Monday, February 23, 2009

Meet Ishbel

Welcome to round two of my belated project sharing! This one is a little on the larger side. With that said, let me introduce you to Ishbel:
Hello, I almost caused Rachel's fingers to fall off.
The details:

Pattern: Ishbel
Designer: Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace 2 ply
Needles: US #7 Addi Turbos
Time to knit: 6 days(...?!)
Made for: Mrs. P
Level of love: Total adoration (and exhaustion)

A closeup of the vine detail.

In short, Ishbel was a deadline project knit for a close friend's mother. She initially asked if I'd be able to complete this shawl back in July explaining that it would be needed for an event on February 20th. "February?", I thought--that's AGES away, of COURSE I'll have time by then! Well, leave it to me and my knack for procrastination to wait until the absolute last possible moment to start this project. It was begun on Sunday, February 8th and completed late Saturday, February 14th. Yikes. Over 40 hours of knitting was put into making this wonder, and I must say, it gave me quite a sense of accomplishment. My roommate verified that it was the most she'd ever seen me knitting in a 6-day span of time. That's a lot of knitting.

I had never worked with Misti Alpaca Lace before, but I had heard lots of swooning over it by other knitters (always a good sign). The project was requested in a neutral color-- Ivory, grey, or black. Since I'd already completed an ivory shawl, black won hands down. Until this project, fingering weight yarn was the lightest yarn I'd used, and I couldn't really imagine knitting with anything any lighter. Right. At many times I had to adjust my tension due to fear of breaking the yarn mid stitch (that never happened) -- a tad on the nervewracking side.


Looking back, I'm certainly glad I have the experience of 2 ply under my belt, but boy did it slow things down! The end fabric was absolutely to die for--one of the softest materials I've ever felt. How so much warmth can come from something so lightweight and dainty, I'll never fully understand.

Ysolda's pattern, as per usual, was absolutely fantastic and easy to follow-- I will definitely be making this again (but maybe in the smaller size). That said, however, I will NOT be doing any more crazy marathon knitting in the near future. As a knowledgeable fellow knitter said to me:

"A stopwatch is for athletes; not knitters".

Well spoken.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty! Six days is out of control, I can't even fathom knitting an entire lace shawl in six days.

Yarndude said...

She's beautiful! I can't believe you made that in 6 days. When I used that yarn to make a lace shawl, it took me roughly 60 times that long.

CassieMarie said...

LOVE IT!!!
You are a knitting machine!!
:)

Kara said...

I love your model shots. It is like you are doing the dance of the knitted shawls.

Linda Jordan said...

Six days!! Amazing truly - it's such a work of art and nothing short of it either. You've done a wonderful job on it. Congratulations. :)

sweetp said...

Oh she is just stunning! WEll done.I am in AWE how quick you achieved it.

amanda said...

very chic. I think black wraps are the most versatile. gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

So beautiful! Won't you find it a strain giving it away? :)

Anonymous said...

You are a knitting superhero - 6 days is incredible, and it is just lovely! I just discovered Misti Alpaca Chunky yesterday. It is the softest yarn I have ever used, and I don't think the intended recipient is actually getting the scarf I'm knitting. :)

Found you through Ravelry

Anonymous said...

I seriously didn't even know it was possible to knit with yarn that light. Beautiful job!

Benjamin said...

Genuinely fantastic... and so expediently, to boot!

Dorm Bedding said...

So pretty! I love how delicate it is :)

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so pretty and so cute she is beauty full.