Black Swan

I really needed this.   It's Black Swan by Tara Shade and it was the thing that took my mind off of a holiday flu/ migraine bummer.  Big needles are like my grandmother's chicken soup: complete comfort food.

Using size 17s, this thing was done within a few episodes of Dr. Who.  I watched to the point where Donna left the show, which was another bummer, but looky! I have a mini sweater!

At first, I thought I might want to hold a strand of wortsed weight yarn in another color with the black thick and thin yarn I got from a thrift store sweater, see the sampler below.

 I finally decided to just hold two strands of the black together and I'm glad I did.   It only requires 110- 170 yds of bulky yarn and since most knitters have a few balls of Lion Brand Thick and Quick or something laying around, there is no reason not to make it.  This could be a last minute, Christmas Eve gift.

(the Apocalyptic stage)

My mods:  I actually made this once, but felt like it was a little baggy in back for me, so I ripped it back and reknit it casting on 26 stitches for each side.  I also bound off 3 stitches instead of 4 for the first bind off row on each side of the neckline.

Otherwise, I followed the directions.  My finished shrug fits in back while allowing me to flail my arms wildly if I so choose to.  What more could I want?  

I love the split collar. (I'm not sure if that's what you'd call it.)  I think I'll do another in a different shade and using only one strand of bulky yarn.

I was knitting this with the Holla Knits group on Ravelry, but I felt all yuck and needed some instant gratification, so I skipped ahead and finished.  Check out the others' Swans too.

And if you're interested, only if you're really, really interested - Top 20 Donna Noble moments.

(more on my Ravelry and my Flickr)