Love it!

I love it!

And while you can definitely read the pattern pre-blocking, what a difference blocking makes!

I learnt a few things swatching today.

First of all, I should try and take the time to read through the whole pattern so I can figure out the best way to swatch. I was too impatient to get started so I thought, oh well, I'll worry about the edging later. Not a big deal, but with a bit more planning, I would have known it wasn't necessary to add a seed stitch border on either side of the swatch, and then I could have tried swatching the edge along the side as well as along the end to see how the patterns matched up. Actually, I'm not sure I would have had the patience to swatch that much, but at least I'd have had the option!

Also, I should have weighed my swatch after completing the center panel repeats to get an idea of the yardage of the center panel and the edging separately for more accurate estimating.

I don't think either things are going to matter that much in the end, I think blocking will handle any misalignments between sections, and hopefully I won't be cutting it that fine on yardage (see below) but it might be useful to remember for the future.

But yeah, did I mention that I LOVE IT? The color, the drape, the softness! So pretty! So light and airy! I keep fondling my swatch. The stitch definition isn't as strong as I've seen on the sea silk versions, but I think it gives it more of an ephemeral quality. Mind you, my sea silk project wasn't nearly as lacey or on as big a needle size, but sea silk is almost twice the weight for similar yardage, so it's entirely different.

Of course, once I completed the swatch (which is by far the biggest swatch I've ever knitted) there ensued many calculations to figure out what size the final piece might be and how much yarn it would use.

For a moment there, it looked like my 1600 yards were not going to be enough! How could that be?! Most people seem to have been using 3 skeins or around 1200 yards of sea silk. I set about figuring out how big I thought I could make it (that's when more accurate yardage for the different repeats would have been helpful) when it occurred to me to weigh the swatch and not the yarn remaining in the skein. Apparently, my skein was a little light, and therefore my swatch was lighter than I first calculated, and it was enough of a difference that I should have enough yarn plus safety margin to knit the repeats in the pattern which will give me the size I would like. Phew! Although now I'm a little distrustful of my calculations and I've put another skein on hold at Purl just in case. I'll pick it up next week, and if I don't end up using it, I can return it for store credit within 6 months... or, shhh, use it for something for myself...

Anyway, here I am, trying to get a feel for the drape (these are all iPhone photos by the way).

I think I'm going to get some Addi Turbo lace needles (I'm using US#6) which will help with this project. Which means I will just have to continue to fondle my swatch until then!

Comments

[Lauren]

lace is so amazing after its been blocked!

[michele]

it looks gorgeous. and i love my lace addis - highly recommend them.