Thursday, January 14, 2010

FO: Laminaria

I never did obtain really awesome photos of this shawlette. It has been mostly grey and rainy here lately. I had my sister-in-law Carolyn take some on New Year's Eve, so that's what we'll go with. This is Laminaria, and it is really incredible. The yarn is Malabrigo Merino Lace, and so incredibly light and soft. It is a lightly spun single and feels so wonderful on your skin. The shawl pattern uses some Estonian lace stitches that I have never seen before. The design is clever in a way you may not notice unless you knit it or get to see one in person. The first section at the top uses a star stitch where you decrease and increase three stitches simultaneously, which creates a section that is relatively dense and thick, especially considering the lightness of the yarn it is knit with. The next section, the blossom chart uses some 2-into-9 stars which convert two stitches into nine stitches, and this section does pucker the fabric a bit, but is not as dense as the star chart. Both kinds of stars are a bit tiresome to knit, and this is why I am glad I knit the smaller one.
The final section is the edging, and it is very light and airy and uses the kinds of stitches I am more familiar with. I love the way the dense base sort of flows and thins outward into a fluttery edge.
Because of all these crazy stitches, the shawl comes out a bit small than others that use a similar amount of yarn. I blocked it out as firmly as possible, but it seems to have shrunk a bit since these photos were taken. If you want a medium sized shawl, you'd better do the bigger one, this one is more of a neck kerchief.