Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Three Lovely Shawls

None of which are actually on my needles, because I am literally knee-deep in The Queen Susan. Having finished the center, I can testify to the fact that it going to be huge. A rough-block of the center measures about 40x40 inches--almost large enough to be a shawl in it's own right without the border and edging.


When I get tired of plowing through the border rows, I have three shawls in my queue competing fiercely for Right of First Cast-On.

Luiza


Designed by Jane A. (Mawelucky on Ravelry), this masterpiece is the Harry wants to knit first, if only because of the magnificent colors (matches his belly button rings, I was told). The original, shown here, was knitted with fingering-weight yarn, but the pattern is open-ended and can be made with any weight yarn by increasing the number of repeats or doubling a finer-weight yarn. You can buy the pattern on Ravelry, or get it free with my very own kit in my Etsy store. The kit yarn is a Zephyr-weight called Firebird (2/20 60% merino, 20%  cashmere, 20% silk),--a lustrous, soft, luxurious yarn custom-spun for me. The default kit is Black Plum and Black, but any main color, for example, Lapis) may be ordered instead.

The Persian Princess


This exquisite shawl was designed by Bad Cat specifically for Love Potion #3. The design is intricate and made even lovelier by the addition of sparkly beads and a feathery border. The pattern is free if you purchase a skein of LP3; otherwise, you can buy the pattern directly from the Ravelry store.


Faroesertuch mit Blättern und Blüten 

(Photo by uta953)

The name means "Faroese shawl with Leaves and Buds," which doesn't do justice to this breathtaking beauty designed by Utlinde. The original was knit with sport-weight mohair on size 7 needles, so it should be a fairly quick piece to do. Alas, I do not stock any such yarn in my store, but I do have some stash that would work beautifully for this--a ball of Lisa Souza's mohair in the Mother of Pearl colorway flashes to the front of my brain. The pattern is, believe it or not, free from the Ravelry store.

 








16 comments:

Deborah said...

These are all so lovely. Alas, Queen Susan has my heart right now. It will definitely be my summer lace project.

Experimental Knitter said...

How gorgeous they all are! But "Faroese shawl with leaves and blood" makes me a bit, er, nervous.
Tell Harry he'll look smashing in Luiza.
I can't wait to see your progress.

KPiep said...

Hmmm...so many to choose from! The Green Woman is too distracted to help me pick a favorite right now...but any of them would be fun.

JelliDonut said...

They are all lovely but Luiza takes my breath away.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is..... WOW

Laritza said...

People HAVE to quit designing so I can catch up with all the knitting! Lovely!

gayle said...

Oh! And wow! And holy crap!
The shawl queue just got longer.
How many shawls can I wear at the same time before it starts to get odd?

LittleBerry said...

Queen Susan is looking magnificent and the other three are all beautiful shawls.... but I thinkif it was me Luiza would be 1st on the needles...

Kathleen Dames said...

Beautiful! I'm leaning towards the Faroese - the edging is so pretty. Going to add it to my queue right now. Best of luck with the grand (and getting grander) Queen Susan!

Jane said...

I'm having a similar problem, in fact, I could steal your post, put a photo of Luiza in the place of your TQS, the TQS on the queue, and I'd be all set up.

I so want to knit that faroese, but there are a few ideas haunting me at night. If I don't at least try them out, I won't be able to sleep...

Lacefreak said...

Wow! TQS is going to end up big and beautiful indeed! As for the other two shawls they are truly lovely. If I didn't have a boat load of UFO's and a waiting list of Nieblings I would be all over them. I just knit faster!

yarnlot said...

Queen Susan will be stately, that is obvious already!

Anonymous said...

All absolutely gorgeous! I'm dying to finish my afghan so I can work on the shawl in my ravlery queue, I feel the need for lace. But I'm determined to not start a new project till I get several cleaned up on my wip list.

When I'm done, I may just have to cast on for one of those, I love the faroese one.

Sandra La Knitalian said...

...as I find myself heading willy-nilly nearer to having Shawl Heaven, I am growing more nervous...these are absolutely gorgeous...can I ever hope to achieve Shawl-dome!

Luiza really sings to me, I actually got a shiver when I saw it :)

Batty said...

Wow. I'm still knitting on the garter stitch square in the middle of my shawl, and there you go, cranking out 3 magnificent shawls. I bow before your superior knittitude.

knittingdragonflies said...

These are soooo beautiful!!
Vicki