The Prairie Spinner

I seem to have been on a lace kick lately – at least partly because I can’t bear to try on a long-sleeved wool sweater that is ALMOST finished.  Most days, anyway.  Spring in Kansas is nothing if not changeable!

My first Finished Object was actually twice-knit yarn.  I love the subtle sparkles of the silver filament in this yarn, and thought I had chosen the perfect pattern to show it off.  But after it was all finished, I found that I was avoiding wearing it; it wasn’t a yarn + pattern marriage made in heaven, after all.  I still like Starry Starry Night, but a finer yarn with more drape would be a much better match.

Starry Starry Night - now gone with the wind!

So I ripped it out, and chose a more traditional triangle shawl pattern, Shaelyn.  It’s actually quite an easy pattern, and made for good travel knitting.  (I highly recommend a project on circular needles for airplane knitting – you can’t drop one of those down the side of the seat.  Go ahead.  Ask me how I know.)  The pattern is for a small, almost scarf-sized shawl, so I added another lace pattern repeat – and ran out of yarn!

Starry Shaelyn with roses

Some patterns look just fine edged in another color, or with stripes added in, but this wasn’t one of them.  I rummaged through my leftover sock/fingering weight yarns, and came up with three that looked pretty close.  I’ll spare you the agonizing details, but can tell you that a very similar yarn construction in a fairly close color is far better than a yarn of a different yarn construction (loosely spun and plied in this case) in a nearly exact color match.  That little tip may save you quite a bit of time some day.  It took me 5 tries with 3 different yarns to come to this conclusion.  I alternated the two yarns in the last lace repeat, and am still amazed with the success of the result.  Even I can hardly tell which yarn was used for which rows!  And yes, I have worn it several times already.

Shaelyn edge detail

Next up is a thank-you project – Annis, another shawlette/scarf.  I’ve had my eye on this pattern for a while, and found the perfect excuse to knit it.  The yarn hunt ended with Ella Rae Lace Merino in a semi-solid charcoal color.  It’s listed as a blue/natural colorway on the site, but the skein I chose was definitely darkish grey!  The pattern knitted up quickly, and was my introduction to nupps (pronounced noops), an Estonian technique for adding a bit of texture to lace.

Annis shawl

The lighting for this photography was a little challenging, but you can see something of how fluid the shawl is!  And the lace pattern is easier to see in the shadow picture, although I would have liked it a little sharper.  Well, I may have another go at taking a few more pictures, but it’s all ready to package up and send off to the unsuspecting recipient.

Annis shadow

Next time, a bit of non-shawl lace…

Lace edging