Finished Object – Swallowtail Shawl

This post will be about two finished objects – one knit object and the wedding shower it was for. Don’t know if I have mentioned it before but I will be the maid of honor at my friends wedding in less than 4 weeks, with only 2 weeks of dieting in vain before the dress fitting. That depressing thought aside, I was privilegded to be a bridesmaid with one of the most crafty people I know. She puts Martha to shame. We worked very hard to pull off one of the best wedding showers I could think of, if I do say so myself. But first for the knitting details…

Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk
Inspiration: Swallowtail Shawl
Needles: Size 4
Yardage: 600 yards or less
Modifications: I used almost all the modifications given at Pepperknit, you can see her post for details. (1) increased budding lace by 5 repeats (2) did mods for Lily of the Valley border, (3) used different size needles for the last few rows and for bind off
Enjoyment Factor: 7 due to the fact that I am not a lace knitter
Knit Time: 7/21 – 8/21/07

The Good:

• Buying the yarn from Sarah’s Yarn was a blessing. They have a complimentary yarn sample program where they will send you samples of almost any yarn they carry and all you pay is the shipping charge. Since I was looking for a particular white (i.e. white white or bridal white) this was truly a wonderful discovery. Their service was wonderful and fast. This made buying the yarn online that much better.
• The advice from Pepperknit. This write up was as indispensable as the pattern itself. I loved the detail and it just made the whole thing that much better

• The size worked out to about 64″ x 29″ which is not super long. It laid over my shoulders nicely but was not quite long enough to tie or anything.

• I loved pinning this out. Pinning out lace is soooo satisfying. I love the result and the super taunt feeling of the fibers being shaped into such a beautiful garment. I used the instruction from this Yarn Harlot post. The string idea was a life saver.

• The nupps were not nearly as hard as I had thought. In fact the two lace sections that included the nupps were probably the fastest of the entire garment.

The Bad:

• I am not a lace knitter right now. I will not say that I will never be a lace knitter but the concentration needed to complete the intricate lace is pretty intense. I had to reduce all outside knitting stimuli to just listening to an audio book. One of the things I like about knitting is the ability to multitask and lace definitely hinders that.

• This shawl took quite a long time despite the fact that others have done this in days. I had the audacity to think that I too could finish this shawl fairly fast. Well, without the ability to bend the space time continuum this was not the case, which resulted in a complete sequestering of self to complete this in time.

The Ugly:

• Absolutely nothing. It came out perfectly!

Now on to the shower, which went off spectacularly despite the wedding. We definitely had some wedding showers as well as wedding heat, humidity, cold, and intense wind. I think the weather ran the gamut while we were there. But ultimately it definitely worked in our favor. Here are some pictures of the wonderful decorations thought up by my crafty partner in crime and bridesmaidship, Mrs. B.

The decorated gazebo. I just love those pink and orange pompoms ala Martha Stewart

Future bride with the Swallowtail Shawl. Here matching dress was totally unplanned as she did not know the color. What a cowinkidink!

Lovely Butterfly topped cupcakes

The floral table decorations with the stamped patterning and fan party favor

 

It was quite a bit of work but well worth it for such a lovely bride. Next up…finding a chub constraint (a.k.a girdle or spanks) 😯 and some gold colored shoe boxes shoes for my boats 😦 Wish me luck!