Tuesday, March 11, 2008

swan lake is totally fini!

it still amazes me what blocking will do for lace. you knit and knit and knit and end up with a light-weight blob of something. soak it in water, squeeze it dry, and then stretch it to an itch of its life (which is kind of scary because it was knit with very skinny, fragile-looking "thread"). somehow, it turns into a thing of beauty (if you are lucky and didn't make too many noticeable mistakes - grin)! i did find that i missed TWO beads in the edging; so did some minor "repair" work in those two spots. other than that, i think i did pretty well. the mistakes aren't too glaring. i am very happy with my finished "swan lake." now, i need some place to go. ah-hh! grocery shopping!!!

"the point"


"the wing"


"the whole enchilada"

zephyr wool-silk in ebony
approx. 80 gm/945 yds
us 4 needles
finished size: 20" x 78" (will probably shrink a little after i remove all the pins)
gauge: who knows? i am a bad girl and didn't swatch!

modifications: i used beading banshee's ending for clue 4 and didn't knit all the cat's paw lace. i am not sure how many i actually knitted. i was going to knit the shorter version but didn't because i would have only had like 4 repeats of the cat's paw lace and thought it would look really funny. i did add beads to clue 4. i hope that it's not too long when i wear it. i am still waiting for it to completely dry before i undo all the pins.

now, i'm itching to start another lace project from my long list of shawl/stole mystery (mostly known now because i didn't start them on time) kals. i could start the mystic water shawl or the secret of the stole ii OR i could wait for the mystic light or secret of the bad nauheim ( both of which start soon). i think i need to buy more lace yarn!

i really should just go finish my serendipitys and work on those 3 new sock designs (plus write up that one for crystal palace yarn) instead of thinking of lace; but the lace is so fun!

ps. hey, debi, i think i finally figured out that blocking thing. send your stuff down! of course, if i block it, i keep it!!!!!!!!!! then i can have a contest and give away all your shawls for prizes!!!!!

edited to correct needle size used for stole. you would think i would know after working on the stole for 8 months.

6 comments:

debi's place said...

Yeah right.

Your shawl is just beautiful. You did a wonderful job. Now you can send it here so I can see if I like the beads or if I like the length or whatever. Just mail it on up. But you better insure it for a million as it looks worth it.

I look forward to seeing what lace work you decide on next.

Debi

Anonymous said...

I like the mod for finishing clue 4 (I think I'll be a chicken and follow the clue as written!). You did a good job on finishing - I'll be following you soon I hope!

Knitting Linguist said...

Oh, wow! That is absolutely stunning. And you're right -- isn't blocking just amazing? The before/after difference never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many times I see it. :)

BarbaraME said...

Just gorgeous! I haven't knitted a shawl yet, although I have yarn and a pattern for one. I'm trying to figure out where I'd use one. I don't think it would go well under people's desks when I work on their computers? :-)

Violiknit said...

Wow, your Swan Lake is a beautiful work of art!

tapmouse said...

Absolutely incredibly gorgeous! WTG! So now you are laughing as I still remain at Clue 3 of SSii!