I Did It! Annis Shawl!!
A few weeks ago I posted the Annis shawl from Knitty. I said I was seriously considering casting it on... and I did! I studied the pattern and found it's only 18 rows of lace... only 18 rows... over 363 stitches, but only 18 rows....
The pattern starts with the lace and works it's way inward... 363 stitches to start....*ugh!* So I hauled out a bag of stitch markers and used them for every lace repeat... 29 of them! I decided to use something completely different for me - 100% Bamboo yarn by Plymouth Yarns in a creamy multi-tonal colorway. The original pattern calls for lace weight wool yarn knit on 5mm needles but the gauge for the heavier bamboo met those requirements with that size of needle so I thought, what the heck! I didn't really want something thin anyways! I originally planned to do the lace in the light color and the body in a complimentary multi-tonal brown color. The pattern calls for just over 400 yards for the entire project. If you're wondering about the brown wood plate in the middle of the picture, I decided to use 6mm dark topaz glass crow beads to accent the lace. Just to add a bit of glitter to the shiny slinky bamboo yarn and eliminate doing the"neps" - I just substituted beads! (How lazy can you get?)
I worked away at it over a couple weeks, my mantra being, "Only 18 rows.... only 18 rows..."! Well 18 rows took a heckofa long time! All 363 stitches of it! Granted the beading probably slowed things down a bit too... and having to purl every 2nd row....
So here's where I'm at after 2 weeks. I'm actually pretty tickled with it! I'm sure if it was Monika at Smokin' Hot Needles knitting it, she would have finished it eons ago but lace is not my forte, especially with this slippery slidey bamboo! My next row is the last lace chart purl row so I'll be double checking the stitch count of each of the 29 sections to make sure the main body comes out (more or less) correct. It took more than 200 yards of yarn to knit just the lace edge so I decided to just do the whole thing in the creamy multi-tonal. It goes from cream to coral-peach to a pale chocolatey brown and since the mix isn't jolting like some variegateds do I figured it's enough variation with just the one colorway. I'm SO hoping the rest of it will go a little faster since it's just knit and purl short rows. Wish me luck! Cheers all!
I worked away at it over a couple weeks, my mantra being, "Only 18 rows.... only 18 rows..."! Well 18 rows took a heckofa long time! All 363 stitches of it! Granted the beading probably slowed things down a bit too... and having to purl every 2nd row....
So here's where I'm at after 2 weeks. I'm actually pretty tickled with it! I'm sure if it was Monika at Smokin' Hot Needles knitting it, she would have finished it eons ago but lace is not my forte, especially with this slippery slidey bamboo! My next row is the last lace chart purl row so I'll be double checking the stitch count of each of the 29 sections to make sure the main body comes out (more or less) correct. It took more than 200 yards of yarn to knit just the lace edge so I decided to just do the whole thing in the creamy multi-tonal. It goes from cream to coral-peach to a pale chocolatey brown and since the mix isn't jolting like some variegateds do I figured it's enough variation with just the one colorway. I'm SO hoping the rest of it will go a little faster since it's just knit and purl short rows. Wish me luck! Cheers all!
That is very pretty! Can't wait to see it all finished.
It's lovely!
Thanks! :o)
You do not need luck since you are talented. That is beautiful.
Thanks for the compliment Kim! It's amazing what photos can hide! LOL!! Just kidding! Now if I can just get it finished before winter!!