I caught my Alva shawl in a zip about a month ago. Being in a bit of a hurry, I accidentally tore a hole in the edging at the worst possible point: the tip of the edging. So, I put the shawl into time-out whilst I tried to decide what to do. Today, I decided to mend Alva and this is what I did:

• I cut off the entire edging. The hole was so big it ran across four rows and the centre stitch had unravelled.
• I then picked up along the cut edge. Rowan Kidsilk is thankfully a very sticky yarn which made picking up stitches easier than if I had to watch out for accidental laddering.
• I then knitted back an entire row to make sure I had picked up evenly and that I was not left with any fraying yarn.
• Looking at the colours in my Alva shawl (which was knitted out of one ball of Rowan Kidsilk Stripes), I picked up a matching solid-colour ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze (I love the Jelly colourway, nom. My Picycle is knitted in that colour) and I knitted two rows.
• I then used a crochet cast-off to make lovely little fluffy loops along the edge and decided to add some extra crochet loveliness by extending the edge with fan stitches.

And there you have it. How to mend a shawl Karie-style if you have been silly enough to get it caught in a zipper. It's as good as new.