Spring Shawl Surprise, clue 1

Clue one of the Spring Shawl Surprise is completed. I'm a bit behind on this KAL as clue #4 is due to be posted tomorrow. There were a few important (non-knitting) things that stood in the way of beginning the KAL on time. Knitting is going smoothly now, and there was only one frogging episode early on. On to clue 2....and back to work tomorrow............

SOTS ii Clue 1 finished

Clue 1 of the secret of the stole two (sots ii) knitalong was released on Friday, Jan. 18th. I started knitting Friday night, then Saturday, and finished the last 3 rows on Sunday. So far, the pattern has been an easy knit, however, who knows if the difficulty will change? The Mystic Waters KAL definitely helped me to improve chart reading, and knitting with laceweight yarn.

Also knitting the Spring Shawl Surprise, which is turning out to be at least a intermediate, if not expert level pattern. Will post when Clue 1 is finished, 10 rows to go.................

Spring Shawl Surprise

Progress has been a bit slow for me on this KAL. It took a bit of practice to become familiar with the symbols and to follow the chart. My first mistake was with the empty cell, which stood for knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side, and my second was misinterpreting the "increase 2" symbol. After knitting the first 10 rows, and two mistakes, it was time to start over. So far, I've made it to 20 rows with no frogging, and things are going smoother. Adopting a careful, slower approach has helped; there's no rushing this project. The malabrigo laceweight is very soft, and enjoyable to knit with. The only thing that I've noticed is that the yarn is harder to frog than others I've used, its fibers tend to hold onto each other.

It's such a pretty pattern, though, that it's worth the effort. :)

Spring Shawl Surprise, Swatching.....

This lace KAL by LUL began on January 1st, and will have 12 clues. This is my second lace project-Mystic Waters was the first- and I was a bit intimidated by:

1) the number of different symbols on the the two swatches
2) even more symbols for the shawl
3) there is a design to follow on both sides of the shawl!

not to mention the most basic dilemma-which yarn to choose! Every knitter is aware that choosing the wrong color or a yarn that one is not totally in love with, can cause the project to go dormant and never be finished.

Completed Swatch #1, and resolved a small portion of the issues above:

Unblocked Swatch #1, yarn is malabrigo laceweight, emerald, using 3.5 mm (US4) Knitpicks Options.

It wasn't that difficult, and looks pretty good. The yarn is soft and a pleasure to work with. It's on to the rectangular shawl (138 sts wide)! One of the new stitches, the loop stitch, was easy, and explained well by LUL on her website , and further on the yahoo group. Gotta love those brave enough to ask; it clarifies the process and helps the rest of us out! Back to knitting...currently on row 6 of the pattern...