My mandala shawl

pattern: Vortex Shawl by Kristina McCurley
yarn: Melody by Jojoland, color Y45, 4.5ish balls
needles: size 7 bamboo dpns and size 7 Knitpicks nickel 24" circular
Finished size - 53 inches across

So last year my friend Kristina wrote up a pattern for a shawl she invented. The Vortex Shawl (it is also on Ravelry). I loved it. Hers is gorgeous and I knew I needed to make it. I set aside some dark brown and teal Brooks Farm Acero and then never got around to it.

Last month I was reading a blog of a Ravelry friend from the Battlestar Knitters group and after seeing her BSG (Battlestar Galactica) inspired socks, I decided to go pay attention to the BSG KAL thread. Suddenly I felt that I must. knit. for BSG. (Yes, I am a total geek, apparently.)

I decided the Vortex Shawl was reminiscent of the Eye of Jupiter mandala from the series, so I decided to do it in some Jojoland Melody yarn I had on hand that has the colors from the mandala in it. Sort of. This is more "inspired by" than literal. But doesn't it sort of resemble what a star going nova might look like if you were to ever see one?

I was totally and completely faithful to this shawl except for a dentist appointment I had toward the end when I was doing the picot edging and couldn't easily drop and pick up the shawl pattern. Project monogamy is rare for me. But this pattern was both easy enough to do while watching TV and at Knit Night, light enough to carry to Knit Night, and yet interesting enough to keep me going. It was fun to watch the colors play out, as well.

I wore it to Knit Night last night with a pin that my SIL gave me years ago out of my MIL's jewelry. It was perfect over a tee for the air conditioning chill. The pin is a perfect match and looks great. It's hard to see detail in the picture above, but it is sort of this rainbow-colored iridescent metal sculpture with a few tiny beads hanging from it. One of these days I need to get some real shawl pins, though, as the pin mechanism on a brooch has more chances of getting snagged or of tearing the shawl if i gets caught.

Blocking it was a bit of a challenge, but not very difficult. I just had to be in the right mood. I'm super happy with it and I'm in the mood to knit another shawl...which is good because the One Shawl to Rule Them All group is starting to pick patterns for another KAL. For the last One Shawl KAL, I knit the Woodland Shawl.