Another Stephen West Mystery Knit-A-Long came a long in October and I was a bit on the fence about taking part. But then an idea entered my head and I couldn't get it out. What about knitting it in lace? The MKAL shawls are always huge, so it shrinking it down a bit would be OK I thought. Whats more is I could use then new Hélène Magnússon yarns we have recently started stocking. I have been desperate to knit with them and this would be a fun experiment to see what happens.

I wanted it to be small but still have a similar density to the original larger one. I didn't want to knit the lace weight yarn on the same needles as the pattern and end up with something wispy. Even though knitting fine yarns on large needles can look beautiful as well. So I chose 2mm needles, in the end I thought it was still the same amount of knitting, just miniaturised. Of the two Hélène Magnússon yarns we have I chose Love Story Einband. I love its delicate single ply texture and the way it blooms.

I chose my five colours: Anis Green, Moss Green, Silene Pink, Old Pink and Natural White. Of course had to indulge in my favourite combo if pink and green! Each ball has 225m and weighs just 25g. I was curious how much I would need for this experiment as the original requirements are 100g of 4ply at 347m each. Would I need one or two? It turned out that I only needed one of each and the shawl itself only weighs 80g thats just 720m together and I had leftovers of every colour.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tiny stitches with their little halo of fluffy Icelandic yarn. The Love Story Einband has great grip, so much so that the stitches that were worked a lot started to gently knit together. I'm thinking this would make it great for steeking, but also add warmth to this fine yarn. The finished fabric has a cohesive feel to it, but still has definition.

In the end after blocking the shawl wasn't that small at all and perfect as a little scarf. My final measurements are: 118cm x 36cm. I would love to see how that compared to someone knitting the normal version. It wraps perfectly around my neck or drapes lightly over my shoulders. To my touch it is soft enough to wear next to my skin and for its size is actually really warm. I'm now thinking what else I can knit in lace!

If you feel like trying this yarn yourself we have Love Story Einband in lots of gorgeous colours. We also have its its two ply cousin Gilitrutt Tvíband with kits for the beautiful Hapisk Shawl if you fancy your own lacey adventure.