Thursday, September 02, 2010

Annis Blocking


Annis is blocking on the bed right now, and I have to say that I'm very satisfied with this knit: it took me ~3 days to complete (probably less, since I was quite busy, and unable to knit intensely), and the pattern is interesting the whole way, what with the challenging bit at the beginning, and then the short rows that end right when they seem to be getting long.

I also have to enthuse about this yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Cashmere Lace (in colorway Malice- deep purples with the rare touch of grey and deep pink). As you might imagine, this is a very soft yarn. While being a delicate yarn (you can break this two-ply with a firm yank), I was able to rip this out without undue fuzzing or yarn breakage.

Which brings me to how I came to knit this Annis. I had printed this pattern out, along with a lovely, simple lace shawl pattern called Summer Flies (free on Ravelry). I chose Summer Flies, since Annis has you cast on all the edge stitches, and I was feeling lazy. I got most of the way through Summer Flies when I noticed that my semi-circle would fit a small child, but not me. It was only then that I took note of the called-for yarn: worsted weight. So, that got ripped. (I also tried making a lace-edged sideways triangle shawl of my own design, but I realized that casting on 50 sts for one corner was not going to make a nice shape, nor a shawl that I could wear as a scarf without it looking like a bandana or a bib.)

Specs:

Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Cashmere Lace in Malice

Needle: US6

Mods: cast on with knitted cast on, instead of a larger needle; used beads (6/0 silver-lined seed) instead of working nupps.

The only thing I'd change would be blocking this thing with blocking wires. I don't have any, and I think this shawl would look a lot more symmetrical when blocked with wires, and not just pins.

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