And finally: pictures

Ahhhhhhh. Take a deep breath. Feel the relief.

Shall No. 2

Now I believe I left you about to begin the drive to the wedding with quite a bit of one shawl left to knit and block? (That's not really a question, I know that's where it was up to, more for dramatic effect I guess...did it work?) Well the car knitting didn't go so well. I got about two repeats done in a six hour drive and by the time we got there I was seriously starting to doubt that my glorious plans would be achieved. But I persevered. I knitted while MrBP got a hair cut. I knitted while I was having a beer with mum and dad. I knitted while talking to my sister about her latest boy drama (The knitting really helped here. Although at some stage I was concentrating on the knitting too much and just started to say everything that was in my head, including 'Christ girl, how many boyfriends do you need? I can't keep up with them. I'm calling them all Colin from now on.' Luckily she thought it was amusing rather than insulting). I knitted on the drive to the restaurant and the way home.

Shall No. 2

And, finally, I cast off while my dress was being hemmed. I blocked it that night, put a little fan on it for a while, and prepared to leave it there for someone else to collect and bring to the wedding. But something unexpectedly good happened (hallelujah!) It was so hot overnight that it actually dried. I was shocked! The others had taken two days to dry. Finally something was going right! The curse was lifting!

Shall No. 1

We drove to the wedding venue, set of shawls complete. I finally started to think about a wedding speech. But I couldn't settle down, it was too hot to write.

Shall No. 1

Then I clicked...it's hot. Way too hot for shawls. I'd made a flippant comment to MrBP that wouldn't it be funny if it was too hot for shawls? Hardy-hardy-har!
Not.

Shall No. 3

But, like everything on the day, the whether was perfect. It was overcast but warm, and it cleared for the ceremony itself, but not enough to be uncomfortably hot. Then as the sun started to go down it started to get a bit chilly. Shawls were fetched, complementing the dresses better than I could have predicted. It was really lovely.

Shall No. 3

I fell like i'm a bit lost knitting wise now though. I've usually got project after project lined up but I've been so focused on these shawls that I just haven't thought about it. I have a couple of swaps i'm working on which i'm enjoying, but nothing other than that. Anyone got any suggestions? I don't mind a bit of a challenge now and then ;)

Shall No. 1, on holidays.

Thanks so much to all of you wonderful bloggers that sent me good vibes. You rock! It constantly amazes me that people I don't know would be so generous and supportive. I'm trying to think of ways that I can say thankyou, but for now just know that i'm truly grateful. Go shout yourself a beer from me :)

Pattern: All are Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl, by Susan Pierce Lawrence. If you're looking for a beginner lace project I would definitely recommend this one, and have before! It's a really beautiful pattern that's easy to memorise.

Yarn: Shawl No. 1 is Colinette Tao in Madras. I had 3 skeins and had about half a skein left. This stuff is expensive, but it's 100% silk, variegated, and worth it :)

Shawl No. 2 is Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb in Lakeview. I used about a skein and a half.

Shawl No.3 is Heirloom Cashmino, 7 skeins. I ran out of yarn casting this off! Arhhhhhhhh!

Needles: Shawl No 1 5mm Addis.

Shawls No 2 & 3 6mm bamboo circular

Modifications: Nope, the instructions are excellent and clear. The only thing I did was make them a little bigger. Shawl number 1 was 12 repeats. Shawl number 2 was 13 repeats. Shawl number 3 was 15 or 16. It's a great size. Big without being huge.

I couldn't blog about shawl no. 3 because I was being a bit naughty and didn't tell the bride about it (and made her possibly feel a little left out...I just wanted it to be a nice surprise!) I managed to be (slightly) organised and made this a month or so ago. Not everything's last minute!

Forest Canopy Shawl

May I present my first lace knitting project, the Forest Canopy Shawl. Thanks you to Buzz for the excellent modelling job (she thinks she's a celebrity and tries to get in all the photos)



A big shout-out to SadieandLance, Stephanie, Brenda and Meg (how cool is that calculator!) this first-born shawl is dedicated to you. I was trying to come up with an appropriate amalgamation of your names to call the shawl but couldn't make it work (BrestMes? No, I don't think so.)

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl from I'm knitting as fast as I can.

Yarn: 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn in Bittersweet from here. I hope I haven't broken some lace knitters code by using sock yarn...it's so soft and lovely.

Needles: Addi circulars 80cm 4.5mm. I found these mostly fine with this pattern, a couple of times I could have used something sharper, but that was generally on rows that I had attempted to unknit. And it's best to avoid sharp object when I unknit.

Final Measurements: 66 inch wingspan, 28 inch length (the finished dimensions on the pattern were 52 x 23, so I could possibly have blocked it a little longer...)

Modifications: I wasn't game enough to deviate from the pattern! The only thing I did was slip the first stitch of each row because otherwise my edges get a bit sloppy. I also did an extra 4 repeats on top of the number in the pattern because I still had more yarn and I wanted it to be a little bigger. But the pattern said it was OK to do this so I don't count that as breaking the rules!

Blocking: I did it! My first blocking experience, yay for me! I tried to follow these instructions, which are pretty clear, but I still managed to get confused. I did the string thing along the top but when I pinned it all out it just wasn't sitting flat and stretched along the string. It wasn't 'grabbing' it properly or something? So I just put a few pins along the string to get it to sit and tried to do it so I didn't get a scollopy top edge.

I wish: I hadn't had to unknit and/or rip about half of the thing by the time I finished it. I suspect being able to use stitch markers would have helped me out here, but there wasn't anything about them in the pattern and I couldn't figure out how to work them in. Oh well.

Overall: Two thumbs up. I enjoyed knitting this. It took me about 2 weeks or so, which isn't too bad (I think).