Monday, April 16, 2007

Flower Basket Shawl (In Koigu)











Finished another one of the easier shawls. Flower Basket Shawl in Koigu, knit on US 5 needles. Fun to knit and relaxing after knitting on the Wedding Ring Shawl. Very little progress on that front. However, if you want a visual feast, go look at the pictures on missalicefaye's site. The work is phenomenal! Her border came out just beautiful. Makes me want to sit and knit some more. Good Knitting!

14 comments:

Pinneguri said...

Easier? Mhmmm ;) Maybe compared with the Wedding shawl, but for some of us it's very hard ...

But, yours look great :) And I look forward to blocking mine and get such a nice result as yours. I like the thin yarn you have used too.

Opal said...

Where's my drool cup? I need my drool cup! That Koigu is delectable! *slurp!*

fleegle said...

Gorgeous! Lovely colors and perfect stitches.

Wasn't it sort of weird knitting with yarn that thick?

Unknown said...

It looks so silk and lovely. I am so impressed. You have a wonderful talent. Wishing you speedy knitting on the Wedding shawl. Thanks for inspiring me.

Anonymous said...

Lovely work--and what a great showcase for that beautiful yarn!

Mary said...

The shawl is lovely! Do you mind sharing how you joined the yarn for this shawl? I've only tried to knit with skeins that provide me enough yarn for the whole shawl rather than joining several skeins of such beautiful yarn.
Thanks.

Lacefreak said...

Dear blaggdama,

Thank you for reminding me that the term "easier" is relative. It's easier for me for many reasons including the fact that I could knit it on much larger needles. I hope your shawl blocks out as nicely as mine did. For once, a shawl I've knit is actually warm! Thank you for your post!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Opal,
Drool indeed! I have to agree, I had just that reaction when I sawl the lovely skeins of yarn at Imaginknit in SF. I have wanted to knit with Koigu for a long time and this very lovely color-way was right up my ally! Because it's not too complicated a lace, just the one pattern and an edge, I think the varigated yarn goes great with it.Glad you are enjoying it. I'm liking the new shawl you have started too and I'm glad you changed to another yarn!

Lacefreak said...

Dear fleegle,

It wasn't too weird to knit it for me. Since I'm doing several shawls, they are all in different weights from the cobweb/gossamer weight of the WRS to the Koigu in the Flower Basket Shawl and the not-very-evenly spun BFL for the Shetland Tea Shawls.It's a break for me to knit on the larger needles with more substantial yarns from time to time. I don't have the stamina to do everything in the really thin yarn. Wish I could. Just not up to it! All the Shawls at Stitches West at the booth for the "Victorian Lace Today" book were in nice laceweight vs gossamer weight yarns. They still looked nice and might be a little more attainable to people new to lace. I like the Koigu because that shawl is warm and sturdy. Not so apt to get destroyed! Hope you are enjoying Japan! Thank you for checking on my progress. I always appreciate your comments :-)

Lacefreak said...

Dear Rosa,

I'm happy that you get a little pleasure and some inspiration from my knitting. If you check on some of the other blogs I list in the left side of this blog you can see some really impressive knitting but I think all knitting is really good. It's a wonderful way for a person to express themselves so I'm glad if you are knitting too. The more the merrier! Thanks for checking in on my blog and Good Knitting to you too!

Lacefreak said...

Dear alice,

I selected this pattern in particular for the Koigu. Even though it's a fairly simple lace, it does show off the yarn really well and it has the virtue of being something I could knit while too "stupid" to knit on the WRS :-)
Nice change of pace as I continue to slowly make my way through the border for WRS. I'm still cheering you on your progress with your shawl and I know the "endless" edge awaits you. Good Luck with it! Thanks for checking in!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Mary,

I am sure everyone one who is looking in has their own way of joining yarn. For this particular shawl, the "basket" in the lace has a fairly thick center line running through each basket. I just take the new yarn and knit along with the original yarn into one stitch and then drop the old yarn and continue with the new. On the back of the work, if you are purling, you purl the two stitches together. Later I snug up the two tails and weave in the ends so you are less likely to see them. some people tie a knot, I don't as a rule. Other people "splice" the ends together on thinner yarns but there are several ways to do this and this yarn is thick enough so I don't have to splice. Hope that was clear but if anyone else wants to share how they do their joins please feel free!

Sheila E said...

So this is an "easy" one Huh? Looks pretty intense to me. I am hoping that someday I will be able to post a shawl that is as beautiful!! I think that you are amazing! Probably won't be the last time I say it either ;)

Lacefreak said...

Dear sheila e,

This shawl really is a good one for a person who knows how to read a chart, knows how to make a yarn-over and is willing to use stitch markers. You get alot of "bang" for your knitting buck with this one. I can't take credit for this one. It's another Evelyn Clark pattern. She really has designed some lovely shawls that are within reach of many knitters. Thanks for checking in! I'm still loving my glass circulars!