Saturday, June 27, 2009

A knitting day

Over a year ago, I purchased this yarn to make a shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I planned to work on it when I was on vacation in Hawaii – this was not the most recent trip, but the previous one. I started the shawl there, and about six inches in, made a really egregious mistake, which, due in part to the fuzziness of the yarn and in part to my ineptitude, I could not fix. I got discouraged and bagged the whole thing. Then I made the Swallowtail Shawl (from different yarn) and was successful with that, and so decided to give the pink fuzzy another go. This time, I opted to make a lace triangle shawl from Evelyn Clark’s “design your own” book, called, of course, Knitting Lace Triangles. I wanted to make one using the flower pattern, but I could not get it going without mistakes, so I started with the simpler leaf pattern. Once that was established and I could see what was happening with the lace, I was able to make the transition to the flower pattern. I wanted to make a more interesting edging and hoped to make one from Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia, but the patterns all seemed to require that you cast on the correct number of stitches, knit the edging, and then sew it on. This necessitated knowing before you started, how long you should make the edging, and I had no idea. So I made the Swallowtail edging, which was knitted directly onto the shawl and therefore would automatically fit. I was quite happy with the results. Next question, where will I ever wear it?

8 comments:

bex said...

Look at those nupps! We can share it at the opera....

Anonymous said...

It turned out beautifully!

Unknown said...

I think it is beautiful. I don't think I have the nerve to try this. I know my memory is rubbish and it seems that this type of work would need it to be good.

FuguesStateKnits said...

Joanna, this is lovely! You actually finish projects! I need to stop by here more often in hopes that it will somehow rub off on me!

Unknown said...

It is gorgeous, and masterfully done. Enjoy it.

SaRi said...

It is so beautiful. You have to wear it whenever you can. Going to the opera is an excellent idea.

Unknown said...

Wow.. I absolutely love your shawl. You did a beautiful job and your nupps look great! Enjoy wearing it as much as possible..

Spike said...

Shucks, honey--find/make places to wear it. It's lovely.

I wear my lace shawls over jeans and a tank/babydoll top--out to dinner, to the grocery store, to movies . . .