Lizzardie Knits

My Work Shawl

I was going to wait to post this FO until I had taken a picture with me wearing it, but I haven't gotten one, and, well, 2007 is quickly coming to a close.

I am always FREEZING at work. I'm also always freezing at home, so maybe I was always destined to be a knitter - that way I can wrap myself in warm wooly goodness. In the spring, I set out to knit myself a shawl to keep at work. Just something that throw around my shoulders when it got a little chilly in the office (which is every single moment I'm there these days). I also set about to knit something out of Victorian Lace Today, because I had just received the book and fallen in love with it. I had never knit a border onto a piece before, though, so I wanted something simple. I decided to go with....

Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern. Yeah, the name could use a little work, but so could all of the names in VLT. This particular pattern is on page 20.



Pattern: Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Anthracite, 3 skeins
Needles: US 7/US 6 (for the border)
Timeline: 6/5/07 - 10/26/07

I did make significant progress on this in June, but by the time July rolled around, I could no longer stand having all of that mohair and silk in my lap, no matter how soft, light and pillowy it was. So, it got put aside for awhile, but came back onto my radar as I became determined to finish old projects (which I'm still determined to do, and still working on).

I both enjoyed and loathed working with the Kidsilk Haze. It really is a lovely yarn, but is very hairy, and it can sometimes be difficult to see the stitches. The good news is, like with my very first knitting project, it's difficult to see mistakes, particularly in the border. :-P

It took me a few tries, but once I got through the first repeat of attaching the border, it went rather quickly. It used way more yarn than I thought it would, though! I still came a bit under the 750 yards called for in the pattern, though, and I knit it exactly as specified (I used about 2 1/2 balls of the KSH, maybe a little more, and now have 1 1/2 balls with no purpose!).

I'm wearing the shawl as I type this (because of course I am cold, so I guess this project was a big success!

posted by Lizzardie @ 11:05:00 AM