Friday, August 10, 2007

Hollyhocks Shawl

My finished Hollyhocks Shawl.

Pattern: Shoalwater shawl from Fibertrends.
Yarn: Sophie's Toes color Hollyhocks. 2 1/4 skeins (225 grams, for you scientists)
Changes: I did the shawl in stockinette lace instead of garter lace (see below).

I started this shawl on the plane to Mexico. (I know, I haven't even blogged about Mexico. Ask me sometime over a beer.) Six hours of plane time (sans kids!) , plus a four hour layover, I was prepared with a LOT of knitting!

What you see in the photo below is the start of the shawl. The line at the bottom left where my finger is, is the center of the shawl, so you are looking at one half of the shawl. As per the pattern, you do the lace pattern across the right side, and knit the wrong side row, making garter ridges with a lace pattern. (Or "garter lace"). I'm not sure if that is a real term, but it's what I'm calling it for explanation purposes, bear with me.
I wasn't crazy about the look of the garter ridges, because I felt they were obscuring the colors and turning the color to mush. After several inches, I tried about an inch of "stockinette lace", where I did exactly as the pattern for the right side rows, and instead of knitting the wrong side rows, I purled them. I thought it brought out the colors much better, so I ripped the whole thing and started over.
I was a little worried pre-blocking, because the shawl came off the needles in almost a diamond shape instead of a triangle. (Was this due to my changes? It's a mystery.)

But a good blocking turned it into a fine triangle. A friend asked me about using superwash wool for a shawl--does it block nicely and keep the shape?
Pre-blocking:
Post blocking:
My favorite thing about this shawl was the picot bind off. Just beautiful. Almost every little picot is a different color!!!! Love that!!!!

I am so crazy about lace right now. I have lace on the brain! Lace, lace, lace! I'm looking at: this, this, this, and all of these.

11 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

The hollyhocks shawl is beautiful! the picot edge IS wonderful.

I am voting for bee fields! I keep looking at that one myself it looks so gorgeous, I am slightly intimidated by its beauty. And I really want to see it up close and personal. i have too many projects before I can get to it.

5:33 PM  
Blogger Gigi said...

The shawl is just so beautiful. The color, drape and soft waves work so well together. Nicely done!

6:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is beautiful! The yarn and the pattern work perfectly together!

6:15 PM  
Blogger Katy said...

Ooh, that shawl is lovely! I have the pattern for that & I was going to do it in a solid color, but now that I've seen yours I may change my mind...

7:44 PM  
Blogger Angela said...

Gorgeous! How have I missed that colorway?!

8:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

'xcuse me Emily, but who is that person modelling that shawl?
Is that you?
wink

8:47 AM  
Blogger La Cabeza Grande said...

I've been wondering the same thing about superwash and I see the concerns were for naught. The shawl is gorgeous!

12:42 AM  
Blogger Twelfthknit said...

YOu need ot check out tigerlilith.blogspot.com - she has been testknitting the bee shawl and I believe it is currently blocking - it's looking great!
India

4:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The hollyhocks shawl is gorgeous! I've knit this pattern before, but I may have to do it again in stockinette. Thanks for the inspiration.

9:29 AM  
Blogger Jackie said...

It's beautiful.

7:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's just beautiful - love the color of the yarn. Good call on ditching the garter stitch, too!

8:19 AM  

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