Saturday 19 January 2008

Blocking a Swallow Tail Shawl

Its the second time I've knitted this pattern which I took from my first copy of Interweave magazine. The yarn is a blend of cashmere and silk, and is lovely and warm, and washes well. The whole piece weighs less than 20 grams.
I wear the original one, most days, and it is like a warm breath down my back and no weight at all. I call this my tucker, and when I am wearing it, I feel wonderful, just like wearing some favourite perfume.


A tucker as in 'best bib and tucker', was an important part of a ladies dress dating back several centuries.
My knitting muse, the extreme knitter, and extremely good knitter, introduced me to lace knitting, and Sharon Miller. It was from Sharon that I bought my dressing rods. Today I had yet another further improvement in my dressing technique! I used the drying stand and whilst threading the rods through the edge of the lace, I discovered that I could use the corner construction of the drier to keep the rods square and tensioned. Along the long edge, as well as threading the rod through the edge, I also wove a wire in and out through the shawl and the mesh which forms the bed of the drier. The shawl is well aired and has dried far more quickly than on a towel which I had used up to now. On the towel I also found that it was not easy to anchor the pins themselves in order to keep the right tension on the piece to be blocked.
I started this shawl on Christmas Day and cast off the last stitch on 17 January, and now it is ready to give to a new knitting friend whom I met on an my first knitting day course led by Debbie Abrahams.

1 comment:

  1. Gorgeous work, Noelle! Thanks for the invite, I'll bookmark you and pop by periodically.

    I'm signing in under my Livejournal name, I hope that works...

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