Oddly, almost as soon as I had decided that the Spring Shawl was 'on a break' and likely to end up a permanent unfinished object I found myself knitting on the edging. I was never convinced I was going to finish it, but I couldn't find the motivation to start another project so I found myself filling spare 10 minutes with the little 12 row repeat of the edging.All of those little bursts of knitting started to add up and yesterday I realised I was more than 3/4 of the way around the shawl. That inspired me to give it some real attention and today I finished the edging. A quick soak and the usual blocking shenanigans - and ta da!
Some of you might remember that a couple of weeks ago I had a nightmarish moment when the shawl snagged on something while I was knitting it and the yarn in the body of the shawl snapped. I somehow lost where the snag occured and wasn't able to find it again until today.
Well, I sort of found it.
I know that what I'm about to tell you isn't possible but I swear it is true. I eventually found one end of the yarn where the snap happened -- BUT NOT THE OTHER. I carefull poked and prodded in the area but no other end showed itself. Even after blocking the other end hasn't appeared. How Twilight Zone is that?
The finished shawl is HUGE. 94 inches across the top and a 54 inch drop.
The pattern is the Spring Shawl from Heirloom Knitting, and I knit it on 2.75mm needles.
I used a Colourmart cashmere/merino blend in Cardinal - about 120 gms (1850ish metres) of a 150 gm cone. I found the yarn oddly fragile on occasion. Whether it was the yarn or me I don't know -- it might be that I'm not used to a laceweight without the strength of silk (a quick review of my most recent project and all are wool/silk blends). Colourmart certainly has a great reputation generally and I will use them again.
Like all the best love stories I'm hoping this one ends happily ever after......but that Twilight Zone missing yarn end might have other ideas!
27 comments:
I wonder if you actually snapped only one ply, and the other end of that ply stayed put. That would especially make sense if the snag happened to be at a place where the yarn was joined in the mill.
Lovely red! It could also be that the yarn had an odd join and what you found is an extra strand. Been there done that. Your work is amazing!
absolutely georgeous!
It's so beautiful.sigh.
Totally exquisite! Still finishing the edging on mine...
I have a feeling that you might eventually find that other end (ugh!) Hopefully, it's become attached to it's neighbor and will remain that way forever.
Beautiful work! I love the color too!
Wow....
I am constantly amazed each time I view your blog. The red shawl takes my breath away!
I do have a question that I would prefer not be posted on a public blog.
If you would email me I would be very grateful.
My email is ladyoutlaw3x3 at yahoo.com.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Excellent.... It looks stunning especially in the red.... am glad the shawl has had a happy ending and hope the other snapped end never appears...
Oh, that is beeeyooootiful! :-D I'm so pleased you managed to get back the shawl love and finish it. Even though it's made me add *another* shawl pattern to my queue...
I've not used any cashmere/merino from Colourmart, but I know that the pure cashmere didn't break easily. My favourite of their yarns so far has to be their cashmere/silk blend, which is incredibly soft - softer than the cashmere - but has a nice sheen to it. The colour of last cone of pure cashmere I used was a bit "flat". :-/
Hey Soo, well done for getting on with it! It's utterly beautiful! I really love the colour you chose. That's really weird about the other end not showing up, I hope it doesn't suddenly make an appearance at any point.
Oh I am so very jealous. I can't seem to work my way through Phoenix Rising, and you've managed this work of art. Please send some lace mojo.
I forgot to mention how beautiful the shawl is.
How creepy...a lost end. But the shawl is gorgeous. I hope the end stays lost for good!
Absolutely stunning, Soo - not surprisingly.
I can second the "don't drink and knit" admonition, though (from very hard personal experience).
The shrug looks great too - and the story of how your hard work on the Spring Shawl prevailed was fabulous.
So inspiring, in fact, that maybe I'll even pick up sticks sometime again soon for lace (not until I'm done my blankie moving project, though).
Cheers,
Kristina
Glorious!
Although very odd about the missing second end of snapped strand. Perhaps it somehow knotted itself around back in?
wow.. this is awesome and the Red really makes a statement:D
Such gorgeous work! Congratulations on forging through and finishing. Perhaps the only-one-end thing is the universe's way of rewarding your persistence.
It's stunning! I love the color and the pattern, and I particularly love that it is no longer the cursed shawl. You stuck with it till the very end and now have a beautiful FO to show for it.
I'm so glad you worked your way through the trials and tribulations that shawl put you through. It turned out fabulous!
Soo - you just can't stop the lace, can you? The red is amazing, the shawl stunning - shazam! And I love the twilight ne end - it just doesn't want to show itself. Hopefully it felted itself in there somewhere, never to be seen again.
Beautiful shawl. You took such lovely inspiring photos.
You are such an inspiration! Your red shawl is absolutely beautiful, gives me an incentive to get on with my Icarus shawl and all my other WIPs too!
Wow, that is a very impressive shawl. It's beautiful.
Thats brilliant Soo! Its a magic shawl.
Re: Bling shawl. There's nothing wrong with it--it just didn't thrill me. Hard to explain!
I used a knitted-on edging, but didn't pull out the crocheted loops except at the tips. Not sure I liked that either!
I'm so glad there is a happy ending. Hopefully that lost end will stay lost ;) I think the knitting gods are smiling on you!
The shawl is beautiful and such a stunning colour, I think I would have hung it up too!
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