Months ago my mother and I were talking about about the variety of knitting and yarn today! She was once a knitting instructor when there the world of knitting was much smaller and there was no internet. I said the last thing I could imagine was lace knitting. And she said it would be nice to have a lace shawl, not to be contrary, of course. Hmmm...perfect idea for her upcoming birthday. How hard would it be? She sent me a pattern clipped from a vintage Vogue knitting magazine--- written instructions for a leaf-patterned stole...except there was a error in the pattern.
You don't really want to read the details of my indecision and false starts, so let's just say four yarn selections later and a change of patterns I have finished The Shawl. I probably would have abandoned this project without my knitting pals, Jean and Karen who on a weekly basis solved problems and cajoled me to finish it, or Ravelry where I found many lace-knitting questions answered or without Shannon's scrumptious hand-dyed yarns, first in Teal then in Raspberry Jam. Countless mornings and evenings of knitting and unknitting ended last weekend when I blocked it on my bedroom floor. (I think I love blocking! It's such a revelation!)
Here's a peek at The Shawl, Mom's belated birthday present...don't worry she's already gotten a preview.
