I found this pattern and yarn in May, at Cummington. It's a larger shawl (92 X 46 inches) and when I saw it, I immediately thought it would be perfect for a family wedding I was attending in October. With the maple tree designs for the fall, and the pretty beads to give it sparkle - I just loved it. Although I have knit lace in the past, the stuff I have knit were always just triangles - no edging after the fact, certainly not this big, and definitely not with beads on every single row!
When I starting knitting in July, I realized that it was a bit more difficult than shawls I have tackled before, but didn't think anything of it. I knit on it in bits and pieces all summer, but barely made progress because it was definitely NOT portable with the beads and I was concentrating on knitting socks. I figured that I would finish the sock knitting in September, and have a few weeks to finish this, and I would be fine.
I was wrong. Here is the finished shawl blocking in my hotel room the evening before the wedding:
I was blocking this (with Aaron's help) at 11 PM. The wedding was the next day at 3:00 PM. Thankfully, the yarn is 100% tencel, and dried with no problems. A week before this, I had finished the body of the shawl, and just had the edging to go. I had about 500 stitches to bind off with the edging, but figured it couldn't take all that long. Ha. 18 stitches took a full hour of knitting.
So, as of Sunday of last week, I had about 28 hours of solid knitting to do. Remember that I work full time, and need to eat and sleep (and sometimes pee). What I did was get up at 5 AM each day and knit before work. If I was on a conference call at work, I would knit. At night, I would knit until all hours.... and Aaron did all the cooking. But the edging? Totally worth the pain:
You really can't see the beads, but it adds a wonderful sparkle to the finished piece, and really helps with the way it hangs. And here is a close up of the maple leaves:
I actually don't have any pictures of me in the shawl at the wedding. I was distracted by everyone! But I promise to have Aaron take some pictures of me with the shawl later. Want the details?
Pattern: Maple Tree, by Karen Joan Raz
Yarn: Just Our Yarn, Almaza
Needles: Turbo Addi Lace Size 2
Comments: Even though I was in a rush to get it done, I found myself slowing down towards the end. I do that on projects that I enjoy knitting. The charts were perfectly written and easy to read and the yarn was wonderful!
5 comments:
Didn't even see the gob that smacked me... wow.
looks fantastic! i'm glad you managed to finish on time and that it dried in time.
and for anyone else who is thinking of knitting a lace shawl, i HIGHLY RECOMMEND "Just Our Yarn" - their tencel comes in gorgeous colors, is VERY reasonably priced, and knits up like a dream. it blocks nicely and stays in shape, too. i have made two shawls with it.
It is lovely, the maple leaf pattern is very pretty. It will be nice to see the shawl on you.
That's beautiful! And kudos on your perseverance! You're a better woman than I. I would have given up and bought a sweater!
Yay!! I think you are exempt from any knitted holiday gifts - you've had one stressful knitting deadline after another (socks and now this). I don't know if I can take any more of it. Give you're hubby kudos for the support we bloggers couldn't provide in the final crunch time. Oh, and it looks wonderful too!
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