Sun 21 Feb 2010
The shawl has been progressing nicely after last week’s repairs. I’ve transitioned into the third stitch pattern, and am coming close to finishing the first half.
Except that I’m not sure I like it. I really like the transition from vines to block lace, and even the transition to the pendant lace is working pretty well. But I really don’t like those purl ribs, or how they end abruptly at the beginning of the pendant lace. They were fine in the swatch, but they establish a lot more visual continuity in the real piece, and their abrupt end is bothering me.
I’m also worried that I’m going to run out of yarn.
I’m only two repeats into the center section, and I’m really just not sure that I’m going to make it another three. This is 437 yards of yarn in one half of the shawl, and I’m running out!
I knew that the solid lace would eat yarn, but I thought I’d be ok, since I was starting out with almost 900 yards for a shawl. Well, now I’m starting to think that I won’t make it. If I pull back, I can decrease the number of repeats in the vine lace and get back more yardage for the openwork. I could also eliminate some of the extra width in the border, and remove those rib columns. But that would mean tweaking the design and starting completely over. Or, I could pull back to the end of the rib columns and figure out something interesting to do with them, rather than just cutting them off at the transition. This would save on the ripping back, but wouldn’t get me any more yarn, and I’m quite frankly stumped on how to make those look any better.
The jury is still out, but right now I’m not so sure it’s working. I’m going to block this half on the needles and see how it turns out before doing anything too drastic. Fingers crossed that blocking does the trick!
I don’t think I can be of any help. From what I can see, the abrupt ending doesn’t bother me. In fact, if your plan is to have a small space of the pendant lace and then the other half with mirror the first half, I think it will look nice. But it is hard to say without seeing it more complete. I do love the first part of it though.
I see what you’re saying about the purl ribs. They are nice in the lower section, but just end too abruptly (for my taste at least). Of course, running out of yarn is even worse! Good luck with working it all out.
Hmmm… Interesting. You’re right that the ribs are more noticeable in the bigger piece than they were in the swatch; I agree with the first comment that maybe the mirroring of the ribs on the other side might change the whole effect yet again, but that’s hard to tell ahead of time. As for the yarn issue, might you be able to find more?
Just as I was about to suggest blocking on the needles to see what those purl ribs are really about, you said it yourself. Good luck!