I decided I didn’t like the shawl so I wound the last of the ball I was working with up and have started from the other end, will pull the knitting out of the old one when I get there. If the braided join still looks good when I reuse that yarn, I’ll be more confident of it and will try to remember to let you know.
I tried the Russian join before and had problems with it. I don’t know if it’s just me or something to do with the yarn. I had to rip several rows because it was coming out already and tried again with the same result. Thus far the braided join is still on the I Think It Might Be OK list. I may need to find some matching sewing thread and try to secure those ravely bits that I can still see.