The big reveal....

Last night was swap night, and yet again there were amazing things unveiled. My swap was for Katya, some of who's work is on show here. Her sense of colour and texture are amazing, and when I read she loved jewel colours I stash dived and then ravelery dived. Katya dosnt have a big presence on ravelry, so I was a little bit on my own ... but went looking for something that was jewel like, and reflected her love of texture, beads and her amazing garden - without bring cluttered and ott. A little ott can be good, but too much is well .... too much.

I found Daizies, by Marisa Hernandez, a two tone shawl knit long and narrow. I loved the two lace patterns in this shawl, both highly structured, just as I like my decoration. My only worry was how well I could follow the instructions and if any mistakes would show.

The shaping of the shawl was new for me, with six stitches increased every right side row, three at each end. These increases make for a dramatically long and narrow shape, and the beautiful charts were all sorted ready to work with the ev increasing stitches. While the repeats were often only four or eight rows, the charts were divided up and shown for every stitch count as the shawl grew. It was amazing and simple at the same time.
I love the result that the rapid increases gave. The ends fall in a beautiful cascade, a ripple, or waterfall zig zagging back and forth - some times spiraling. And the two colours enhance the effect.

The edge finish was also new to me, but I'm a novice at lace shawls and lace shawl bind offs. It is a stretch bind off, with a yarn over and purl one, before two stitches are slipped over the third. The effect was of a mini icord, a two stitch one, and the purl bump pushed the edge to the right side. When blocked with wires woven through the edge looks like a twisted chain along the length.
The yarn is vintage Purls sock yarn, in two different colour ways both with undercurrents of purple, I don't have the details to hand but will fill in soon ....promise.
Take care and an update on what my swap partner made me in the next post
Na stella

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