Miss Marple and Me

I've always thought that if I ever become an old woman, I'll be just like Miss Marple. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but I'm preparing for that by knitting things that Miss Marple might knit. In one of her mysteries, she is described as knitting on a shawl (this is what baby blankets were called in her era), pink and fluffy. Well, my shawl isn't pink or fluffy and its not a baby blanket, but it is Miss Marple's Shawl from the great historical knitting edition of Piecework Magazine of last year.



It has only taken me a year to complete this project! I began on July 23, 2011 and finished on June 23 of 2012.It is 65 inches square.



I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Marine Silk lightweight in the Lodestone colourway, a delicate pale green like spring leaves. In some of my photos it looks olive green, but that is - I think - because I have those old style lightbulbs that give everything a yellowish cast. This yarn is beautiful to work with and I think I'm going to make a delicate vintage blouse with my leftover skein. Miss Marple's Shawl took a little over 3 skeins on size 5 needles.

This picture is more accurate for colour:





I had to write out the pattern line by line in a multi-page table to keep track of the hundreds of rows. It was good though - no mistakes and no back-tracking! I just checked off the repeat sections as I completed them and carried on.

I love that I can use it on the bed as a lightweight blanket, or fold it in half and throw it around my shoulders for a triangle shawl when I'm reading in bed. I may never do another full size blanket in lightweight-almost-laceweight yarn again, but I'll treasure my Miss Marple's Shawl until I become Miss Marple myself.