Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Finishing touches


First, a couple of notes. 1) I won't be posting quite this often in the future, but since I'm co-knitting with Claudia and Sylvia, I'm doing frequent updates for this project. 2) I NEVER thought I could finish this thing in one week!! I am most surprised that it's all done, and I have to say, quite pleased with the results. I only found one mistake at the end, but I'm not sure I'll fix it, although it would be an easy one to fix (it's in the final crocheted edge.) We'll see, if I can't sleep tonight because of it, I'll have to fix it. Otherwise... I just might leave it as a sign of genuine hand craft.

I liked how the casting off was done. The stitches were picked up off the needle 3 and 5 (alternating) at a time, and little loops of 8 stitches were crocheted in between.


Picking up the stitches 5 at a time:
And the 8-stitch loop:

And then off to blocking. I had a little help, which maybe didn't make it a whole lot faster, but more interesting, if you know what I mean. My little helper, who is little and of little help:

But he was very serious about sticking those needles into the scarf! So together we finally got it done, and here she is, in all her beauty, Hyrna Herborgar, Herborgar's scarf:

And a couple of close-ups (how many pictures can I show of the same thing without my audience getting all bored?):

And then the technical details:
I used KnitPick's Shimmer, an alpaca/silk (70/30) blend, that I dyed over, because the Morning mist colorway was just way too busy for lace. The yarn is super soft, and I like everything else about it, except the original color. It did not full after blocking, though, which is what I kind of expected, since I'd already soaked it while dyeing it. I used all of 1 skein, 440 yards. The needles were Inox 3.5 mm circular, and a 2.5 mm crochet hook. The pattern, Hyrna Herborgar, is from the book Three-cornered and Long Shawls, published by Schoolhouse press.
*edit* I forgot to mention the finished dimensions that Sylvia asked about: 62 cm down the middle (this was measured when blocking, so it might ahve shrunk just a touch after that), and 116 cm wing span.

10 comments:

Leena-Päivikki said...

Amazing scarf! It is just wonderful how some people are able to do so "pikkutarkkaa" ;) work!!

claudia said...

Lotta, that looks GREAT! Thanks for the pictures of the crocheted edging. Crochet = not my speciality.

Anonymous said...

It's beautiful, well done! The mostly solid color suits the pattern.

beadlizard said...

Exquisite! Finished dimensions? Your fans are perfect. --syl

Anonymous said...

Wow. I'm impressed, lace knitting boggles my mind. It's Gorgeous!!

Ruby Banshee said...

It's hard to say anything that hasn't already been said...gorgeous, exquisite, amazing, well done, and I'm impressed! Congratulations, and thanks for the inspiration!

Karen said...

Wow. It is amazing! Beautiful knitting!

--Deb said...

It looks fabulous. One of these days, I WILL tackle that project again. (Mine self-destructed just before Rhinebeck last year, and I haven't gone near the book since--it just didn't deserve the attention.) Really lovely. And--overdying the Shimmer? Brilliant. It's such a great yarn, but so few colors are good for lace!

Anonymous said...

That is SO beautiful. The color is magical. It's on my knitlist, but that edging is daunting.

Anonymous said...

OMG that is just beautiful. It is inspiring to us novice lace knitters!