I surprised myself knitting this shawl. Despite only having to unravel it ten million times, I found it easy. Once I got onto the pattern I found reading charts to be a whole lot simpler then I thought. I was able to whip through the rows no problem. All the yarnovers and the repeating pattern made it easy for me to spot my mistakes and is the reason I was forced to unravel it so may times. If I was short stitches, at the end of the row, I made more, by knitting into the back and front of a stitch. Ditto for extra stitches, I just knit them together. I've really come a long way since I first picked up knitting needles with the serious intent to learn.
The yarn is silk lamb from Sweet Georgia Yarns. It is soft and lovely and knits up really well. As I was knitting it up I got a lot of dye bleeding into my fingers and on to my bamboo needles but after a long soak in Eucalan all the excess dye washed away and it is fine.
When I first got this yarn it was destined to be made into a camisole, something sexy I could wear with dress pants or a silky skirt to a Christmas party. But, I found the stitch pattern, of the camisole I wanted to make from Melanie Fallicks book, Hand knit Holidays, too difficult. I was going to make the yarn into a neck warmer but realized it was way to thin, even if I doubled it, for the pattern. While browsing my back copys of Interweave Knits I found the pattern for the Swallow Tail Shawl in the fall 2006 issue.
While I was messing around, deciding what to knit with my silk lamb, the yarn spent a couple of months half knit, the rest rolled up into balls in my knitting basket, sitting on a table in an east window. East sunlight is not very bright so I was surprised to see the yarn, wound around the outside of each ball, had faded. The yarn is actually a brighter blue than the photograph. What you can't see is the different colours, due to the fading. When I decided to knit the Swallowtail Shawl I found I needed another skein of yarn to finish. The colour of the new skein is much deeper and richer. At the top of the shawl the colour is a soft grey and gets gradually bluer towards the tip, sort of like a tie dye effect.
So, After all that work am I still going to wear it? You bet.
3 comments:
My first shawl experience was much the same with all the false starts , miscounted stitches, and missed yarnovers. I was pretty proud of myself when it was done!
How heavy is the yarn you used? It looks heavier than laceweight. I like that look.
Congrats on a job well done.
Thanks Kathie. You are right the yarn is not laceweight it's Aran weight, 50% silk 50% wool.
Very nice!
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