Well the saga of this year's Rowan Tree exchange is finally over!
Knitting for other knitters is sometimes nerve-wracking; sometimes exhilarating and sometimes it pushes you into stretching your boundaries. This year was all three!
I knew the intended recipient loved lace & that she loved jewel colours - no problem there then. Then the reality dawned that she also owns a wonderful LYS and can take her pick of yarn. Stalking her posts on Ravelry gave me some ideas for patterns and then I realised there was a significant birthday around the exchange time - everything crystallised once I found the yarn!
I knitted the shawl in I Knit or Dye's Alpaca/Cashmere/Silk mix (the jury is still out as to if this is a 1 or 2ply yarn) in a wonderful colour "Off to see the Wizard" - so new to I Knit London that I picked it off Gerard's drying rack whilst still damp!
Most of the problems I had in knitting it were due to needle malfunction or operator error - I should not knit lace when tired or leave it lying around at knit night!
The pattern is Vesper by Paulina Popiolek - there were 2 mistakes in the pattern that were amended and republished within an hour of being noticed. The pattern was also reformatted and a new copy sent - excellent service from Paulina. Very clearly written and I really miss working on it.
My home is not conducive to blocking large shawls and when I took it to Mum's there was a new baby & a 3 1/2 year old that made it impossible so I wimped out and sent it without a thorough blocking and I can only hope I'm forgiven for doing so!
Here's some of the final pictures:
An indication of the size compared with a 3 seater sofa
An indication of the drape
Stitch patterns
I'm pleased with the fact that I made myself undo large chunks to get it right, I can still see a few minor errors but on the whole I'm fairly proud of my knitting exchange for this year.
What a beautiful piece of work.
xxx
It's fantastic! Don't know how you managed to part with it! I have done two of her patterns, and have just bought a third one, I think they are so clearly written, they suit me very well as I don't do charts...though she usually does both.
Posted by: Jill R. at October 25, 2011 11:55 PMIt's fantastic! Don't know how you managed to part with it! I have done two of her patterns, and have just bought a third one, I think they are so clearly written, they suit me very well as I don't do charts...though she usually does both.
Posted by: Jill R. at October 25, 2011 11:55 PMIt is a beautiful shawl...you should be very proud of your efforts! the recipient is very lucky indeed.
Posted by: Mary Lou at October 25, 2011 10:25 PMYvonne, this shawl is stunning! Oh my, what a beautiful shawl! It turned out despite the dropped stitches ;)
Lovely!
Posted by: Bonny at October 24, 2011 08:16 PM