Thursday 24 June 2010

Springtime shawl


Springtime shawl
Originally uploaded by
Asplund

In Marianne Kinzel's First Book of Modern Lace Knitting there's a square-shaped table cloth that I admire and believe would be fun to knit. As I neither need nor want a knitted table cloth I've decided to modify the pattern to make a shawl instead. Not that I need shawls either, but I do need to make them.

The square design consists of four triangles, so by skipping one of them and knitting back and forth instead of in the round I will get a shawl shape I really like and have knitted a few times before (like this shawl). It looks comfortable to wear, staying on the shoulders far better than a triangular shawl. It seems easier to sit down wearing it too, since the back is horizontal.

I first cast on to knit the "Gerda stole", a pattern on Ravelry, thinking this colour would suit the pattern extremely well. I still think so, but ripped it out realizing I would soon get fed up knitting a rectangle. In some ways I'm very patient, in other ways not.



Off topic: I've been house-sitting and taking care of Sigge for a few days. Very relaxing!

If I may say so myself, I got the size and shape of the "Pacific" sweater right! It's far too hot to wear it these days, but I don't mind. Winter was so long and cold I'm still almost surprised every morning to find it's summer!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The sweater is a perfect fit. Congratulations. Because I needed and wanted a lace tablecloth I am doing English Crystal from the same book. I have often thought of adapting the square designs to shawls even though I am not a good purler. You must have a border of garter stitch or something similar. How many stitches do you have in the border and how long do you make the back? The colour is beautiful and I am looking forward to seeing it finished.
Ron in Mexico

Asplund said...

English Crystal is beautiful - I was choosing between it and Springtime, and will probably knit it in the future. I like it very much that we're using the same book!

About the border: it is four stitches wide, but not garter stitch. Here's what I've decided to do after some experimenting: slip 1, knit/purl 1, k/p2 tog, yarn over. When the shawl is finished I will pick up the slipped stitches to add a knitted-on border.

I plan to make the back about 50 cm (ca 20 in) like the last shawl I made - it's the same yarn (I'm heavily addicted to it!) so I know there will be enough for it and how much it will grow when blocked, some 20 cm (7½ in).

Anonymous said...

How clever. And I really like knitted on borders. I have a little collection of them. Thanks for the tip. I am always stealing your ideas!!
Ron

Unknown said...

Sigge ser alldeles bedårande ut. Och sjalen du gjort är magnifik. Jag känner precis som du jag är förvånad att vakna till sol och värme och det är så härligt!!!