Finished object file: Bella Shawl

Bella Shawl: off the needles, blocked and ends woven in.

Last week I posted about the commissioned knit that I have been working on. The friend who I have been knitting this Bella Shawl for has been so gracious and patient; never putting pressure on me to quickly finish the project. Well it is with great joy that I have got the project off the needles, blocked, ends weaved in and ready to go to its lovely recipient.

An asymmetrical beauty.

I really enjoyed knitting this project because it was simple enough to memorise but the eyelet lace and asymmetrical direction of the shawl gave it a little bit more to keep my interest. It was something I could take bundle it up and take it around witnh me as a project on the go  and since I memorised the pattern I didn't need to look up the pattern whenever I was out and about.

I purchased 5 skeins of Louisa Harding Grace Hand dyed DK and that gave me approximately 500 metres of yarn to make a medium sized shawl. I made sure to use up as much yarn as possible since my friend was  paying for the skeins and I didn't want to have a substantial amount remaining. I knit 12 squares of eyelet lace on the left hand side of the shawl and added an extra garter ridge on the end of the right hand eyelet panel and this left me with only a few metres of yarn remaining.

The simple yet elegant eyelet lace edge.

The Louisa Harding yarn is a delightfully squishy and shiny single ply yarn. It is a beautiful variegated yarn of pinks and reds of berry tones. There is a little bit of colour variation between the skeins which the yarn label clearly warns about. It is recommended that skeins be alternated every couple of rows during knitting. I initially tried doing this and ended up starting the shawl three times. The first time I cast on I began alternating the skeins at a RS row but because the eyelet fringe is cast off after a set of 7 eyelets it meant that I would have to cut the yarn that I was alternating after each square. So, I frogged it and decided to try alternating the skeins at a WS row and that meant that I was carrying the yarn up the neck edge. I was doing this knit about 10 cms of the piece and decided I didn't like the look of the edge with this yarn being carried up while I was alternating between 2 skeins. So, third time I cast on I decided to just knit each skein up before changing to the next one. The variation is not too obvious in my humble opinion.

The merino silk blend was lovely to work with; it was smooth on the needles and not splitty at all which I was a bit afraid of since it is a singly ply yarn. The silk content gives the piece a beautiful drape and the merino in it helps it hold its shape. The yarn also held up well after frogging it 3 times but I did need to do it carefully otherwise it would snag and stick. Overall I think it is a lovely yarn base and the colours are delicious but it is a yarn that needs some care if frogging.

I am pleased with the results of this Bella Shawl and I am happy with the workmanship for this commission. I actually knit this without mistakes, not meaning I didn't make any because I did, but I did carefully back knit and fix anything that was wrong since I was making this on commission.

All ready to go.

So, there it is a Bella Shawl for a bella friend.

On my needles now: Comissioned Bella Shawl

Winding up the last skein of Louisa Harding Grace Hand dyed yarn for K's Bella Shawl.

 I was commissioned by a church friend to knit a Bella Shawl designed by Annie Baker of JumperCables Knitting about a month ago and though this friend has very kindly given me no pressure to finish the project within a certain amount of time I now pledge that I will not work on anything else until I have finished this knit.

The pattern was one that I had caught my eye a while back. I liked the simplicity of the eyelet lace but the asymmetrical design made it a bit more interesting. It has been a really easy to memorise pattern so this has generally been the project that has come along with me to the children's lessons. I can work on it while also dividing my attention to keep an eye on the little ones when necessary. It is also easy to read where I left off in the pattern because the eyelet lace on the left panel has been grouped in blocks of 7. I would just have to count how many eyelets I had done to work out where I was up to in the pattern.

The yarn that I have been knitting with is from Louisa Harding and it's the hand painted DK/ 8ply weight merino/ silk blend. The colourway is a beautiful variegated blend of pinks and reds. It is a single ply yarn with a merino lovely softness and silky sheen. A simply stunning yarn.

Lovely pinks and reds variegated throughout the shawl.

I'm onto the last skein of yarn so I'm on the home stretch. My aim is to use up as much of the purchased yarn as possible. Since the yarn has been paid for by my friend I want to make sure she gets the full yardage in her shawl. I now need to work out exactly how much more knitting of the left eyelet panel I should do before moving on to the large right hand panel to finish the shawl. My plan is to knit a sample of the right hand panel with the last skein of yarn and then weigh the piece. This way I will work out how many grams of yarn I need to reserve for that panel of knitting. I will then pick up where I left off on the main shawl and knit until I have the required grams of yarn needed to knit the large eyelet panel. It might seem like a long round about approach but I'm not sure of any other way to do it. If you have a better more efficient way of doing it please do share your tips with me.

I've cast on 155sts on the right to knit my test panel.

I hope to have this project off the needles by the week's end and blocking over the weekend. It'll be ready just in time for winter and I hope my dear friend will enjoy wrapping herself up in the Bella shawl. I'll make sure to write up any notable project notes on my Ravelry page as well as cover the shawl in a 'Finished object file' when I'm done knitting it.