Hello Everyone!
I have a major FO to share with you today! It’s officially my favorite project to date and the FO has, in the time between blocking and being posted here, been used quite a bit.
My Jonium!
I never quite understood shawls, until I bit the bullet and made one. I didn’t decide to make one because I suddenly understood, oh no. I had seen someone else’s shawl and realized i had the same yarn. And i felt like making it. It was Stephen West’s Boneyard Shawl (for which I am finally going to take some pictures tomorrow, as it’s been finished for ages, but I was using it so much I never seem to get round to it). It’s a basic top down triangle shawl. A lot of stockinette stitch with the occasional bit of garter to keep it interesting. the perfect beginners shawl! As a matter of a fact, I’m urging my mom to make one too, as she keeps grabbing mine when she sees it. I made it out of an Aran weight tweed yarn and it’s perfect for snuggling under on the couch. I ended up using that one a lot. I get cold often in my dorm room as the heating there is pretty shoddy and I can just fling this around my shoulders and the soft shawl keeps me warm. But a adam weight blanket shawl is a lot different form a proper fancy shawl with lace and cables. I had this vision of myself in the spring, which, your mouth is probably falling open in shock, is my least favorite season. I get allergies (yuck!) and i hate that transition between winter and summer clothes. I frequently dress to warm and end up sweaty and hot and very very annoyed. In these days of torture a shawl could be the ultimate solution! I could wear my cute summer clothes and stuff a shawl in my bag. If i get cold, voila! I have my fancy shawl that will keep me toasty (but not too toasty). And so I went looking for the perfect pattern. I found it pretty quickly!
Stats:
Pattern: Jonium by Tiziana Sammuri. Wow. I knew instantly this had to be my first fancy shawl. The samples were nice and large and the pattern looked like a fun and challenging knit.
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Chicory. It’s an impossible to photograph, but totally gorgeous blueish purple. In some light it can look almost cobalt!
Time: Long. I worked on this for almost 6 weeks by doing a little bit every evening. Near the end of the shawl the rows had 500 + stitches and each row took me over an hour! This is a pattern where focus is critical. It’s not a mindless tv knit. I think this slowed me down quite a bit.
Needles: I used 4.5 mm needles with a 100 cm cable (the pattern recommends 3.5, but I knit really tight!). Near the end of my project it was pretty full. I think with 80 cm you would really have to squish the stitches on there!
Experience: AMAZING! Tiziana was a great great help. I really cannot thank her enough. The pattern was a little bit above my skill level so I got confused a few times. She was always quick to respond and provided me with detailed explanations for the parts that had me puzzled. The pattern was amazingly fun to knit. You start with cables and slowly some lace creeps in and eventually you end up with a lot of lace. Fun! It keeps such a huge project interesting. I’ve gotten so many great responses to the finished piece already! I love wearing it, it makes me feel very cool (shawl are nonexistent where I live apparently). I thought it would’t be as warm due to the holes caused by the lace, but it’s perfectly warm!
I had a fair bit of panic ever since the shawl was halfway done until it was off the needles. I had this fear that it was turning out a lot smaller than all the samples. Hahaha! I was so surprised after blocking. It was suddenly at least double the size it was before.
Hihi. I like this photo, but it keeps making me laugh. I was having horrid time trying to pose naturally because my mom and I were joking around the entire time. Suddenly she was pointing loudly somewhere in the sky so I looked. And then burst out laughing again. She took the picture just a few seconds before so I look a little awkward, on the verge of an outburst of even more awkward laughing.
I also made good progress on my Thorin Oakenshield socks. I finished the first one! I have zero hopes of finishing before the end of the olympics so am taking a teeny break from the bobbles and focus by knitting a (hopefully) easier sock. More soon!
Love, Renée
A Lazy Beauty 