Monday, I had a bad case of 'startitis' and started three 'Pie Are Square' shawls. The one above was already on the needles. For it I'm using an unmarked one-pound skein of sport-weight acrylic (I did the old clorine bleach test) I found in my stash recently. I'm using three different lace patterns in it. Since it is sport-weight and I'm using a size 7 needle, it's going to take me a while, but I think it will be beautiful.
This is the first one I started Monday. It is worsted-weight cotton and I'm using a size 10.5 needle. I'm just doing a simple 'net' stitch.
Here's the second one - cotton flake yarn - size 11 needle - garter stitch.
And number three - cotton with a touch of polyester - looks like terrycloth - size 10.5 needle - garter stitch.
These three yarns are all from an auction I went to 20 years ago. I paid a nickel a ball for 496 balls of cotton and cotton-blend yarns, so the yarn for each shawl cost me about a quarter. Each shawl will have a simple lace edging, the pattern for which is burned into my brain, at the bottom. I like Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pie Are Square shawl because it hangs on one's shoulders so nicely without slipping. Once you learn the method of making it, you can plug in different stitch patterns and make each shawl unique.
There is also a 'random' shawl on the needles in shades of yellow and brown. I just haven't felt like working on it for a few days.
And I have finally finished working the revised Praying Hands chart and uploaded the chart and pictures of my samples to the Shawlministry Yahoo Group. A few weeks ago, someone else posted a link to her Praying Hands shawl - picture of the shawl and pattern written out in words. I prefer to work from charts, so I printed out her pattern and made a chart in Excel. When I worked it up, I was not satisfied with it, and neither was someone else. When someone mentioned that it looked like the cross-stitch chart she had, I figured that adding a row after every three rows would probably make it better for knitting - stockinette stitches are not square. So I modified the chart and worked it again. I still wasn't satisfied with it, and thought I might work on it some more. This morning, I pinned my two samples to the back of the couch to photograph them, and realized that I needed to wait about half an hour for the sun to stop streaming in the window. I sat down across the room to knit. When I looked at the samples from that distance (7 or 8 fee), they looked pretty good; I've just been viewing them from too close. The samples are roughly 14 inches square, so they'll be good doll blankets for Lexi and Rose.
And I have finally finished working the revised Praying Hands chart and uploaded the chart and pictures of my samples to the Shawlministry Yahoo Group. A few weeks ago, someone else posted a link to her Praying Hands shawl - picture of the shawl and pattern written out in words. I prefer to work from charts, so I printed out her pattern and made a chart in Excel. When I worked it up, I was not satisfied with it, and neither was someone else. When someone mentioned that it looked like the cross-stitch chart she had, I figured that adding a row after every three rows would probably make it better for knitting - stockinette stitches are not square. So I modified the chart and worked it again. I still wasn't satisfied with it, and thought I might work on it some more. This morning, I pinned my two samples to the back of the couch to photograph them, and realized that I needed to wait about half an hour for the sun to stop streaming in the window. I sat down across the room to knit. When I looked at the samples from that distance (7 or 8 fee), they looked pretty good; I've just been viewing them from too close. The samples are roughly 14 inches square, so they'll be good doll blankets for Lexi and Rose.
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