Skip to main content

Finished Object: Sprite's Fen Shawl

Oh boy am I glad this one is done!
For the last year, my knitting nemesis has been the Sprite's Fen shawl, designed as part of the Shawl Society season 2 by Helen Stewart.
It's a beautiful pattern, and I'm sure, in the hands of a knitter who isn't me, would be a swift and pleasant project.

But this is me we're talking about, and I am not good with lace weight yarn!


I don't really have a huge amount to say about this really; I didn't massively enjoy knitting it, but that's more to do with the fact that I'm not good with lace weight yarn than the yarn itself, or the pattern, both of which were lovely.




The yarn is Truly Hooked Yak Lace in the MoFo colourway, which I think was a bodged version of OMFG, that I snagged at some point.
It is BEAUTIFULLY soft and has the most amazing drape. Like, this is light and floaty as all hell. It's a proper fairy shawl.

Part of the problem is that I get bored very easily, and this was a long knit; the final increase takes you up to over 500 stitches per row.

I think I used about three quarters of the skein; there's definitely still a good amount left; I'll probably use it as an accent for something, or see if one of my knitting friends wants it!

This was one of those projects that definitely benefitted from blocking; it went from wrinkly rag to a good sized shawl, and thanks to the yarn, it dried really quickly. I hate leaving stuff blocking while I'm not at home or going to bed, just in case Jazz decides to walk across the mats, or snooze on them, or have a wash on them! Delightful cat!
The yarn bled a fair bit while it was soaking, but hopefully that's now done and it will be fine from now on.










Comments

Lynne said…
It sounds as if this was a long go, but it is finished...and gorgeous! I love seeing the before and after blocking pics - gives me hope for my own projects :) Congrats on your finish and on behalf of the entire FAL crew, thanks for participating in FAL this year.

Popular posts from this blog

Some random things

    So I'm currently faffing around at work, waiting for a meeting that might not happen and trying no to go mad with the current project I'm working on (pro tip: don't make the English graduate computerise the electrical drawings. bad things happen) My pretty fabric for my post xmas present sewing showed up at work on Friday (when I was off doing xmas shopping in MK) so I didn't get it until today. It's so pretty! And I managed some impressive colour matching given I was working on my not very well calibrated work monitor! This is going to be tucked away until I'm done, so I'm not tempted before I'm done with presents.   I posted the other night about how much I love my seam ripper (there was an issue with squid, which will be covered in a post later when I can get all the photos in the right order, so, when I get home) and someone asked what it was, so I took this to illustrate the point. It sees a fair amount of use, and this weekend ...

Xmas present 3 - the squid

 This was the big one. The one that was going to the person whose opinion as a crafter I care about, and a person who has had a bit of a rough year. Thankfully, by some miracle, it all came together, although this was NOT without disasters.

Red Cloak

The red cloak is finished! I wore it last week to an evening LARP event with the bottom hem still unstitched, but I finally got round to finishing it today (and as sods law dictates, the bobbin ran out with about an inch to go so I had to hand stitch). All in all this was a fairly simple project. I messed up cutting a couple of pieces, but I cut them too large rather than too small, so it was easily fixable (and I realised before I started sewing). The triangular inserts were a bit interesting to stitch in, and the points of them are shakily hand sewn (I will neaten them up if they cause me problems). This was me selfie-ing last week once the collar and buttons were done, along with the hat that would go with the outfit. And this is the collar up close. Someone said it could possibly do with something to stiffen it, but I have real issues with things being tight round my neck at times, and I quite like that it's squishy and soft. The button holes are a little wonky because...