Blocked

Pictures of Icarus!

(Disclaimer: the pictures aren't great, due to a combination of poor lighting in my apartment, an uncooperative camera, my lack of a dark-colored towel to block on, a nosy cat and the fact that I was teetering on the edge of the bed to take the shots. But the lines in the shawl really are straight, I promise; they're distorted because of my weight on the bed the shawl's laid out on. And the yarn is actually a natural cream color, despite the fact that it looks almost gold in some of the pictures.)

Click on the pictures to see them bigger.


I couldn't get the whole thing in the shot ... I was too close. Darn my height (or lack thereof)!
I had to settle for the arched look on top in order to get the points pinned out correctly. If worst comes to worst, I'll spritz the top part with some water and re-block just that portion. I don't know. Maybe the scallops won't be noticeable when I unpin it, or maybe I'll even like them. We'll see.
I love how this picture really picks up the yarn's sheen. It's not that noticeable in real life, sadly, but it's still pretty.


Another shot showing off the silky sheen and the pretty points. (Yeah, so I like alliteration, so what?)


Detail of the bottom point. I thought this turned out especially well. Again, the points are even and the lines are straight when I'm not standing on the bed.


And the bottom from another angle, showing how the straight stockinette lines branch out into the feathers along the edge.

I'm pretty proud of this one. I love the way it turned out.

Vital statistics:
Pattern: MimKnits' Icarus, originally printed in Interweave Knits Summer 2006
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight in white
Needles: Size 3 Knitpicks fixed 24" circular (nickle-plated)
Mods: Cut out two repeats of chart 1 because I'm only 4'10" and didn't want my shawl to look like it was eating me
Finished size: 60" across the top (My target size! Yay!)
Pros/cons: In general, I love this shawl. However, the yo4s in the next-to-last row were overkill, in my opinion. I understand that it makes it easier to block the points out, but even after tugging and adjusting as much as possible, I ended up with a big loop of yarn just hanging there on each point. (You yo4, and on the next row you purl into one loop and drop the other 3.) I'm not sure what I'll do about those loops yet, but the yo4 just made an excessively big, loose stitch. I think a double or triple yo would have worked just as well and wouldn't have left all that excess yarn hanging.

Now I have to find something to make with the leftover Zephyr. I definitely got my money's worth out of that cone. I bought it from Sarah's Yarns for $50, and so far, it's produced two stoles, a wedding garter and now Icarus. And I probably still have half a cone leftover. I definitely recommend it.

I'll try to get pictures of me wearing it eventually, but no promises. It's cold and snowy out there, and I'm cold-natured! Plus, I'm really not even a shawl person. I just wanted to knit this.

More photos and progress details on Ravelry.