Walden, Linda, and Ellen have been busily knitting away on test versions of the spiral shawl, and I’m thrilled to say that it’s finally ready!

It’s been so much fun watching the test knits develop, and especially seeing the effects of different yarns. I often want to knit the same design over and over to see how it would look in different yarns and different colors, but I usually get sidetracked before it gets done. This time, I’ve gotten to follow along with the making of three very different versions:

Linda knit her shawl in hand dyed Knit Picks lace, in a beautiful blue color highlighted with areas of lighter turquoise. Here it is relaxing on the deck of her boat – doesn’t it look like ripples in the surface of the water?

Ellen took a different tack, using a more variegated yarn (Findley Dappled Laceweight by Juniper Moon). Here’s hers all stretched out for blocking. The way the colors play together looks like woodgrain to me.

Walden’s version (in Beehive Scotch Fingering) really highlights the shawl geometry. The different color stripes really pop out, and I love the detail of using one row of each color right at the cast off edge, too.

You can also see how differences in the blocking can alter the final shape of the shawl by comparing Ellen and Walden’s shawls. The pentagon shape is really pronounced in Walden’s version, where Ellen’s has much more gentle curves.

Either way, all the versions seem to fit the models quite well, don’t you think?

You can go check out their blogs (linked above) for more photos, too.

Thanks again, ladies, for your careful test knitting!

The basic tech specs (and photos of my finished shawl) are available on my pattern page, along with a link to purchase a pdf of the pattern through Ravelry if you’d like to see what this design will do with your own yarn.