I finished my Kitation shawl over the weekend. This was Casapinka’s pattern for Local Yarn Store Day, free with the purchase of any two skeins of fingering yarn. I was buying two skeins of Malabrigo Ultimate Sock anyway, so I thought, what the heck – let’s use it for this pattern! Well, this shawl felt like it took six months, not one. This was not one of my favorite projects.
I can look at the photos and recognize that it’s attractive, though for me that might be more about the colors than the pattern. So why was I not a fan? I had to carry two yarns throughout, which just got kind of annoying, but it’s not a dealbreaker. The first half of the pattern was almost like a stitch sampler separated by stockinette sections, which I kind of liked – it kept it interesting at least.
Then we got to the second half. It was mostly made up of four big sections that were basically the same: one side of vertical columns made with slipped stitches, one side of horizontal stripes, and each section alternated sides. As a concept, it looks cool. Knitting four sections of it got really boring. Like, REALLY boring. Plus, they recommended going up a needle size because of the slipped stitches, which I totally understand but then it made the stockinette sides looser than the previous stockinette sections. I noticed that more after blocking, and it’s admittedly a minor thing that I probably just noticed because I was already irked.
And then, after getting through all those boring sections, I made it to the “Garter Border”. Yay, the border, that shouldn’t be too long, right? Haha, wrong! The side to the right of the CDD had to go from 38 stitches down to 2 stitches, with one decrease every other row. I’ll let you do the math (mostly to prevent embarrassing myself in case I do the math wrong). Suffice to say, it was a much longer section than I expected a “border” to be and I was already so ready to be done with this shawl!
Finally! It was done, I blocked the sucker – which was its own challenge thanks to the unusual shape – and tried it on, both on myself and my mannequin. It was … meh. It’s awkward to style, because one side is so much longer than the other.
Now I’ve got a stupid shawl I probably won’t wear, so it will go in a bag of donation shawls for when I figure out where to donate shawls.
Oh, the pattern? Yeah, it’s apparently only available on Ravelry, even though Casapinka has a Payhip page. So if you can use Ravelry, and you’re still interested in this pattern, here’s the link.
I feel like such a grump with this post, but not all patterns are for all people. Who knows, one of you might love this design. And tomorrow is a new month and I have FOUR new projects all ready to cast on, whee!
bonnyknits 
I hate it when I don’t like a finished project. It doesn’t happen often, but I’d say either donate it or frog it and make something else with that yarn?
I definitely will – just not sure which yet! I think it’s too early to frog – I need to give myself some time so I’m not bitter about the time I spent!
Oh but it’s so beautiful! That’s one of my favourite colour combinations ♡
On the plus side, it was a free pattern so at least you didn’t spend all that time AND some money on it.
Thank you! I do love the color combo, so maybe the pattern will grow on me in time.
I have come to the conclusion that while I find those oddly elongated triangular shawls interesting to look at, I don’t enjoy wearing them AT ALL and therefore probably won’t knit (m)any more. Really too bad because the colors are fun – and you’d like to spend all that time on something you’d actually want to keep!
Exactly!! Me too! It’s like those Find Your Fade shawls – I’ll do my fading in some other shape!
I hope you are over the grumps. It’s a public service to tell the knitting public the down side and the up side while evaluating a pattern. Maybe you can gift your Casapinka shawl? That’s what I do with my extra shawls and scarves.
I would definitely gift it if I knew someone who would like it! Maybe I’ll hang onto it in case I think of the right person.
It is really pretty, but I can also see where it would be annoying to knit. And I’ve made shawls in that shape before, and can agree that they are awkward to wear. (It means there are now shawls I love the look of but won’t knit because they are this shape and I won’t wear them.) At least you can donate it and hopefully it will make someone’s day!
Yes, I’ve definitely identified the shawl shapes I like to wear and this only reaffirmed that!
Good to have that confirmation! 🙂
If you like the yarns, I’d frog it and reuse the yarns. I’m so happy I just did that with a shrug I didn’t really like.
You know, that didn’t even occur to me before now, even though I’ve done it before! I think I’ll need to wait awhile to do that, though, so I’m not bitter about all the time I spent on this one!
Last year I was knitting a shawl with yarn that I just loved, but about halfway through I realized I wasn’t liking the shape of the pattern or the way the colors were changing. I set the shawl aside for a few months, but when I pulled it back out the same things bugged me about it, so I frogged it. (Kinda fun, actually) I’m glad I decided to to do that because shortly after I used some of the yarn in a different project that turned out to be functional AND pretty. Win-win!
Oh yay, happy ending! I’ll let it hang around a while. I may end up frogging it in the future!
I’m so sorry it was irritating to knit! But thank you for the honest review of the pattern 🙂
So relatable! I have a shawl I’ve knit TWICE (frogged and remade it) and never got the shape right. Must be an error I’m making but I shan’t be trying again. It’s hanging in plain sight in the house in the hope that someone who visits will express an interest and I can send it home with them…
Haha, I love that idea! I should take it to work and drape it over my chair and see if I can get a taker that way.
Definitely! Or it can just become the office shawl and if you leave you can gift it to your colleagues…