The Percy Shawl,or as I prefer to call it: The "Mad, Bad and Orange To Know" Shawl (apologies to Lady Caroline Lamb). Colour is most accurate in the first photo.

I tried knitting this earlier this year but Chart B left me a broken woman. This time I was stuck in bed with bad cold/mild flu and could concentrate fully on the complicated Chart B. I will not lie and say it was a breeze, because it was not, but it was not horrifyingly difficult. Once I worked out the logic of Chart B and its Frost Flowers pattern, I could relax a bit more although I kept needing to consult the chart.

After I finished Chart B, my brain went into holiday mode and I messed up the relatively easy Chart C. I ripped back a few rows - something which is no mean feat in fuzzy baby alpaca - and eventually Chart C needed up being my favourite part of the shawl. In fact, I love the edging so much that I am going to knit a huge shawl in stocking stitch with Chart C as the only lace element. The edging is geometric, elegant, understated and just.. perfection.

I used around 400 yrds of light fingering weight yarn. In other words, the Percy Shawl would work with one skein of fine sock wool. It is not an easy or quick knit - I think it is the most complicated shawl I have knitted so far - but it looks really pretty. It should be relatively easy to upsize as well, if you have the yardage.

(Also, a lot of people on Ravelry have skipped Chart B entirely but I think skipping the Frost Flowers would be a shame. They form the focal point)

A quick note on the yarn. I used coned baby alpaca from a Danish yarn company. It was very splitty and I had to weave in the ends very quickly before the yarn fuzzed into nothing. I am not sure how the shawl will stand up to continuous wear, in other words.  However, the alpaca is almost angora-like in its softness and I had no issues with how it blocked out (unlike Drops Alpaca which does not like blocking). I would use the yarn again (and will have to as I have 700+ yrds left) but only for projects which will not get a great deal of continuous wear.

More photos available at the Rav project page.