Monday, May 19, 2008

More Lace

I had so much fun knitting the lace pattern for the BiColor Clementine Shawlette that I selected another lace shawl pattern and ordered the yarn even before I had finished the Clementine.

This is the pattern pic from Interweave Knits Winter 2006. The design is the "Arctic Diamonds Stole" by Donna Druchunas. There is a laceweight version in Donna's "Arctic Lace" book, but this one is intended for fingering, specifically Louet Gems Pearl, one of my favorite yarns. It's a nice normal fingering – not too skinny, not too fat – and comes in a huge variety of rich and subtle colors.


And this is the yarn. The name of the color is Burgundy, but it's actually somewhere between a light Burgundy (or Merlot) and a really dark raspberry.


This is the swatch. Isn't it cute? I actually knit a proper swatch for this project and washed it and blocked it. And I'm very glad I did. To match the final stole size of 22" wide by 60" long, this swatch needed to be 5" wide by 6" long. No problem pinning it to that size. But after it was fully dried and released from the pins, things happened. The swatch held its width well, but the length gradually shortened to 5.25" (over about 24 hours). Pretty sneaky, huh? Not a problem, though. I have an extra skein of yarn in case I need to knit an extra repeat. Or I could block the length to 66" to allow for the subsequent shrinkage.


It's exciting to have another lace project on the needles. For continuing inspiration I have pinned the swatch to the sheer curtain that covers the hallway window, where it can remind me daily of what I should be doing.

5 comments:

Marjorie said...

I love that pattern and the color you chose--and I didn't realize that the version in IK used different yarn from the book.

Thanks for your info on Louet Gems. I was browsing for sock yarn this weekend, and it is a yarn I haven't used yet, although I have many patterns that call for it.

Delighted Hands said...

Wow, it is going to be beyond beautiful. Can't wait to see your progress!

Kathy said...

What a beautiful shawl that will be! I can't wait to see the finished product. :)

beverlyanne said...

Wow, it's shawl fever here in knitting land. Your shawl will be stunning. I think you'll be glad of the extra warmth you'll get with fingering weight. It does get cold there sometimes doesn't it?

Catherine said...

What a pretty! I love the color and the pattern. Yes, you do need to wear your shawls!