Thursday, May 24, 2007

Swallowtail Shawl

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl - Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk "rose" - 70% silk, 30% seacell - 1 hank
Needles: US 3 - 24" Addi circulars
Modifications: went down one needle size.


This shawl was a quick knit. I started it last Monday and finished it last night, that's 10 days!

My thoughts on the yarn: Sea Silk is very soft and beautifully handpainted. This shade of pink is just what I wanted for this shawl, it's a gorgeous seashell pink. When I ordered this yarn, I was hoping that the yarn would be a similar weight to Zephyr, but it's barely a laceweight, only slightly thinner than fingering weight. I prefer my lace projects to be light and airy. The yarn is beautiful but I'm not as impressed as I thought I would be. But I'm still happy I made something from it, silk is so wonderful to knit with.

I couldn't stand the stench during blocking. I had read about how you would notice a smell of the yarn after it's been submerged in water.
The seacell smell was sickening! It won't linger around the house or anything and it's not extemely unbearable, but it just wasn't pleasant at all.

Some yarn shopping...

Seven hanks of Knit Picks' Alpaca Cloud in "peppermint". It's for the Frost Flowers & Leaves Shawl by Eugen Beugler for A Gathering of Lace. This is one of my favorite lace weight yarns, it's great, so soft and delicate. It's going to be a lot of knitting so this project will really test my perseverance, there'll be at least 3000 yards I believe...

This beautiful square shawl will be a very special gift for one of my best friend for a very special occasion. She's not expecting a hand knitted gift at all, I'm so excited!

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

it is gorgeous! i've been wanting to get some of that seasilk, but hmmm...the stench...??

5/24/2007 6:58 PM  
Blogger Jade said...

True that it's not a true lace weight but I still love it!

And that is a gorgeous. I gotta make one for myself as well.

5/25/2007 4:25 AM  
Blogger iSeL said...

You've done it again!!! Just.so.incredibly.beautiful.
And if that is you in the pictures, WOW! Stunning.

5/25/2007 6:22 AM  
Blogger Lisa said...

You did an awesome job on the shawl and quick too I might add.

Good luck with the next one - it seems you have a ton more patience than I ever would.

5/27/2007 6:40 AM  

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