Flower Basket Shawl The Third!

I can't get away from the Flower Basket Shawl pattern, apparently!

This is my VERY belated Christmas present for my grandmother. My grandmother unfortunately got the short end of the stick when it came to Christmas presents, because once I managed to finish everyone else's presents, I had to start work on the Chairman's birthday present and GPG's Valentine's Day socks, which took an interminably long time to knit. It was only after mid-February that I was really able to make any progress on the shawl.

But I love the way it turned out:


(Please forgive the awkward position in the photo. The only clear wall in the apartment is behind the bed, so I was kneeling on the bed while GPG took the picture!)

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl, of course
Needles: Inox 24" circulars, US 6
Yarn: Fleece Artist merino sock yarn, "Ivory"
Recipient: My grandmother


I was very, very pleased with the Fleece Artist I used. My aunt, who takes care of my grandmother, suggested a neutral sort of color for my grandmother, so I spent a long time last year looking for some kind of white or near-white yarn that wasn't totally white. I didn't want to be utterly bored with the knitting, you know? I didn't want just plain white yarn. But finding hand-painted, white-toned yarn was quite a challenge! Nothing really seemed suitable until I found this Ivory yarn from Fleece Artist.

It's impossible to see in the picture, but in real life the yarn has really beautiful, subtle variegation that changes from cream to gold to silver and back. It's perfect.


And, lucky for me, I still have a whole other skein! I ordered two, just in case, but managed to use up all of just one. I'm thinking about using the other skein for some nice patterned socks, like Pomatomus or Monkey. The variegation is subtle enough that a pattern will really come through.

I can't say enough good things about the Flower Basket pattern. I've knit it three times partly because for a while it was the only shawl pattern I had, but now that I've also knit the Diamond Fantasy pattern for comparison, I appreciate the genius of the Flower Basket much better now. The pattern is really simple, and easily memorizable once you get the hang of it, but it's so beautiful! And I've also decided that I much prefer the flowing, curvy lines of the Flower Basket to the straight, geometric lines of the Diamond Fantasy. I'll seek out new shawl patterns eventually, especially because I have LOTS of silk yarn from Japan, but I'm very happy with the Flower Basket.