Heathered Blue Niebling doily

I started this one a little while ago (at a time I hadn't even thought of my white Niebling shawl as an idea yet) - but I found the casting-off in crochet chains a really tedious task, so this one got stuck at 95% for a good long while too!

Pattern:   Beyer Band 408 and 760 - Model 20 p12
Yarn:       Jamieson & Smith 2 ply lace weight
                  (the colourway is being discontinued)
Needles:  3.5 mm

What I really like about this particular pattern is that there are so many distinctly different pattern elements that really keep your interest going (I always wanted to either finish one area or get into the next one!) and that there is not very much 'tull' as background. I'm not keen on that stitch.

I like the weight of the yarn but I am not upset that this heathered blue colourway is being discontinued: I am very put off by some off-white bits of fibre in this yarn. It makes it look very tweedy and even worse: the yarn feels scratchy. When I managed to pull those fibres out (they are not an integral part of the plied fibres) then the yarn is much softer. And the plain blue looks much nicer too. It still comes across as heathered blue but not so tweedy, if that makes sense.

Seeing as this yarn is quite scratchy, I am not sure if I will be able to wear this as a shawl as I hoped. I will try and soak this or hand-wash and see if it might soften.

Right now I am blocking the doily after only wetting it down without a wool treatment soak. Let's see how it goes.

My main problem making this doily was the cast-off chains. As I said they were very tedious to do and in the past I also found that they tended to curl up in rather unbecoming ways. I have not used a Shetland 100% wool before so I am hoping for a pleasant surprise in this point.

I will try to post another photo once it is dry. But at least this is one WIP less to contend with!