Pleased as Punch

Yesterday, I finally finished what I consider to be my biggest knitty achievement to date: a lace shawl. I started sometime this summer with one yarn and ended up stopping and starting over with a different yarn. There were times when I wondered if I would ever finish, but my fascination with the process and desire to see the whole thing all blocked out were stronger. I spent all day and evening on Monday doing the edging...very tedious short row stuff. I finished the shoulder edging yesterday and without thinking, started a standard bind-off. Dumb, I know. The pattern doesn't call for a specific bind-off, so I looked at a reference book and decided to try the Yarn-Over Bind Off, which worked perfectly.

OK, enough with the synopsis and on to the good stuff.

Pattern: Tiger Eye Shawl by Hazel Carter
Yarn: Zephyr laceweight in "curry"
Needles: US size 6 Addi Turbo
Finished Measurements: mine came out to be about 30.5" tall by 66" wide after a thorough blocking

Here is is blocking on my bed:


And here is the finished product (on my newly stained deck...Labor Day Weekend project that my parents and I did):




I would definitely recommend this pattern. Most, if not all, of the stitches are taken from the Barbara Walker Treasuries and since it's sort of a sampler, you get a little bit of everything. Sure, some sections get tedious, but I think you find that with most patterns in general. I ended up leaving my pattern in the plastic sleeve and using a dry erase marker to keep track of where I was in the charts - much easier than trying to use a post-it note that is losing its stickiness!

So there you have it. My first lace shawl. I'm already itching to start another one!