I recently finished my Baby Cables sweater and was extremely pleased with the design and the fit. So why did I feel compelled to knit something to “doll it up?” Who knows? Knitters are weird and cannot be explained.
I always had the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark lurking in the back of my mind as a project. I had also just purchased some Malabrigo Sock Yarn for the color alone — a gorgeous blue green mix called Solis. It looked stunning with the newly minted Baby Cables.
Swallowtail was originally published in the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. Evelyn generously opted to continue to provide the pattern as a free pdf (see link above). Thousands of knitters on Ravelry have knitted it or have it in queue. It is popular and gorgeous — and I believe those facts are related! The thing is, it’s small. Very small. However, by adding repeats of the Budding Lace Motif in multiples of five, it can be enlarged easily.
I learned a couple of great techniques from Evelyn’s pattern: the “garter tab” cast on, nupps, and her version of the lace bind off (slightly different than the one I had seen before). Nupps are dreaded things, but I had no problem — I used Addi lace needles with very pointy tips.
It is a lovely design and was very fun to make. I did add 5 repeats of the Budding Lace and still ended up with a small, shoulder-covering shawllette. It is small-tastic and shawl-tastic! 
Being Blocked
On Lettie — the color is very true here
With Baby Cables — the color is not true (can’t get this sweater to photograph!)
The yarn was nice to work with, though I had a bit of a problem. I bought two skeins of this sock yarn so I could give Sally one when she was here and “borrow” a little if needed for my Swallowtail. I tried to wind my skein into a ball, and it was a disaster! It completely disemboweled! Because I thought I would dip into the second skein anyway, I tried to salvage what I could from this mess:
So, I had to use Sally’s skein — which wound perfectly — and then go buy a third skein. This shawl got kind of pricey!
FYI: one skein would have been plenty if I had not added the extra repeats.
PS: Don’t forget to knit up a pair of Sweetheart Glovelets. 
PS2: Sally and I are admittedly very fond of knitting (obsessed?) and our husbands are equally fond of their respective sports: my DH cross country skis and Sally’s is a totally serious bicyclist. John skied the City of the Lakes 35 km Freestyle Ski Race today:
Not too bad for a 58 year old youngster!
