The Knitting is Done

After ripping back two rows of the last chart and attempting to finish I found that I still didn't have enough yarn. I bought a skein of a different dye lot that to my eye matches perfectly. The knitting was finished last night. Here is the shawl before blocking.

It measures 38" across and 19" from the edge to the point. After a trip to the store for T-pins I'll get this baby blocked. I'm thinking of knitting another of this pattern in a laceweight alpaca. I'll probably add more repeats of the budding lace chart to create a larger shawl. Now I just have to decide what color to make it. I want something a little brighter after working on such a dark color. (The color in this picture is brighter than the actual navy.)

I haven't started yet

The first thing I did was sign up here because I couldn't wait. Then, I received my IW Knits mag, rather late because I had recently subscribed and, they said, the first issue takes quite some time to arrive (it is faster for the next ones). Now I am wondering what yarn I should use - the one recommended at Knits or something else? I look at your photos and love all your shawls and your yarns. I may still shop around the net a bit more; I have to buy on line as there is hardly anything to choose from around here. In the meantime, I will finish some other projects. Happy knitting in 2007.

done!

Done! I'm really happy with the way this shawl turned out: a perfect mix of open airiness and structure, good transitions between sections, and a beautiful peaked edging.

My notes:
Pattern; Swallowtail Shawl, Interweave Knits, Fall 2006
Designer: Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Rovings Canada 80/20 wool-silk in a natural shade of brown, straight from the fleece, fingering weight
Needles: size 8 Bryspun 24" circular, size 8 Addi Turbo 40" circular
I I had it Do Over Again: I wouldn't change anything. Even the fearsome nupps in the third and fourth charts turned out to be worth the time and effort, forming little French-knot like exclamation points amidst the swirl of the lace patterns. Soft, lightweight, warm.

The shawl, originally knit for one of my assistants, is going, instead, to Cyprus as a gift for the woman who hosted my daughter during her home stay and semester abroad last year. The shawl seemed to know this and refused to pose for a picture adequate to its beauty. Perhaps I'll be able to post it looking out to the Mediterranean once it reaches the recipient?

2 to Go!

Two rows to go, bind off, block. It's the mad rush to be ready for Christmas giving. Must deliver by Friday!

made my deadline

somehow i actually made my final hard deadline of finishing by 4pm on Friday.

Here she is pre-blocking. Full post can be seen at penguingirl.com. Now to wind up the next skein and start again. This time I might try the bobbles, though I like her as is without. There are some errors in my knitting (in bad spots too) but for my first lace project? I'm pretty impressed. :)

Oh and just as a reminder to those knitting on a deadline. You have to bind off some 323 stitches... I forgot that she'd keep growing, especially over the last few rows.

So Close Yet...

I finished the last row of the peaked edging chart last night and have about 12" of yarn left. I have no more skeins of this yarn. I doubt there is any chance of getting any of the same dye lot of the yarn since I've had this yarn in my stash just over a year. I checked with the shop where I bought the yarn and they don't have any more. I am now faced with two options. Option 1, order a skein of a different dye lot to finish up. Option 2, take out the last two rows of the peaked edging and finish from there. This is where all you knitters that have completed shawls come in to play. How would losing those last two rows of peaked edging impact the look of the shawl. Should I just order another skein? Help........

Edited to add - The yarn I'm using is Blue Sky Alpaca 100% alpaca sportweight. Color 308 (navy), dye lot 9470

Losing my patience with lace!

I am having a mini-crisis with my shawl.

I am about 10 stitches short and have no idea why. I can only imagine that I am accidentally dropping the yarn overs on the purl row or am actually forgetting to do the yarn overs in the first place.

Thank goodness I put a lifeline in after I finished the budding lace 2 chart! I will (when I get the courage, will power and time) rip back to the lifeline and 'add' the necessary stitches in. I'm not bothered about tweaking; I'm sure I won't even be able to spot the tweaks once it's blocked.

And then I have to face the nupps!

Remind me again why I thought lace was a good idea?

Shifting to Beta Blogger

Dear Knitters,

I had shifted all my blogs to the Beta Blogger, hence there will be some fine tuning to this blog.

Currently, I'm still trying to sort out the Contributor list. Your kind patience is very much appreciated.

Meanwhile I shall have all the FOs group together.

<3

14 "rows" and what do i get?

both closer to my goal of a completed swallowtail by THIS Wednesday evening and an addiction. this evening i finally finished the repeats of the budding lace 2 chart. it's now 1am my time and i just knit 2.5 rows of the lily of the valley 1. i'm forcing myself to post this and then go off to sleep. i wish i had time to knit in the morning before leaving for work.

i was originally going to title this post ode to a lifeline. i haven't had to use them much (yay!!) but it's so reassuring knowing that they are there for me. :)

i'm also amazed that i have actually knit all of this. this is my first lace. this is also my first really big project; i've just been knitting socks and gloves and felted bags. it's for my MIL and i have a massive deadline to finish it (not to mention work and other obligations). [and then i get to knit #2 for my mum] i'm amazed to watch it grow from

to

i really look forward to finishing and then blocking and watching the magic!

all details (and larger images) can be found somewhere at penguingirl.com.

Finally Finished!

I actually finished mine this last weekend and debuted it on Monday. I sorta forgot I was really a member of this group and not just a lurker. Heh. So without further ado...



The obligatory ass shot:


I'm so freakin' excited over this. I tried to get this done in time for Lacevember but I missed the deadline by 2 days. I blame Karen for that. I was lead to believe that Lacevember was actually 2 months long and thus I felt free to slack and concentrate on Christmas gift knitting. Silly me. Ah well. It's alright. So I don't win a prize but I do have a mistake free gorgeous shawl!

Here it is pre-blocking:



Forgive the busy towels under it. My white towels are for my own personal use. Not for my knitting thankyouverymuch.

For the blocking, I went to the hardware store looking for some welding wire or at least some stainless steel type of rod. Screw that. Those suckers were $7 each. So the frugal side of me opted for the under $3 solution. Bezzie would be proud.



Dowel rods. They worked perfectly fine for my purposes. As you see, this sucker grew a lot by blocking. I'd always heard of the magic of blocking lace but to see it for myself, simply amazing.

Details:

Pattern: Swallowtail Lace Shawl from Fall '06 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool it's a dark navy blue I don't have the color number. It took just over 2 hanks.
Needles: US 8
Started: October 12th
Finished: December 2nd.

It would have been a much faster knit but it was my first lace shawl and I didn't want to screw it up so I took my time and only worked on it on Sundays for the most part. Except for this last week. I was freaking out trying to get it done so I brought it to my knitting group wednesday night. As Tvini can attest, I had went to the pub before knitting group (The Interlacements! The yarn shop is next door to the pub! Geez, gimme a break people.) and well, in the couple hours I was at the knitting group, I didn't even get through a whole row. I tinked back the same row a total of 3 times. 3 times for the right half of the shawl, and 3 times for the left half. Apparently beer makes it really hard to count. Or something. Heh. Thank God for lifelines. And that's all I have to say about that.
Oh, and as for the nupps - I went with the slip 3 p2tog psso option. Much neater and less aggravating than trying the p5tog or the crochet hook method.

Swallowed but not Digested

Full disclosure: I missed the edge of the page when I made my copy of the Swallowtail Shawl pattern.
Doesn't this look like the whole pattern is there? Nice, clean margins. And it made sense to this knitter, still new to lace, that a yarnover on either side of a K1,yo, K1 would equal the 5 stitches needed for the nupp.

But no. Here's the real thing. The lace teacher at my LYS (who is publishing a pattern in Knitter's Magazine this winter or spring) discerned the error for me. Not sure how she figured it out, but I'm now back to work on the Lily Border I, about to work Row 4 and the dreaded P5tog in some fashion or other.

Casted Off!

Who knew it was going to go this quick!? I sure didn't. Boy was this fun! I am so happy with the way it turned out. Once again I am awe of Mrs. Evelyn A. Clark!

I did understand though the whole P5 fiasco. It surely does help to do those K1 Yos Loose! If I did this again I would probably do a few more nubs, but this was perfect.

This is a Christmas gift for my boyfriend's mother.

x-posted in more detail

Swallowtail in Nuppland

Just entering Nuppland, and it's been a long time since I posted. How in the world are you guys getting this done in a week?

Anyway, here we are. Very happy still with Rovings silk and wool blend. Happy with Budding lace. Not too happy with the beginning of the Lily Chart 1, as I was halfway through Row 3 before I realized that I'd missed the K2tog at the very beginning of the row.

I'd appreciate any help out there from those of you who've finished or reached the first Lily border.
Should I be trying to make the yarnover and knits as loose as possible so that the P5tog is easier to work?

And on odd rows, how do the yarnovers on either side of the nupps factor into the stitch count on either side of the P5tog? For example, in the repeat at the beginning of row 4, will I be counting six purl stitches, then P5tog, then 3 more purls -- or -- purl five stitches, P5tog, purl 2 stitches?

The Bulls are playing the Wizards, so a few minutes to blog, then basketball and Swallowtail.
Update: Nupps are much trickier than I'd anticipated and don't mix well with watching a basketball game.

Swift Swallowtail!

She was done in just over a weeks time :) and most of the knitting was probably concentrated in to one day and a couple of evenings.

I have been trying to figure out different ways to wear triangular shawls, and I have some suggestions listed on my site - I went on that quest because I love knitting lace, but never wear it - mostly because I have no idea how to LOL

More info on the Swallowtail can be found via my Blog - if you're not interested in reading about how to wear lace, just scroll to the bottom and follow the link to my finished objects blog.

Casted on!

Hello! I'm Margaux from Hoboken, NJ! I've just casted on for the Swallowtail. How did I not do this sooner, who knows... I'm slighty obsessed with Ms. Clark and her creations. This one is flying, so I can see how one could whip this out in 7 days. But I was curious, how many pattern repeats did everyone do for the Budding Lace... I'm coming up to my 14th repeat and feel like I want to put a few more in there but don't want to over power it?

I'm using Regia Silk for my shawl. Anyone else use this yarn?

x posted here

Happy is a lace project on blocking wires

Sorry for the photoless post - I just had to write in and say my Swallowtail is now happily blocking away and should be dry by the time I get home tonight :) Finished in just over a week lol - much faster than my first lace project...

a silly question perhaps, but you all should be in the know - just what are the various ways a triangular shawl can be worn? The only ways I can think of are:
- to drape it over both shoulders,
- wear it kinda like the model, though this does require that the shawl be scarf-sized or it gets to be a bit overwhelming
- wear it sarong-like around the hips (though I can't imagine wearing the swallowtail that way!)

Hoping for good light to get the finished swallowtail photo tomorrow!

Katie, great minds think alike! =)

Hey everybody!
I joined the KAL last week, and I am already finished with my Swallowtail.



I started it on Nov. 19th, and finished on the 26th. That's right 7 day's from start to finish.


Before I wrote this entry..I noticed Katie's post. My shawl is an exact replica of the one in IK as well. I did it on accident. I did not realize it until I was about 4 repeats in...

Just for fun, here it is before blocking..the transformation is amazing to see!


So here you go. I love it. It is my first ever finished lace project, and I am now an addict.
I want to do another one, but there are so many lace patterns out there calling to me!

Starting My Swallowtail Shawl

When I teach people to knit, they're always terribly disappointed when they go into a yarn store and find that yarn is on the expensive side: "I thought it would be cheaper to make things than to buy them". I sympathize, and try to point out that if they were to buy a well made item of clothing, from nice materials that it may well cost more (this Anthropologie cardigan is a case in point). I also try to point out that knitting is about more than this. I mean, if I desperately need something, I go out and buy it, I'm not going to sit down and knit it. For me knitting is about process. Still, occasionally, I come across a bargain, and when I do I find it hard not to get excited. When I saw Misti Alpaca Lace (the suggested yarn for the Swallowtail shawl featured in the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits) in Windsor Button for a mere $7 a skein (you can find it online for similar prices), I knew I was onto something. I mean, how often is it that you buy a beautiful lace alpaca shawl for just $7?

I'm actually making a complete copy of the Swallowtail Shawl in the magazine. Not only is the yarn the same, but it's the same color, too (although the color in real life is very different from the color as printed in the magazine). I'm having a lot of fun knitting this. The first few repeats of the lace pattern were a little trying, but this is always the case for me. Now that I've got the pattern in my head and understand how it works the shawl is just zooming along.

I think I'll give this to my Dad's mother. It's been a while since I knit her something, and I think she uses the other shawls I've made for her. The Sea Mist color will look wonderful on her, too.

Cross-posted on What Katie Did.

Despite the nupps...

Despite the effort of the nupps to drive me insane, I have finished my Swallowtail and am delighted with it.


In fact, I might even consider doing it again, though this time I would be prepared for the nupps and how to "cheat."

There are more details about the finished shawl on my blog.

This Knitalong was a great help, not only in dealing with the nupps but also in selecting the yarn. Thanks to all of you!

Weaving in the ends...

I posted earlier that my shawl was complete. But, what I don't have is knowing to weave in the strand at the beginning of the shawl and the one at the end.

Would some kind soul please post or email me (singularstitches AT hotmail DOT com how to do this. I didn't think there was any post that covered this, but if there is, can someone point me to it.


Thanks a bunch!! :o)

Love That Yarn!

Hi! I'm so glad there is a Knitalong for the Swallowtail Shawl. I can't wait to start. I'll be using Baby Cashmere from elann, an alpaca, merino, and cashmere blend fingering weight yarn, in the Peacock color. I hope to cast on within a week or two.

Garter stitch "revision"

This is about the best picture I could get of the budding lace pattern in garter stitch. Should it stay or should it go? If I keep it I'll switch to st st when I get to the next chart. I'm leaning towards frogging and just starting over.

RosyII

AKA, STSIII, is blocking right this moment. 3 down, many more to go. *finds a wall to bang head on*

.

More details on my blog.

D'oh!

You're going to get a kick out of this one -
Ok, I took your kind suggestions to use a 'heavier than lace weight' yarn for my first project and I cast on with beautiful Weavers Wool Quarters (Ruby River colorway). So, I'm knitting quite happily along and making excellent progress, if I do say so myself, when I go back and take another look at the pattern. . . more closely than I had before, I guess. You know what? This shawl is in st st, not garter stitch . . . oops! And I was following the chart so well, counting my stitches, placing my markers; what a goof! If it had just said somewhere - THIS SHAWL IS KNIT IN ST ST - I would have automatically purled the wrong side rows, excepting the edge stitches. Oh jeez.
It doesn't look bad, just different. But what to do? Continue as is until the next chart, then switch to st st? Maybe run a lifeline and try a repeat in st st and see how it looks, then decide if frogging is worth it? Any sage advice?

Hooray! I cast on!

I'm so excited. I finally finished all my other knitting "responsibilities" (I think) and I cast on for the Swallowtail!

I'm knitting fingering weight yarn on US7s. I like how the open bits look, but am still deciding what I think of the stockinette portions...course, I'm uh 5 repeats in or so at this point, so I may have my mind made up for me...I really don't want to have to rip back all that lace!

I'm sort of dreading the Nupps, having never Nupped before...but it sounds like there are a couple of options for the Nupping - I'll have to see how things go, course it may be a while yet as I've still got to decide if I'm going to stop at 14 pattern repeats or push onwards for the 19...

Just completed the bind off!!!

Here it is! Will be doing some big time blocking tomorrow.




More details on my blog: Singular Stitches.

Finished!

Yarn: Joseph Galler Prime Alpaca - ivory? natural?
Needles: Size 4 Inox 24" circulars

I had a few problems getting started with this pattern. I haven't knit much lace, and at the beginning I didn't know what it should look like. So, when I screwed something up, I would end up ripping back two or three rows... Once I got a rhythm though, it was smooth sailing, and a pretty quick knit.

I wasn't sure how this pattern would end up looking with a sport-weight yarn, but I love it. I like that it's not so big, and that the stitches are close... Altogether a successful project!

Nupp

I took a few pics of my shawls' nupp-making.. A general reference in case anyone is having prob with theirs.

Hope that helped.

Delayed Start

*sigh* anyone else in the same boat I'm in?
I saw a friend's swallowtail and then decided I *had* to knit one for myself...
unfortunately (of course) I don't think I have appropriate yarn for it in my stash (tho now that I think about it...I just might have a good yarn for this project though it may drive me nuts since it has no stretch or bounce to it (bamboo)) - I have been toying with handspinning yarn for this project even though i know it will still wind up a tiny bit thick and thin - oy, the dilemmas...

In the meantime, I can't start on the project because of holiday knitting *wail*

I look forward to seeing everyone elses swallowtails growing though!

Hey!

I just joined in the kal fun. This would be my first kal and im quite excited. Im also really excited at the idea of finishing my already started shawl. I had SUCH a hard time with this at first and finally got the first set of repeats figured out. I love looking at everyone's finished shawls. Its so motivating.
Is anyone using straight needles? I see everyones pics with circs.

Hi!

Just thought I'd drop in and introduce myself!

The Swallowtail Shawl is my first ever lace shawl, and to be honest I'm surprised I've got this far without any major mistakes:



I'm using Jaggerspun Zephyr in Teal, which is a pleasure to work with. So far I'm on the 9th repeat of the Budding Lace 2 chart.

Wish me luck!

Just say NO to nupps...

That is going to be my motto from now on. I started this shawl thinking that if I knit loosely enough, P5 tog wouldn't be a big deal. Was I ever wrong! I even bought new needles (Bryspun) because I new there wasn't a chance with the Addi Turbos I usually use. Fortunately, several people in the knitalong offered useful hints, and after trying several, I adopted the sl 2, P3 tog, pass slipped stitches over approach. I was really ready to throw in the towel (or the shawl, as the case may be).

I nearly considered frogging the whole thing before finding this workaround. Each nupp was a major effort and incredibly stressful. And knitting is supposed to be fun!

Thanks to all of you who offered alternative solutions. But I'd still like to know how anyone can do it the right way.

Can you describe how you do this stitch?

Hi,

I just started my first swallowtail using Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in lilac using #4 needles. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to do this stitch:

Sk2p, sl 1 knitwise, k2tog, psso

I get that you are supposed to decrease 2 stitches but I'm not sure about the first action: Sk2p.

Thanks for your help!!

Sue

Swallowtail #2 - increased size

This is my second Swallowtail Shawl. I think this is a wonderful pattern that I will knit again but not right away. I did make some changes to the pattern to increase the size of the pattern. For the "Budding Lace 2" chart section, I knitted 19 repeats instead of 14 repeats. This worked out perfectly for me. Here are some details;

Yarn: Regia Silk in Burgundy (55% Merino, 20% Silk, 25% Polymid) 220 yards; 3 skeins and 1/4 of a fourth skein
Needles: Denise Interchangeable, US size 6
Finished size after blocking: 39" depth, 79" width

I have more pictures on my blog

2 down, ? to go

Swallowtail #2 is blocked and ready to go. It's funny but I had the same problem on row 3 of the first Lily of the Valley chart as before. For some bizarre reason it takes me at least 3 tries to get it right and then it's smooth sailing.


Specs:
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr in Ebony
Needles: 4 US Clover Bamboo Circular
Blocked to 49" width, 22" depth

finito!

Hi all!

I finished my Swallowtail and I love it! Too bad it isn't for me (it's a Christmas gift).


I have really enjoyed reading all of your comments; and the advice has been especially helpful. I can't wait to see more of your shawls! This was a fun knit, mine didn't come out perfectly; but, it came out pretty well for my first lace project. There is more verbage about my experience knitting this shawl on my blog.

I will probably knit this shawl again at some point, I had a lot of fun knitting it, including the nupps!

Flickr Group

If you have a flickr account do join in this group
http://flickr.com/groups/81018530@N00/

Started this, so that we can have a collective of all the Swallowtails.
FOs and WIPs both welcome!

Zephyr for Swallowtail?

I am ready to start my Swallowtail and hoped to use the same Zephyr that I used for Scheherazade (Mystery Stole 2). But if I've done the arithmetic correctly, Zephyr is finer than the Misti Alpaca called for in the pattern. The Swallowtail is small-ish to begin with... If I use Zephyr, will it come out even smaller than the dimensions given in the pattern? If any of you have used Zephyr, what size needles did you use?

Newbie needs help, please

I'm a first-time lace knitter and need advice as to yarn choice. I have a lone skein of Cherry Tree Hill Suri Alpaca Lace that almost exactly matches the yardage/weight of the yarn used in the original published pattern. It looks hopelessly thin and tiny though and, trying it on size 4 needles was a mess - perhaps I shouldn't have tried in on the city bus? Should it work if I just keep plugging away with it? How far into the pattern will I have to get before it becomes recognizable as anything garment-like? Should I try the CTH with a smaller needle? Should I just use some fingering weight (I've got sock yarn, boy howdy!) or maybe even heavier for my first lace project? And, just so I don't annoy you all too much - any recommendations for books for a lace newbie?

Second Swallowtail - Fire

Apparently I'm not the only one who loves this shawl enough to do it more than once. *nods to Abby*

Presenting.. My 2nd Swallowtail Shawl, hot off the blocking wires.

Spread out.

Folded together with Rosy, my first Swallowtail.

The initial plan is to knit Swallowtail Shawls for my good friends. I'm having 2nd and 3rd thoughts about that. What do you suggest? Go on with the idea (and make a total of 6 swallowtail shawls), modify the idea (make 3 shawls and do something else for the other 3 ppl) or scrape the idea totally? Advice will be most appreciated! Thanks in advance. =)

Kessa

Working on my 2nd Swallowtail

I really love this pattern, so I'm making a second Swallowtail Shawl. The yarn I'm using is Regia Silk sock yarn and size 6 needles. I want the shawl to be big and I'm knitting 19 repeats of the Bud Lace section instead of 14 repeats. I have complete 16 of these repeats so far. I'm planning on wearing this shawl to a wedding at the end of November :)

Abby

A quick post to show the join on the Bryspun needle. The more that I'm using it with this slippery yarn, the better that I like it.

I'm amazed at how fast this shawl knits up. After the marathon of Icarus, it's great to see a repeat done in only six rows. Though, for some reason, I seem to daydream when I hit row three and make a mistake almost every time somewhere in the row.

Ready to 'Go for the Nupps'

NUPPS UPDATE: I found a way (that works well for me) to do the nupps.
1. Purl with the regular needle until it's time to do the P5TOG
2. Pull the right (needle with the just made stitches) so that the stitches aren't near the point (so they don't fall off)
3. Using a small DPN (I used a US#1.5 INOX DPN - nice and pointy), insert it into the five stitches and purl
4. transfer the newly purled stitch onto the right needle
5. Continue stitching as usual

I can take some pictures and post if anyone is interested or needs the visual.


I just finished the Budding Lace 2 section and feel like I'm standing at the top of the highdive, butterflies fluttering all over the place... Thank you to Marsha for posting the Nupp Alternative!! I think I'll just dive right in and see how it goes.

I had already started this shawl when I found this KAL, but it's been great seeing all the finished shawls and particularly the wonderful 'purls' of information!

This is going to be a Christmas gift for my sister. I've had just a wonderful time knitting it (it's my first lace shawl) that I might make one for me, too!



I'm using Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Iris on Addi Naturas US#4, and I'm really disappointed with the join of the needle to the cable. I typically use turbos, but at the join, there's a definite little...notch is the only word I can think of...that the stitches keep getting caught in. I just bought these yesterday (I fought with the Budding Lace sections on metal circs which were too slippery), and I think I'm going to return them.



Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a better wooden circ to use that has a better join?

Just getting started

Here's the beginning of my shawl. One chart in to Chart 2. It's been a while since I've knitted lace and I've already made a few mistakes. I'd forgotten that it always takes me a few tries before I get the pattern and repetitions into my brain.

The yarn is a silk wool from Rovings. The needles are Bryspun size 8's. I've never used them before, but the teacher in the knitting store recommended them as a good combination of the slippery cord from the metal circulars and a not-so-slippery needle point from the bamboo circulars. I'm liking them, so far. The needles are just resistant enough to keep the silk from sliding all over the place. And the cord doesn't kink up the way my bamboo circulars kept doing.

Thanks for the help with choosing a needle size. The teacher suggested size 10 or 11; she likes a very open lace. So I met in the middle between her recommendation and the advice I got from other bloggers and went with an 8.

blocking beauty

It is blocking now! I'm very pleased with the results. I'm already planning the next and like many here want to make it in a larger size. It's blocking smaller than I expected. I usually have to decrease needle size 1 or 2 size down to get gauge but apparently not in this case. This is a gift for my mother who is petite, so it's perfect. In natural light, the yarn appears much more green and reflects the blue that you see in these images.

Yarn: KnitPicks Alpaca Colud in Tide Pool
Needles: #3
Depth: 25.5 inches
Width: 52 inches

I'm just starting Swallowtail and am looking for some advice on needle size. My yarn is a silk-wool from Rovings, a fingering weight of 823 yds to 5.5 oz. What size needle do you think would work best for this pattern and yarn?
Thanks.

Adaptations ?

I'm working on my second Swallowtail, and am considering doing a few extra repeats of the main body to make it a little bigger. Has anyone done this, and do you have any advice on a good number of extra repeats to make the pattern work smoothly?

You can see my first attempt here.

Open Invitations : Pending Status

I have 3 invitations on the pend. So ladies pls check your emails. Thanks

thepurloinedletter1(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

t_j_(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

jbwb(AT)att(DOT)net

Swallowtail Finished

I'm really pleased with it. I love it!!

And what a difference blocking makes! I'm so glad I invested in blocking wires although it still took me ages to get it all stretched out.

The colour is actually more pinky than the slightly orangey-red the photo shows. It's Handmaiden Seasilk colour Berry.

three lilies

My swallowtail shawl is done. I am very pleased with my results. Hope you like it too.

I did three repeats of the lily charts and used 2 plus skeins of kp Gloss, one of their new yarns, on size 6[US] needles. More details on my blog.

Jeri

Rosy Swallowtail Takes Flight *wink*

Long after other fellow swallowtails had done that.

.

.

.

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More pictures over here at my blog.