I have been wanting to post my progress on the Cherry Blossom Shawl. I first found this pattern last summer in an issue of Interweave Knits (Spring 2002). The pattern is by Kristin Spurkland and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. The only problem was that I had not knit a single stitch of lace before. (I often decide that I am going to do something completely out of reach and then struggle like a madwoman to figure out how to actually do it!)

Anyway, I went to my local knitting store, Woolcott and picked up the supplies. I decided to go with Knit One Crochet Too’s Douceur et Soie in a loverly pale blue. (the pink color in the original picture is a much more of a rose-ish tone… disappointed.)

I had the hardest time starting this shawl. This should not have come as a big surprise because A) I did not know how to read a chart pattern, B) I have never started any knitted project from the center before, and C) I had never done any lace knitting before- “hello, what exactly is a yarn over?” Anyway, after much help from the lovely folks at Woolcott, I started the shawl for the 100th time correctly, and I was on my way. whew!

I worked on this project all last summer and towards the end of the summer, I realized that I was not going to come close to finishing it. It is very detailed work knit on size 6 needles with very fuzzy yarn. Frogging is not a fun thought, let me tell you.

So I put it aside and started other fall projects. Now I have the possibility within my grasp of actually being able to wear the shawl this summer- yay! I have actually finished the body of the shawl, 2 separate lace patterns, and have 300 or so stiches.

Here is a picture of the “blue blob” as it stands right now: (click to make pics bigger)

And here are the lace details:

As you can see (above), I have started on the lace trim. I have a feeling that this is going to take me a long time to finish. The blob has gotten quite large and it is a little bit more challenging to shove it in my bag to knit on the train.

However, I am so excited to see the finished product. The lace patterns are beautiful (I did that?!) and the drape will be pretty, I think. It basically looks like a big blue jellyfish right now so I can’t wait until the day it is all off the needles and I can spread it out. Yay!

If I wasn’t spending so much time getting this site up and running the way I would like it, I might have more time to knit. Hm. Something to consider.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2004 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Knits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.