Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Nina Shawl

I finished the shawl on Saturday afternoon, just before the in-laws arrived for a two night visit. This is the first thing I've knit from cotton besides a few dishcloths and I have to say I love the feeling of the cotton. It is a little heavy, but it has a nice drape to it. I love the way cotton feels against my skin. It is not scratchy at all. It's too warm to use it here - but cool weather will come soon hopefully.

This was my first project that I've finished that has a Fair Isle section too (the white and blue checkerboard pattern on each end). I can't say it's my favorite technique, but it wasn't too hard. I am now encouraged to pick up the two projects I put down long ago when I got to the Fair Isle section in each of them. Hopefully I can finish those this year too.

I liked the pattern overall because it was easy. I didn't really check my gauge, but I came out about the same for the width of the shawl that the pattern specified. But the length was a whole different story. I could tell after knitting a couple of the stripe sections that my shawl was not going to end up being the 60 inches that the pattern promised.

So I added at least 72 rows into the stripes at various points along the way and ended up with a shawl that is 68 inches from ruffle to ruffle. Overall I am please with the length I ended up with; I can easily wrap up in it. I ended up doing the ruffle in the bright green color. The ruffle should have been blue according to the pattern layout, but I ran out of blue since I made the shawl longer.

I was able to get a few rows of the blue in at the beginning of the ruffle though. The ruffle on one end was knit by picking up stitches from the cast on edge. You can see (on the right side - where the blue meets the light green) how I ended up with twisted stitches when I picked up stitches for the ruffle. The left side shows the other ruffle that didn't require picking up stitches. It may be strange but I like the "detail" of the twisted stitches - I should have done it on both sides .


Project Info
Pattern: Nina Shawl by Phyllis Howe
from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: King Tut Cotton
color: #500 blue (2 skeins), #2750 ivory (1 skein),
1042 light green (3 skeins), #2560 bright green (3 skeins)
each skein: 100 grams / 182 yards
Needles: addi TURBO - US# 7 (4.5 mm)
Notes: added more than 72 rows to the original pattern in various points of the striping pattern and the finished shawl is only 8 inches longer than the finished length stated in the pattern
Finished Length: 68 inches
Finished Width: 23 inches
Date Started: July 19, 2007
Date Finished: August 25, 2007

21 comments:

Zonda said...

Very Pretty!! Love the new header...although it's probably been there for a while LOL!

Lauren said...

That is such a cute shawl!

mel said...

Very cool shawl - I like the stripes and color combo - now we just need some cooler weather!!

hehe - I see Sherman hiding/trying to get in the pic :)

Sue J. said...

Wow! Nice work. I like your color choices so much. Congratulations on an great FO. You'll be warm this winter.

cpurl17 said...

The shawl is so pretty and the colors are fab. Great job!

I love the farm table you have in the first photo--it looks like an antique

Anonymous said...

Woowho!! Looks really comfy. Of course the colors are gorgeous.

IrishGirlieKnits said...

I love the color combination!! The shawl came out fabulously!! Great job on the Fair Isle too :)

Jennie said...

Great Shawl! :)

Bezzie said...

Very nice!!! I really like the checkerboard detail myself.

eusebius said...

Lovely - very professionally finished job. Coincidentally I just sewed a pair of pajama pants that look a lot like yours :):)

Anonymous said...

How very, very pretty this shawl is! I so love how the colors go along together, the pattern is really fabulous! Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Love the colors you chose.

Monika said...

I haven't seen a lot of Nina shawls so far. I love the colors you've chosen. I think the green ruffle is quite alright. Nicely done! ;o)
I'm knitting a scarf with merino/cotton blend, and it's so soft and I like the feel of it. Cotton is not all bad. ;o)

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

it looks great! congrats on finishing!

Kristina B said...

It looks wonderful...!

I'm a big fan of cotton myself.

Cheers,

Kristina
http://brouhahaknits.blogspot.com

gray la gran said...

i don't knit a lot of fairisle, but i have knit enough to know it's much easier knitted in the round, as the right side is always facing you :)
we all know that to make it rain we must wash our cars and water our plants, so ... to make it cooler here, pack that baby away ... in some place where it's a pain in the a** to fetch should the weather gods show us some mercy !

Knit Masala said...

Lovely shawl! I really like the colors you chose.

Anonymous said...

I'm trying this again, forgive me if this comes up twice. Beautiful shawl & colors. I wish I had bought the King Tut yarn when AC Moore had it, now they don't. Question, if you used the longtail caston for this, did you start with a knit or purl row?

Thanks
Sue
smithsue@optonline.net

Stacie said...

awesome!!! I love it! I want to knit something like that for my stepmom... and I have that book, and now... I have the inspiranto! great!

Anonymous said...

Your shawl is beautiful. Glad you got it finished:)

Ang

Hege said...

I love these colors! What a great shawl!