Knitting a Shawl

After taking a short break from knitting (like 4 days) and clearing my head of all the projects I wanted to knit, I've started on the Colonnade Shawl. I had visions of using the Classic Elite Waterlily yarn in rose and blue, but the blue yarn is on backorder. Which means that it may not arrive. I've checked my LYS and no one has this yarn in stock. What a shame. This yarn is a winner and I've read many reviews that it knits up beautifully and washes well.

I've found another yarn to use. It's Plymouth Royal Llama Silk. What a beautiful yarn. The colors are rich and it's soft in my hands. Thankfully, I have one of the colors in my stash...the wine/purple color that I will be using for the contrast color or the open lace pattern. Yesterday, I was visiting my LYS in Haymarket and came across a bright raspberry color which I'm using for the main color.

My gauge is slightly off and so my version of the shawl will be slightly smaller in width. This is fine as I'm a petite person and would prefer not to be lost in a huge shawl. This yarn is worsted weight and I can already tell that the shawl will drape nicely. I've read a few reviews of this yarn and I understand it blooms nicely after the first hand wash and actually gets softer. Nice!

As you can see, I couldn't wait to cast on:




The main Raspberry color used for knitting the base of the shawl


This wine/purple yarn was actually a shrug in the works last year. I ended up frogging the shrug and re-winding the yarn, thinking it could be used for something much nicer. I was right.

The contrast Wine/Purple color will be used for knitting the open lace pattern


Here's a link to the pattern: Colonnade Shawl

Here's some pictures of different ways to wear this shawl:

Colonnade by Stephen West for Knitty.com (photo by Jilian Chapman)


Colonnade by Stephen West for Knitty.com (photo by Jilian Chapman)


So far, this is becoming a quick knit. Of course, I many more rows (increases) to go and I haven't begun the lace pattern. I plan on knitting a few more rows in the main color and possible in the lace pattern. This will be a decision I will make on the fly.

More Snow and in a Knitting Accessory Mood

What a weekend! We had a huge snow storm that dumped close to 2 feet of snow on us. Yes, it was very pretty to watch. Here's what it looked like early Saturday morning from our front door:



Here's what our front walkway looked like by Sunday:



We are expecting another 6-12 inches of snow starting tomorrow. I have to say I'm building up some arm and leg muscles with all the shoveling we've have accomplished so far.

The Knitting Front:

For some reason, the accessory bug has hit me. I've had in my Ravelry queue a really pretty shawl called Colonnade by Stephen West. It starts out with Stockinette stitch and ends with a beautiful simple lace pattern. I plan on using Elite Yarns Waterlily in two colors. I'm toying with the idea of using wedgwood blue and rose. I haven't decided which color will be used for St st and which color will be used for the lace pattern. It will depend on which color looks better near my face. I thought this would be a great seasonal transition accessory to wear from Winter into Spring. Yes, I'm already thinking about warmer weather. ;)