I probably should have worked on some socks, or something simple to cleanse the palate, before diving right into the Forest Canopy Shawl, but I was on a roll and antsy to get started. So I wound the Rose Garden 2-ply merino handspun yarn and buckled down.
And not quite quickly enough, realized that if the previous pattern always had a YO on either side of an SK2P, my fingers would occasionally, and without my notice, place a YO on either side of an Sk2P even where the current pattern does not call for holes.
Also, I used needles that were too small. (Confession time: though my books rightly stress the importance of swatching, I hardly ever do it myself. Shameful, I know).
So I tore it out, and started Forest Canopy over with size 8 needles (much larger than I would have expected to need with fingering weight yarn), and am now, as they say, bookin'.
Truly, this is a lovely pattern, perfect for new lace knitters. There is lots of explanation, and very clear instructions, and a nice chart (though I think the Ktbl symbol is too similar to the YO symbol- I fixed that by using a highlighter on the Ktbl spots). The pattern is written for heavier yarns, and the blocked shawl isn't very large (52" x 23", I think), and it's designed to use 350 yds of yarn, or less (a single skein), which is wonderful for stash busting. But I have over 450 yds of this handspun yarn, and I want to use it up, and I'd like a slightly larger shawl, so I'm going to knit a few more repeats before moving on to the border. The tricky part will be figuring out when to start the border. The border is just 10 rows, and if I begin it when I am halfway through the 2nd ball of yarn, I should be okay. I hope.
This yarn is far bouncier than I expected (after knitting 2 shawls with cotton), and it's one of those top-down triangles, which are hard to photograph in-progress (especially since I'm using straight needles), but I did manage to get a scan of the pattern repeat. Lovely, no?
And for lace, this is an extremely quick knit- if I was working it to the pattern specs, I would be on to the border in about 10 more rows. Amazing.
1 comment:
I have wanted to knit that shawl and it's great to hear your thoughts on it. Ditto on the waiting until your brain forgets the rhythm of one lace pattern before starting another!
Post a Comment