I did another full width (100 stitches) knitting project on my “incredible sweater machine”. I wanted to make a shawl with random purple stripes, and originally intended it to be 65” long and calculated it needed 350 rows of knitting.

I tracked the hours I spent at the knitting machine using a row counter app (Knitting Chart), and when I bound off I had put in 8 hours to make 350 rows, which is much faster than I hand knit. I also had better focus, this project on regular needles would have sat for long periods of time. I did put in a rib every four stitches, and hooking up the perl ladders did slow down the process, but it was worth the time to have the shawl lay flatter and add interest to both sides.

I wove in the ends my favorite way with knit: at an angle on the perl side.

The cotton yarn knit tighter than my acrylic gauge swatch, so I didn’t make it to my desired length. I decided to crochet along the edges, a half double crochet stitch every other knit stitch, then added shell lace to the ends.

I steam blocked the shawl using a steamer and ironing board, which really helped even out the stitches and relax the curl.