Bespoke By Brouhaha!

Swallowtail shawl – done! 26 February 2008

I love love love this piece! I wore it today (sorry, no pics of that – but would you believe a judge at the Divisional Court offered me $500 to make her one?!?!)

This is the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, featured in Interweave Knits Autumn 2006 issue.

I made some modifications to the shawl, inspired by the Yarn Harlot. That is to say, I added beads.

I’m not sure you can tell from the photo, but the beads I used were in four colours: mauve, bright orange, dull orange and red.

The yarn was Handmaiden Mini Maiden in the Sangria colourway (although a bit more muted than the last Sangria I used).

Specs:
yarn: Handmaiden Mini Maiden (silk/wool laceweight blend) – 100 g/ 500 m (most of the one skein)

needles: 3.75mm addi turbo lace

beads: 4 colours of seed beads from Arton Beads in Toronto
notions: 0.75 mm crochet hook (to string the beads)

Notes:

* I added beads to every motif in the Budding Lace 6 row repeat pattern – one bead each at rows 1 and 3. For more details, contact me if interested.

* I also placed a bead at the centre stitch (missing out one every seven – this started as a mistake which I choose to call a design feature).

* I abandoned the picot edging (partly because I couldn’t figure it out, but largely because I didn’t personally care for it anyway). In its place – I bound off at the 14 row of the last repeat, and then crocheted a half-double crochet row on the edging.

At any rate, I’m very proud! And this project definetely reinforces my interest in lace knitting.

Now, all I have to do is get back to the SOTSii. (I’m writing this on Monday evening, having had a few pints and awaiting dinner delivery from Swiss Chalet). Manana, manana… or shall I start the Icarus instead? Hmm…