I tell you, I'm really on a roll here. It feels *good* to finally complete all these shawls I've had laying around in their partially-knit state. The latest one to come off the needles and onto the blocking bed was the Fir Cone Triangular Shawl. I cast on for this shawl a year ago, but hit the skids when it got to the sideways knit-on edging--something I had never done before. I quickly learned that edgings of this sort are a PITA to knit and they seem to go on forever. I remember setting a daily minimum of edging repeats I had to knit each day as a way to keep myself going. It did help there for awhile, but obviously not long enough. And once it got to be spring and mohair shawls were no longer needed, this one hit the UFO basket in a big hurry.
I learned several lessons from knitting this shawl. First of all, I discovered that knitting lace with fine, fuzzy mohair yarns is a lot more challenging than knitting with smooth lace yarns. I started out knitting with mohairs so I really didn't fully appreciate this aspect until later when I'd used Zephyr and merino and cashmere yarns. I also learned about the edging challenge (as mentioned above). Another lesson learned: when you get too bored with the lace you're knitting, go find another lace pattern that is compatible that you can insert so as to not go cuckoo crazy. Then call it your own adaptation and think cool thoughts about your designing abilities. Well, not too cool ;o) And I guess last, but not least, if you are going to abandon a fuzzy lace shawl into a basket for many months--put it into a sealed plastic storage bag first. The dust bunnies liked to have killed me finishing that edging and you should have seen the bath water---yikes! Pass the Allegra &/or Benedryl...quick!
So here's the scoop:
Pattern: Fir Cone Triangular Shawl
Designer: My adaptation of an original design by Fruitcake Knits
Source: fruitcakeknits.weblogs.us/fir-cone-triangular-shawl/
Yarn: Madil Kid Seta (70% Super Kid Mohair/30% Silk, 25g=210m/230 yds.) color 631 - 3 balls
Needles: Addi-Turbo US5 (3.75mm)
Finished Size: 66" x 33" after blocking
Details: I inserted a diamond motif border before the knit-on edging in my adaptation of the original pattern (sorry, the border pattern is not available)
There are more pictures of this and my other recent shawl completions on my Flickr page
1 comment:
Wow, it looks great! I'm always interested in fir cone patterns ever since I put my Three-Quarter Fir Cone pattern out there. Interestingly, the only difference I see between my fir cone pattern and the one you followed is that mine is a 3/4 shape instead of a triangle.
I LOVE the pattern you added in there!
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