SSKs and YOs and Nupps, oh my

There was a delightful confluence of events this weekend: I finished a shawl, the sun came out, and the DH was around to take pictures.

Pattern: Miralda's Triangular Shawl (ravelry link) from Nancy Bush's book Knitted Lace of Estonia

Yarn: handspun alpaca 2-ply laceweight spun this past fall out of alpaca top from the Frontier Fiber Mill (this is the source of the lovely yarn that I used for my Staghorn)

Needles: size 5 (3.75mm) 47" Addi Lace

Finished Size: 60 inch wingspan

Started: December 27, 2009

Finished: January 16, 2010

This one was a lot of fun to knit. Yes, I know I often say that but the stitch combinations alone were really interesting on this shawl. I've worked nupps (pronounced "noops," according to Nancy Bush during a Knitting Daily appearance) several times before and I always get a kick out of them but there were two new stitches that I had never seen before. The first is a delightful little cross stitch that serves as  a border to the diamond/nupp section. For some reason, this little pattern makes me thing of anemones and is probably my favorite stitch in the shawl.

The other new stitch is in the center (or top) section of the shawl. It creates a woven-looking fabric without a lot of elasticity and adds some nice contrast to the other textures of the shawl. An added bonus: it looks tricky but is actually quite easy to work.

I've always enjoyed knitting lace shawls - you get to learn many different techniques and you can get a lot of pleasure for relatively little yarn money ($10 for a skein of malabrigo lace, anyone?). All that said, they're often too old fashioned or dramatic looking for my style. Naturally, I was delighted to learn that you could wear a shawl like this:

Now that's something I'll actually wear.