I think I’ve found my next project - sort of :) I’m not sure I have enough yarn for it at the moment or that, even if I do, that I want to make the item out of what I have on hand. Heheh - why keep things simple when, with a little effort, you can complicate them beyond belief, eh?
I have Martha Waterman’s Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls out of the library and have fallen head over heels for the Kerry Blue Shawl. The link is to a page with a good picture of the finished item and also corrections to the printed pattern. Is that a humdinger of a shawl, or what?
So I spent most of Sunday trying to cast on. I can manage a cast on for something done circularly, but usually I’m starting with lots of stitches. This business of casting on 3 stitches onto each of 4 DPNs is for the birds! However, after much cussing and many, many ripped out attempts, I finally got the hang of the durned thing.
First and second efforts
The image on the left was done with worsted weight wool on size 6 needles (actually, all of these were done on size six needles). Not a suitable yarn for the pattern but I had hoped that having some substance, this yarn would help me manage the cast on so I could practice a bit. The image on the right was done with a double strand of Shadow Merino lace weight and I worked it through the sixth round on straights. Yes, “chicken” is the right word :) Then I spread the work out over four needles and, after I’d worked a few more rounds, sewed up the gap. This approach works, but only barely. Note that not only am I chicken about casting on a wee number of stitches on a large number of needles, I am also nervous about working that single, tiny little strand of lace weight yarn all by itself. I may eventually conquer that skittishness, but now’s not the time :)
The merino wasn’t coming out too badly, but my mind kept going back to the hand-painted rayon thread and insisting that I work that in somewhere. So this was halted and yet another piece was started:
Hmmm…where have I seen this combination before?
Look familiar? This time it’s only a single strand of each - the merino and the rayon. It still looks nice and shows every evidence that the fabric will still have the same gorgeous drape as the scarf did (though that has been frogged) but will be a bit lighter in weight. And, believe it or not, I got the cast-on right this time - didn’t fumble anything, didn’t screw anything up. It just worked. I don’t know if my fumble-fingers had finally acquired the knack or whether some benevolent and merciful knitting god was taking pity on me. Normally I would eschew any such offer made on that basis but this time? I’ll take what I can get :)
Now… I probably don’t have enough of the wool to make this shawl; it’s fair sized and the pattern doesn’t give yardage (or needle size, for that matter, insisting that the reader pick the yarn they want to use and needles appropriate for said yarn. There is no apparent realization that knowing what types and quantities of these items went into the original is helpful to the fledgling lacer - even if they don’t want to clone the original). So my assumption is that Kerry will take a lot of yarn. Better to err on the side of too much than too little. Except that I don’t even know how to guess. My base assumption is going to be that 1200 yards is the minimum and 1600 might be better to start with.
And since I don’t have that amount of the Campfire Merino, I’d need to order more. Ahem…or I could order another color entirely (there may not be any more Campfire in the right dye lot) like Vineyard, Jewels, Sunset and Grape.
And this won’t happen immediately, but it is something to shoot for. After all, I can’t let all that cast-on larnin’ go to waste!
Seaweed and Shells new home :)
This is my friend Laurie and I made the lace scarf for her birthday. Doesn’t it look nice on her? You may be able to tell, if you look carefully at the bottom of the picture, that I also made scones. She deserved them :)
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Have you ever tried Emily Ocker’s circular caston?
Someone, somewhere made the Kerry Blue using one skein of cherry Tree Hill laceweight yarn and it came out a respectable size.
When I bought yarn for mine I used that as a yardage baseline….2400 yards. I bought 3 skeins of handpainted yarn.com to use. Haven’t started it yet but I plan too soon!
Dj - I have tried it before and gotten nowhere. But, I just looked at the tutorial in your link! Beautiful and fantastic! Everything is shown so clearly. Thanks so much - I’m definitely trying this one again :)
Anne - Thanks for the information. 2400 yards - great! Now I have a starting point. Heheh - now I have to decide on yarn. I have the feeling this project’s going to take a while!
That purple is the perfect color for Laurie. What a lovely picture!
Oh, no…now TMK and I are going to have to make scones again.
I just finished a Kerry Blue in a silvery gray 50% silk 50% merino fingering weight that I got at NH Sheep & Wool last spring. I’ll post photos when it’s blocked. I’m thrilled with how it turned out…
the scarf is lovely on laurie-
kerry blue, oh my! what an undertaking! reading about your progress will be quite an adventure in itself-
i always err on the side of buying too much yarn for any project (my stash of leftovers is ample proof of this)- i was looking at the shawls at
http://www.heirloom-knitting.co.uk/free_pattern.html
and you might get some yardage ideas there-
stay happy-
Ryan - Well, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it? We’re not talking twinkies here :)
Caren - I’m sure it’s lovely :)
Barb - I do realize that this would be a substantial piece of work and would probably take quite a while to finish. But it’s really nice and, having read through the pattern, I don’t think there’s anything there I can’t do.
Thanks for the the link mention - that would, indeed, be a good place to start looking for approximate yardages.
Wanna join me and make this shawl? (evil grin)
Seaweed came out great and she looks so happy!
Being pretty inexperienced with lace myself…argh….and not terribly confident in estimating yardage, I also feel a lot of dismay with patterns that say stuff like “yarn of your choice with needles to suit.”
I don’t think I will ever be a “seat of the pants” knitter…someone who can just “do it.” I admire it…but it’s not me. Give me directions and I am good to go. Make up a pattern? Probably not in this lifetime….I don’t “get” it.
Lisa - And that’s what makes it a horse-race, isn’t it? There’d be no excitement or interest - creative or otherwise - if we were all the same.
That said, I know that I have done that exact thing - worsted yarn, needles to suit - on some of my own patterns (usually scarves). I’ll try to remember in the future that might be less than useful to a lot of folks :)
I’m liking the Kerry Blue a lot. I think I’ve got that book on hold through the library. KB reminds me of a giant doily—I really should go through my doily pattern stash and see if something there catches my eye for conversion into a shawl.
Toni - I have often thought that doily patterns (crochet as well as knit) would make terrific shawls done in different materials and on a larger scale. Now that I seem to be able to cope with the blasted cast-on, I think that’s an area I’d like to explore!
DJ beat me to it - Emily Ocker cast on. Hope that works well for you. Laurie looks stunning in the scarf - the color is absolutely perfect for her. Wonderful job!
That beautiful scarf AND scones?!? Lucky friend! The scarf is gorgeous and your friend looks very happy. Good going!
When I see the Kerry Blue pattern I always expect it to be blue LOL. 
Stasia - I will definitely have to try that as being able to do this itty-bitty cast on opens up a whole big section of the lace world! I still can’t imagine me doing lace - LOL!
Aarlene! I’m so glad you’re okay and still here :)
I also have that feeling about the shawl Kerry Blue but the fact is I’m probably going to make it in a blue shade anyways :)
