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!

Clap v2.0

I've had to bond with Clap v2.0. I finished this a couple of weeks ago but...well...didn't really like it. I felt a bit guilty about not liking it, so we decied to spend some time together bonding. We went to SnB together, we went to work together, we sat on the couch and worked on other knitting projects together. We even went to the Christening together.


The trouble all started with blocking. I am still confused about whether or not to block a clap (i'd really like to know what other people think). I didn't block the first one, and I love its curly-goodness. But the curling means it can really only be worn as a 'scarf' and without blocking it isn't long enough to sit comfortably like a wrap. But it has such lovely ridges and bumps, which is a (perhaps the) beautiful feature of the pattern. So when this clap curled even more fiercely I considered the block. Then, with the reckless abandon a few beers inspires, one night I just blocked it.

Then I regretted it. Blocking it changed those lovely little ridges to flat stripes. I suspect I blocked it a bit too heavily (I didn't think there was such a thing as a 'moderate' or 'light' blocking.) It's merino, so it stretched like the clappers (seems 'clappers' can run and stretch).


But I was rewarded by perseverence. The more I wore it, the more the little ridges came back and it reclaimed its curling shape. But it's a gentle curl now, more like a wave than a Shirley Temple ringlet. And the blocking gives it a really nice size. I can wear it as a wrap, with one end over a shoulder and the other pinned on the opposite shoulder. I can pin the edges at the front and wear it as a 'top'. It can be a scarf, or a stole. Lovely.


We have now made our peace and happily accept each others' company. Don't you just love happy endings :).


Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert from Knitty.
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino Colourway #111. This is gorgeous yarn, the colours are just beautiful. It's pretty reasonably priced for hand-painted too. This lot came from Yarnbow. It was 6 skeins if I remember correctly.
Needles: 5mm Addi Circulars.
Modifications: Given I ran out of yarn towards the end last time I did one less set of increase rows. This didn't really affect the size once it was blocked though. It's actually bigger in dimensions now than the pattern version.

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).

Clapotis Completo

So i'm a bit nervous, this being my first craft post on my own blog and all. So here's something I prepared earlier:


I was a bit late to this bandwagon. I used to look at the pattern and put it in the 'hardcore knitter' pile. One day it just clicked, though. Now I won't take it off.

To avoid being repetitive, there's more info here.