Oh Bother - Update

Remember this yarn?

 Well, I competed my test knit (with a few days to spare too!). My felted joins all held up to the stresses of knitting, adding the beads and the wet blocking process. I was quite impressed as I was concerned that one or more would fail during the blocking process and leave a nasty hole in the shawl. So the finished shawl looks like this:

I am really pleased with the results. The yarn seems strong, the colours blend well right through to the almost electric blue that came through during the bind-off and the beads have added sparkle just where I wanted it. The designer likes it too. This is one of those designs that is easy to knit and gives a very "wow" finish. Even though everything worked out well this time, next time I want to knit a gradient shawl, I will look around for one that is already dyed that way and ready to knit with. The only stress then is making sure that you don't run out of yarn before the end of the bind-off.

Coming tomorrow - that promised post on what test knitting is anyway....