From Cherry Leaf to Handsome Triangle

My first attempt at knitting a shawl from this book has been abandoned. This is the Shoulder Shawl in the Cherry Leaf Pattern from page 134, but after noticing the "stripe" going through it, I tossed it into a bag and put it in a "time out".

The yarn is variegated Graceful laceweight yarn I purchased at Stitches West from the Yarn Place. When I saw the skein, I fell in love with it and I still do love the yarn, but all the color changes were gradual until the "stripe" section. The yarn was a dream to work with, but since I don't like the look of the shawl, I've given it up for something else.

This is the beginnings of A Handsome Triangle on page 32. The yarn is dark navy Grignasco Regina that I purchased when I was with Laura at our LYS. I've completed 80 of the 212 rows and although it says it's an intermediate pattern, I'm really not finding it all that difficult. Maybe the practice from the other shawl helped though. If all goes well, this should be a nice present for my mother-in-law (mum) for her June birthday.

On a side note, if you click the photo to make larger, you'll notice the perfect laceweight stitchmarkers from Team Entrelac. There's not a single open gap or rough edge (burr), so they are ideal!

Cherry Leaf Shoulder Shawl

For my very first lace project ever, I chose the Shoulder Shawl in cherry leaf pattern from page 134. That may be a "bit" ambitions, but when I met the author at Stitches West, she said I shouldn't have a problem with it even if it were my first project. I realize the photo of her signing my book isn't very good, but there was only a camera phone available, and obviously it's not one of the "better" camera phones. I got to spend about 10 minutes talking with her and for more info about our conversation, please refer to this post on my blog.

The yarn I've chosen for this shawl is the variegated Graceful laceweight yarn I purchased at Stitches West from Yarn Place. I'm not sure I *love* the variegated colors for this particular pattern, but since I've just started, I'm not going to be too critical of it yet. I'm also a bit nervous because the pattern calls for 900 yards and my skein is 900 yards. I went down a needle size and I suppose I could leave off a pattern repeat if I need to. This may be a nail biter!! Have any of you knit this yet and if yes, how many yards did you end up using.

Thankfully Laura (who is making THIS incredible melon shawl) has agreed to teach me how to crochet since this shawl has a crochet edge. Well of course it does. I never go the simple route.

~Kristie (Guilty Pleasures)

Shawl Mania

These aren't great photos and nothing is blocked (or even finished!), but I wanted to share some of what this book is doing to me!

First I started the Maltese Shawl....

...then, since I needed a break from the pattern-every-row when I was dog tired, I started the Three Cornered Shawl.

Then, since it was my second one, I thought I could pop off a quick Shoulder Shawl.......


I feel more than a little obssessed!!

Apparently record-breaking

It only took me five days to complete the "Shoulder Shawl in cherry leaf pattern" from "Victorian Lace Today" (page 134). I started knitting last Friday in the evening and binded off the 225 stitches today.

Here you can see the shawl before blocking.

Measurements: 80 centimetres high an 160 centimetres wide.

The second photo is a close-up on the pattern.


The colour is very authentic; it is a light grey. The fluffy mohair has all the colours of the rainbow though. But altogehter the shawl just seems to be grey. You only can see the different colours when being very close.

After playing with my image editing program I was able to make you see the colours even in the photo.



Karin

Cherry Leaf edge clarification

OK, I belong to the KnitU list where Jane Sowerby has occasionally answered questions regarding VLT and, since XRX published the book, the moderator has some access to other people in the organization. I emailed the moderator and asked if there was another edging chart somewhere in the book that matched the edging in the picture since the chart referenced in the directions does not. Here is the response from the editorial staff via the moderator:

We did get the photos mixed up.
The chart on page 134 gives a single eyelet instead of the diagonal
ladder shown in the photo.
The edge of the border shown actually has the same yo, k2tog relationship as
the Melon Shawl and Melon border - page 146. This would require 2
extra stitches in the border for the paired eyelet border, so CO 13 stitches
instead of CO 11. Or choose another 12 row lace edging that you enjoy.

I guess that means that the exact edging is not charted out anywhere else but should look more like the picture if you do the paired eyelets. I hope this helps.