Progress on Lotus Blossom Tank

Lotus Blossom Tank - front finished
Originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I chucked the tank I started using the SWTC Intensity, because I decided I'd rather use the variegated yarn for Heatwave. So here's my second try. After ordering some SWTC in cobalt, I cast on again, and have finally gotten to finishing the front.

I don't LOVE knitting with bamboo, because it feel so stiff to me, but I do really like the fabric it produces. Perhaps because it's so drapey, the garment seems to come out really big even if you get gauge on the swatch, so I'm knitting the smallest size, which seems absurdly small compared to my actual bust size. I did add some short rows to the front to make sure it was long enough that I don't flash people through the lace section. Otherwise, I'm continuing on and hoping for the best.

Icarus in flight

I finished my pet project, the Icarus shawl from Interweave summer 06 a few weeks ago, but it's only lately that I've managed to get pictures wearing it. The weather has been crappy - thunderstorms, rainshowers, and wind. But it finally got nice enough - and I worked up the nerve - to take it off the back of the sofa and wear it.

It's gigantic! Something like a 76" wingspan and 36" down the spine, it pretty much dwarfs me. Because I'm going to end up sitting on the tail if I wear it normally:

I think it will end up much better wrapped:

And then of course the matador shot, lest I am trapped in a field with a mad bull:



Most of my progress was blogged at the Icarus Knitalong:

cast on

in progress

beginning lace charts

finished and blocked

Summary:
pattern: Icarus Shawl designed by Miriam Felton, Interweave summer 06
yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr wool/silk, in Mahogany
size 3 Boye needlemaster circs
knit May 25-June 12
diverted by audiobook The Thirteen gun salute, by Patrick O'Brian
and the opening games of the World Cup

I received much help and assistance from fellow knitters at the Icarus Shawl KAL. It made it really fun, and it was really motivating to have people to knit along with. Thanks everyone!

I must also point to this post by a fellow KAL'er: scroll down to see the beautiful WH Auden poem Musee de Beaux Arts, and Breughel's painting of Icarus falling into the see. OK, I admit, kind of a downer. But still, a really evocative and mythical name for the shawl.

Now knitting

I have way too many WIPs on the go, but they're all different enough that it's nice moving between them. The Icarus is my pet project - I love the feel of the laceweight zephyr yarn, and it's nice to have a relatively simple pattern for the first part of the shawl to get used to working with it.

Four repeats in:




and progress blogged at the Icarus Shawl KAL

I'm also working on the Lotus Blossom tank, but am probably going to re-start in a solid colour and resume with the Heatwave I started a month or so ago:




I just think the colours and variagation work better in a simple st st. tank as opposed to the much girlier lotus blossom.

Other than that, I'm mostly working on stuff with holes. I love lace. I've never worn lace till now, but it's so much fun to knit, I can't stay away from it. Besdies the Icarus shawl, I'm also working on the little arrowhead shawl from Interweave's Web projects, and Hedera from Knitty.