SHAWLS

My apologies for not posting for quite some time.  One gets busy. 

There are a couple of new things that I have been working on: lace shawls and beading.  Those are two skills that I have not had much experience in, so I thought I would do some projects to remedy that. 

 TRAVELING VINES WRAP

Traveling Vines Wrap

 The first project I did was the Traveling Vines Wrap, made from 100% raw silk from Tess Yarns. http://www.tessyarns.com/  The company has some really gorgeous yarns.  I picked this up at the Stitches West conference.  I chose the traveling vines lace pattern and basically just made a large rectangle.  The yarn is so soft and yummy, it feels great next to your skin.

Traveling Vines Wrap detail

The pattern is very
easy to learn, after a few repeats, and  I  think it works nicely for a rectangular shape, as opposed to a triangle. 

I love how the pattern flows like waves, or as the name suggests, like growing vines.  You can see this shawl on my Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyHandmadeCollection

BELLA BOTANICAL SHAWL

detail with beads

Elegant Beaded Shawl

The second project I worked on was a triangle shawl, the Bella Botanical shawl, by Karen Straus.  The yarn I chose for this project was also purchased at the Stitches West conference, at the Garn Studio/Drops booth.  This yarn is a lovely  lace weight in  baby alpaca and mulberry silk.  You can find it at http://nordicmart.com/.

This pattern took a bit more concentration, though by the end, I had it fairly memorized.  It is worked from the top edge and has a graduated sizing of leave motifs as you go, ending with a nice leaf edge.  

Adding beads was also a new experience for me.  I have read of several different methods of adding beads; the first one is to string all the beads onto the yarn before you begin your project. That seems like an incredible amount of work, so I opted for the

Detail

Elegant Beaded Shawl

second method.  That requires the purchase of a tiny crochet hook (size 0.9 mm) if you don't already have one.  The method is very simple:  As you reach the stitch in which you require the bead, you place a bead on the crochet hook in your right hand, then pull the stitch from the left hand needle onto the crochet hook, through the bead, and then place the stitch back on the left hand needle.  Continue knitting as you were.  You can also see this shawl at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyHandmadeCollection.