I’ve finished the body of the entrelac shawl. Though the color segues didn’t come out quite as I had envisioned them, I think they are quite lovely. It’s like that with dyeing. You only ever suggest what color you’d like and then the yarn and the dye tell you what color they want to give you :)
So the search for a suitable border was on. Well, that’s not true; I’d been thinking about borders for quite a while and was beginning to feel a little desperate. Originally I had thought I would like a seed stitch border done in a variegated yarn that would suggest pebbles or sand and I saw this as a simple, straight strip, 13-17 stitches wide, going down one side of the shawl and up the other.
Then it seemed that a saw-tooth or dagged edge, still in seed stitch, still in a sandy/pebbly colorway might be more desirable. Two things got in the way. First, in order for it to look the way I wanted it to, I would have to work each point separately. That’s not such a bad thing, but it wasn’t entirely acceptable either :) Second, I have, and will probably use, something over 600 yards of yarn for the border. And I suddenly realized, thinking this over for the umpteenth time, that I don’t have the facilities to dye that much variegated yarn in one batch - and doing multiple batches would introduce too much variation.
Those dyeing restrictions put the kibosh on the first possibility too. So I was looking at using a solid color yarn that could, by use of a little experimentation and careful note taking, be reproduced in two or three batches. And that threw the whole design idea up in the air again because if the yarn wasn’t going to be complicated, then the design could be - at least a little more than the initial concepts.
Aha!
I won’t bore you with how many times I went through my books or through the offerings of various on-line sites. Suffice it to say that I finally found something that made me seriously happy and it was the Hilton Lace. There is also a garter stitch variation here.
Worked up in worsted weight cotton, this is what it looked like:
However, the shawl point didn’t come out so well…
Next up, if the border is going to be a solid color, what color is it going to be?
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I do like how that edge looks with the shawl body, quite complementary. I agree, you’ll have to do some mitering at the tip, but you’ll figure that out… what about an eyelet increase on either side of your center point stitch? That way, you can pattern to the point, increase, then continue the pattern along the second side. Just a thought from a barely awake brain. :)
Ev - Since the whole mitering thing is new to me, I have to run that through the old noggin a couple of times before it makes sense to me :) I think I understand what you’re saying and if I do, then that would facilitate things nicely.
I’ve been thinking about this as being seamed at the point. While I don’t think this is a grave issue, it would certainly be neater and probably nicer looking if I could avoid that :)
I don’t know how you went around the point on your miniature sample but one way to approach corners is to sort of short row them. You work to within three or five stitches, whatever works best and then knit the border to the shawl but do not attach it. Work back out and then attach it on the next row. Do the same thing on the other side of the point. It only takes a few of these short rows to get around a corner in a nice neat fashion. You do want to make sure to attach right in the corner or point stitch.
okay, after reading your post i sat here for awhile and thought about your approach to your ideas and how you went about working them out- i have come to the conclusion that in the world of yarn and needles there are people who are ‘ knitters’ and those who actually *knit*- the difference is as great as the divide between those who are ‘painters’ (i.e. housepainters etc) and those who *paint* (georgia o’keefe comes to mind)- you definitely *knit*, and i will remain silent about my category (let me give you a clue by saying if we were in the painting category i would still be applying another coat to the exterior of the house and maybe beginning to think about buying the first ‘paint by numbers’ picture to try)!! fascinating stroll through the creative process!
stay happy-
Charlotte - That’s sort of what I did, though I didn’t go around. I worked the border down each side of the piece. I think, if I’m understanding you correctly, I probably needed another repeat of the pattern to round the point properly.
I will get this figured out :)
Barb - You’re way too kind. All you’re seeing in an incurable need to fiddle with things :)
I just love reading about the process of your shawl. It really opens my eyes to the designing process.I agree with Barb, you definitely *knit*.
Opal - Oh my - coming from a shawl knitter par excellence like you, that is very high praise. Thank you very much indeed!
