Okay, so I’ve been working on this shawl pattern, using the new (as yet not-officially-named) fingering yarn, 80% superwash Merino/20% Silk, 430 yards.

A client asked for “Dusty Rose” and it took 3 tries to get it ‘dusty’ enough.  The first two were nearly alike, one only slightly more saturated than the other, but neither was right for the client.  So I kept these aside for myself to see how they work up.

I started with a familiar and simple pattern:  My Boxy-Boxes shawl from several years ago (originally done in sock yarn):

and I just now realized on the original that the big squares are 5 boxes wide and tall, and I’m doing this current one with squares just 3 boxes wide and tall.  Oh well, whatever.

I started the shawl with the light of the two rose balls, realizing that when I run out and tried to change balls there would be a clear difference.  So when I near the end of this ball, I will end the current direction of my work, and use a contrast color around the bottom portions.

I took the second rose ball and over dyed it with electric purple (you can see a hint of the rose in the picture), and also dyed a sky blue and a teal.  And I’m not sure I like any of my options, but I’m going to leave this here and see which ones you think would work — the purple, the blue, or the teal?   Or some combination of them?  Keep in mind the contrast color will form the bottom “V” border, and perhaps a row or two across the top.  And I will be using a different stitch pattern, yet to be determined.

Or should I just go back to the drawing board and dye up another ball or two of really richly saturated Dusty Rose to make the border just a darker shade of the main field color?

The first pic is the flash, the second shot is overcast daylight without flash.

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