23 October 2017

FO Post (Finally!)

Hello all!  I hope you had a good weekend.  Mine was great, particularly Saturday, when I spent the day with Dee. We had a wonderful time, walking around in Philadelphia, having some lunch, and checking out what was new at Loop.  Then her husband Steve drove into town to join us, and along with The Tim we went out for a really nice dinner, and then back home for a bit before they had to head back to the hotel to see Giroux and pack, since they were leaving to go home yesterday.  It was so nice to have a knitterly, kitty-loving, funny friend to hang out with and laugh.  

Yesterday was a day of catching up with laundry, bills, and that kind of thing.  Also a nice day, just not as busy as Saturday.  :-)

In any event, I can *finally* share my Finished Object post for my Scattered Wishes shawl that I finished knitting and then blocked about a month ago!  I wanted some nice pictures of the finished item not just blocking but looking like a shawl!  The Tim was kind enough to take a few, but they were all too blurry.  So I'd been trying to think of how/where to get some other photos.

Then on Saturday morning, before I left the house, I decided if we were going to stop at Loop, I at least wanted to take the finished shawl to show them, since I'd purchased the yarn there.  Laura, who works there, wanted to take some shots to put on their Facebook page, so I was able to get some really nice photos of the shawl there, and they are at the end of the post.


So here goes.

Project:  Scattered Wishes (Ravelry page link)
Pattern:  Sonora, by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn:  Hedgehog Fibres Sock; Construct (grayish) and Wish (teal)
Needles:  US 7
Modifications:  None (at least not on purpose!)
Notes:  Below after some of the photos



This is the lace border as it is supposed to look, and how it does look for most of the top part.  It was the last part knitted, and threw me for a loop, as lace is not a particular skill of mine.  At certain points, I just fudged things, because I didn't know what I had/had not done to cause problems.  


Fortunately, the fudging kinda sorta worked just fine.  I was both surprised and happy about the result!


The bands of color are created by regular garter stitch for the borders, and slip stitch for the "colorwork."

This is a great pattern, and it is also really fun to knit.  I would definitely make another one, and I would love sometime to try the yarn that the pattern uses.  It has a more lofty appearance than the Hedgehog Fibres, and so I think the end result would look somewhat different.

I can tell you that Kirsten Kapur, the designer, is very responsive to questions sent to her on Ravelry.  When I was getting started, I just couldn't quite "get" the pattern, and wrote to her a couple of times.  She responded really quickly and very thoroughly.  She may have been at her computer rolling her eyes and tearing her hair out at my questions, but I never got that sense when reading what she had written.

Here are the photos I took at Loop.  (Dee has seen these ad nauseum, and I have posted them on Facebook, so apologies if you are seeing these for the umpteenth time!)

This is the back of the shawl.


And here is the front view, which is just especially pleasing to me.


I cannot recommend this pattern highly enough.  It's all garter stitch, and the slip stitch bands are interspersed well enough to keep it from being just a plain old boring knit.  Only in the slip stitch bands are you using two colors, and once you get the hang of it, you're not really even "knitting" with both in a row.  Even I was able to read my knitting once I got things going, and that's saying something!

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  It's probably one of the most elaborate things I've ever knit, and I surprised myself (in a good way, of course). 

I'll be back soon with another FO post about another knit that took me a truly ridiculous amount of time, all of it due to me and my inability to focus.  In the meantime, I hope your week goes well!

14 comments:

Kim in Oregon said...

That's really lovely. I love those 'cake' shawls!

sprite said...

Gorgeous! I'm sure you'll enjoy wearing it now that the weather's cooling off finally!

Wanderingcatstudio said...

1st - I am so jealous you got to meet Giroux!!!! (And Dee, of course)
2nd - The shawl is lovely! And don't worry about fudging - I've done it lots! My big beautiful Lestrange cardigan - the whole bottom ruffle is technically "wrong" because I messed up a couple rows - so I just fudged it and unless you know the pattern, you'd never notice.

Araignee said...

It's really stunning. Colorwork AND lace...what's not to love!

Caffeine Girl said...

That does sound like a fabulous weekend! How fun to spend a day with Dee doing yarny things.
Your shawl is gorgeous. I always fudge mistakes on lace. Kirsten is a great designer, isn't she? I have never directly asked her any questions, but I'm not surprised that she is responsive. Your shawl reminds me quite oa bit of the Mystery Shawl 2017, which I knit. I need to do some post-blocking photos.

Tired Teacher said...

Congratulations, the shawl looks fabulous! Thanks for the knit notes and yarn suggestions.

Nance said...

That's a very pretty shawl. The color combination is so attractive.

HOW did you get a blocking picture minus cats? ;-)

Vera said...

Bridget, your shawl turned out so pretty! congratulations on a great job.

so...what did you get at Loop? And where did you all go to dinner? Inquiring minds and all that.....

Kym said...

The shawl is just BEAUTIFUL!!! Really wonderful, Bridget! (And Kirsten is wonderful; I'm sure she was NOT rolling her eyes.) XO

Judy S. said...

Love, love your beautiful shawl! Nice work. I really like Kristen Kapur's patterns, too. Glad you got to meet Dee and family; we will miss seeing them in Florida, that's for sure.

karen said...

gorgeous shawl! I love the blue and neutral (off white?) colors paired together. The lacey insert is such a lovely touch.

elns said...

Yay, My knitters meet up! I love it when the good finds the good and enjoys themselves.

The shawl is really beautiful. The detail shots are really nice and it almost makes me want to knit it. You were selling it when you said you were able to read your stitches/knitting. No shawls for 2017, there simply is not enough time!

Wishing you more happy weekends and knitting.

KSD said...

So gorgeous! The back view is particularly beautiful.

Mereknits said...

The shawl is gorgoeus Bridget. I am so happy you got to meet Dee and Steve, they are the loveliest people. You two will be fast friends.