saldanha – Twitchy Hands

The first installment of my Heirloom Christmas Project is a shawl for my youngest sister, Elizabeth. Her buoyant energy throughout her life led friends and family to call her Bizzy. I think this is incredibly appropriate, and extremely endearing.

Apr 03 2010 051 — Oldest Sister, Youngest Sister

Bizzy chose the blue and green colorway, Caicos, in Fleece Artist’s Saldanha yarn. This yarn is amazing for shawls – it is incredibly light-weight, not a smidgen itchy, extra strong, and comes in skeins of 1200m! That’s enough to make just about any kind of shawl you can imagine.

caicos_450_225_medium — Saldanha in Caicos, by Fleece Artist

Since the last shawl I made was a center-out triangle, I wanted this one to be at least a slightly different construction. A center-out circle is different, right? After searching Ravelry for who knows how long, I found the Revontuli-huivi (Northern Lights) pattern. An English translation can be found here, on the designer’s blog.

I made a few modifications with the pattern, including using yarn-overs for all of the increases, rather than left- and right-leaning increases. This gave the shawl a bit more air flow; it seems more open than the original. I also did several more repeats of the main chart, because this yarn is significantly lighter weight than what the pattern suggests, and I wanted it to be substantial in size. The pattern itself was fairly easy, and rather uneventful.

I intended to use up the whole skein on this shawl, but enough is enough, and I couldn’t bring myself to knit anymore stockinette. I bound off started blocking! This is only the second thing I’ve ever blocked, so it’s still a learning process. After soaking for half an hour in Kookaburra Wool-Wash, I pressed out the water and started with the center spine, pinning it to 34″. Then I alternated between the next column of stitches to the left and right of the center. Once I got to the side edges, the whole thing came together, and looked quite stunning.

I let the shawl dry overnight, then unpinned it, holding my breath the whole time. For some reason, I still wasn’t convinced the blocking would work. But it did, indeed! Once blocked, the shawl is about 3/4 of a full circle. This extra fullness allows the shawl to drape around the shoulders, giving the wearer a gentle hug.

I can’t wait to give this shawl to Bizzy! Hopefully she will have it for many years to come.

I recently had a birthday (June 23). This is my present to me.

It’s my first major lace project, and my first ever project with lace weight yarn. We received the yarn, Limited Edition Saldanha (by Fleece Artist) at work and as I took each skein out of the box, I knew I had to knit with it. I’d been flirting with the idea of knitting an ultra light, lacy shawl, and this was just the yarn.

I scoured Ravelry for the perfect pattern, since I didn’t want to risk making up my own to have it turn into a disaster. I needed to practice with something I knew would work. I wanted something that was moderately “holey,” and with a single motif repeated throughout, so that I wouldn’t have to memorize a lot or keep referring to the pattern (I’m a pretty lazy knitter). I also wanted something sort of dramatic. Lastly, I wanted it to be BIG. I finally chose MimKnits Adamas Shawl. Small diamonds nestle within larger diamonds, which all cascade from a center spine and end in sharp points.

It took much less time than I’d thought – from start to finish, just under a month of (very) sporadic knitting. Before I knew it, I’d completed the 14 motif repeats. The last chart, the points, went in a flash. However, in my usual fashion, I did not get around to finishing the shawl for another two weeks.

Once I finally had both blocking wires and shawl together at work, I soaked it for about half an hour in Kookaburra wool wash then pinned it out, starting with the center spine. The next day, I took it up.

Back Detail — The center spine of the shawl

AMAZING! It turned out beautifully. I couldn’t be more excited about it. The points all point just the right direction, the curves between them arch evenly. The diamonds all stretched out to reveal the little rows of eyelets between them. I absolutely love it.

And one of the best parts – the entire shawl only used about half the skein! I still have just over half a ball to use on another project. Perhaps my holiday gift will come early this year!

Tag: saldanha

Busy Bizzy

Happy Birthday To Me