Dusk

Have you ever recognized that swell, that urge towards a certain project and knowing that it is coming, do you try to figure out if you will resist it or succumb to it?

I have to confess, the Shetland Hap shawl was thundering towards me, and I dared not step out of its way. As I said I am a lace knitter, and occasionally an utter knitting traditionalist. And these shawls marry both of these personal knitting inclinations perfectly. 

 

I have only one reservation about traditional hap shawls - it's that I don't want to put seams into it. I doubted my ability to maintain tension across the knitting and the seam. In a garment this wouldn't be such a problem as most seams add structure (like at the shoulder) or can be easily eliminated (by working in the round)  but with a shawl the drape would be destructively altered by having seams that were too tight or looked poor. Other designers have made magnificent versions by altering the pattern to be worked in the round usually with the more contemporary rate of double increases in the corners (often a pair of yarn-overs separated by a single stitch). That rate of increase creates such a sharp line - a perfect right angle to make a fraction of a chevron (something that I might adore when paired with another stitch pattern) but I couldn't get behind it for this. I couldn't shake the idea that it could be done with all curves and no angles.

I went back to my graph paper and attempted to consolidate all the shaping into the pattern round. In most lace patterns the yarn-overs are paired with a decrease so that the stitch count remains constant. If that balance is lost, then increases or decreases occur. To put it another way, if you remove an increase its corresponding decrease remains to decrease the stitch count. If you remove a decrease, its corresponding increase remains to increase the stitch count. I took the paired increases out of the corners and inserted them into the stitch pattern by removing their corresponding decreases. In doing this I also achieved my goal of removing the angles to leave only the curves.

Every project has it's own momentum, doesn't it? Especially ones where the rows or rounds get longer and longer. I felt like I threw myself at this shawl as if all it took was my attention and it would bloom into being. Not exactly. I had milestones, I had goals. There were things I expected of this project because this was the project where I realized that I had a collection and a book. Though I diligently put my hours into it at some point the same amount of time yielded fewer and fewer rounds. I might not get to the pattern round this sitting I might not change colors until tomorrow or the next day. It was the gentle blending of colors that I enjoyed in those long rounds towards the end. The soothing transition from gray to blue and back again. I attempted to make similarly soothing transitions in the swatches so that when the first color was used again it would seem like a welcome return.

Comments

[sinje ollen]

These are all very beautiful! ...And beautifully photographed! I love the whimsical quality of your desings and the elegance as well as versatility. Hat off to you! :-)

[lisa]

Hi Grace, Wow, your shawls are BEAUTIFUL!!!! SO INSPIRING!!!! Are you still working at Tutto in Santa Fe? I am going to buy the book now, but I am looking forward to my next visit to Tutto because I know the Isager yarns are there! Hope I get to see you too!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Lisa in Taos

[Monika]

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I just discovered your book (Congratulations)and had to order it. I've admired your work for some time now! :o)