A few photos

I finally managed to haul out my camera and snap a few photos of what I've been knitting on. Tonight I'll just post my latest FO -- the Echo Flowers Shawl. This shawl has been all the rage among lace & small shawl knitters on Ravelry. The orignal design called for 100g of sock yarn, which really ups the popularity factor for many knitters. Me? I still prefer knitting with lace weight yarns, so of course I grabbed a couple of skeins of my favorite go-fiber, baby alpaca, for this little beauty. Throw in just a few seed beads for a touch of sparkle in the border, and this shaped triangle shawl is pretty darn close to perfection, as far as lace shawl designs go.



I am quite enamored by the intricate motifs in Estonian lace knitting, and these 9-stitch flower clusters are no exceptions. Now that I have mastered the tricks of knitting perfect nupps, I no longer feel the need to shy away from complex Estonian lace patterns. The wide nupp (and bead) border really distinguishes Echo Flowers from some of the other popular Estonian-inspired triangle shawls that are popular right now. The border is what people really see so ending a shawl with a flourish is really important.



The scoop for this project is:
Pattern: Echo Flowers Shawl
Designer: Jenny Johnson
Source: www.nyansera.se or Ravelry
Yarn: Cascade Alpaca Lace - col#1408 (yellow heather), 2 skeins (437 yds/50g; 82g used)
Needles: US 5/3.75mm
Beads: Matsuno 8-0 SL Champagne Pink
Cast-on: 18 July 2010 Bind-off: 26 Aug 2010
Size: 42" across shoulders at back neck X 28" neck to point after blocking
Details: I knit the flower clusters as mirror images, knitting the right side as sssk and the left as k3tog for the flower bases. I did 14 repeats of the Flower Chart