Saturday, October 07, 2006

The shawl is DONE!

The shawl is done! And it's freaking awesome! I'm so, so pleased! Yes, it took a heck of a lot of work, but the transformation that occurs in blocking is simply amazing.

Pacific Northwest Shawl 1

Pattern: Pacific Northwest Shawl, by Fiber Trends (link here)
Yarn: KnitPicks Shadow in Lost Lake, 2 skeins and a few yards of a third skein
Needles: size 6 Bryspun circulars
Time: mid-June through October 5, 2006

Pacific Northwest Shawl 2


Thoughts: I'm done! I love, love, love how it turned out. As soon as I removed it from the blocking pins and held it up in front the mirror, I couldn't help but think, Wow. It was so worth all the effort, the long, long hours of knitting the final rows.

I love the Knitpicks Shadow yarn. It's soft, heathery, and quite reasonably priced. Did I mention it's soft? And that when we took these pictures outside on a chilly morning, the shawl kept me really warm despite the lace? I'm definitely going to use this yarn again for lace shawls/stoles/scarves.

I do wish I'd picked a better background for the photos, and that the day had been sunnier. Yet the shawl made a speedy trip to the post office and is in the mail, winging its way to California to catch up with Jen on her trip out West before she heads back to Panama. Where hopefully a wool shawl will come in handy and remind her of her other home in Washington state. Here, this picture should show off the pattern better.

Pacific Northwest Shawl 3
Sea gulls, trees, sand dollars, watery waves, little fish, and shells
Happy Birthday, Jen!

Before putting it in the mail, of course, I had to check for coziness and warmth...

Pacific Northwest Shawl 4
Yeah, I'd say it's pretty cozy!

What, you didn't think I'd send it off without at least a little bit of flouncing it around in a joyful finished object bliss of yay happy shawl wearing, did you? *Grin*

15 comments:

schrodinger said...

It's absolutely gorgeous, stunning, beautiful. Well done!!! You should feel proud.

Anonymous said...

nice shawl!!!! It must have been really hard to do such a tremendous work!!

Sheepish Annie said...

All I can say is, "WOW!" Nicely done. I'd say you earned a little "flouncing" time!

Bonnie said...

Bravo! What gorgeous work! Isn't Lost Lake a nice color? I love all the KP Shadow colors, actually.

Anonymous said...

It's simply beautiful! Great job. I love all the different motifs in it. That would make for a very interesting knit! I'm sure it will be loved.

Sheila said...

Lovely shawl. What a fantastic friend you are to give up such a beauty.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous! What a wonderful present

Anonymous said...

It is beautiful!! What an amazing present!

KODACHROME said...

To echo all the others: what beautiful work, and how generous of you to give such a gift. I too am always amazed by what blocking does to lace. It truly is a tranformative process.

PS: I enjoyed very much my reading of your blog today, and I wanted to say thanks for stopping by my blog and offering such kinds comments :)

Anonymous said...

Wow just gorgeous!

Zarzuela said...

So. Awesome! I still can't believe you gave it away. Way to go! :)

Jessica
http://zarzuelaknitsandcrochets.com

Angelika said...

Found your blog thanks to Keri and when mentioning the shawl I had to check it out. I'm on a sock/shawl trip right now. It's beautiful and the pattern doesn't get boring. Two thumbs up.

firefly said...

Very beautiful work, yes indeed. And your friend is so lucky to have such a generous friend. Hard to imagine parting with something so fine that you have invested so much of yourself into. But then again, that's a true sign of friendship and kinship.

~firefly
http://scrumptiousliving.wordpress.com

Beth S. said...

Oh, your PNW is BEAUTIFUL! And the perfect color, too!

Did you do the i-cord edging along the top edge?... I did it on mine, but it came out too tightly, and so I couldn't stretch the shawl as firmly as I wanted to during blocking. Very annoying.

Lone Knitter said...

Wow! That shawl is freaking gorgeous! I'm so in awe of you and your knitting skills. I'm too timid for lace. I tried it once, but I think I picked the worst yarn for lace. I'll have to try it again one of these days. I love the morning glory flowers in the background.