Just a sip, please

I had a lot of knitting projects close to finished, and this last week I managed to wrap up three of them! It feels good to liberate some of my needles.

Today I'll write about my Absinthe shawl, a semicircular beauty that is about 45" wide and 20" long. I used 2 skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino in Dill and a little bit of leftover Pradera for the edging. It took me one month to the day to complete, working on and off.

I love the green color. I originally went to the yarn store looking for gray, but came home with Dill instead. The bright minty green was calling me from the shelves. The silky sheen of the yarn makes this shawl pretty fancy, but I think the colors keep it casual.

If I use this pattern again (and I would, it's great), I would actually try using a heavier yarn. It's kind of floaty in this yarn, which is fine but I was hoping for something more substantial. I'm also not sure how I only used 300 yards of yarn when someone else using this exact yarn used 450. Do i knit that much tighter? Oh well, I still like what I have, it just wasn't what I expected. And I have a whole skein of green yarn left to use on another project.

The pattern was Dinner at the Eiffel Tower, and the lacework panels really do turn out looking like the struts on the famous Parisian landmark. Alas, when we went to Paris we didn't have dinner there, but I certainly can imagine sporting this around my neck while strolling down the Champs de Mars. I also did not notice the subtle color variations in the green before taking the picture below, but it is really quite a lovely effect.

When I first wrote about this shawl I said it reminded me of Moulin Rouge, and it still does. The green absinthe fairy mixed with a splash of the Parisian rooftops at night. Vive la France!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday with this yarny finish.