Knitty Couture

I had put the finishing touches (i.e., seams) on my last lace piece, the Shetland Tea Shawl, from Meg Swansen’s A Gathering of Lace, about a month ago, and my fingers have been itching to start another lace project since. The urge has been on the backburner for weeks while I hurriedly finished up pieces for the shop, but I knew it was definitely time to get started when Gloria Penning was the guest speaker at the STL Knitters Guild meeting this last weekend. Her lace doily designs are quite amazing. Her lecture was wonderful and what a lovely person she was. She even autographed my copies of her compilations: Patterns for the Art of Lace Knitting, Knitted Heirloom Lace II, and Knitted Heirloom Lace III.

I’m quite an indecisive person, and it takes me forever to select a project to do,….. but the urge to do Elizabeth’s Pi Shawl has been visiting me lately. I’m not much of a fan of knitting circular shawls, partially because I have such a terrible time starting off on dpn’s and making sure my stitches behave before I get them on circulars, and partially, unlike non-circular shawls, there’s not much of a chance to watch the progress - most of the time, it looks a sagging bag (very unappealing for the eyes, but quite handy for temporary storage of needles and yarn) until the very end when it unveils itself as a beauty… but that could be months away. I need a quick, simple lace piece. No, not lace for a scarf or socks, but a shawl. So I’ve decided, Ms. Elizabeth Z.’s Pi Shawl will do just fine.

One of the reasons I want to do Elizabeth’s Pi Shawl is that my past pieces have been quite light and airy (e.g., Eunny Yang’s Print o’ the Wave Stole), and I needed something with a bit of weight. I’ve given it a lot of thought and think I will do the shawl using Blue Sky Alpaca melange. It just came into the shop this week (along with the cotton and sportweight) and has the slight heaviness that I’m looking for. It also has that gorgeous heathery look that’s very soothing.

Well, unfortunately, I have projects to finish (who doesn’t?) given the holiday and… well, just because - that’s the life of a knitter. So, I’m holding out.

But here’s the main reason. What would really be fun is if this project was a Knit Along. I’ve gotten myself so excited about the shawl that I can hardly wait to get it on the needles, but I will! The plan is to cast on in the first week of January. A month or so should give everyone enough time to pick out their yarn and, if need be, get Elizabeth’s book(s) - because, really, you should get Elizabeth’s books.

What a fun way to start of the new year!