Casting On and Casting Off: Asking for Roses and Cladonia

I have officially finished knitting Autumn Cladonia and while I could not knit a full lace border due to yardage restraints, I’m very pleased on how my finished shawl turned out.  This is the quickest shawlette project I’ve ever knitted too.  I casted on October 29th and finished yesterday, November 5th.

For the body of the shawl, I had to modify a bit so I could use every bit of yarn and end up with the needed stitches needed to start the lace border.  Instead of doing the extra knit and purl row after the increase, when I hit 25 sts in between the markers, I worked the pattern increase row and the purl row until I achieved 28 sts.  You can’t really tell I did this slight modification, so I’m pleased.

For the lace border, well, I ran out of yarn at the very last part of the design.   So, I did not do rows 13 – 17 of the “lace border”. I only did row 1 of the “prepare for edging” and had to bind off in row 2. I ended up with 12” of yarn left over. Whew, that was close and even though I did not finish the full lace border or edging, I think it turned out pretty good.

My next project is Asking for Roses designed by Amy Swenson, a.k.a. IndiGirl.  I purchased this kit from Jimmy Beans Wool and can’t wait to knit with my lovely Lorna’s Laces ~ first time doing so.   Should be a fun project and I look forward to casting on very soon!

Project Details:  Crescent shaped shawl that is created by using short rows .  This design begins by knitting the lace edging along the long curved edge and then the body is worked across the length of the lace edge.   Finished size after blocking, 68″ long and 18″ deep.

Yarn:  Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Black Purl

Yardage:  2 skeins – 400 yards (365.8m)

Needle Size:   US 7 (4.5 mm)

I’ve also joined a new Ravelry Group,  Dozen shawls in 20dozen.  This group will be offering a beginner and an advanced shawl/shawlette project every month, as well as focusing on free patterns available as Raverly downloads.  If you love to knit shawls, this is a great group to join!