Dove Knits

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

In bloom

Just in time for my department's graduation party, I completed the Rona Lace shawl.

It may also be called my most favorite FO ever. It was wonderful to knit, and the constantly changing pattern kept me interested. In fact, one of the reasons I picked this pattern was that it combined various lace motifs. Y'all know how quickly I get bored. And this did not disappoint! I barely got the urge to knit something else at all, and, in fact, I had a very hard time putting it down!




The second reason I picked this particular pattern was that I thought that the flower motif would complement the bright, spring-green color of the yarn. See, I bought the yarn first -- an impulse buy. I apparently am completely incapable of resisting alpaca. It's just so soft! And the color was nice and springy (I bought this on my husband's birthday...in December). And it was on sale. So, yeah. In the end, I think that the pattern and yarn worked very, very nicely together.

Plus, the color of the yarn complements my favorite dress, which has embroidery of that exact shade of green in it. And, when folded in half, the shawl is the perfect size for me to wear, measuring a little over 5 feet in diameter, or just long enough to reach my hands and cover my whole back.



I love how it looks worn. And it's warm without being at all stuffy or sweaty. I should know -- I wore it last night :)

Of course, the specs:

Pattern: Rona Lace Shawl by Anna Marie Jensen, distributed by Knit Picks
Yarn: Misti Alpaca laceweight, colorway Maize
Needles: Boye Needlemaster size 5
Crochet hook: Susan Bates size H (the pattern didn't specify, so I just picked the size that seemed closest to the size of the needles)
Notes: There are apparently mistakes in the pattern, but I didn't notice. There is an errata page, and this has been covered on the Lace Shawl KAL blog.

Because I just can't get enough, here are some detail shots:






It certainly looks nice blocked (though I couldn't, for the life of me, pin it into a nice circle, and I ruined the peaks on the edges), but it didn't look TOO bad before blocking, either, though a bit too ruffly:



And speaking of things blooming, my husband and I had a lovely date last weekend at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.





Beautiful, no?

And here's my handsome husband:

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14 Comments:

At 11:44 AM, Blogger Rhonda the Stitchingnut said...

Oh that shawl is so beautiful! Love the green too. Something I haven't done yet ... knit lace. But I'm going to soon. Have you signed up for MysteryStole3? I got my yarn & beads yesterday so now it's time to swatch and see if I can even read the chart properly. ;-)

 
At 12:12 PM, Blogger Veronica said...

Every time I see that now, I think I want to make it a little bit more. Uh oh, another project on my horizon....

About how much yarn did it end up taking?

And I love/miss the CBG... I never went much when I was there but when I got to go it was always a treat.

I just bound off sleeves for a cardigan -- now all I have left are button bands and sewing!

 
At 12:26 PM, Blogger reluctantMANGO said...

Oh. My. Goodness. That is a work of art! I love it, and I'm sure you'll get lots of compliments at your graduation party. Stunning!

 
At 5:05 PM, Blogger Heather said...

Absolutely gorgeous! I don't think of myself as a shawl person, but that is tempting!

 
At 5:17 PM, Blogger Sarah said...

That is amazing! It looks just like the flower you took a picture of at the gardens too :) I've very impressed by your skills - you make me want to knit lace!

 
At 10:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The shawl is lovely. The color, though I am partial to green anyway, was a wonderful choice for it.

And the husband isn't hard to look at either.

 
At 6:39 AM, Blogger Tusa said...

That is gorgeous! Lovely colour and detail. Would love to attempt it one day.

 
At 6:40 AM, Blogger Kary said...

Awesome shawl ... it is SO beautiful! Congrats on a job well done. Did I mention it was awesome? WOW!

 
At 11:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, is that a great shawl!!! I love it! I'm afraid of lace weight but have a bunch of it stored under my bed...wow. That is certainly an inspiration, and now I know what I want to knit...!! Thanks for sharing!!!!!

 
At 6:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a beautiful shawl! I can only imagine the amount of time it took to knit that!

 
At 9:09 PM, Blogger Sarah said...

Wow! What an amazing shawl.

 
At 7:00 PM, Blogger Prettybird said...

Wow. That's about all I can say. Wow.

Well done!

r

 
At 5:04 PM, Blogger Jen said...

God, that is gorgeous. Beautiful work, and a really spectacular color. It looks great on and off!

 
At 6:34 PM, Blogger Jenny said...

Tanya,

That shawl is amazing. I can't get over it. I want to see it in person!

Jen

 

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