It was a pleasure to spin. I felt that it was be more suitable for the swallowtail shawl than the home-dyed wool that I'd started with. (Previous blog entry here)
I decided to knit a small part of the shawl using the small amount that I'd spun. Just to see how it went. But it was such a pleasure to knit with and looked so good, I just kept on going... till I'd used my sample yarn... then carded and spun some more fibre and carried on knitting. Time has just whizzed by and I already have about six repeats of the budding lace repeat - more than I managed before, and without any major disasters following the lace pattern.
I can't put my finger on why, but the previous attempt just wasn't working, and won't ever get finished. But something's just clicked into place here. This just works. And will be finished soon.
The yarn is 2-plied, about 17wpi, merino (two colours, white and cheesecake) with a small amount of silk. The pattern is Christine's Swallowtail Shawl. I'm knitting with 6mm x 24" circular needles.
I haven't tried spinning wool with silk, but now I've seen how beautiful your shawl looks I know it has to be one of my goals for 2010.
ReplyDeleteI don't find it the easiest thing to work with, which is why I've only carded a little of it into this merino (which is pretty silky on its own!) Good luck with the silk - it's cheap enough to buy and some people sell it dyed in some lovely colours. The results are well worth the trouble! I've done a few more repeats since I wrote this post, and I'm absolutely delighted with the result so far - can't wait to see it finished.
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