FO: Diamond Fantasy Shawl

The Diamond Fantasy Shawl for my Mom is finished.

See the beads on the tip of the shawl?

Here's a better look.

I wanted just a tiny, little touch of something extra. I'm shooting for the four beads to echo the diamond motif.

Before I forget, Margaret requested blocking pictures. And, well, I aim to please.

This next picture is for Christene, the charming, goof-enabler at SheepsPyjamas.

Pattern: Diamond Fantasy Shawl
Designer: Sivia Harding


Yarn: Sirdar Just Bamboo in Oriental Blue
Needles: US 8 Bamboo 36" Circular
(I got a little kick out of using bamboo needles and bamboo yarn. I'm easily amused like that.)
Gauge: Roughly 3.5 - 4 stitches per inch (in pattern). The lace pattern in the bamboo yarn had fantastic drape and lots of stretch in all directions, making an exact gauge nearly impossible to identify.
Yarn consumption: Approx. 750yds

I didn't get precise finished measurements (couldn't find the long tape measure), but judging from how much space it took up on the futon while blocking, I'd say it's 70-72" long across the top, which was exactly what I wanted. After pre-blocking, I calculated that 8 repeats would be just shy of the length I wanted. Therefore, I figured I'd do 9 repeats because I'd rather have it too big than too small. Then I had a light bulb moment and realized I could finish off the shawl at 8.5 repeats and get precisely the size I wanted. Which is what I did. Good thing that worked, too, because I'm pretty sure I would have run out of yarn if I'd gone for 9 repeats.


This was my first time knitting with 100% Bamboo. I learned a lot about this fiber. Like it's very slippery. If I dropped a stitch, it wanted to run away faster than a vegetarian fleeing a bacon convention. After learning the less than fun way, I worked really hard not to drop stitches.

I also learned that bamboo behaves differently than many other fibers in the blocking department. Contact with water caused it to stiffen and contract. But as it dried it expanded and became softer. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable, scientific explanation for this. But I'm just glad to have learned through experience. After blocking, the yarn lost a fair amount of the crispness and luster it had initially. If you were especially fond of the crispness and luster (which would be perfectly understandable), you might be disappointed to loose it. For the purposes of this shawl, I didn't mind that change.

A lace shawl knit with bamboo yarn makes for a soft, cool, summertime wrap with a delicate touch of sheen.

Fuzzy

I've come down with a cold and my head is fuzzier than a mohair angora blend. Given this state, I'm afraid the best I can do today is a random, list-style post.

A) Thank you so much for all of the wonderful tips, suggestions, and advise about pattern writing. I really appreciate the input. All of it was very helpful. You people are smart!

B) I finished the item necessitating the aforementioned tips and delivered it to my friend. She loved it. Yay!

C) I kept very detailed notes and, using your suggestions, I could actually write those notes up into a pattern. However, I'm going to keep working on it. The delivered FO holds "prototype" status. I'm going to make a few more. There are some things I want to do a little differently. I'd also like to come up with some alternative detailing. And I need to work out the different sizes.

D) Since then, I strung these beads onto this yarn (Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, Ecru)



The following picture is a more accurate representation of the beads.



I've been playing around, flipping through the stitch dictionaries and trying to incorporate the beads into various stitches. I'm not sure what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm just trying to find something I like which will speak to me and tell me what it wants to be. (A beaded handbag? Knitted jewelry? A beaded edging to a scarf or sweater?) I haven't gotten anything yet. Instead, all the knitting, frogging and sliding of beads up and down the yarn is pretty much just destroying that first length of silk. Sigh.

E) Round three of Sock Madness begins tomorrow sometime between 4am and 9am PST. It's a good thing I'm out of the running already. If I weren't I'd be real tempted to wake up at 4am to wait for the pattern. That would be very bad for getting over this stupid cold. Also...

F) I shouldn't spend too much time knitting tomorrow because I have to get ready to go out of town for Easter. We leave Friday morning. I have tomorrow to do laundry and pack because work is going to have me completely tied up on Thursday.

G) Here at casa de Golden Purl, we've been having fun with the I am in your base killing your d00ds-genre of captioned animal pictures. Steve started it over at Big Action!.



Sadie and her friend Cohen on a play-date. They were too wild in the house, so we put them in the yard. Then they just sat, steaming up the French doors, whining to come back inside. It was quite cute. Of course, in this picture, they look like earth-bound minions of Cerberus.



This adorable, Beagle puppy is Daisy. She belonged to a neighbor back in our pre-Sadie, apartment dwelling days. She had us completely wrapped around her little paw. Look at da giant ears! You totally would bring her treats, too.

H) I think I'm done. Thanks for tolerating the disjointed post.