Sunday, February 07, 2010

Smoke tendrils

I felt like I've been on the brink of finishing this shawl for ages, and never really got to it. It's finally done! Remember this yarn? It's all grown up now:
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The pattern is High Seas, by Kieran Foley, knit with my own handspun (light gray cashmere/mulberry silk), less than 800 yards on 3,75mm needles. The pattern has a pretty long repeat, 40 rows, and it's partially patterned on both sides. Something I learned the hard way: pay attention to the bolded lines dividing the different zones on the chart. I didn't, and ended up repeating the whole chart for the starting border, instead of only the 2 central squares that make the eyelets. When I was done I ended up frogging the starting border stitch by stitch, from the cast-on edge, and re-knitting it using the finishing border chart. Way too much work that could have been easily avoided.
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Like the yarn, the shawl changes its colour depending on the light conditions. This pic, where it looks really gray, shows very well the white spots on the yarn, from where the silk got more concentrated:
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In a different light it looks a little brown, or even a little golden:
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Notice too how the cashmere gives the shawl a little, subtle halo, while the silk makes it look a little shiny, and the lots of twist on the yarn give a crispy stitch definition:
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My favourite part is the little waves, though. I've already blocked the shawl, but they still have movement and texture.
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And they make cute bumps on the purl side too.
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!

last year's girl said...

This is so beautiful! I also really liked your post below about the best ways to wear shawls.

I wanted to thank you for joining the debate over on my blog, too - please stop by any time!

Sara said...

i am jealous of your cashmere silk. i have some cashmere and some silk (and some merino/cashmere that i only just remembered that i have) but i'm too askeered to spin it.

fleegle said...

Just exquisite. And beautiful spinning, too.

Knitty and Color will card you those batts if you really want them!

Unknown said...

Hi how your work is beautiful! I just met your blog
wonderful ... Where you live? Sorry my question, because I saw on your
Profile name of the country Brazil, and I'm Brazilian. I am passionate about
mainly electrical and shawl. kisses

keila

Janice said...

Mimosa!
Como estás? Mesmo que não frequentes mais o grupo, sempre que fica frio eu me lembro de ti. Hoje entrei na tua página e vi que a cada dia estás fazendo mais e mais belezas na arte "Knitting".
Parabéns e super abraço.

CaptainCarrot said...

Impressive!