Pattern: Easy Mesh Lace Triangle from Fiddlesticks Knitting
Yarn: 1 skein Fiddlesticks Knitting Country Silk Yarn (aprox. 800m/250g)  I’m not sure what the colourway was called - autumn or harvest or something like that.
Needles: 3.75 mm bamboo circular(32”)
Modifications: None
 
I knew I was getting close to the end of this early in February when it reached to about my waist unstretched. I wanted it to be a generous shawl, and I also wanted to use up as much the ball of yarn I was on as possible, so I did a few more pattern repeats before doing the top edge pattern. When I finished knitting the shawl reached to about my hip, after blocking it falls nearly to my knees!

 
The original skein for this shawl was massive and gorgeous.  I got it when we were on vacation in BC almost two years ago - well before my knitting skills were up to the challenge of such a large project - it was too lovely.  I saw the sample in the shop window and bought the pattern and yarn together as a kit.
 
Last October I wound the skein into balls (it made three) and started knitting. The shawl starts as two stitches at the bottom point and grows as you work up to the top edge. This meant that it went really quickly at first and slowed down gradually as my skills increased (very handy). By the time I was nearing the top it took me roughly fifteen minutes to knit across a row.
 
The final bind-off was something different. The pattern uses a “knit 1, knit 2 together” bind off, meaning that every stitch was worked twice, and I had to keep checking to make sure my tension wasn’t too loose or tight (it actually ended up a kind of loose) - it took me an entire hour to bind of the top edge of I-didn’t-bother-to-count-how-many stitches.
 
Blocking was kind of fun.  It was a good thing I didn’t make the shawl any larger or it would not have fit on the bed (my only blocking surface). It took a few tries before I had the edges pined out into a good shape. The top edge was quite loose and I had to stretch the sides a long way to even it out. When I was finished the top edge of the shawl was the entire length of our bed and the bottom tip nearly reached the opposite side.
 
A few statistics:
Pre-blocking measurements: 60” across the top, 41” along the side and 34” from bottom tip to centre top.
Post-blocking measurements: 75” across the top, 59” along the side and 44” from bottom tip to centre top.
 
A few comparison shots:
 
                Pre-Block                                                Post-Block


Texture


Stitch pattern

I’ve been working slowly but steadily on my Easy Mesh Triangle for a while now (see below) but every so often I need a little diversion...
 
I saw some finger knitted scarves at a Christmas craft fair and had to look up the technique as soon asI got home. I found this article from Knitty. It’s an incredibly simple way of knitting and makes a long skinny loosely knit fabric. I discovered that it goes really quickly too. I made scarf in a few bits of time last Sunday as I was hanging around in our office. I think it probably took me longer to roll the skein into a ball.


The yarn is Pink Mixy by SULI FIBRES. It’s a mix of wool, mohair, silk and quite a bit of sparkle. It looks really neat in the sunshine. The colours are all kind of muted with roses, blues, purples and greys all mixing together - quietly romantic looking. It has a thick and thin bobble texture which suits the loose style of the finger knitting.
 
I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with a skinny scarf between now and the spring but it’s just right for a little extra warmth around the house or at work. Now I need to use up the rest of the ball. I think I might try some simple mitts to keep my hands warm on cool spring days.

An update on my Easy Mesh Triangle:
 
I finished the first ball of yarn at a Stitch ‘n’ Bitch on Wednesday and started the second (slightly larger ball). The shawl now reaches just about to my waist (unblocked). I’m not sure how large it will eventually get - I may not use up all my yarn.

 

 

This is the reason I learned to knit.
 
It is a piece of knitted lace I found in my grandmother’s sewing box a few years ago when I stayed with her for the summer. Darney couldn’t remember what it was meant for or when she had made it but she said I could keep it.
 
The cast on edge is a little over three inches long and stretches to about three and a quarter inches.  The short side is about seven inches long and the long (scalloped) edge is just a little over ten inches.  The end of the lace has not been bound off - the size of the stitches and the crimp in the yarn keep it together as long as it is handled carefully. The yarn is more like a heavy thread and the needles must have been around the one to two millimetre mark.


The lace is very soft and drapy and has quite a bit of flare to its shape.  It would be wonderful as a cuff or collar edging. I haven’t worked out the pattern yet put it makes a sort of ripple effect. The first three stitches of each row (or the last three if you’re going the other direction) are garter stitch; the majority of the rest of the way across is stocking stitch with a pattern of yarn-overs and knit-two-togethers, worked in garter stitch (I think) every five rows. The last inch or so of lace, opposite the garter stitch edge, is a mesh pattern with points.

I’m planning to take a nice sunny afternoon to properly work out the stitch pattern for this lace so I can reproduce it in a different yarn and gauge.