Friday, June 29, 2007

Finished Object: Flower Basket Shawl

FBS

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl from Interweave Knits
Yarn: El Coyote Ranch 100% Mohair, one hank
Needles: 4.0 mm, US Size 6
Finished Size: about 50” wide and 27” tall
Comments:
1) Yet another little shawl. Apparently, I am incapable of making an average-sized shawl. Either I make enormous shawls or I make small shawls. I thought about making this shawl larger, but I didn’t want to start the second ball of yarn.

FBS_CloseUp2) The reason why I didn’t want to start the second ball of yarn was because I wasn’t very trilled about the yarn when I was knitting it. The yarn was rather scratchy and I didn’t care to keep going with it. But, after washing and blocking, the fabric softened up nicely. It’s still a bit scratchy, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

3) I think the shawl will make a nice scarf. It seems sort of “rustic” to me, so I wouldn’t wear it to anything dressy, but I could see myself wearing it with jeans.

4) I really wish I had used a centered doubled decrease instead of s1, k2tog, psso, but I didn’t think to do that until after I and knit a couple of repeats. The yarn is just sticky enough to make annoying to frog easily. So I just lived with it. If I make it again, I would change the decrease.

And a Thank You

Thank you everyone for your compliments on my new hair. Believe it or not, I’m still getting used to it. Similar to people who have had limbs amputated, I’m suffering “phantom hair.” I still try to flip my nonexistent hair and I’m always moving invisible hair out of my way when I put my head on a pillow.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry you're not totally trilled with your scarf (i know it's a typo, but i like this new term)--it's very sweet looking, though!

You've gotta try for an average-sized shawl though, at least once, Laura :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, is that a pretty shawl!!!

Elizabeth said...

I put my phantom-hair behind my ears for a LONG time after I got a short cut. Like, months!

Love the shawl. But, it's not pink!

Jennifer said...

I think the shawl is gorgeous. Good tip on the double decrease though.

amylovie said...

Mohair is one of those love-hate fibers for me. Love the fluffy look, hate the scratchiness.

You shawl looks wonderful.

Amy

Meredith said...

Looks very pretty! So far I've only made a small sized shawl--I think using them like scarves is more practical (at least for me) because I rarely have an occasion to wear a large shawl.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you can't find any use for the small shawl (though it sounds as though the scarf idea would be the way to go if you lived in a climate that ever really required a scarf), you can start your niece's dress-up collection off right.

Terby said...

I like the scarf-sized shawls. I think I'm more likely to use one in a smaller size. Yours is very pretty.

Every time I get a haircut, it takes me a while to adjust to washing my hair.

Christina said...

I am using a centered double decrease on my Flower Basket Shawl and it is working nicely. I did four repeats in S1, k2tog, psso and it dawned on me that I could do a centered d.d. instead. The centered d.d. makes a very strong vertical line through the basket motifs that I like very much.

GURO said...

Pretty, pretty flower basket... I'm not a big fan of mohair myself. I understand the hesitance to start the second ball.

Anonymous said...

It's beautiful, but I know what you mean about the "rustic" look of some shawls. I have one of those.

Will you grow your hair again, or do you think you'll be keeping it short once you get used to it?

Amanda said...

Love the shawl. I so want to make one of those someday.

MiniLaura said...

Christina who commented above--I can't find your email addy!

Did you switch decreases in the middle of the shawl? or did you rip back?

roxy =^o^= said...

Ohhhhh rice power strikes again - I'm eyeing this up to knit in my queue AND I cut my hair off for LOL.
Too funny.
Are we on some weird psychic vibe that I'm not aware of?

As always your knitting and FO's are flawless.

Thanks for making me smile. You are appreciated here in MD :)

Send gifts to pakistan said...

It's very sweet looking.