Presenting my Aeolian Shawlette...

Here she is all pinned up:

And after:

These pictures do not capture what this wrap looks like "in real life". The beads are a little easier to see in the blocked picture.   I love how the beads and the drape of the yarn look.  What a great wrap!  The design and pattern were both incredibly well done.  I am so happy to be wearing this right now. 

Pattern details:
Pattern: Aeolian Shawl by Elizabeth Freeman from Knitty Spring 2009 with the Alternate Narrow Edge, available here on Ravelry

Size: Shawlette; 4 repeats of the Yucca chart, NO regular Agave chart, just Final Agave chart, alternate narrow edging

Yarn:  1 skein HandMaiden Sea Silk, colorway:  Moss,  with only 4 gr (or 4%) left over!

Beads:  8/0 Butter Cream Ceylon Miyuki Seed Bead from Caravan Beads; used approx 15gr

Needles: US5 / 3.75mm

Details: I shared my notes along the way (click here for a review).

So now that I have finished this big project, I have some time to finish up a couple of other WIPs that have been hibernating.  I will dig them out over the weekend and get started.

Aeolian Shawlette update and tips, part 3

So summer is nearly over and I am still working on my Aeolian Shawlette. I have finished the Final Agave chart and moved on to the Alternate Narrow Edging. Here's a quick picture before I started the edging:

There are only (only!) 35 rows to complete the narrow edging. If I complete 4 rows a day, I will be done by the end of next week. That is my plan, so I can pick up some WIP sweaters to finish before the snow falls.

Some notes on starting/setting up the alternate edging:

*Symbols on the alternate charts have changed from the original
*I have used 40% of my Sea Silk so I should have enough to finish the shawlette with only 1 skein

Rows 1 (and continuing through Row 22)
1. 2 border stitches
2. Row 1 of Main Edge chart (alternate-not the chart in the original pattern)
3. Row 1 of Center Edge chart (note this stitch is no longer tbl)
4. Row 1 of Main Edge chart (alternate-not the chart in the original pattern)
5. 2 border stitches

Rows 23 (and continuing through Row 34)
1. 2 border stitches
2. Row 23 of Right Edge chart
3. Row 23 of Main Edge chart
4. Row 23 of Center Edge chart (note that you will need to move stitch markers here, adding 1 st 1 on each side of center stitch)
5. Row 23 of Main Edge chart
6. Row 23 of Left Edge chart
7. 2 border stitches

Row 35=BO Row!

Aeolian shawlette update and tips, part 2

Moving right along on my Aeolian. Here it is after completing the Yucca chart:

After the Yucca chart, I moved on to the Transition chart. Nothing tricky there. Now I am just finishing up the final 2 rows of the Final Agave chart. A couple of notes:

1. When knitting the shawlette you do not do the regular Agave chart; you move directly from the Transition chart to the Final Agave chart.

2. The first bead of the Final Agave chart row 1 should be directly above the first bead of Transition row 17. If it is not, something is wrong. Most likely you did not notice the bold double decreases (the SSSK and K3tog). The double decreases should frame the the nupps from Transition row 17. So the SSSK should use the 3 stitches to the right of the the first nupp, and the K3tog should use the 3 stitches after the second nupp.

I decided to work the nupps and not add a different bead there. I like how it is turning out. Once I finish these last couple of rows, I will try to post an updated picture. Also, there will be some notes about moving onto the Narrow Edge charts. Until then...

Aeolian Shawlette start up

So I have started my Aeolian Shawlette, but haven't had a chance to post because I knew this first post would take a while to organize. Most of the information I will share I found by spending a lot of time reading through the Ravelry group: Aeolian KAL. I recommend checking it out if you are knitting along.

Here is the summary of what I think are the important points for knitting the shawlette with 1 skein of SeaSilk:

1. To make sure you do not run out of yarn, only knit 4 repeats of the Yucca chart. It may seem like you have a lot of yarn left at that point, but you will use an estimated 65% of the yarn for the edging.

2. Elizabeth Freeman has also designed an Alternate Narrow Edging for the Aeolian. It is 12 rows shorter than the original Aeolian. I will probably add a lifeline before I start the original edging so I can rip back if I run out of yarn. Or I might decide to just use the narrow edging. I'll let you know when I get there!

3. If you do not want to do the nupps, use a bead instead. If you do want to do the nupps, here is a great YouTube video on an easy way to do them: Easy Peasy Nupp. I am leaning toward using beads only because I love beads in lace shawls--nothing against the nupps.

So now on to where I am with my shawl. First of all, it took 3 attempts for me to get the cast on/set up correct. As usual it was just a matter of doing exactly what the pattern says, even if it looks weird at first. Once I got the set up going, everything was going along just fine until I realized you could not see my beads because they matched the yarn a little too well:

They really are there, here's a close up:

So I stopped knitting and ran to the bead store to get some different seed beads. I didn't bother starting from scratch because you won't be able to notice the green beads anyway (and I didn't want to attempt that start-up again)! This is how it looked after I completed the Set-Up chart:

I was a little confused when I started the Yucca Chart so I will explain it here in hopes of sparing someone else.

1st 8 rows of Yucca chart: 2 border sts (Sl1, K1) + sts before red line + 2x area in red + sts after red line + center st (Ktbl) + sts before red line + 2x area in red + sts after red line + 2 border sts (K2).

For each Yucca chart repeat, there will be an additional repeat of the area in red (so 2nd time through Yucca chart, repeat 3x before center stitch, 3rd Yucca chart, repeat 4x before center stitch, etc). Make sense? It really does once you are there.

I am working on my last (4th) repeat of the Yucca chart right now. I will post some pictures once I finish this part up and move on to the Transition chart.

Pre-Aeolian

Less than a week until I start my summer lace project, the Aeolian Shawlette. I think I have everything I need ready to go.

*I have printed and highlighted the pattern.
*I have 2 sizes of lace needles ready (US 4 or US 5) so I can test both if needed with my swatch.
*I have made my Sea Silk into an outside-pull ball. This was a tip I picked up on Ravelry. A lot of people (but not all) have had tangle issues with Sea Silk as a center-pull ball, so to be safe, I have an outside-pull ball.
*I have bought my beads. I also bought some slightly larger-than-recommended beads in case I do not like the way the bobble looks and want to use a bead in place of the bobble. I will test that detail out with my swatch.
* I have my tiny crochet hook to place beads in knitting as per instructions. This is my favorite way to add beads to my knitting (I used this technique for Hanami and Swan Lake stoles).

The last thing I need to finish up before I swatch for Aeolian our my Zum Dirndls. I think I can finish them this weekend, which would make this project 2 years and 2 weeks old...

Summer Knit-A-Long

I've decided on my new summer lace project. I am going to knit the Aeolian Shawlette by Elizabeth Freeman (Knitty, Spring 2009). It only requires 1 skein of Sea Silk and I get to use beads!!

I plan to cast on around 6/1/2010. Would you like to join me for a knit-a-long? Let me know by leaving a comment or sending a note here.

Here's the color I think I will use:

Now to go pick out some beads...