Speed Record

I can't believe that I finished the Forest Canopy shawl already. Not only finished, but washed and blocked, and ends woven in.

It helps that I knitted it on size 8 needles, and that I was glued to the TV last night. But the real credit has to go to the lovely pattern. This is a very versitile design- it can be worked in any size yarn, and to any size. No recalculation is needed to make the border work with additional repeats- just work to the end of the 8-row rep, and start the border.

This yarn (Rose Garden, 2-ply merino hand spun from hand-dyed roving) is particularly hard to photograph, but the outside shots capture the colors the best, I think (I was pretty leery about taking it outside- we have pea-soup fog this morning, and it was so damp that was afraid it would revert to form in short order).

Stats: Blocked: 72" x 33", used about 400 yds of yarn (a little over 4 ozs), Size 8 needles for the body, with Size 10 for the BO. I worked 5 extra repeats (ended up with 80 more sts than called for). My calculations for figuring out the largest possible number of repeats was off a little. I would have had enough yarn to knit one more repeat, but the shawl is plenty big enough as is.

Of the lace yarns I've used so far, the Pima Cotton (Snowdrop) has the best stitch definition. On the other hand, it's the least pleasurable to knit with, so even though I have a 4lb cone on hand, I don't think I'll be using it again soon. There is something totally satisfying about knitting with handspun (Swallowtail, Cascade Madeira, Forest Canopy), and I have plenty ready to wind, but I discovered 2 balls (almost 500 yds) of cream colored laceweight Alpaca that are calling me (hurrah for buying yarn years ago, and then forgetting about it). I also don't know whether I want to knit another triangle, or a rectangle (no desire to knit a circle shawl yet). And I don't know if I want to design something, or go with something from Victorian Lace Today, or Arctic Lace (or Ravelry, or ... or... or...).

Whatever I decide, I have just begun to lace.