Say Goodbye to the third Swallowtail Shawl I had started in Schaefer Yarn's "Anne". I got the center done and realized it's really not made for a lace shawl. It's really a sock yarn with 60% merino superwash wool, 25% Mohair and a pesky 15% nylon. As a result, it has way too much bounce in it and was actually not very nice to the touch. It was frogged during Superbowl Sunday and is now history. You will see it again in the future as socks because I gave it to my sister to use. She loves to knit socks. I also took some white lace yarn from Crystal Palace and dyed it, just as an experiment. I've had the supplies to dye something since last year but never the time or incentive. More green than I intended (the yellow all turned green when it mixed with the blues), still,not too bad for a first effort. I have some Merino and BFL that I want to dye but I will do a few more skeins of yarn first as a test. This was done via the cold dye method and cooked in plastic wrap for 3 hours in a old crock pot on high. I'm going to try the hot pour method next and then I will move on to rovings. I'm still working on the WRS but it feels nice to get rid of things I really didn't want to finish. I'll do the Swallowtail Shawl again later, but having done it twice and given both of them away, I'm not in the mood to make a third one only to have it go the same way which you just know would happen. I'll wait until I get a few of the other projects done. High on my list to finish is the Peacock Feathers Shawl which I had to pick back and then put aside in disgust. I refuse to frog that. I just have to be awake to knit it, that's all.
What do I do next? Boundary Waters Shawl, Spider Queen, and maybe, just maybe the Mountainash shawl are all possibility's. I joined the Yahoo group for Mountainash and am reading all of the posts from oldest to most recent so I can get the information from those who have already gone before me. I've only made it through about 1/3 of the messages and it is unfolding that this is a pattern that can be altered to your own satisfaction. Of course, you can do that with just about any pattern but they really give you permission to do it on this one. Part of that may be the fact that no one really can read Japanese on this group though some have friends who can who try to help out. I have to become more comfortable with this pattern before I give it a try. I also have to enlarge the chart about 150% because it's so tiny. I'm not sure what I will do with this somewhat loud lace weight yarn yet but when I do knit it up, you will see it here first. Live and in color!
Good Evening to All!
7 comments:
The Mountain Ash group files section has enlarged pdfs.
And actually, I translated the entire pattern. It was knitted with a lot of short rows, and we all decided to dispense with that idea.
I am currently trying to alter the pattern to make the "flower go over the mountain."
I still don't have the perfect yarn for it, though. What were you thinking of using?
GOrgeous dying, by the way!
I am still contemplating how to put a hole for a lifeline in size 0 and 1 needles. There has to be a way....
I hated the Inox needles. The cord was too stiff, the join was too rough, the points were not too pointy.
Dear fleegle,
I'm not sure what I'm going to use for this shawl. I think the group said the original yarn was even heavier than Zephyr but you know I'm not going to go in that direction:-) as for a hole in the needle for a lifeline, I've given up using lifelines. The first time I used one was on the Wedding Ring Shawl and I have to say I didn't like using one and have since stopped. I don't think I will ever use one again. If I stink that much, I think I will just keep test knitting until I get better then start the real shawl. I always was a free-fall kind of a person. Still I can't wait to see how you manage it. If anyone can figure out a way, you can.
I realize the top swatch is correct. The problem comes in the knitting direction. She says to knit all rows from right to left, which what I did for the real thing. The swatch was knitted with the odd rows from right to left and the even rows from left to right.
Even weirder, one person, Kim Salazar, insists that her pattern tells her to insert a row of plain knitting between each pattern row.
This makes no sense to me, as it wuld interrupt the pretty spider holes.
At the moment, I am charting the entire thing--all the repeats--to see what the problem could be.
I am happy to admit I made a mistake. I just can't find it.
Ah yes. Lifelines. I make two half-hitches with sewing silk at the KnitPicks join. Not a knot--two half-hitches. It stays happily in the joint as I slide my stiches over. This works for me. I so hate frogging I will do almost anything to avoid it.
Another try. Is that your back yard? I like brown and green. And orange.
Dear G,
Yes by golly it is the backyard, what there is of it at this cold and grey time of year! That is May's back you are looking at wearing the Mountain Pines Shawl. She's a wonderful model. Now that you have a blog too I want pictures of the garden and the house. The garden in particular once Paul has his slave-boy plant things that he has laid out :-) Though you don't knit, I think you should just post whatever you want. Of course, I could teach you to knit the next timem I come up!
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