FO: Cap Shawl
Cap Shawl
This way to the yarn porn. The VLT Cap Shawl, she is finished ...
Pattern: Cap Shawl from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Unbranded merino-silk 2-ply, purchased from Skaska Designs at the Black Sheep Gathering in June. The shawl took almost 1,000 yards.
Needles: US 5s. Started on bamboo DPNs and eventually switched to 40-inch Addi Turbo Lace circulars. I'm not normally a fan of metal needles, but this yarn was fairly sticky on my usual circs, and I have to admit these things are slick.
Started: Early August, 2007; frogged back to the cast-on in early September because of irreparable errors, and reknit.
Finished: Nov. 11, 2007
This thing is gossamer-light, and would totally pass the wedding-ring test, if I had a wedding-ring. (-:
Notes: I would have loved this pattern a lot more if I hadn't screwed it up and had to start over. It's not difficult, and the big central panel is even fun to knit. The border ... not so much. Can you say "interminable?"
I found the circular cast-on exceedingly fiddly; it might have been easier with a heavier-weight yarn, but it was almost enough to make me put this project on the back burner.
The lightness and relative inelasticity of the yarn (due to the silk content) translates to a certain unevenness in the stitch pattern when knitted at this gauge, and the shawl has all sorts of little imperfections, but if experience holds true, most of those will even out as it gets worn and washed. Over all, I'm happy with it, although I'm still considering donating it for a charity auction, because I don't find the circular shape easy to wear.
Here's an indoor shot, against a black background, to give a better sense of how it all worked out:
