pattern: Fiddlesticks Garden Shawl
needles: various size 4s... dpns for the beginning, and quicksilver plastic circs in 16" and 24"
yarn: a cream colored 50/50 cashmere merino blend that i picked up at a trade show.
time to completion: recieved pattern as a birthday gift in feb of '06. was blocked feb 3rd '07. i didn't work on it for most of the summer, as the fern pattern gave me nightmares. i had to undo 6 rows at one point, and i didn't particularly want to look at it. i had thought i'd finish it for thanksgiving, then christmas, but the last few rows took over an hour each (over 800 stitches per row at the end) and then the edging (as tiny as it looks) was way more time consuming than i expected, with about two rows of edging for each stitch on the last row. approximately 40 hours alone was spent knitting the edging. stitch count wise, the edging was about a quarter of the total, so not including any screw-ups, somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 hours.
comments on the pattern: fabulous pattern. charts are excellent. most of the patterns aren't totally mind numbing, nor really difficult, so it's a good really large lace project. i'd recommend this pattern to anyone who wants to spend a long time knitting something.
mods: i used a circular cast on that i didn't have to go back and do anything besides tighten the end and weave it in. the pattern called for a different cast on, but i didn't much see the point of having to go back and weave the end through a provisional cast on of 8 stitches.
click to get the bigger images...
pre-blocking:
kinda sorta nearly fit through my size 6 wedding ring. i will *not* be trying that again with my ring, perhaps with my husband's slightly larger one. :)
post blocking:
to give you an idea of size, the batik fabric i attempted to block it on is 1.5 yds long, and about square. the shawl is huge. i wore it to my birthday lunch with family when it was bitter cold (for here) and folded in half was warmer than most of my other scarves. yay for cashmere!
other things i learned: do not get cashmere near gatoraide. being really sick + knitting = stains on cashmere that don't come out. you can't see it in the pictures, but there is a really faint orange spot. perhaps someday i'll dye it as i had originally planned.
actually, the pre-blocking picture looks as good as it does because it had been washed several times to get things out of it. banana and oils from my hands being the other main culprits. knitting near a 18 month old is bad - i eventually gave up knitting during the day, mostly due to the event with the banana.
needles: various size 4s... dpns for the beginning, and quicksilver plastic circs in 16" and 24"
yarn: a cream colored 50/50 cashmere merino blend that i picked up at a trade show.
time to completion: recieved pattern as a birthday gift in feb of '06. was blocked feb 3rd '07. i didn't work on it for most of the summer, as the fern pattern gave me nightmares. i had to undo 6 rows at one point, and i didn't particularly want to look at it. i had thought i'd finish it for thanksgiving, then christmas, but the last few rows took over an hour each (over 800 stitches per row at the end) and then the edging (as tiny as it looks) was way more time consuming than i expected, with about two rows of edging for each stitch on the last row. approximately 40 hours alone was spent knitting the edging. stitch count wise, the edging was about a quarter of the total, so not including any screw-ups, somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 hours.
comments on the pattern: fabulous pattern. charts are excellent. most of the patterns aren't totally mind numbing, nor really difficult, so it's a good really large lace project. i'd recommend this pattern to anyone who wants to spend a long time knitting something.
mods: i used a circular cast on that i didn't have to go back and do anything besides tighten the end and weave it in. the pattern called for a different cast on, but i didn't much see the point of having to go back and weave the end through a provisional cast on of 8 stitches.
click to get the bigger images...
pre-blocking:
kinda sorta nearly fit through my size 6 wedding ring. i will *not* be trying that again with my ring, perhaps with my husband's slightly larger one. :)
post blocking:
to give you an idea of size, the batik fabric i attempted to block it on is 1.5 yds long, and about square. the shawl is huge. i wore it to my birthday lunch with family when it was bitter cold (for here) and folded in half was warmer than most of my other scarves. yay for cashmere!
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| More Pictures |
other things i learned: do not get cashmere near gatoraide. being really sick + knitting = stains on cashmere that don't come out. you can't see it in the pictures, but there is a really faint orange spot. perhaps someday i'll dye it as i had originally planned.
actually, the pre-blocking picture looks as good as it does because it had been washed several times to get things out of it. banana and oils from my hands being the other main culprits. knitting near a 18 month old is bad - i eventually gave up knitting during the day, mostly due to the event with the banana.
posted by Dragon In The Rain at 12:44 AM
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