At Last

Yarn: Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb in Color #002
Needles: Size 2
Pattern: Ingrid's Bridal Knot from A Gathering of Lace
Dimensions: Approximately 88" across
Started February 2007, Finished August 10, 2007
Modifications: Left out the last 14 rows of the second border because I didn't really care for the hearts (and the shawl was already heading on epic proportions)
Here's the finished shawl unblocked, I was so glad to finally be done with it! Nothing like finishing at the last moment - I finished weaving in the ends at midnight on Friday.










I was somewhat concerned about where I'd be able to block out that much shawl, but luckily my parent's are in the middle of converting an old church into a house, so the sanctuary is being used for storage right now, so I just had to rearrange and I had lots of floor space








I did run out of yarn on the last border and the new yarn I got appeared to be a color match...at least until it got wet. Since I don't anticipate it getting wet all that often, I'm not concerned.










For whatever reason, I felt the need to do the Artsy Blog Shot, and I really like how it turned out.











Blocked and hanging on a bench at Natureland.













Back view of the shawl (and Siobhan)
























This is my favorite picture of the shawl. Siobhan was such a good sport to get her picture taken wearing it since it was so hot outside!






















Ingrid's Bridal Knot wasn't a hard knit at all, it just got harder to work on as time went along. While the center panel's lace didn't repeat, it was laid out logically and after a while it was almost intuitive, which made it go pretty quickly. I also appreciated the book's suggestion to carry a smooth yarn along the edges so that it was easier to pick up stitches when I started the first border. I had a little trouble getting the first border going - I was so used to working garter flat that I kept wanting to knit stockinette once it was in the round. I really didn't like the look of the hearts in the original pattern, so I was going back and forth about if I wanted to just follow the pattern or if I wanted to omit them. I ended up deciding to omit them since I was worrying about the amount of yarn I had left. The last border was a nice, easy, fairly quick knit, but the sudden realization that there were 2,176 rows of grafted on border made it seem like it was going to never end! Add to that forgetting the book when I went down for the shower and running out of yarn, I didn't think I was going to finish on time - and I almost didn't. The ends were woven in by midnight on Friday and I blocked the shawl on Saturday morning. Luckily it was quite warm out, so the shawl dried quickly and Kent could unpin it while I got everything else ready. Final finish time - about 12:30 pm on Saturday...Siobhan's wedding - 3p on Saturday.