I’m pretty sure I went ga-ga over the French Cancan shawl (designed by Mademoiselle C) from the moment I first saw it sometime in 2013.
Photo copyright SusanneS-vV. Click for pattern page.
The simple, semi-circular garter stitch body paired with a gorgeous lace and cable edging is right up my alley, style-wise. Plus, it’s written for DK weight yarn, which will make a moderately quick and quite snuggly shawl. I coveted it fiercely… but I waited. I had other things to knit, and I needed the right yarn anyway.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Yaksi DK, colorway Shoqua.
Then last Christmas (over a year ago?!) my darling Fiasco gave me two skeins of the incredible Yaksi yarn from BMFA. It’s a DK weight blend of 60% Merino wool, 20% yak, and 20% silk, and it really is heavenly. (Yak, by the way, is quickly becoming one of my favorite fibers.) I don’t believe Blue Moon carries the DK weight anymore, but they do have it in fingering and you can still get some of the DK at Eat.Sleep.Knit. I knew the yarn would be perfect for the pattern and still, I waited. So many WIPs, so little time, and all that jazz… but I just couldn’t wait any more.
If this is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Somehow, I’ve interpreted ‘I’m nearly done with my vest’ as ‘I’ve finished a project, I can cast on a new one!’ Clearly, my brain operates with some sort of WIP preservation mechanism in place to prevent me from ever finishing anything and to keep my number of ongoing projects ridiculously high… Oh well. The yarn is making a gorgeous fabric and the garter stitch is nice and soothing so it certainly feels worth it.
How do you justify your startitis? Are you a dedicated knitter or hopelessly distract-able?
Woolen Diversions 
Ooooooooh so pretty…. I deeply covet this shawl also.
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You will love this knit. Loved it so much I am doing it twice, but only because I messed up on the needle size and had to rip out an almost completed shawl! LOL. I am a middle of the road. Don’t start a lot at one time, but like to have more than one item going. I usually cap it at 3. But now, let’s not talk about the perpetual WIPs that may never see the light of FO.
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HA. WIP Preservation mechanism… that’s pretty funny. And true. 😀 This is a beautiful pattern. It’s going to be gorgeous when you finish.
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It’s a beautiful shawl. For whatever reason cables scare me and I avoid them. I do miss out on allot of nice patterns though.
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I jump between being dedicated and distracted. Last week I cast on a tee just because I was bored with my socks and the monotony of life in general.
I think I need this shawl in my life though, I can see why you have been drooling over it so long.
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I just finished one project: blocked it and immediately started itching for another. No matter that I have plenty of crochet projects which are languishing in bags. My excuse is that I NEED a mindless knitting project just on the go. So I started a skirt. That is guaranteed to take me ages!
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Wow, that is an amazing shawl. Don’t know how you’ve held off for so long!
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I’ve long passed the point of justification. I figure that as knitting is the thing I do to relax, I will just go with the flow and knit whatever I please! You’ve got an amazing yarn for the shawl – it will be fabulous! Enjoy and be guilt-free. 🙂
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that’s going to be lovely! I tend to have at least a few projects on the go, some because of portability, and some for only ‘at home’. I’d love to have project fidelity, I feel like I’d finish my knits faster!
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I am generally a pretty dedicated knitter, sometimes to the point of joyless slogging. There is something inherently joyful and optimistic in casting on and sometimes it just the thing you need to raise the knitting energy again and actually finish that older project. So cast on and be merry, it is a lovely shawl.
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Are you cheating on your vest? I’m with you on the French Cancan shawl. It is simple, but elegant. It’s not often a shawl can do both.
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