Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Derith's Handspun Hap Shawl



It has taken more than two months, but I finally spun about 2000 yards of fingering/laceweight CVM (California Variegated Mutant) fleece that I bought from White Barn Farm this spring. Very fine, next to the skin soft, I find that I am continually enamored with this type of fleece. I carefully washed the locks in mesh bags, combed them with my new English combs, and spun them on my new Alden Amos electric wheel.
I am a very impatient knitter, unable to wait to spin it all first, so this was a spin as you go project, I would finish about 200 yards of two ply, knit it, and then spin some more.
I created a garter stitch entrelac center that had no right or wrong side, and fined tuned the sizes of the squares to make them actually square. For my yarn and needle size (5 US) it ended up 22 stitches and 30 rows, which made for some creative joining of the entrelac squares, but I just wrote out what worked and followed it repeatedly. I love the black edging (something I found in
Thrihyrnur og langsjol / Three-cornered and long shawls by Sigridur Halldorsdottir) from School House Press.
The finished shawl ended up 70 x 38 and is quite nice, just in time for Derith's Christmas present.
Blocking DID take all my T-pins!

Now I want to do another with a more distinctive center pattern, I am so pleased with this one.