The Tour de Fleece pushed me to do a lot of spinning and now I feel compelled to knit my new skeins.
The thing, though, with knitting your own handspun is that the quantity you have is it, especially if you buy handpainted fibers produced in small quantities. Mostly, my skeins run 2-4 ounces which may vary in yardage depending on fiber type, ply and weight. Ideally, I want to avoid projects where I'll come up short on yardage, but I still want to use as much of the yarn up as possible so as not to waste any of my hard work spinning it. A challenge!
My very last skein from the tour was a merino/bamboo blend from Freckle Face Fibers that I spun up into a little more than 600 yards of fingering weight singles. It seemed like plenty of yardage for a rectangular wrap, so I got to looking through some stitch dictionaries to find something that was lacy but simple enough to stand up to the highly variegated rainbow colorway.
Making use of my kitchen scale and a center pull ball, I managed to achieve my goal of using the entire skein, with no waste.
I call this, "burning the skein at both ends."
I trimmed the shawl with a little Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in a light beige shade, blocked and voila.
The colors make me think of the lovely silk saris I admired on my brief trips to India and the simple scarf shape and ruffle remind me of one of my favorite shawls that I bought there.
Do you see anyone peeking around the corner.
The main motif is out of one of the Barbara Walker treasuries, and then I scaled it down near each end and finished it off with a simple ruffle.
The cast on edge is actually the center back and to use up as much yarn as possible I used the tail from the cast on and felted it to the start of the yarn that I used to pickup and knit down from the other end. So the only ends were at each end.
And lastly, my dogs are cute.
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Comments (15)
Beautiful Shawl!!! I always love the puppy pictures too!
Posted by Samantha | September 20, 2009 9:40 PM
Posted on September 20, 2009 21:40
The shawl is great. I especially like the contrast on the ends. I have been doing that lately when I run out of yarn too soon. It makes it even more fun! Not only are your pups cute, but they look very happy on their hike.
Posted by Kathy Sue | September 16, 2009 8:28 AM
Posted on September 16, 2009 08:28
I'm really impressed. The pattern works beautifully with the highly varied colorway. The overall effect is stunning.
Posted by Roxie | September 15, 2009 4:59 AM
Posted on September 15, 2009 04:59
Simply gorgeous.
Posted by Julia | September 14, 2009 8:45 PM
Posted on September 14, 2009 20:45
The shawl is very cool. I keep meaning to make myself a rectangular one someday. And I love the graceful segue to the girls! :)
Posted by Amy in StL | September 14, 2009 2:53 PM
Posted on September 14, 2009 14:53
That is a lovely, lovely shawl (& I'm usually not a big fan of rectangular ones.) And the girls are too cute!
Posted by donna | September 14, 2009 11:47 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 11:47
I love it! I was just contemplating a lighter weight ruffle on the pattern I am currently designing. This decides me. It's getting some waves. :-}
Posted by Diana Troldahl | September 14, 2009 10:42 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 10:42
Love the stole and yes, the girls are cute.
Posted by AmyP | September 14, 2009 7:26 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 07:26
Now that's one mighty fine looking shawl ( I want one too...pattern ??? )...one mighty fine looking model...and of course as always adorable pupsters...I hope mine survives or we survive or all survive puppyhood......14 weeks and counting LOL
Posted by Laila | September 14, 2009 7:22 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 07:22
Here here.
And the shawl is gorgeous!
Posted by sue | September 14, 2009 7:18 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 07:18
Lovely, Marnie! I really love the contrast of the bold colors and the subtle edging. Gorgeous!
Posted by Mick | September 14, 2009 5:35 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 05:35
Gorgeous shawl! I love that you were able to use every last drop of yarn.
Posted by whitney | September 14, 2009 5:05 AM
Posted on September 14, 2009 05:05
The dogs are indeed cute, but the shawl is on another plane altogether. You're all set for the opera or any elegant occasion. Great work.
Posted by Luise | September 13, 2009 8:24 PM
Posted on September 13, 2009 20:24
well you did good with your handspun! the shawl is gorgeous. and yes, the dogs are cute too :)
Posted by kat | September 13, 2009 8:14 PM
Posted on September 13, 2009 20:14
Ohhhh stunning! I love it all! And, yes, the girls are VERY cute! Quincy girl says hi!
Posted by Mary-Kay | September 13, 2009 8:01 PM
Posted on September 13, 2009 20:01