My local fabric shop also has a wool section, and I have taken advantage of special sale days to stack up on supplies for a few future projects (shown here with the leftovers from my first Wondrella, for which I have Plans).
 |
| What can I say - I like blue! |
By and large, though, I am trying to avoid building up a wool stash. So when my friend F mentioned that there was a one-day wool show taking place in her village, and was I interested, we went along purely for me to 'have a look'.
I was actually fairly restrained. I bought a kit for a scarf, and some bits and bobs such as stitch markers. Oh, and at the last minute, a hank of blue-with-black-accents 4ply from Bellica Yarns somehow came into my possession!
 |
| I really like blue! |
I had no idea what to make with it, I just really liked the colour. But then Susan Crawford Vintage had a pattern sale, and browsing through that I came across the Dahlia shawl.
The recommended wool seemed to be a similar weight and after all, if a shawl doesn't come out to the exact size, it’s not really a disaster. Because the pattern only uses part skeins of several of the recommended yarns, I don't know what its exact yardage is. So, I decided to get some extra wool to supplement the hank. Matching the blue was going to be impossible, so I went for black instead. As I already know, matching blacks is not as straightforward as it sounds, but I struck lucky with this Rico superba 4ply which is the same mix of merino and nylon as well as a reasonable colour match. To add interest (and to attempt to hide the possible fact that I ran out of wool!) I decided to use it for the initial section of the shawl, and will go back to it either when the blue runs out or for the final edging.
 |
| The two together |
I'm learning lots of new things on this project, not least just how long it takes to wind a 425m hank of wool into a (pleasingly large) ball.
 |
| It's probably as well that I don't have a cat - it would be carnage! |
The pattern uses a circular needle, but I remain true to my lever knitting roots whenever possible, so I decided to work on straight needles until the shawl gets too big for them. Once I finally started knitting, I discovered that wool/nylon 4-ply on 4mm needles is in permanent danger of slipping off the needles and dropping stitches - in my hands, anyway. Luckily, I had a set of bamboo needles which I had bought as an experiment and never used, so tried them instead and found them much better.
I'm finding lace knitting - not difficult exactly, but intense. The stitches were easy to master, but you do need to concentrate. This is not knitting to do while I'm chatting to my mum or even listening to the radio; I will stick to my latest Wondrella for those times. I have also discovered, via quite a lot of practice, that unpicking lace knitting is not fun. When you are starting out on this technique safety lines are definitely your friend!
For me, at least for now, it has to be done in short bursts until my concentration lapses. But at the same time, it's so much fun to see the design develop. The pattern starts at the centre of the longest edge of the shawl, and works outwards with an increase of two stitches on every right side row. This does mean that the knitting 'bunches' on my straight needles.
 |
| On the bamboo needle |
So I temporarily transferred it onto a circular needle, purely to admire my progress so far and to take pictures!
 |
| Spread out in all its glory |
I'm about a third of the way through in terms of number of rows knitted, but of course the rows get much longer as the work progresses. So don't expect to see a completed shawl on here any time soon. But I'm greatly enjoying learning a new type of knitting, and using up some of my yarn stash!
No comments:
Post a Comment