Pattern: Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace by Dale Long based on EZ’s Pi Shawl
Needles: 3.25 mm Addi 40 inch
Yarn: Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro 86 Muted Turquoise, 100% merino wool
The blocked size is about 30 inches in diameter, half the size of the shawl in the book.

A rocky start. Lots of variety. Overall, a challenging pattern knit in delicate merino yarn. I knew I put everything I had into this pattern and was ready to cast off sans beechleaf edging. I started knitting lace this year and with each project I’ve tried out a different yarn. Although this yarn makes for a beautiful finished project, I don’t plan on using it again for lace. Knitting the last few rows before casting off felt disjointed. I think how the yarn glides through your fingers as you knit is key to really getting into the rhythm of knitting lace. The movement of the stitches as they dance from one needle to the other is what draws me to continue to cast on lace projects. I’m becoming increasingly picky when it comes to lace weight yarn, especially after knitting my sister’s shawl out of silky Sundara Yarn. Luckily, I knit the majority of this shawl before I started my sister’s shawl and had no idea what I was missing.

Posted by brooke at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

muted turquoise

I knit 1.5 rounds on the Shetland tea shawl today. It’s not the most advanced pattern, but it’s doing its job – pushing me to try new knitting techniques I haven’t tried before. Specifically the double yarn over. Yo. Circle inside square. Oh yeah, I’m knitting lace, I should have expected some yarn over craziness. The first round contained double yarnovers with decreases on each side.¹ Then on the next round I had to purl and knit into each yarn over made on that last round. Sometimes loops of yarn have a mind of their own. (I’ve been keeping the loop in place with my thumb and found that it doesn’t slip off so easily.) This p k into the yo yo happens twice in the repeat. How is it possible that I’m excited about yarnovers? Just writing this makes me want to get back and finish the round.

¹“The corresponding decreases can follow the lines of holes by right-leaning and left-leaning decreases…The most common form is to work a right-leaning decrease (k2tog) before the yo and a left-leaning decrease (ssk) after the yo…”
A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen

Posted by brooke at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Shetland tea shawl has taken up residence on the kitchen table. (My knitting always gets the best real estate.) Despite how much I knit this week, the shawl still looks like an extra large shower cap. It’s starting to grow up. And it’s wrinkly. Doesn’t sound pretty. Doesn’t look pretty. I like watching a project take shape. You walk by it on your way out the door. Or stand and look at it for a moment before you put away the groceries. A shawl knit in the round doesn’t offer this daily change. But working on the last chart, with yo’s, k2tog’s and ssk’s every row, has made up for the lack of big-picture progress. So this is knitted lace!

Posted by brooke at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

574 sts on a 40” 3.25mm Addi needle

Six rounds to knit and then I’ll start the diamond madeira chart. (Check the errata dated 2/6/2006.)

This shawl is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Pi Shawl, with different Shetland lace patterns thrown in between the increases by Dale Long. I’m glad I frogged and re-knit the Shetland fern. It was only 16 rounds and then I got to move on to horseshoes. Gotta love variety.

Posted by brooke at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Far into the night, while the other creatures slept, Charlotte worked on her web.¹

I started knitting Dale Long’s Shetland Tea Shawl over the weekend. Learning Emily Ocker’s circular beginning was a new challenge. It’s a clever way to start, but I had trouble knitting a round with only 9 sts. After multiple attempts and sloppy results, I decided to make things easier for myself and increase the number of stitches. (I used Spellingtuesday’s picture tutorial as a guide for this cast on.)

I already have mistakes in the Shetland Fern chart. (Such an easy chart – my knitting confidence just plummeted!) Keep on knitting? No. I think I may rip. As the picture shows, only two ferns are right, the rest are totally off. It may take me the rest of the week to re-do this web.

¹Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Posted by brooke at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The yarn for my next project arrived yesterday. I wound it up because I’ll be traveling over the next few days and want to take it with me.
Despite knitting on the HGS every evening this week it doesn’t look like I’ll finish before the closing ceremonies. I’m feeling like the slowest knitter ever– it’s endless rounds of stockinette! And yet I’ve really enjoyed the knitting, mainly because the yarn has kept me captivated.
Packing a current knitting project for my travels will be a last minute decision. But I’m definitely taking one of the yarns above (Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro in colourway oatmeal or muted turquoise) and a new pattern.

Posted by brooke at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)