Finished: Wingspan

O.M.G. Y'ALL!
I finished my Wingspan by Kyle Vey!  I can't believe it only took 2 months.  I thought for sure this project would be on my needles for way longer. 
It's a really beautiful pattern and even more beautiful yarn. 
You can read my two previous blog posts about Wingspan here (scroll to the bottom) and here. I give lots of thoughts and opinions in these two posts.

As a reminder, I used Hypnotic Yarn's Seahorse Party.  I loved this yarn as soon as Cheryl put it up for sale and I HAD to have it.

Ok, let's go through the pattern.

First, there is nothing specifically hard about this pattern.  As with anything, it is helpful if you are familiar with knitting shawls and have done most of the techniques in the pattern.  I discuss the techniques involved in my first blog post.  I would not advise a novice to jump into this project.  But an advanced and determined beginner would definitely be able to handle it. I'm no more than an intermediate knitter.  There are a lot of techniques I have never tried and I didn't have any issues with this pattern.

You get into a rhythm with each set of feathers to the point that you don't really need to look at the pattern.  The most difficult part of the pattern was the in between feather sections that you need to read stitch by stitch on the pattern instructions to make sure you set up the next feather set correctly.  Luckily, these in between sections aren't too many rows. And maybe difficult isn't the right word.  It's more tedious than hard.

I mentioned in my previous blog post about an issue with the slipped stitches in conjunction with a decrease.  The correct decrease stitch (K2tog or SSK) were in the correct place as for the right/left slant, but I believe the location of the slipped stitches were incorrect so when the decrease as called for was done, it twisted the two stitches so the non-slipped stitch was on top.  Instead of correcting the slipped stitch location, I just did the opposite decrease stitch so the slipped stitch would be on top. I took a picture of this on my previous blog post so you can see the difference.  I continued this change through out the entire pattern and through the cabling decreases at the tips of the feathers as well.  This is obviously personal preference, but to be 100% honest, I was a bit aggravated.

I'd like to make an observation regarding the yarn requirement.  The pattern calls for 200 grams/800 yards.  However, before binding off, there is a note in the pattern that says you need 34 grams of yarn to complete the last feather extension and to bind off but if you have less than 34 grams of yarn left, then you can skip the last feather extension and go straight to binding off.  I weighed my yarn at this point and I only had 32 grams of yarn so I skipped the last feather extension and started binding off. I had exactly 800 yards of yarn between my two skeins.  Because of this note in the pattern and the fact I was not going to have enough yarn, leads me to believe 800 yards is not enough to actually complete the shawl without having to skip that section.  You really need just over 800 yards.  No, it's not THAT big of a deal, it's only a shawl.  But there is no indication before purchasing the pattern that you might need more than 800 yards or that 800 yards will be a REALLY TIGHT SQUEEZE.  After binding off, I weighed my yarn and had 9 grams left, probably not enough to have completed the last (and skipped) feather extension.  I was just a bit annoyed, that is all.  Not annoyed enough to never knit the pattern again and definitely not annoyed enough to not recommend the pattern. It is an absolutely ingenious and gorgeous pattern.

Last note on the pattern.  I think I will add a loop and button at the front neckband or some kind of closure so the neck will stay in place, especially if the wings are worn in a cape like fashion-and they most definitely should be!

What do you think about the Wingspan pattern?
Until, next time, happy crafting!
-brianne