13 days and a birthday surprise preview

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINK!

stats: 1000 (or so) yards of filitura oro merino in red+#2 addi turbo lace needles+13 days, lots of love=The cap shawl from Victorian Lace Today, 45" diameter
Better pics later, but it's blocking now. Of the many errors in this shawl we will not speak, for it is filled with love...and holes...but mostly love.

Shiny!

Waaay back when we went to Maine, my dear friend talked me into trying lost-wax casting. I thought I would give it a try since I had studied it but never done it and she produced such great results. Buttons seemed like the best idea, given my yarny obsession. Since I'm also currently infatuated with birds, silhouettes, and elegant graphics, this came out. I wish I had a photo of the wax version, since the contrasts in form and material were quite striking. While there are lots of little imperfections (due to my being overly prissy with design in some areas and lack of expertise in others...note to self: clean up edges better), I don't think it totally sucks. When I learned how much it would cost to have them cast in silver, however, I had to abandon fond hopes of my little birds gracing a sweater any time soon. My sweet gf, however, had the mold made just in case. As an early graduation present (read: incentive to finish the diss), my friend cast six of them for me in silver and surprised me with them a couple of weekends ago. I cannot express how much my little magpie heart adores them. I have to stop myself from holding the entire set in my hands just to feel their smooth weight and to see their matte surfaces winking gently back at me. Thanks again to my sweetheart and my lovely amiga. Now I just have to design an appropriate sweater.

In other news, I've finished a few things but have been quite lax about posting. So in no apparent order, here are: Glitterati, a scarf based on Crazy Aunt Purl's design. It helped me use up all sorts of odds and ends with what I think is a quite fun result. Fringe is awesome!
Wrought, a cowl-necked sweater with leafy detailing at cuffs and collar that I came up with on the fly. Cascade Eco-wool on size 8 needles. The yarn was a gift from my mum. It makes me think of fresh wrought iron, hence the name.

Finally, meet Hazy, a small shoulder shawl I designed as a costume piece based on Kiri and Icarus, two shawls I adore. Knit from Rowan Kidsilk Haze (name derived from said yarn and the lovely halo it produces in the finished object that always makes me think of soft-focus 1960s home movies) that I bought in Chester this past summer. I wore this all winter as a neck warmer.

Aquila in progress

I thought you might like to see some quick pics of the shawl in progress...

The pattern is here, but it's not translated.

The designer does provide charts, however, and they are really easy to follow if you’ve ever done a lace triangle from charts before. I cast on three stitches and built from there rather than the garter stitch tab method. The symbols follow the standardized system, so / is k2tog (or however you do a right-leaning decrease..I’m a combo knitter so mine are different from most folks) and \ is ssk (or left-leaning decrease) /\ is s1 k2tog bring slipped stitch over the k2tog. I like the look of that better than k3 tog, it has more of a pyramid appearance. I interpreted the * at the beginning as knit every row so it has a 2 stitch garter border. Purl on even numbered rows. I did 15 repeats of chart 1, since my needle size is probably smaller than the pattern calls for; then single repeats of the other charts.

Can’t remember name of yarn but it’s soooo gorgeous and a cross between mulberry and amethyst in color. 50/50 merino/silk…lustrous with just a little halo. perfect.
Thanks for the fantastic pattern Sari!!!