Hyrna Herborgar complete

I've discovered two good things about the Icelandic laceweight singles. It is strong and it is colorfast. It is very rare to come across as deep an amethyst as this and have only the faintest lavender washout. The color really is beautiful, and the shawl did soften a bit with washing. I used a gentle shampoo and a tiny bit of leave-in conditioner. The yarn definitely felt as if it had sizing in it. I'm going to use the leftover yarn to knit facecloths -- the stuff will definitely be superb for exfoliation!

Unwashed, HH was 30" across the hypotenuse and 19" deep at the center. I blocked it to 60" by 30". I debated whether to block it in a U the way Jackie E-S did, but DD is at her grandparents' for the weekend and I was just barely able to block the shawl on her twin bed as a proper triangle. DH is pretty good about sleeping on the couch when there's a shawl blocking on the bed, but it seemed silly. If DD doesn't like the way it feels, I can block it as a U instead.

The final weight was 115 grams. With the extra three repeats I added to section A, which resulted in 11 fans instead of the original 9, the total stitch count was about 37,700 stitches. If I hadn't been knitting this shawl at the same time as taxes and eye surgery and a few other bumps in the road, it would have been an easy 2-week project. The pattern is so logical and pleasant to knit! It reminds me of playing a Haydn piano concerto: the notes fit under a person's hands and the structure is quickly memorized.

I will definitely knit this pattern again, and I'm not generally a repeater, but I will use NICE yarn, something that doesn't smooth all the roughness from my hands! Margene and Claudia, I will zap you guys the file when I've read through it again and added a few notes. I've been snowed under with work this last month -- sorry about the delay. Please keep in mind it's a draft!

Here are some snaps of one of the more interesting old roses in the yard. It's always the first to bloom and starts as a deep butterscotch and finishes as a lilac-tinted khaki. The flowers can reach 6" across and have a strong raspberry-apple scent.