New Shawls

I loved knitting lace so much that I'm already working on two more. (Even though those unmade Xmas gifts are still nagging at me, and the cold weather we've had recently makes me want another scarf.)

I cast on the Falling Leaves Shawl (Ravelry link) by Katy Wight first.

The pattern is very, very easy lace (an eight-row repeat, and four of those are all purls). This has become my take-anywhere project because it’s so easy to pick up and knit without much thought involved but still complicated enough to stay interesting. The pattern looks similar to Foliage but the decreases are all k2tog, which ends up producing a slant to the knitting, making the shawl into a parallelogram.

I started out thinking a garter stitch border would help the mostly stockinette stitches lay flat, but after knitting two repeats decided I didn't like the border. So I frogged it and started again without a border. However, almost four repeats in, I realized I cast on 9 stitches (one repeat) too few. That would make the difference between the shawl being 22" or 24" wide after blocking. Aargh! I've now put it aside while deciding whether or not I care enough about those two inches to frog and start all over or not.

So I pulled out some gorgeous baby alpaca yarn that I received as a gift some time ago and swatched for the the Shetland Triangle (Ravelry link) by Evelyn A. Clark.



I have tried to swatch this at least twice before and finally realized that the swatch has to include the increases that help build the shawl for everything to line up correctly. Finally, success. Not sure which size of needles to use with this German yarn for a lace project, I tried out both 6s (the lower repeat) and 7s (the upper repeat). I think the 7s are the winner.



I haven't actually cast on the actual shawl yet - it has taken every ounce of self-control I have today to work on getting ready for a class I have this evening instead - but certainly will before the weekend is over.