I finished my Cherish shrug over the weekend using the Tahki Baby yarn I found on eBay. I have to say, this was the most rewarding eBay experience I have ever had. Without going into too much detail, I find eBay purchases aggravating for a number of reasons and I pretty much stopped using it. When it comes to yarn, overly competitive bidding makes me want to go elsewhere. Nickle and dime-ing stuff seems petty. And that scratches the surface of my past issues with eBay.
Anyway, the gal (or guy, I have no idea) who sold me the long-since-discontinued yarn is clearly an angel. First, they miraculously had what I needed. Second, they shipped it the day I bought it and I got a ship confirmation via email. Third, it was exactly what I thought it would be - no seconds or partials. And it was a perfect color match! Last, I got the shipment in 2 days. Way to go USPS.
But here's the punch line. I accidentally felted it. I put the shrug in the washer on gentle with the intention of removing it after 2 minutes and hand rinsing it. But I forgot about it. Even on the handwash cycle, parts of it felted. It looked great and fit great before this. Poop.
I knit this on 15's rather than 17's and I am pretty sure I got gauge (until the felting). The needles were Lantern Moon and are simply the best needles I have ever used.
I would make this again because it was fast and cute. The sewing up part was slow but not too tricky. I would make the arm circumference a little larger too. But that's because of my arms not a problem with the pattern. My picots look a little large too but I could probably fix that the next go round. Actually, looking at this further, I think I screwed up the sleeves too. I may have too many of the rows of garter stitch and picots. It is still cute. The color in the picture below is bad because my living room is poorly lit. But the picture above shows the truly awesome pink-ness of great yarn.
