Saturday, August 30, 2008

Pacific Waves Shawl Try #2



Two weeks ago, I decided that the Pacific Waves Shawl (aka my Great Feather & Fan Shawl Project of 2008) I was working on was just too busy for me. Handspun yarn with color flecks and variations, changing the color every four rows, a purl ridge as part of the lace pattern ... it was just too much. So I took a big breath and a drink and frogged back to row five.


This is how it looked before.

Moving forward, this time I knit a stockinette-based version of the feather & fan lace pattern. (In general, I do prefer the version with the purl ridge, but the pattern is written stockinette, and as I said above, I didn't like how it was working out with the purl ridge.) I'm also knitting longer repeats of each color - at least 8, sometimes as many as 12 rows in one colorway before switching.



I prefer how it's looking now and it seems more cohesive to me. I'm still not quite certain about it though. I expected more blue overall - one of the colorways, San Francisco, is a lovely blue and brown combination which is knitting up more brown and less blue than I expected. I have some of the bright blue colorway called In the Skies, but those skeins are spun so much tighter than the other yarns, and the color is so much brighter, that I've decided not to use it.

I've finished 38 rows and have knit about 6 inches. The shawl is supposed to be 18 inches, so I'm about 1/3 of the length and am aiming for 120 rows at this point. I've got 6.85 oz (195 g) of the yarn left, or 458 yards, and I calculate that I've used 508 yards. I'm glad there is a Sock Hop update coming up soon, because I think I'm going to need another skein or two to make it.

Looking at these pictures has made me realize that I'd prefer more color similarity and don't really like all the stripes of color. Dang.

2 comments:

Laughingrat said...

I like it, it's subdued yet jewel-like. Very nice. Makes me want to knit a feather-and-fan shawl myself, although I think I would do a triangular one. Either way, gorgeous!

Jody said...

It's beautiful! I think it's going to look awesome!