Lace Shawls Again

Over the summer, I wrote a post about the Russian yarn I had received and my desire to knit a small shawl with it. Well, I haven't had time to start that one yet. I also have some patterns from Fiddlesticks Knitting that I haven't gotten back to. And I am still on the lookout for small lace shawl patterns that might actually be doable in my lifetime. So I have been very interested in the project that Ann has been working on over at Mason Dixon Knitting. She has been working on a shawl designed by Eunny Jang called "Print o' the wave". Knit with cobweb weight yarn on size 00 needles, it comes out just the size I am looking for-18"x60". Even better, it is based on a Shetland lace pattern, which really speaks to me.

As with most things in life, however, there are a couple of problems to starting this shawl. I wasn't convinced that Ornagi Filati Merino Oro was a cobweb weight yarn. It is, however, readily available at One Fine Yarn. From my reading this morning on the Knitter's Review Forum, though, I have come to believe that it is cobweb weight. I was also pleased to find out this week, when I received my Patternworks catalog in the mail, that they now sell cobweb weight yarn from Jamieson and Smith, in addition to several shades of their fingering weight yarn for Fair Isle. So this is the real deal, straight from the Shetland Islands! And did I mention that I am going to be visiting the Patternworks store next week when I am in New Hampshire? I will be returning home with several skeins of cobweb yarn, I can tell!

So the yarn will not be the problem I originally thought it would be. However (and there is always another however), the designer had a pair of size 00 circular needles that she used to knit the shawl, but size 00 circulars aren't readily available any more. Given my problems with gauge, I could probably use the size 000s that are available (and for sale at Patternworks), or there might be size 00 straight needles available. I will have to do more research and some swatching to see what will work.

Then there is the question of knitting the shawl in two pieces and grafting them together, so that the waves point in the same direction on both ends of the shawl, or knitting it in one piece and having the waves point in opposite directions when you actually wear it. Happily, there is a Yahoo group for people knitting this pattern, which I may join if I ever get around to actually starting it.