In December, I signed up for the 10 shawls in 2010 challenge. The challenge is to knit 10 shawls over the course of the year, all of which must use more than 250 meters of yarn, and two of which must be over 500 meters. As I mentioned in an earliar post, this won’t be much of a challenge for me, so I am treating it as a knit-a-long. In fact, I finished my first shawl in 11 days (granted, they were 11 unemployed days).

Pattern: Aeolian Shawl by Elizabeth Freeman (rav link)

Yarn: Malabrigo Lace Merino in Azul Bolito; 430 yds

Mods: I cast off with only one strand, instead of two

Start/End date: January 1-January 11

I am enamoured with this shawl. It is the perfect match of pattern and yarn, and the results are absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself. The Malabrigo lace is an interesting yarn to work with. I didn’t find it to be the easiest yarn to tink (and the was a lot of tinking since I didn’t use lifelines), BUT it is so soft and the color is so stunning, it was easily forgiven. I wish I could capture the intense blue of this yarn, but I’ve given up.

The forms and shapes in this pattern are unbelievably beautiful. They definitely captured the art lover in me, particularly these lines (a single stitch surrounded by yarn overs) that end in dots (nupps). There are a lot of lines in the design and a lot of dots, and it combination is lovely and abstract.

I think that this shawl is an excellent start to the year. It’s going to be a year of chaellenges and pushing myself, between the 10 shawls 2010, 10 pairs of socks 2010, and the ravelympics! Guess I need to start knitting faster!