Seven months, my first 'shawl - blanket' lace edged thing is finished in only seven months. Knit in 2 ply lace weight, and nearly 1.2m across each edge .. I have been calling it a blanket, but in truth I plan to use it more as a shawl. Folded from corner to corner and wrapped around my shoulders if I feel a chill. So Sunday night I cast off, and finished the shawl, Tuesday night I wove in the ends and blocked it ..... .. then I finished the first of the stripy socks.
First up the shawl, finished but not yet blocked. At this stage the center section seemed to bulge out, it seemed looser and larger than the edge. I kept telling myself that it would block out ... but .... you know, blocking improves lace amazingly but it won't cure mistakes.
Here is the shawl/blanket blocking, I pinned it out, and then went around the sides twice more just tweaking them out a little further until the middle was flat. I also threaded rods through the eyelets in the center section to straighten it up as the sides were bowing out.
I had used a Russian graft to join the two ends of the lace boarder, and had decided to offset the beginning and end to part way along one side. I cast on for the side-ways lace edge using just simple twisted e-loops, and then when I had knit around to meet up with the cast on I picked up loops along the cast on edge to match the number of stitches on the last row. I was really really happy that my maths all worked out, working 2 extra repeats around each corner seemed enough to stretch around the corners, and the repeats fitted into the edge stitches neatly. The Russian graft is a little heavier than the surrounding lace, but in use it is hard to find. I had to work my way around the edge twice to find it for this photograph.
This was the best part, as I was working towards the end my remaining yarn diminished. I hoped I would have enough but I wasn't sure. Turns out I did ... but not much extra. Whew! Plan B was to order another ball (plus a few more for another project .... because you know if I was going to have to pay shipping .. I may as well get more than one)
So with the shawl/blanket blocking across the living room floor, I turned to the sock. Tonight I'll cast on the toes of sock number two ... and plan the next project. That is always the fun part, sifting through the queue of things I want to make, and muddling around in the stash, and short listing and short listing and then finally deciding and casting on.
What fun - but for now I'm off to unpin the blocked knitting and see how it drapes, there might even be a twirl with it around my shoulders. Of course the mornings have been a tad chilly but today we have full sun and it is warm and hot - not really shawl wearing weather.
Finishing is as much fun as finishing, and the knitting bit in the middle is pretty good to.
na Stella
First up the shawl, finished but not yet blocked. At this stage the center section seemed to bulge out, it seemed looser and larger than the edge. I kept telling myself that it would block out ... but .... you know, blocking improves lace amazingly but it won't cure mistakes.
Here is the shawl/blanket blocking, I pinned it out, and then went around the sides twice more just tweaking them out a little further until the middle was flat. I also threaded rods through the eyelets in the center section to straighten it up as the sides were bowing out.
I had used a Russian graft to join the two ends of the lace boarder, and had decided to offset the beginning and end to part way along one side. I cast on for the side-ways lace edge using just simple twisted e-loops, and then when I had knit around to meet up with the cast on I picked up loops along the cast on edge to match the number of stitches on the last row. I was really really happy that my maths all worked out, working 2 extra repeats around each corner seemed enough to stretch around the corners, and the repeats fitted into the edge stitches neatly. The Russian graft is a little heavier than the surrounding lace, but in use it is hard to find. I had to work my way around the edge twice to find it for this photograph.
This was the best part, as I was working towards the end my remaining yarn diminished. I hoped I would have enough but I wasn't sure. Turns out I did ... but not much extra. Whew! Plan B was to order another ball (plus a few more for another project .... because you know if I was going to have to pay shipping .. I may as well get more than one)
So with the shawl/blanket blocking across the living room floor, I turned to the sock. Tonight I'll cast on the toes of sock number two ... and plan the next project. That is always the fun part, sifting through the queue of things I want to make, and muddling around in the stash, and short listing and short listing and then finally deciding and casting on.
What fun - but for now I'm off to unpin the blocked knitting and see how it drapes, there might even be a twirl with it around my shoulders. Of course the mornings have been a tad chilly but today we have full sun and it is warm and hot - not really shawl wearing weather.
Finishing is as much fun as finishing, and the knitting bit in the middle is pretty good to.
na Stella
2 comments:
Oh! It's absolutely lovely! I'm so glad that it blocked out the way you wanted (and that you had enough yarn left!) - that can always be a bit of a nail-biter. I can't wait to see the twirling pictures :)
Ooo, lovely! That edging is so pretty all stretched out. The sock looks great, too. I wonder what you've decided to start next?
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