’t want to break into another skein of yarn. I only had a few rows left and didn’t want to use just a partial skein. But now, having it off the needles I wish I would have added those few rows and maybe even one more mesh section to the shawl.

But overall I am happy with this project and even happier to have it off the needles. My first finished project of 2017. And soon I’ll be sending it off to my son’s girlfriend. I hope she likes it now that she can actually see what it is.