Sunday 4 July 2010

If...

If you take one knitter with a set of 2mm needles and giver her just under 3 km of gossamer Cash Silk laceweight , add a few audio books (Brideshead Revisited, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities and Little Dorrit) and mix in a few World Cup football matches (apologies again to all England fans) you could get one of these.

The Wedding Ring Shawl (designed by Sharon Miller).

In it's pre-blocked state it was a sizeable 4 feet by 4 feet.  Blocking took it to just under 6 feet square. 

As I discovered when I blocked the Blob last year I'm too old to be faffing about blocking things on the floor.  So a couple of months ago when I saw these square foam pieces on sale I picked some up - and they've transformed the process! 

These squares are each 2ft by 2ft and about 3/4 inch thick.  I put the foam pieces together on my dining table was able to block the shawl easily in record time.



As always the moment when I freed the shawl from the pins was a little magical.  The shawl is light and delicate and I wish that I had the skill to capture that in a photograph.

Of course this is the Wedding Ring Shawl so 'the test' was necessary. 

I ran into a hurdle here - I don't own a wedding ring and although my neigbbhours are lovely, I'm not convinced that my asking to borrow a wedding ring for an hour wouldn't step over the 'neighbourly' line.


Not being a great jewellery wearer myself I didn't have many alternatives to choose from - but eventually found a suitable substitute (well, it's a ring) and tentatively began to pull the end through the ring.


I pulled it through carefully and slowly.  And hurrah!  It worked!






The shawl lives up to its name.   (Well, I guess more accurately it lives up to the name 'Cheap Fashion Ring Shawl' - but that's almost the same.  A rose by any other name and all that....)

19 comments:

Chrissy said...

It's so beautiful. You must be busting with pride at how it came out. So delicate and elegant. It's projects like this that keep urging me forward when I screw up my lace work. I want to get good enough to make things like your shawl one day, so I must keep practicing.

Anonymous said...

That is awesomely amazingly beautiful! Maybe one day I'll have the patience for such a huge project, but it won't be any time soon ;)

Teacosy said...

wau sieht der schön aus.
Such wonderful piece.
Sylvia

Rebecca said...

This is staggeringly beautiful. Fantastic work!

Sherilan said...

So beautiful!

The Caked Crusader said...

Stunning! I love the scalloped edges - that's probably not the right term and you're now mocking me...but you know what I mean - those wibbly edges!

Joan said...

Congratulations, Soo - what an accomplishment! I think a shawl like this and Am Kamin are my own personal Everests. I cannot wait to see what you'll do next!

fleegle said...

As I said elsewhere, it is breathtaking!

Groovy?

LittleBerry said...

It's stunning and I really can't get over how quick you've knit it... anything else is going to seem like a doddle after this!

ojgirl3 said...

Absolutely gorgeous.

Wanna make me one? Ha - already know the answer to that one. I like to kid myself that I could make one or talk someone else into making it for me - ahh, must be content to gaze at the wonders of others.......

Sandra Singh said...

Just breathtaking, it really is lovely.

Opal said...

my jaw dropped. literally. simply stunning work.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning! You should be so proud of yourself!

Juliet said...

What CraftyCripple said!!
You are an inspiration. One day......

Anonymous said...

It is astonishingly beautiful - a wonderful piece of work.

Betty said...

Brava! And in Cash Silk, too. A real heirloom!

BadCatDesigns said...

Amazingly gorgeous! Wow...

deborahj928@hotmail.com said...

Just saw this today! Wondering if you ever sell your beautiful creations?

Unknown said...

A work of art. So stunningly beautiful and a labour of love, no mean feat.CONGRATULATIONS!❤