I am loving the lace projects, Shawl 1 and Shawl 2, but I haven't made huge progress, mostly due to large number of stitches in each row and Other Commitments in my life. Once I had screwed it up a few times completed a few rows, and I can "read" the pattern in the knitting, it's been smooth sailing. Of course, I'm jinxing myself by thinking that I've got it all straightened out now.
I have knit quite a few shawls before, but most of them were top down and the first part of the shawl seemed to be a long slog to get to the interesting part -- the edging. These both start at the bottom and work up, so I get to do the fun stuff first. Hope I can maintain the interest as they get smaller!
Shawl 1 progress:
Shawl 1 is easier to recognize problems instantly due to a very symmetric edge pattern. The pattern on Shawl 2 is not as straightforward, but as long as I have a reference point in every repeat, I'm ok. There is one stitch that is consistently the center of a 3 stitch bind off in the middle or at the end of each 12 stitch repeat, so if I can find that, I can keep on track.
Shawl 2 progress:
I'm wondering, however, why nobody warned me about using a center pull ball for very fine lace weight yarn. Is it just me? I've knit shawls before, and I'm sure I've used a center pull ball, but for both of these yarns the fuzz factor must be higher because the center thread is constantly catching. When I tug on it, it snarls or pulls out a huge blob of yarn. I rewound the yarn for Shawl 1 so that the yarn is coming from the outside. So far, the yarn for Shawl 2 is behaving better.
The sad news? Both projects are about to go on hiatus. I have two other projects that need to be finished by the end of the month, so these two shawls will have to spend some time out in project vacation land (alas, only a small step away from project disaster zone, which is an intermediary step towards the frog pond).
The good news? One of the other projects is another lace shawl!
Introducing the Handspun Shetland Lace Hap Shawl:
This is version 2, knit on size 7 needles. Version 1 was knit on size 5 needles, but when it was about 8" along the side, I decided it was too dense. I lay awake last night debating its demise, and finally got up, ripped it out, and reknit to this point. Then I went back to bed. I have gone up in needle size and am getting a softer, looser fabric with more drape. Or so I hope, given that I've only knit about 3". This is a natural light grey color Shetland from my sheep Celeste, Star and Emmett. I had it processed into top by Zeilingers. Want to see the rest of the colors?
As you can see, these still require a bit of spinning. At 1 o'clock, we have light rose to be plied with white, then clockwise we have light rose plied with itself, rose plied with itself, then rose plied with green, then the final border will be green. The two pinks are really different colors, although it's hard to see. The light pink was dyed at half strength.
And of course I still have the handspun purple vest project that also needs to be finished by the end of the month. Looks like it will be spinning and knitting 24/7 for the next couple of weeks.
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