Vernal Equinox is done! I think this may be my favorite shawl ever (or at least thus far).
I absolutely love the way the pattern moves from one design motif to the next. Even with the doubling of stitches every so often because of the pi construction, you can pick any stitch at the start of the shawl and follow it down to the hem—the flow is perfect! Lankakomero, I salute you!
I knit this beauty out of Possum Lace in the Misty Moor colorway. The dark halo comes from the possum fiber, which is also super warm— not to mention light, light, light and floaty, floaty, floaty.
Even with two skeins of Possum Lace (~900 yards), I wound up just short of the yarn I needed for the bind-off. I looked at local yarn shops, and my friend Chris offered up several of her skeins as possibilities—but I finally found the right yarn hiding in my own stash during search number three. It’s a skein of Knit Picks’ Shimmer in the Bayou colorway. Can you tell the difference?
Proof of my love for this shawl is the fact that I pinned out every little loop on that hem. I believe there were about 300 of them. By time I’d finished pinning, the shawl had already dried, so I had to spritz it with water and allow a second round of blocking.
During the period while I was fretting about what I’d use to bind off Vernal Equinox, I distracted myself by knitting up a Petal Shawlette from Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders.
The pattern is based on an old afghan square, but it’s been rewritten to form a triangular shawl with a lovely zig-zag of mesh along the bottom and a leaf lace border.
I didn’t have quite enough yarn for the bind-off (do we sense a theme here?), so I finally settled on this yellow-y green alpaca. As I was working with it, my opinion about the color choice swung wildly back and forth. One moment I thought it was genius; the next moment I was sure I was ruining what had been a perfectly lovely shawl up until then.
Now that it’s done, I’m quite pleased. The green seems to blend well with the main yarn (even though the green hues in the main yarn are a different shade), and the leaves really read as leaves this way, instead of just as a curvey hem.
I’m working on a Clotilde now in a DK weight cashmere/wool blend, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to run out of yarn on that one—although I am planning an extra repeat of the border design…
Words fail me! Vernal Equinox is so amazingly lovely. That was a great save on both shawls! The green is perfect on Petal. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Vernal Equinox is pure genius. I’ve just gone back to knitting since I finally decided (on my 80th birthday last October) that peyote beading (from my own designs) was getting a little rough on my eyes,
The website has nothing to do with craft, unless writing qualifies. It’s about my late husband’s novel and about my husband and a little about me and there are pictures in the media section, if you get curious enough to look at them.
Thank you for being an inspiration to me!
Both are fabulously lovely! The petal shawl is just perfect for the coming spring season with the colors you chose. I wore that great little scarf you gave me for Christmas last weekend when I went out with a friend & she totally raved about it. She said it was “genius” – but I already knew that. 🙂
I saw your article, from a long time ago. Forbidden Love and I so want the Soft Delight Extremes yarn by Yarn Bee. Turns out, they don’t make it anymore…any ideas of another type of yard to try to make the adorable wrist warmers you made?
Let me think on this, and I’ll post something.
Vernal Equinox is the most beautiful shawl I’ve seen since going to the Fair and coming across lace knitting in the round in the 70’s. It’s stunning.