Update for all: the bride has spoken! She chose In Dreams as her pattern (of course, the one with 5000 beads as opposed to 800+ for the Aeolian :lol:),shawl to be the white silk and said beading to be opal pearl for all but the border, which will be an opal cornflower to play off of the deep jewel tone blue she’s chose as her color.
For someone who wants a simple (?) wedding, she’s done pretty well with my marching orders. :roflhard: Beads and additional yarn on order. More yarn is of course mandatory for when my knitting silk goes fubar.
ETA: Claire, I tried to click thanks on the alternative edging link, but couldn’t. Thanks for the link!
What a project! This shawl is going to be gorgeous.
How does the pattern recommend doing the beadwork? If you can slip each bead onto a stitch as you come to it rather than pre-stringing beads it’ll be much easier and require fewer ends to weave in.
This really will be fun to make as the plans for the wedding progress.
Mercifully the beads are slipped onto the stitch with a crochet hook, then the stitch is knitted. I lovingly nicknamed the technique stop, drop, bead. :lol: Infinitely better than stringing all of them first.
There are 30 pages of pattern, between the 9 charts and written instructions. :shock: Doing my homework now, while waiting for my supplies to arrive.
It does give me pause as this is my first foray into knitted lace that’s patterned on all rows. But what’s a mom to do?
You could string them all first using a beading needle and some floss, but then you would have to manage all of those beads. It seems that it would be a bit much to have to keep pushing them down your yarn, that is a heck of a lot of beads.
Quote from about.com “Additionally, some sticklers for tradition make a distinction between “lace knitting” and “knit lace,” saying that lace knitting is what you get when you have pattern rows only on the right side of the work, while knitted lace has pattern rows on every row.” I wonder if there is a distinctive ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ side of the work.
The Aeolian Shawl would be considered lace knitting, whereas Dreams would be knitted lace. Well, I’m glad we cleared that up :teehee:
Well, for sure you’ll want to use life lines with patterning on every row. This will be your finest work of art, Charlotte, how exciting is that? :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:
I thought about stringing all of the beads on first, I really did. Two things conspired against me there. The yarn I’m using is cobweb silk and is about size 20 crochet thread. Didn’t want to risk the yarn breaking from the weight of all of those beads. Worse, I’d have to wait for the beads to arrive and I might have lost the gumption to cast on.
I spent yesterday getting the pattern set up in KnitCompanion (the finest pattern app IMO) on my iPad to track row and pattern counts. Benefit is that to set up, you have to read the pattern so you can arrange it as you want it. That gave me courage to cast on and start last night. :yay: 8 rows in!
Never thought of myself as a traditionalist per se, but I am a stickler for terminology. Gustave Flaubert is my hero! Le bon mot and all of that…That’s what comes of a career as a trainer and technical writer. Unless the lace is a garter stitch pattern, the knit rows are the RS, and the purl rows are the WS whether it’s knitted lace or lace knitting. Or at least that’s been my experience.:teehee:
Now to find some colored thread to use for a lifeline before I get too far in, definitely before the beading starts, which is where I’ll have to stop and wait for them to get here.
That’s what I about Rav, that you can see other knitters notes on their projects and yarns. Spasmo’s were very helpful, thanks! Mine are already starting to look like that.
I’m off to knit away on the Beast this dreary day…
Hey Charlotte - What is the construction technique on the shawl? And what size needles are you using?
I’m also curious about the beads, you said you plan to use a size 8 if I recall correctly. What brand did you purchase? Have you used beads in knitting or crocheting previous to this project?
And yes, I did save up my questions so that I could ask them all at once :roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:
LOL Fire away as the mood strikes you! I appreciate your asking after the Beast!
The shawl construction is half circular, top down. The first 15 rows grew fairly quickly on size 4 needles. The edging chart and the body charts are used concurrently. Do the right side edging, switch to body chart repeats, then finish up with left side edging. Do the next row in reverse left to right. That’s the hard part. Boustrophedonic reading is hard for me. At least KnitCompanion highlights odd rows yellow, and even rows purple so I know which way I’m going.:lol:
The beads are [COLOR=“Red”]these[/COLOR] from Joann’s in white opal for the body, but opal cornflower in the border.
I’ve not used beads in knitting before, but I have in crochet. Now I wish I hadn’t given all of my crochet hooks away after my stroke, cause I wouldn’t have to buy a .5mm cushioned hook for this project. My old one’s handle was wrapped in rubber tape and was just the right size. Live and learn!
The ladies at the LYS are really interested in seeing this as I work it up, and gave me some great ideas on how to make it portable so that I can bring it to the store and work on it there. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea because I can’t get distracted with the Beast.
I’m not surprised that the yarn store wants to see this in progress. I’m excited to see it, too. I’ve strung beads (a pain) and worked them on individual sts and the latter is much the preferred method.
(Boustrophedonic, million dollar word! I can’t think of another sentence unless it’s involves a mule plowing the back 40.)
Charlotte surely qualifies as a logophile but I’d not suggest she’s sesquipedalian. “My word was boustrophedonic,” said the girl at the spelling bee. :teehee:
I plan on taking & posting my first photo after I complete chart 2. Right now there are too few stitches for me to graft the first row together, and it looks like a drunken trapezoid. :ick: Beads are scheduled for delivery 1/4. :woohoo: Until then I’m in [COLOR=“Red”]Presto Chango[/COLOR] knitting mode.
Are you sure I’m not the mule in question? I’m not. :roflhard:
Grafting 12 sts is survivable. I was afraid it would be more like 120. Does your daughter have a clue as to the level of excellence you’re rising in order to create The Beauty?
The way I feel with this one, probably every row! This one is patterned and beaded on every row.
Most of the time I put one every 5th purl row. Maybe I’ll do this, it all depends on how confident I’m feeling. As you can tell, I’m not feeling very confident today. :shrug:
Two things conspired against me there. The yarn I’m using is cobweb silk and is about size 20 crochet thread. Didn’t want to risk the yarn breaking from the weight of all of those beads. Worse, I’d have to wait for the beads to arrive and I might have lost the gumption to cast on.
Unless the lace is a garter stitch pattern, the knit rows are the RS, and the purl rows are the WS whether it’s knitted lace or lace knitting. Or at least that’s been my experience.:teehee:
Mine are already starting to look like that.
I was afraid it would be more like 120. Does your daughter have a clue as to the level of excellence you’re rising in order to create The Beauty?