Interlude

I joined, I saw, Midian interpreted, I shawled.

I joined The Lacey Shawl Yahoo Group because I was interested in knitting the shawl designed by Triinu Andreassen that had been posted on the Lace Shawl KAL blog. After the group's purpose (convincing her to publish the design) was completed, members opened the group up to discussion of various shawl patterns available.

A Swiss member named Midian posted a photograph of Spitzenstricken 58, an Erich Engeln pattern pamphlet, showing two shawls. The shawls were meant to be knitted on 2mm needles and worn like scarves/collars over traditional German costumes. I asked Midian for help with interpreting the pattern, and she got right back to me! She had a friend translate it from German to French for her, then she translated from French to English for me. So, I started right away...


In only eight days, 60 grams of Colinette Parisienne laceweight mohair (colourway Castagna) was turned into Spitzenstricken 58, model A, by Erich Engeln. I knitted the shawl on 5mm needles, and it took a little less than 550 meters!

Blocking it took a heck of a lot of pins, but it did block beautifully. The washing settled the halo a bit, which was good, as it had gotten really hairy with all of the handling during knitting.


We have Tom's Grandparents here right now for a visit, and I asked Grandma to model the shawl so I could take a few photos. She looked so natural in it that I had to give it to her! Plus, she wears a lot of pale pink, and the shawl is brown and pink, with small amounts of olive/gold and black (sounds hideous, but looks gorgeous).



Next we will be making a coordinating shawl pin, and maybe a pair of earrings to match. What fun! And the best part is that while we're doing that, Tom and his parents (also visiting) are in the basement completing the repairs to get my studio up and running after the spring water leak. Boy oh boy am I looking forward to getting my yarn and fabric stashes out of storage, and back on shelves.