Finishing Icarus took a little more time than I expected. With less than four rows left I ran out of yarn. Well, not entirely. I had plenty of yarn, but hadn’t gotten around to wind it up. Saturday I finally got my swift out, wound up the yarn and finished the shawl. I blocked the shawl yesterday. As I have written before, I was not sure how this shawl would turn out. A good soak and a good blocking really did the trick. The shawl opened up and the stitches more or less evened out.
I am very happy with it. Still, if I were to make another Icarus shawl, I would choose another yarn. My spælsau embroidery yarn is a little bit coarse and probably better suited for other projects. The shawl is very warm, but due to the coarseness of the yarn I don’t think I am going to wear it over next to my skin.
Specs:
Pattern: Icarus shawl from summer issue of Interweave knits, by Miriam.
Yarn: Spælsau broderigarn from Røros Tweed.
Needles: 3.00 mm rosewood circular.
Modifications: None, apart from choosing a different yarn.
A few close ups:
My Icarus shawl is almost done, I think there are only about 10 rows left to knit. I can’t wait to get it done.
As the shawl has grown I have become more and more unsure about the success of this project. I love the pattern, I love the yarn and the colour, but I am not so sure they work very well together. Even though I try hard to make the stitches even, they end up being extremely uneven.
The yarn is originally intended for embroidery. I bought it because I was intrigued by the fact that it is made from spælsau wool and I hoped it would be suitable for a shawl. The fabric is quite coarse. Since I didn’t make a swatch, I don’t know how the fabric is going to be after washing and blocking. This is why I remain an optimist and am determined to finish the shawl this week.
Since I am about to finish Icarus, I decided it was time to start a new lace project. Among the yarn purchased at Woolfest were three skeins of this beautiful hand dyed Shetland cobweb yarn from Jamieson and Smith:
After searching the Internet and doing some serious thinking I came to the conclusion that this yarn probably would work very well with Mim’s Lightweight Mountain Peaks Shawl. On this project I find that the yarn and the pattern work very well together. The fabric is so soft and delicate and I think the colour variations make the the shawl more interesting. I am thinking that my version of this shawl should be named Mountain Peaks in Midnight Sun.
I have finished the first four pattern repeats of the main pattern. It is an extra challenge that both the right and wrong side rows require design stitches. I am using 2,5 mm circular needles (Inox I think) for this project. The yarn knits up beautifully, and the stitches are even.
I am very confident that this shawl is going to be my favourite, knitting-wise it already is.
My Faroese shawl is finished. I enjoyed the knitting and I am very pleased with the result. After I washed it the shawl became soft and light and very warm. The shawl is knit in garter stitch with a lace border along the bottom edge. Along the sides and the top there is a crochet edging. And there are lots of fringes.The yarn for the shawl is one-ply Vikingatógv and the fringes are made from two-ply. The yarn is unwashed and you can really smell the sheep while knitting.
