Drachenfels Shawl No. 3

My third revisit to the Drachenfels pattern was to knit a replacement for Drachenfels Shawl No. 1 which was destroyed in my sister’s house fire.

It was a gift for Pip but took me 28 months to complete after she had chosen the yarns that she liked.

We chose the Malabrigo Sock Rayon Vert 854 for Colour A and Malabrigo Sock Eggplant 811 for Colour C very quickly and liked how they worked together. It was a bit more difficult to choose the yarn for Colour B. My first swatch used a hand-dyed Merino Silk in a Golden Wheat colour.

I liked the colour combinations but I wasn’t convinced that the colour combinations worked well together. When I did the swatch using Cranberry Blush Pip liked it much better and said she would wear the shawl more with the more harmonious colour combination rather than the contrasting one.

The finished Drachenfels shawl is probably the version with the most slinkiness and drape. Malabrigo Sock and Merino Silk 4ply work wonderfully well together.

Although I took 28 months to knit the shawl I wasn’t constantly knitting the shawl. I have a horrible habit of finding new knitting inspiration or seeing a newly released book or pattern and I am immediately drawn into casting on a new project. Often, when I knit a pattern for a second time, I find that it doesn’t hold my attention in the way that knitting it for the first time does.

However, I must admit, I really love having several projects on the go at the same time. I find it helps me to have completely different projects that I can pick up depending on my mood on the day. At any one time, I always have a few socks, a couple of Sasha doll projects, a couple of sweaters and at least one blanket on the needles at any one time.  Plus I like to have yarn in project bags in readiness for the next project I want to start.