Pattern: Echo Flowers Shawl by Jenny Johnson
Yarn: Tess’ Designer Yarns Superwash Lace
Needles: Size 4 circs (actually used my interchangeables)
I finally got around to blocking my Echo Flowers Shawl. Yes, that’s the shawl I finished back at the beginning of September. I really enjoyed making the shawl for the most part. Up until the border, once I’d gotten the hang of the make 9 out of three stitch, I was screaming along. And then came the nupps.
I can officially say that I hate nupps. I could not make them work. I think I just knit too tightly. I ended up subbing in the following (cribbed from a blog): k, ktbl, k, ktbl in the same stitch, slipped those back to the right needle, and k2tog. You then just need to purl all the way across when you come back around. It’s not quite as noticeable as a real nupp, but worked out much better for my sanity.
The other change I made was to not bind off using two strands of yarn. I didn’t have the patience to even attempt that, so just used one, and I think it looks fine.
So, here’s the shawl unblocked:
Here’s my extremely high tech blocking rig:
And here’s the shawl blocked:
I hate to say it, but I don’t think it made that much of a difference, mostly because of my high tech rig. I don’t currently have enough pins to pin each scallop on the border, and I was pinning into a towel, so I didn’t get the kind of tension I think I needed. I think I need to invest in something that will block better, especially if I keep up with the lace knitting kick I’ve been on. So that’s probably my next project.
But at least I can now report that this project is done, only about two months after I actually completed it.