Darn you, Stephen West!

He did it again! Every year there’s a shawl mystery knit-along. And every year I try to resist. But Mr. Westknits always charms me in. This fourth year it is even worse, I don’t even remember reading the description of the shawl before buying the pattern!
And all because he recommended Madelinetosh for this. I just finished a shawl in their quality Tosh Merino Light (or TML for short) and it’s heavenly! Seriously, I totally understand what the craze is about concerning this yarn. The colours have incredible depth, it is soft, shines like it would contain silk and almost knits itself. What more could you want?


The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak – I just couldn’t resist the madelinetosh. Especially since my LYS Wollschmiede got their newest madelinetosh order in on Saturday. There were so many beautiful colours! They had 77 of the current 220 colours in stock. Due to the onslaught of the MKAL yesterday some were already sold out, although their shop is closed on Mondays!
Anyway, my original intention was to buy the El Greco/Neon Peach/Reindeer/Antler combo that Penelope Craft sold here. But when I saw the colour combo in person it was certainly lovely… but not for me. The Reindeer colourway was too close to my skin tone and would have made me look pale.

In the end I went with this combination:

madelinetosh TML
Top to bottom: Victorian gothic, Silver fox, Neon peach and Whiskers (click to enlarge)

Not something I would’ve normally chosen, especially not if I had just seen photos on the Internet. But the shop owner was really helpful and counselled me well. I think I was a tough nut to crack because I desperately wanted to use that Neon peach ever since I saw this project by Jettshin on Ravelry. It was just love at first sight. Finding some corresponding neutrals which were to my taste was the hard thing to do. I’m really happy with my choice now, thanks to the girls at Wollschmiede.

Now I can’t wait for the KAL to start! Are you excited as well?

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