(almost) finished!

I know it's been a while since anyone has commented here, so I was wondering how progress is going!

I am almost finished...I have finished the knitting part, and just need to sew in my ends and then block. Any pointers/helpful suggestions for blocking? I'm told it's really easy, but I've never blocked anything in my life, and I'm nervous that something irreversibly bad will happen when I put my soft cashmere shawl into a sinkful of water.

And now that I have batteries in my camera that actually work (it's been a multi-month saga--don't ask), I may even have pictures to share soon!

Barely Started

I cast on for Catalina the other day with Knit Picks Shadow laceweight yarn in Vineyard. It is a very rich purply yarn. I have not worked with lacewt. much, and I feel lace-challenged. I thought I could handle a non-triangular shawl. 10 rows so far.

A plan

I really want to complete this shawl and I have come up with a plan. In total the shawl is 614 rows long. I would like to have it done by the end of October.

My plan is to knit 12 rows/day for 50 days & 14 on the 51st day. This will give me ample time to block & make the fringe. My start time is after I finish the second sock in the pair I am making for my father.

My start (again) date will be Monday, August 27th.

Do you have a plan?

My beginning

I have started my shawl just this week. I've never made anything with laceweight yarn before, so I'm hoping that this will work out nicely. I'll try and get a picture up when I have enough done to show something--right now I've got 5 rows. :)

I did have a question--on July 3 Tricia noted that she talked to Gabrielle about the about a 3-stitch garter border on both sides. Does that mean that on the chart at the edge, instead of it being a 3-stitch stockinette stitch it ought to be a 3-stitch garter border instead? So the number of stitches should still be 106 stitches? Just wanted to make sure. I looked at the pictures, it I couldn't tell.

I'm hanging out with friends and knitting tonight, so I'm hoping to make some good progress.

Starting out

Some of our group are absolute beginners to lace knitting. Some of us have yet to start.
For those who have not yet begun; don't fret too much, I know you can do it!

As I have mentioned before, this is my first lace project. So I have made a bunch of mistakes and have had to start over a few times. But I haven't given up. Each time I start over I do better and get further. Eventually I will learn enough to finish this project. You can do this too.

For the beginners among us, Eunny has posted a wonderful series called majoring in lace.
The series includes:

1. introduction - Shawl construction


2. part ii - Yarn Choices; Needle Choices; Gauge: Chart Reading 101


3. part iii - The Structure of Lace; Role of the YO; Role of the Decrease; Movements in Lace Knitting


4. part iv - Provisional and Invisible Cast Ons; Hard Cast Ons; Circular Beginnings

My two-cents:

• I put my chart in a plastic sheet protector and then clip it to a clip board


• I put a piece of painter's tape to cover the line above the one I am working on. This helps me keep my place, and I don't get distracted by what lies ahead.


• During my purl rows, I often look at the previous row to make sure I have picked up correctly (especially with those double yarn overs).


• I work in a quiet space without a lot of distractions. Otherwise I make a lot of mistakes.


• I use tiny closed jump rings as markers.


• And I count and count and count each row to make certain I have the right amount of stitches between each marker.


• If I want to stop knitting, I stop at the end of a row.


• I keep trying. Especially after making mistakes.

Here is a link to another newbie's lace knitting tips.

You can always google your question.

Note: There are no "purl two together through back loop on wrong side" in this pattern.

Lovely result

I finished my Catalina Shawl already a few weeks before. Ruth asked me to post a photo also here in the KAL blog. Her invitation to this blog arrived during my holidays so that I nearly forgot about it...
I liked the pattern so much that it took less than two weeks to finish it. Just the fringes made me some problems but without them this fabulous shawl isn´t complete...



For further information please have a look to my blog

I´m curious to see your efforts :-)
Claudia

Ruth's Update

Here it is, my progress on the Catalina Shawl. The picture shows my work up to row 60 - 16 shy of a full first repeat. Before getting this far I had to frog a few times. And now that I look at it I see that I knit for part of a row where I should have purled (it looks like a crease to the right of the middle at about row 41 or so). For some reason the "crease" seems much longer in the picture than IRL. Upon finding the error I have become stalled. I really don't want to frog again! Now I think I have learned my lesson and will use lifelines every 10 rows or so.

One thing that is working really well are my markers - sterling silver closed jump rings (purchased at my local craft store).

The yarn is Fiddlesticks Knitting JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk in Garnet. With rolling my wraps per inch (WPI) tool, I have 26 WPI.

I would love to hear how the rest of you are doing!