The Shawl That Took On A Life Of It's Own....

This is the story about how a certain alpaca shawl decided to take on a life of it's own. I have never had this happen before so I was not prepared.. Shawl is woven out of a sock weight alpaca.. So the weave was very loose. The yarn is Atacama I believe. I put it in a tub for a good hot soak- which usually fluffs up the fiber and allows it to fill in a bit. This did not happen.. So it had to go into the washer for a bit of hot water aggitation. The shawl was quite large so I wasn't worried it would shrink up.. When I took it out I was very surprised to find that the yarn fluffed up like a boucle! And the yarn had shifted all over the place. The only thing to do was to allow it to felt a bit to fill in the holes. So off for another hot water aggitation. The shawl was still quite large before going in but it came out half it's size!! And now it looked like I had woven it with a heavy boucle yarn. And one side didn't felt as well as the other- so one side is large than the other side.. From the front it is fine- as you see I pinned a brooch on that side. But from the back you can see the difference.
I feel horrible. Mary has waited so long. I love the look of the yarn.. as a felted wrap it is awesome but as a shawl... not so good.