Blocking lace always amazes me. Intellectually, I know how it works - how a short bath and some stretching and pinning can drastically change knitted fabric. But I really wasn't expecting my nice, thick, cushy polwarth/silk blend handspun to transform from this:
into this:
The drape! Clearly the silk is doing its job here. I had been envisioning a cozy neck warmer and wasn't expecting this slinky little piece to come off the blocking wires.
The striping in the handspun works really well with this pattern. (Note to self for future handspun projects).
Pattern: Kuura
Yarn: polwarth/silk 2-ply handspun (418 yards/4oz). I used all but maybe a yard of the skein.
Needles: size 6
Mods: Kuura comes with two lace charts - a simple base for the shawl body and a lacier version for the edging. Using this project as inspiration, I had planned to flip the charts (using the edging chart for the body and the body chart for the edging). But I ran out of yarn before I was ready to work an edging section so I just stopped after an eyelet row and worked the lacier chart throughout. I had been debating whether I had enough yarn to work an extra row and then use a sewn bind-off but didn't want to chance it. Instead I used k2tog through the back of the loop bind-off and it came out just fine.
I loved knitting this one (the handspun was a dream to work with). Now for the real test: will I wear it? It's not exactly office appropriate. And it's a bit too delicate for weekend wear (I have two small kids, after all). Who knows, maybe Tadpole will put in a request for it next fall. She was having fun with it during our photo shoot.
4 comments:
Rue - Your shawl is lovely. The last picture with Tadpole helping on the photo shoot is really the icing on the cake.
Wow. Just wow. That has to be one of the prettiest things I've seen lately. the colors are simply gorgeous and play so nicely with the pattern. i feel like I remember you posting about this particular fiber before but remind me of the brand/color cuz me thinks I need some. ;)
And one more question -- this seems so elegant...why is it not suitable for the office?
amazing job rue!
Looks great! Last year, I knit Emma a hat and mittens with 85/15 Polworth/silk that I purchased at Rhinebeck 2013 and it was absolutely lovely to knit with. Have you seen Miss Babs newest base (http://www.missbabs.com/collections/hand-dyed-yarns/Killington)? Might be my 2015 Rhinebeck purchase.
Anyway, I always love every shawl off the needles, but never managed to wear them either, although I would like to. So that's why I'm thinking I need to move into knitting sweaters so that I wear my handknits more.
Best wishes for a very happy Mother's Day on Sun! (sjn821 on Rav)
Kuura is just stunning! You will just have to find a way to wear it. Maybe a wedding? Or dinner out?
The edging/bind-off look terrific. Hooray for making it work.
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