lace shawl | PDXKnitterati

I had a lot of practice with tinking and frogging on this last project. I figured I should live true to the class that I teach at Twisted, ” Tink, Drop, Frog.” Yes, all those fixes really work, even on things more complicated than stockinette!

I frogged (rip-it, rip-it) 12 rows of lacy knitting when I realized that I didn’t have enough yarn to do an extra 16 row repeat *and* a border. And then I had to frog again when I messed up the border. While I was frogging that, I decided to take it back even further so I could have a deeper border. Here it is unblocked.

I love blocking. It’s like magic…

But I don’t love this shawl.

:sigh:

It’s pretty, but I think the pattern in the body is too bold for the more delicate border. And I love the undulating border, with its little sparkly beads.

This was my first experience with adding beads to my knitting, other than a one hour wonder class with Sivia Harding at Sock Summit last summer. I really like it! These are a little subtle with this yarn, but the blue on the inside of the beads was such a perfect match, I had to use them.

When I first envisioned this shawl, it was all about the pattern in the body. I was inspired by raindrops running down a window. So maybe that part of it needs a different border, but for now, I’m going to knit another shawl and play with this border some more.

Raindrop Shawl (my own exploration)
Knitted Wit Superwash Merino fingering weight, 100 grams
US size 6 needle
Size 6/0 Toho beads

The blue laceweight Ishbel is done, finally. She took a little trip to Vietnam, had some good knitting on the plane over, and then completely languished during her time there. I was too tired in the evenings to knit, because I was waking up at 4:30 every morning due to the time change. I did a little knitting in Tokyo, but couldn’t knit Ishbel on the way home. I had a little scare with my circular brass needles with airport security in Vietnam, and didn’t want to risk having to take Ishbel off the needles on the way home from Tokyo. I finished here at home.

Unblocked, the shawl measured 46″ x 17″

This is the lace pattern that I was never able to memorize, even after finishing two Ishbels.

Blocked, the shawl measures 56″ x 22.5″

So the sheep says.

Ishbel, pattern by Ysolda Teague
Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Silk Lace, color Deep Blue
Addi Lace needles, US size 5
Weight: 32 grams

Mods: I made the larger stockinette center, and the smaller border.

This shawl is beautiful. It’s extremely lightweight and ethereal. It is destined to be a gift. There’s more than enough yarn left (46 grams) to make one more, or I may play with some ideas from Evelyn Clark’s book, Knitting Lace Triangles. But not any time soon. Sock Summit is coming, and I have homework!

BTW, I did make Blueberry Boy Bait the other night, after buying more butter. (It takes a cup/half pound!) And it was delicious. The boys of the house were quite taken with it, and so was I. The only problem was that it was bigger than my largest platter, so the ends fell off. We ate them right away, warm, so it wouldn’t look bad. Altruistic, aren’t we? 😉