Saturday, July 25, 2009

Raven wings shawl

It took almost two months, but I finished it.

My lovely little blackbird wings (nothing angelic about them, really.)

The yarn (silk/bamboo blend) was dubious to work with (looked terribly shed-dy and pill-y, especially when undoing stitches) but after blocking it was smooth as.. well.. silk. Even after an absolute minimum amount of effort in blocking (dunked in water, arranged and rolled up in a towel, laid flat to dry) it softened up nicely.
Has a nice weight and a slinky drape. I'm a convert for silk blend yarn- even against bare skin there's no scratchiness in the least! No wonder it's a top choice for camisoles and other lingerie.
Also great stitch definition as you can see- which makes me wish I had made less mistakes. Pattern was kind of hell to read.
It was also the first knitting pattern I tracked by aid of my new Ipod app: Knitbuddy (search for it) It was $4.99 but worth every penny and then some! Not only can I track rows, short rows, cable rows, in/decreases, and all sorts of everything, you can carry around a record of your needle collection and yarn stash-- or quickly jot down a "buying" list (like I plan to do) with the aid of all those little scrolling options.
It's like having Ravelry in your pocket! (and designed by a ravelry member, no less)
If it could download patterns for me, it would be the end of paper as we know it.