Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Done!

I realise now that I should have posted more pictures of my progress, but the endless spinning seemed so monotonous... and things happened quite quickly when 'The End' was in sight!

Here's the finished shawl:
That's the Wool Peddler's Shawl from Folk Shawls, in 2-ply alpaca/silk that was my very first handspun project (I started spinning for it at the end of March and finished 600m at the end of June). I originally planned to use it for Jamieson's Diamond Lace Shawl, but worried that the acres of stockinette would show my uneven spinning to perfection. I tried the Flower Basket shawl, but the yarn just wasn't happy with the stitch pattern. I don't know a better way to explain it; the decreases were really bulky and even the stockinette seemed wonky. But it's worked nicely in the lace edging here. Very strange. I've learned such a lot about spinning from knitting this! And about fibre, too. The unblocked shawl was relatively bulky and and elastic, but even gently blocking stretched the inelastic alpaca/silk flat to produce an open fabric with a very elegant drape. Finished size is c. 150cm wide by 79cm deep.

Here's a closer view of it during blocking:
I can see flaws in it. I know where a couple of knitting mistakes can be found if I look hard; I knew the stuff I spun at the beginning was relatively uneven, so WHY didn't I think to start with that so the unevenness was eaten by the garter stitch section? But I still get that "That's too good to be my work!" feeling when I look at it, which won't be for long: it's a birthday gift for my mother. I've started spinning some Crown Mountain Farms superwash for socks for me :-)




8 comments:

Monika said...

Sarah, congratulations on finishing your first handspun project! Your Woolpeddler is beautiful! I've made one some time ago, and love this pattern. Uneven, mistakes, that doesn't matter at all. You could knit the yarn, and now you can wear the shawl, that's fantastic work!

Kirsten said...

Your Wool Peddler's shawl is beautiful. I have often thought that pattern would be perfect for handspun yarn, and you have certainly shown that to be true.

sarah said...

Thank you!
Of all the shawl patterns I've knitted I think this is the best for possibly less-than-perfect handspun: lots of forgiving garter stitch but with a bit of lace to make it pretty.

Tracy said...

Just perfect. Very nicely done.

Laritza said...

Lovely! Congratulations, it is a lot of work.

Teresa said...

Oh my, how beautiful! I love the color actually. I'm sure your mother is going to love it!

gemma said...

looks fabulous. Congrats on finishing something so lovely.

C4G said...

WOW! I have been away from this blog too long! Beautiful job! I see no mistakes. Remember that handmade means it is one-of-kind. Those "mistakes" and uneven handspun yarns make it one-of-a-kind, something to treasure forever. :)