Lotus Blossom Shawl

Recipient: Moi
Designer: Dorothy Siemens
Pattern: Lotus Blossom Shawl
Source: Fiddlesticks Knitting
Completed: January 29, 2006
Colours: Hand-dyed - gorgeous blend of blue and purple
Yarn: Fiddlesticks Knitting Country Silk, 50% silk/30% wool/20% nylon, worsted weight?
Completed status: Now blocking
Notes: Kit was a Christmas gift from my MIL
Pictures:

complete shawl


me modelling the shawl, as seen from the back (this is what happens when your husband leaves the making of everyone's lunches until the last minute and consequently has no time in the morning to help you out by taking a decent picture of you modelling your knitwear, thus leaving you to your own devices, hence the really sucky quality of this picture)


me modelling the shawl, as seen from the front (slightly better, but please try to ignore the green pillbottle cap in front of my crotch and all the white spots throughout the shot which are just droplet marks on the mirror)

2006-Jan-29

Okay, I lied. Turns out I did end up finishing it this weekend. :) The castoff was a bit fiddly (thanks to the bobbles) and took me a little over two hours, but it wasn't too bad at all. The shawl is now blocking.


pre-blocking (crap)


blocking (so not crap)

Since I'm just waiting for the sucker to dry, I am calling it - it's officially done. I have finally made something for me. Me, me, me. Me me. Me. La la la...

(A pause while Kathleen does a little dance.)

Ahem.

Pictures of the final product on a non-electric green background will be posted once the shawl has dried.

2006-Jan-27

Oh, it's getting closer. The end, that is. I can taste it.

(sort of an artistic shot - what you're seeing here is the shawl draped over the back of my living room futon, with the blossoms at the top and the stems falling away down the back of the seat)

I'm on the last chart. Hell, I'm almost finished the last chart. Just three more rows. until the cast-off. Now, the cast-off is, admittedly, going to take a while. Somewhere in the vicinity of two hours and twenty-five minutes, in fact, assuming my knitting speed is parallel with the Yarn Harlot's (which is probably a wild overestimation of my skills, but this is my quantitative chance to find out, isn't it). However, I am not daunted. I am not setting myself up for failure by expecting to finish this weekend, so I'm okay. But soon. Soon I shawl shall have in my hot little hands a garment of my very own made by me. Oooh.

2006-Jan-26

This lumpy heap is where I am so far...about three-quarters done.


This is what it looks like when you stretch it out:


Pretty!

I cannot believe how fast I'm working through this thing. I cast on six days ago! Clearly, even when there is no knitting stress, I still end up spending tons of time knitting.

It is looking more and more likely that this will end up being the first thing ever that I finish for myself. That makes me very happy, considering how much I like this project.

2006-Jan-22

Yesterday I went to a 'craft day' gathering of women from an online community I participate in. Fantastic afternoon, lots of great projects on the go, great ladies to hang out with, great gossip to catch up on. :) I brought a bunch of projects, but what I ended up getting started on was my Lotus Blossom shawl. I'd brought my swift and ball winder, so I spent most of the afternoon winding up the skein and swatching. There wasn't much time left at the gathering after that, but I did manage to cast on. And since then, this has pretty much been the focus of all my knitting energy.

I LOVE THIS PROJECT. Seriously. I love everything about it. The yarn? I love the colours. I love watching them transition from one to another. I love the way it feels as it runs through my fingers when I'm knitting it. I love watching the variegation build up in the shawl. The pattern? I love how the design looks. I love how clever the pattern is. I love how clear the instructions are. I love how big and helpful the charts are. I love how happy and calm it makes me to knit it. And let's not forget...I love this project because when it's all done, it will be mine, mine, mine.

Ahhhhhhhh.

So anyway, visuals! Earlier in the evening it looked like this:


Please pardon my feet - they are there to sort of pseudo-block the thing out so you can see the pattern coming together. Real blocking will obviously accomplish better results, including the elimination of the wavyness along the bottom edge.

The shawl calculator at this site (see sidebar) tells me that I am 16.5% done (not including the finishing bobbles, unfortunately). For a weekend's work I think this is pretty good. Stay tuned, this is probably going to be my procrastination project when I get tired of other projects.