Sunday, May 11, 2008

Swallowtail Shawl

Swallowtail Shawl


pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
yarn: knitpicks shimmer in turquoise splendor
needles: size 5 addi lace needles

What has two thumbs and binds off too tightly? This girl.

Aside from the issues with the scallops, this was a beautiful knit - I plan on doing it again with different yarn and/or smaller needles (the project requires size 4 needles). I will also bind off with my biggest needles or something. Someone please tell me how and why this was so f*ing difficult. The shawl is lovely, it's not the shawl's problem - but I am full of the rage when I look at that unscalloped border.

4 comments:

Angelika said...

Beautiful colors and beautiful shawl, but I'm curious as to why it didn't picot. The one in the magazine picots quite extensively.
Angelika
www.yarn-store.com

dsb said...

Because I bind off too tightly, I guess. I can't think of any other reason - and I am notorious for binding off WAY too tightly, so I figured I'd just try again with the next one.

Huan-Hua said...

Very pretty. What BO did you use? There are several that will create a very stretchy edge regardless of how tightly you typically knit--
http://weebleknits.blogspot.com/2003/05/stretchy-bind-offs.html has a list of a lot of them.
I like the sewn bind-off for shorter lengths, but the yarn is a lot to handle over longer distances like the bottom of a shawl.
My second favorite is:

1. K2sts.
2. Slip the 2 sts from the right hand needle to the left hand needle.
3. K these 2 sts tog. K1.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all sts have been bound off.

dsb said...

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to try one of those BOs next time - I do plan on making this again because it's a really beautiful shawl - PLUS quick to knit.