Monday 2 July 2007

The miracle of blocking

I have a confession to make. Since I started swallowtail, two Sundays ago, I've not been able to put it down. So, not only did I have Swallowtail Sunday, but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc, etc - you get the picture? All in all, exactly a week after casting on, I was binding off - which took considerable longer (the pattern increases from 2 stitches in the first row to almost 330 in the last).

Here it is unblocked, just off the needles, looking all crumpled and lumpy...



and here it is in all its stretched and smooth beauty.



And just for good measure, a couple of 'serving suggestions'.




To say that I loved this pattern would be understating things slightly. I couldn't put it down. I wanted to see how the next pattern repeat would turn out, then how the next lace chart would turn out and so on. The finished article was blocked within 45min of leaving the needles (I had to soak it and hoover the floor first) because I was in such a hurry to see how it would look.

Finally here is a close up of the different patterns: the budding lace body, the lily of the valley border and the peaked edging.


The finished article is lovely to wear, warm but not scratchy (100% cashmere), very versatile and destined to be a staple of my wardrobe. I may even need another in a different colour...

4 comments:

Arianwen said...

I love your shawl and the colour is fantastic! There is nothing like pink to make you feel happy!

Amelia said...

Ohh, what yarn did you use? I recently made one for a friend in the Sea silk and am very close to thinking that I need one too...

Unknown said...

Oh it is beautiful, I haven't tried that pattern yet but was similarly addicted when I made Birch. The colour is gorgeous, what yarn did you use and how much?

Isobel said...

This is just beautiful, and what a lovely shade of pink. I am going now to have a look at the pattern, Briar Rose lace yarn arrived in the mail today, I may now have a use for it.