Swallowtail! It's done!
The obligatory ass shot:
I'm so freakin' excited over this. I tried to get this done in time for Lacevember but I missed the deadline by 2 days. I blame
Karen for that. I was lead to believe that Lacevember was actually 2 months long and thus I felt free to slack and concentrate on Christmas gift knitting. Silly me. Ah well. It's alright. So I don't win a prize but I do have a mistake free gorgeous shawl!
Here it is pre-blocking:
Forgive the busy towels under it. My white towels are for my own personal use. Not for my knitting thankyouverymuch.
For the blocking, I went to the hardware store looking for some welding wire or at least some stainless steel type of rod. Fuck that. Those suckers were $7 each. So the frugal side of me opted for the under $3 solution.
Bezzie would be proud.
Dowel rods. They worked perfectly fine for my purposes. As you see, this sucker grew a lot by blocking. I'd always heard of the magic of blocking lace but to see it for myself, simply amazing.
Details:
Pattern: Swallowtail Lace Shawl from Fall '06 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool it's a dark navy blue I don't have the color number. It took just over 2 hanks.
Needles: US 8
Started: October 12th
Finished: December 2nd.
It would have been a much faster knit but it was my first lace shawl and I didn't want to screw it up so I took my time and only worked on it on Sundays for the most part. Except for this last week. I was freaking out trying to get it done so I brought it to my knitting group wednesday night. As
Tvini can attest, I had went to the pub before knitting group (
The Interlacements! The yarn shop is next door to the pub! Geez, gimme a break people.) and well, in the couple hours I was at the knitting group, I didn't even get through a whole row. I tinked back the same row a total of 3 times. 3 times for the right half of the shawl, and 3 times for the left half. Apparently beer makes it really hard to count. Or something. Heh. Thank God for lifelines. And that's all I have to say about that.
38 comments:
GORGEOUS!!!!!!! What an ass! Oh, wait, the shawl is pretty, too. ;)
it looks really nice! And your obligatory ass shot should do you proud. I'm amazed that it only took 2 hanks of Silky Wool - makes me rethink using that for this same pattern...
Love it!!!!!
And those "busy" towels actually help accentuate it I think!
And way to go scoring the under $3 blocking rods. Of course I'm proud! Not only is it a nice ass, it's a cheap one too!
Too early for snarky wisecracks. Really gorgeous!
Ordinarily I spit........
I love your swallowtail. So beautiful. Did you do extra pattern repeats? Yours is lifesize, mine came out childsize.
No, no extra repeats. Just a bigger yarn and needles.
And swallowing is good for the complexion. >.>
It is ver' ver' ver' ver' gorjus!!!
Just beautiful! As always I am amazed by your knitting abilities!
That is absolutely beautiful!
Hey, that came out great! Only two hanks? Wow! Color goes well with you too.
Baby got back!! Hollaaa!
Dude, that shawl is off the heazy! LUUURVE it.
Nooo, I don't really talk like that IRL...all the time. LOL
Wow. That's... wow. Lovely work.
Giirrrrrrlllll, that is STUNNING!
The shawl looks spectacular - and you look great in it :)
It's beautiful!!! Seriously - yeah for blocking lace!
and did I understand this right... there's a bar next to a yarn store? That is perhaps the best/worst idea ever!
Beautiful!
Gorgeous! truly!
Looks GREAT! I have yet to attempt a lace shawl - may dig out the Silky Wool to make one of these now!
Beautiful work Christi!
That is just gorgeous!
Gorgeous!!
*hangs head in shame for telling you the wrong thing*
What a great shawl! Your house is so cleeeeeean! (Can you tell that my life is so not like yours?) It's just a beautiful, beautiful, lovely piece of knitting. Nice ass, too.
Is that your first lace shawl? Looks wonderful! I love that you made it with a heavier weight yarn too. That thing is tiny as written.
Absolutely Beautiful!! Awesome job! Hehe on all the earliest comments!! WTGo!!!
Mazultav (msp)
ABSOFREAKINLUTELY FABULOUS MY DEAR!
..and to think just yesterday you were a knitting tenderoni and now look at you! *sniffle* Our girls growing up so fast. *pout*
...and using the dowels for blocking. GENIUS! *mental note*
..and if I had to guess, I'd say you're not the spitting kind. You're much more of a lady than that, I'm certain. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *ehem*
...and if I do say so myself in a most unlesbian way, you got some junk in your trunk, girl! *2 snaps and a Z formation* *mmmmhmmm* WORK IT, GIRL!
That turned out fabulous! Just amazing!
Drink or no, I'll give you definite points for continuing to try to knit that damn shawl, no matter how many times you had to rip back. Now that's determination!
I won't be able to make it to guild tomorrow night - send my regrets!
Soooooo pretty! I have *got* to get around to lace.
Congrats on an FO well done!
Wow, what a great choice in color! It looks fabulous.
So pretty!
Now that's an inspiring piece of lace. Ah, someday...
The shawl came out fabulous! Now off I go to the hardware store to purchase some rods myself. Thanks for the great tip.
OOh A$$shot.oh sorry, BEAUTIFUL SHAWL! And you got POINTS *cries*. I must knit another shawl.. I need points!
And dowels for blocking.. hmmm who'd a though. NO rust. I love the idea.
yay!
It is lovely.
And, now you are lace-confident!
Congrats on a beautiful FO for the holidays.
That is absolutely stunning, it looks fabulous. It's amazing what blocking can do.
Dude, that is so awesome. I have some forest green alpaca in my stash for when I am brave enough to tackle lace. I'll steal your dowel rod idea, too.
Hopefully my a$$ will look as good!
FAAAAAAAA-bulous. I love it.
Gorgeous.
*stares in awe at your...*
Absolutely gorgeous!!!! I love it!!!!
Hugs!!!
Stunning! Nice ass, too. ;)
Stunning beyond belief. Of course, perfect implies dark forces at work, so be careful when you wear it. I understand they can induce drunkeness and worse!
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