Wednesday, April 16, 2008

FO: Kimono Shawl

I finished knitting this shawl the end of January, but it took me a while to get the blocking wires, block it, and then even longer to take and post photos.



Pattern: Kimono Shawl by Cheryl Oberle
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in Burgundy
Needles: Addi Lace Turbo in US size 5 / 3.75 mm
Dates: July 5, 2007 - January 26, 2008
On Ravelry

The only mod I made, other than yarn substitution, was to knit 16 rows of garter stitch at the top and bottom edges instead of the 20 the pattern calls for. That way the garter stitch border was even on all sides instead of being a bit thicker on the top and bottom.



I love this shawl! This was my first lace project, and I was just enchanted with it the whole way through. It is a long project - over 600 rows - but so worth it. It took me 7 months, but I wasn’t knitting exclusively. I learned so much about knitting lace from this project. I've since moved on to triangular shawls, which I think I'd recommend to a first-time lace knitter just because they go faster, but I certainly do prefer to wear the rectangular shape - it actually stays on your shoulders.


I love the yarn I picked. The Knit Picks Gloss is easy to work with and a great weight for the project. The burgundy colorway is gorgeous. It took just over 6 skeins of the yarn, but if I had frogged my swatch, 6 skeins may well have been enough. I went on to knit another shawl (the Tuscany) with the same yarn, and now that I'm knitting shawls with other yarns, I find I miss the Gloss.



Pre-blocked size was 17 x 72 inches. After blocking, it grew to 24 x 80 inches. This is a bit bigger than the pattern (22 x 72 inches), but since I used a wool/silk blend instead of 100% silk, I’m not that surprised. The final shawl is elegant and classy and lovely. It's my first lace shawl and suspect will long be my favorite.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh.... I'm in LOVE. Beautiful job, if you hadn't said it was your first time I would never have known. It's my favorite color too! I want to make a workhorse shawl in black, something I can wear with anything, this pattern may be just the thing. I'm with you on the Gloss too, I love that yarn, and you can't beat the price. Have you seen the lace weight version out now?

LizKnits said...

Just beautiful... congrats on a job well done.

Anonymous said...

That is a lovely shawl, both in color and pattern. After seeing it I went to Amazon and ordered the book that it's in.

Laura said...

@tina m. -
Many thanks for your kind words! I have seen the new Gloss Lace, online anyway, but right now I'm all about fingerweight when it comes to shawls.

@lizknits-
Thanks!

@fireflynights -
There are many lovely lace shawl patterns in the book Folk Shawls. You won't regret it!

Viktoria said...

Your kimono shawl is beautiful! You did a wonderful job...

Anonymous said...

You have a very nice blog. I enjoyed seeing all of the shawls you have done. Could you tell me how much of the fingering weight yarn it took to make the Kimono Shawl? I also prefer using the fingering weight.

Laura said...

@fireflynights -
I used just over 6 skeins of the Knit Picks Gloss for this shawl, which included my swatch. I calculate about 1350 yards total.

Anonymous said...

It's gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the yarn estimate. I ordered the book and it hasn't come yet and I wanted to order my yarn.