Sunday, March 25, 2007

Stepping backwards to move forwards

Okay, so the last post was all about how I had swatched this yarn and pattern into a lovely headscarf.
Then I was thinking wouldn't it actually be really nice as the real shawl, and a few other people were saying the same thing, so the cast-off has been undone and it's back on the needles!
My headscarf is now the set up for a large, but light, wrap.
This is the "budding lace" part of the Swallowtail Shawl, as if you didn't know. I will see how I feel when the shawl grows in size; I may or may not do the "lily of the valley lace" part.
I went into John Lewis to do the deed yesterday, and came away with three more balls of it, all in the correct dye lot, which was lucky, as the original ball was bought in the Gem Shop in Castle Douglas.



Something else has happened since my last post - I have got into the rhythm of the Flower Basket Shawl at last.
The penny has finally dropped about how to make those little baskets (sounds like a euphemism for a swear word, and I had been feeling it before I got into my groove) without constant poring over the pattern.
Don't get me wrong, I haven't ditched the pattern entirely, but I am not having to follow every stitch on it as I was initially. No wonder I was not feeling the love!
I have two more 200m balls of this olive Orkney Angora St. Magnus D.K. to go. The picture shows my progress on one ball.


This second picture shows a little bit of stitch detail.

I must be having a bit of an Evelyn Clark fest at the moment!

Sometimes you're just in a lacy mood. x K

8 comments:

Flavaknits said...

I feel a lace masterclass coming on!
The basket design looks great in the St Magnus.

Elaine said...

OOh - all so pretty! I've been feeling 'lacey' for a bit too - haven't done anything about it yet, but these pics are inspiring me.

Elaine x

alltangledup said...

2 lovely shawls... which will be finished first? about the lily of the valley? I so get you about skipping it. It's pretty but I can't get it to look nice.

Anonymous said...

I am in total awe - you do lace like it's easy ! They're both beautiful :0)

Sarah said...

I am not quite ready to dive into lace, but you do it so well! I can't wait to see your summer shawl all finished!

Sandra said...

Your lace knitting is beautiful! Keep on doing it!

Twelfthknit said...

Hope to see this at a meet up in the not-too-distant future.
India

Lacefreak said...

Your lace is comming out beautifully! I've done the Swallowtail twice and also thought about how nice it would be to make it into a shawl rather than the "shawlette" that it is designed to be. I can't wait to see how the edge works out for you with the enlarged pattern! I'm also doing Flower Basket and have 4 more repeats for the larger size shawl before I start the edging. I'm doing it Koigu. I also had that Evelyn Clark "moment" where everything clicked and it makes the knitting go along more swiftly. Makes you want to do more of her patterns. Keep up the terrific work!