Phœnix
Finished
May 13, 2012
June 2, 2012

Phœnix

Project info
Aeolian Shawl by Elizabeth Freeman
Knitting
Neck / TorsoShawl / Wrap
me
ginormous - about 40x60 inches
Needles & yarn
US 2½ - 3.0 mm
Juniper Moon Farm Findley
920 yards in stash
1.85 skeins = 1480.0 yards (1353.3 meters), 185 grams
Black
WEBS - America's Yarn Store in Northampton, Massachusetts
Notes

Want to make another of these for myself in black with flame-red silver lined beads. And want it gigantic: 14 yucca & 3 agave repeats & 9 stitch nupps. Needle size 2 1/2.

Beads: Miyuki Delica 8/0 seed beads, DBL0043 (or DBL43)

May 13th Started with 96.4g on the first ball of Findley, plus two additional balls if needed and 104.2g of Miyuki beads.

I work for an opera company and wanted a shawl that I could wear to performances with my floor length simple black dress. I loved making my first Aeolian shawl, so I’m doing it again and maybe that will motivate me to send the first one out (shame on me, I haven’t done that yet!) to its intended recipient.

May 17thI’ve only been working on this four days, but it’s already become addictive. I can’t wait to start on it when I get home from work, and I hardly look up from it until 2:00 in the morning. I’m on the twelfth repeat of the yuccas and only 17% completed but already eagerly looking forward to the edging.

I estimated how many more beads I’ll need to finish and I’m woefully short, so I ordered another 75g… I believe I will need almost 3300 in all and don’t want to come up short again should I decide to do a fourth agave repeat. This shawl will have some weight! Of course, I’ll have about 60 grams left over, but I love these beads and would like to use them on another project.

May 21st I did absolutely nothing this weekend except work on this shawl. I can’t put it down!! Only 68 more rows to go, but boy, oh, boy are they long rows!

After finishing the 14 yucca repeats and while on the transition chart, I realized that I was making all of my central double decreases wrong. I am not; repeat, not going to re-do them. They just have two threads in the decrease and not one (I did the other central decrease) and this is in black, so it’s impossible to notice… which is probably why I didn’t notice until I was nearly on the agave chart. It will still be beautiful.

I’ve also decided against a fourth agave repeat. I think it will reach past the back of my knees in the back, and I don’t want it so long that I’m tripping on it. Judging by my last Aeolian, this should be plenty big; I’m using a larger needle and am working four more yucca repeats and one more agave.

I’m nearly finished with the second agave and have about 500 stitches on the needles. I’m being careful when I hold it up to not let the weight stress the needles too much. I’ve heard of KP needles breaking and that would be a disaster!

We have summer hours at work starting at the end of the week, so I’ll have half a day on Friday off for the next three months (gotta love arts organizations!) and Memorial day is this Monday. If I finish all of my errands before Thursday, that means over 50 blissful hours of working on the edging this weekend. :)

May 25th I probably won’t finish this long weekend, but I’ll make good progress toward that goal. Only 51 rows left (but they’re loooooooooong rows). Right now, the RS rows are taking a little over an hour and the WS about 40 minutes…

May 29th Through the dreaded row 43 and nearly had a disaster. I dropped a stitch and didn’t catch it until it was a row down, but managed to get it back on the needles and fixed before I had a run. Whew. I’m living dangerously without lifelines. :)

I’ll finish up tonight and tomorrow with the knitting and will be able to block on Friday. Unblocked, it’s only reaching to my hips, but it has a lot of stretch. I can’t wait to get this one done!

May 31st Will finish with the knitting tonight, but may not have time for the blocking. I still have half of the bind-off row to complete, or about 1,100 more stitches. If I wait to block, I may not have time tomorrow, either… President Obama is in town for three fundraisers, at a restaurant a block from my bus stop. I have no idea what time I’ll be able to get home.

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Finished
May 13, 2012
June 2, 2012
 
About this pattern
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About this yarn
by Juniper Moon Farm
Lace
50% Silk, 50% Merino
798 yards / 100 grams

6855 projects

stashed 7636 times

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  • Originally queued: March 29, 2012
  • Project created: May 15, 2012
  • Finished: June 2, 2012
  • Updated: June 4, 2012
  • Progress updates: 20 updates