Monday, August 27, 2007

Work Continues Apace.

I spent the better part of last week working on Charlotte's sixth birthday party, which we had at the park but which ended up being rained out. I took this just before we all piled in and God closed the door.



Party stuff took a lot of time but I still managed to spend a bit on Print o' the Wave.

I could use a little affirmation from you guys on this one. Here's my problem: the pattern calls for provisional cast-ons for each half of the stole, which are then grafted at centre back so that the pattern is in a mirror image, with the waves going in the same direction down each side of the body.

I don't know if she calls for this method because it's traditional, or because it's unnecessarily complicated. Eunny is a wonderful knitter but sometimes I wonder if she secretly flogs herself with a bundle of circular needles as a way to make the knitting experience even more tortuous.

I had a few options for dealing with this problem, because I don't care for the three-row band of stockinette at centre back when you follow the directions as given. I considered:

1) knitting the whole back as one piece, without bothering to reverse the flow of the wave pattern so that it appears as a mirror image. I actually think it would look just fine this way.

2) do the provisional cast-on using a circular needle instead of waste yarn, then knit one half of the centre panel. Break the yarn and join in again at the provisional cast-on, beginning the second half of the centre panel on the first row and knitting off the circular needle. This would create the same mirror-image effect as her directions, but without the centre stockinette row and all the plaguey kitchener stitch.

3) suck it up and do it her way.

I chose option 2.



Here is the centre of the shawl, with a perle cotton lifeline in place. I think this looks okay -- not perfect but it'll do. How good or bad it looks actually depends on whether your eye goes to the pattern of holes (the openwork) or the waves (the increases/decreases). I question whether non-knitters will even notice it...and if they do they will most likely think it deliberate. What do you think? The lifeline is still in place so I can easily rip back to this point and change it, if it needs changing.

At this rate I will be making a trip to Fun Knits this week to pick up an Addi Lace needle to work the edge. I need one that's about 120 cm long, which is hard to find, and since this is the first of what will be many lace projects, I don't mind investing the $20 for a really good needle.

And, talking of Eunny, this fall I am planning to tackle a knock-off of this beauty, using my trusty copy of Cables Untangled. I have high hopes for this one, but I just have to find the perfect yarn. I had my eye on an Elsebeth Lavold that Webs has on clearance, but I think it might be too heavy...it knits up to 18/10 cm. I think I'll have to go with a worsted, or light-worsted, though I was hoping for a quick project. But then, St Brigid only took me seven weeks, right?

7 comments:

Cynthia said...

Hey, I think it looks great. I think the key is having the lace diagonal uninterrupted, which you've done very nicely.

Ames said...

I would have voted for option number one. However, since you have started number two and like, I would continue on. I agree with you regarding the seam.

It looks WONDERFUL.

Olga said...

the seam isn't that noticeable, and its gonna be behind yah right? So, therefore, it doesn't exist. Win win for everybody.I love that yarn thats on sale, ooooh, wish I had some spare cash to drop on it! It's so frustrating to see beautiful things and can't have 'em! What color were you considering? I like the purple-blue color, but I always lean toward the cool tones.

Eunny Jang said...

It looks great! I grafted the back because I liked the effect of the waves flowing *down* both shoulders (rather than up, as happens when the two cast on edges are joined), no masochism intended :)

Yours looks wonderful - the subtle variation in the cotton is lovely. Also, I wanted to say there's an error in the edging - the second-to-last stitch of rows 9, 11, 13 and 15 should be marked as a k2tog.

Tabatha said...

Oh, it is beautiful.

Shan said...

I think I maybe should have done 1, too.

Uber, the yarn is gorgeous - I just hope it's as nice in person. I had to go for the ecru because it's for a fairly traditional person...no risks there.

EJ: I like your effect of the waves flowing down too. I did it this way on purpose...yeah, that's it. I think...uh...it reminds me of Escher. And who doesn't like Escher?

Thanks for the errata too. Good to know.

Anonymous said...

Gad, I think it's gorgeous. Never mind whether non-knitters will notice; I would never notice in a thousand years.