A few weeks ago I discovered the Knit Picks Podcast a few weeks ago. I was intrigued by the challenge Kelly Petkin made to follow Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Alamanac and knit a project a month. The intention of this was to get over a knitting slump, which shows up from time to time. The July project was the PI shawl, a beautiful circular lace knit shawl.
I had just ordered some Cotton/Linen yarn from Elann.com called Camila. I wanted to try the beautiful lace shawl, The Flower Petal Shawl, that went with it. I had not knitted many lace things and this pattern looked easy enough for a starting project. The Zimmerman PI shawl seemed too challenging for a beginner, so Kelley allowed us to knit any shawl pattern and so the Flower Petal shawl went on the needles.
I was pleasantly surprised how easy knitting this project became. I had methodically broken down how many stitches I needed to knit in order to finish within a month. I even made a weekly goal of so many stitches and rows a each week to make sure I stayed on track within the schedule. This project seemed to wiz by and I found myself ahead of schedule by two weeks. Here are the finished results after blocking:
The Flower Petal Shawl reminds me of "bat wings". I knit it on Size 6 needles, which the pattern called for, and was supposed to make it 62" in across. It ended up 52". I didn't swatch (shame on me). I probaby should have used a Size 7 or 8 needle. Nevertheless, I love the pattern and the cotton/lin blend is great for summer wearing. I finished it very early.
What do I do now? Do I have enough time to start and finish the PI shawl? What yarn should I use? I didn't want to buy more yarn, so I search my stash. I didn't have enough of anything soft to use that had enough yardage. I finally found a light blue cone of wool, but it is very scratchy. I needed a table cloth for my patio table, so I figured this would do for now. If I liked the pattern, I will probably make another in a better yarn. Well, I started it and as of now, I am working on the 576 section. That is, the section with 576 stiches in each row. I will be working on it in August. My granddaughter's 1st birthday is coming up this weekend at my house and I was hoping to finish it by then.
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