OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: by Elizabeth Freeman, from Knitty
• Yarn: Knit Witch Mystical World (alpaca/silk/cashmere), ~455 yds
• Size/Needle: Smaller (shawlette), final dimensions: 45″x20″, US 4’s
• Time to knit: Started June 14 (most of time in hibernation)

This is my first “serious” lace shawl- the first one knit in laceweight and the only one I’m likely to actually wear.  The pattern is fine, good clear charts and written directions.  Successfuly executing the cast on took a few tries, but there’s nothing technically difficult about it, rather the challenging aspect was my skinny, slippery yarn on relatively large, slick metal needles.  The shawl progressed quickly at first, but the last 18-row chart (edging) involved copious beads as well as nupps, and was truly a trial of patience.  At least the WS rows were “resting” rows, ie, purl across.  If you want to learn how to knit nupps, this pattern is an excellent place to start, as you will execute many.  I can’t say nupps are my favorite thing but at least I’m comfortable with them now. 

I really adore the yarn, which was dyed in a lovely semisolid blue “Perception & Depth”, a shop-exclusive colorway to a cool LYS in Apex, NC, Downtown Knits.  The yarn is incredibly soft, with a lofty quality that may remind one of a floating cloud.  It has a delicate sheen, excellent color saturation and even in the open lace, provides plenty of warmth.  I’m no pro on laceweight yarn, but I have used a few, and this yarn is rather thin, though cetainly not weak.  I started on US 5’s, but decided to redo on 4’s as the fabric seemed a bit loose on the larger needles.  I only used 30g of the 50g skein so I have enough leftover for something small like a cowl.  The beads, a darker cobalt, are from Beadazzled in Cary, NC. 

I am quite pleased with this project- I’ve never created something quite so delicate and detailed before, nor so sparkly (you get sparkle with 850 beads!).  I will definitely knit more lace in the future!