starting catalina

Hello everybody. I'm looking forward to this KAL and thought I'd share my experience so far with the pattern. I'm using a silk/seacell blend dyed by http://pieceofbeauty.co.uk/ in the Rose Pearl colourway - I will post photos soon - and it's looking lovely. However, I had a few issues with the pattern at first. For a start, judging from the photos the first and last three stitches are garter stitch, but this is not reflected in the chart. Secondly, the key shows \ as meaning p2togtbl on the wrong side, but there are none of these symbols that I could find on a wrong side row. I emailed Gabriella and she got back to me really quickly to say

"You are correct on both counts - there is indeed a three-stitch garter border on both sides - I apologize that that was left off the chart. And the "\" is indeed only used for ssk, and there are no p2tog-tbl - there were originally some p2tog-tbl when I first mapped out the chart, but I forgot to delete that indication when I changed the pattern. Apologies for any confusion! I hope you enjoy knitting the shawl."

I'm very grateful to her for this clarification and am now on row 19! I hope this information is helpful to others knitting this beautiful shawl pattern.

Starting out

I have just started my Catalina - on row 28 of the first repeat. I will be posting more as soon as I have pictures. This is my first knit lace project and I have learned a lot just getting to this point! I think I had to rip back at least 5 times before I got it right! (Not too much fun, I'll tell you!) I changed the yarn I am using to Fiddlesticks Garnet Lace - a 50% silk, 50% merino wool blend. I thought this shawl needed a vibrant solid colour.

I can hardly wait to read your posts!

Welcome Note

Welcome, welcome Ann, Susan and Penny!
I am so glad you have joined.

Waiting for yarn

Hello there. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of you join this KAL. I think we'll have a lot of fun.

I am waiting for yarn from Sundara Yarn listed in her Currently Available section. Mine is called Cinnamon over Bronze silk lace (just scroll down). I think she has one skein left of this colour.

Specifications

Here's what g.bella says:

Okay, in reading the comments I see you all would like more specs on this, so here you go! The yarn I used for this is about 600 m/100 g to a skein, 100% silk laceweight (you can find it here), and I didn't use all of it (about 15 g. leftover) - it's a great project to show off more expensive laceweight yarns that you might only purchase one or two skeins of. It's written for laceweight (any laceweight really), and could also be done in cobweb or fingering weight. I haven't tried it in cobweb or fingering weights, though, so make sure you have plenty of yardage just in case. In laceweight worked as written in the pattern, the finished dimensions are about 60" by 15" without fringe. It can easily be widened or lengthened (or vice versa) by adjusting the number of repeats.

Finally, I would say this pattern is totally doable for beginning lace knitters, as long as you can read a chart. Techniques used include: knit, purl, yarn over, double yarn over (explained in the pattern notes), slip slip knit, knit two together, purl two together, and knit two together through the back loop. There are no increases or decreases along the edges and the border is a very simple yarn over stitch pattern. Any of these techniques may be found, often with photos, in online tutorials if you aren't sure of how to do them.

**Important Revision: The second sentence of the last paragraph on the first page should begin as follows: "Repeat rows 1-76 of all sections in the chart..." instead of "Repeat rows 1-76 of Sections A through B..."

Needles: 2.75 mm (US size 2) at least 24” circular recommended.