It is done. It is done. The Celtic Stole, my very first project with laceweight yarn, is finished at last. I may never knit with laceweight again. Love the pattern, but oh, my goodness. Knitting with thread is a whole other world. So . . . here it is -- 
This is my second stole (y'know, rectangular-type shawl), and I'm realizing that with this shape you get a lot more of the decorative part in the front, unlike the triangles, which usually have their prettiest part draped across the back. The back of a stole is not so interesting. 
Both shapes are good, and then, of course, there's circles and half-circles and all sorts of adventures to come. I'm definitely not done with shawls, although a light-to-medium fingering weight yarn may be as thin as I will go in future. Aside from the difficulty in knitting (not to mention tinking), laceweight, once blocked, is almost too drapey.
Anyhoo, I had the fun of learning two new cast-on's for this project. First the invisible cast-on for the start, and then the crochet cast-on for the knit-on border. 
I had a slight difference of opinion with the designer as to how the border should be cast on. This is due to my reluctance to break off the working yarn unless absolutely, totally, completely necessary. Other knitters are more carefree about trailing bits of yarn. So, I cast on with my working yarn, adding one stitch to the cast-on number, and then eliminated one row from the beginning. Worked just fine.
It's an amazing pattern, perfectly easy to knit (as long as you pay close attention). There are no nupps or other fancy maneuvers, just basic stitches. And, most importantly, the pattern has not a single mistake, not one, not anywhere. And, oh, by the way, it's FREE. And the chart comes as both a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet. I found the spreadsheet to be quite handy. I could change the color of the grid, increase the font size, cut out just the pieces I was working on -- all sorts of useful stuff.
My hat is off to Sarah Kendra Hughes, who created this amazing pattern and then shared it with the world, asking nothing in return. Huzzah!
14 comments:
Huzzah, indeed! It's absolutely gorgeous -- what a work of art. And what a delight to knit a pattern that's so well put together. Congratulations!
What amazing heights of knitting you have climbed! This is gorgeous, congratulations on the adventure well lived.
Gorgeous! I'm with you - knitting with thread is another world! Good to stretch the gray matter now and then.
Nebraska Knitter
Quite an accomplishment! It's beautiful, and you'll probably find more opportunities to wear it than you would a heavier-weight stole. However, I agree with you about knitting laceweight. It's too fussy to knit and too light to drape the way I think it should. Still, it's so pretty.
We love that green, don't we?
That is just lovely! After time you may forget about all the disagreeable qualities of true lace-weight yarn and plunge into another.
I found that the shawl that gets the most use is one of true fingering weight, and on the cold nights we've had lately, I'm yearning for one that is warmer and cozier (and easier to knit).
Beautiful Beautiful. and an amazing feat of perseverance. Congratulations. OK that will make me try harder. Instead of tossing it in my knitting cupboard
Sorry I din't mean to leave an anonymous message. I hit the wrong button I think ???
I don't know what to say. It is absolutely lovely. Hats off to both you and the designer.
Wow that is gorgeous! I don't think those pics really do justice to the color though. I seem to remember it being much richer?
Yeah for a finished project. That stole is gorgeous and it looks so light and airy.
Absolutely gorgeous! I've only knit one shawl in my times, because though I love the look and knitting up of lace... fingering weight yarn drives me pretty nuts.
Love the color as well.
It's beautiful. I understand not wanting to knit with lace weight again. I tried it once and that was enough.
This is a piece of art! So beautiful!
It's beautiful! I'm working on this stole right now, and have solved the problem of the back not being very interesting by making it three knots instead of four. This means (in theory) the back will be one full knot. Your stole is gorgeous and has inspired me to keep knitting!
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