10shawls2010

The last you heard of the challenge I was showing off Aestlight. Which was my number 6th shawl. I took a break to knit the Lorna's Laces samples. Then went into high gear to get these finished before the end of the year. I mean at that point it was pretty late in the year and I needed 4 more shawls.

Amie was awesome enough to do a Bridgewater KAL. We first talked about it in August. Decided we'd start the first week in September. Well the first week came and went and neither of us had even ordered yarn yet. It took us longer to decide what to knit it with than we thought. Finally I settled on Malabrigo Lace.
And O I'm so glad I did. I picked a color and then was instantly disappointed when it showed up. way more variation than I was hoping for. BUT it looks amazing in the shawl and I'm glad I went ahead and knit with it.
So coming in at number 7 is Bridgewater.








Pattern: Bridgewater by Jared Flood
yarn: Malabrigo Lace in polar morn
needles: us 5 (3.75mm)
started: October 12, 2010
finished: December 18, 2010

This shawl was a lot of work. It wasn't hard but its big! I absolutely loved working on it. Even tho each thing was pretty simple to do, it managed to stay interesting. (I will try to get a picture of it in action... I was unaware that we'd failed to do that already hehe)

On to number 8. I knit another Annis. I needed something that would be a quick knit. It was already the middle of December and I still needed 3 shawls. I'm horrible disappointed with this shawl. I had some cone cashmere that a friend gave me. It was total crap. Hard on the hands to work with. Crisp but not in a good way. Then to make it all worse when I was blocking the threads started to break! this is my annis disaster but it still counts as my number 8.



Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC
yarn: cone cashmere red
needles: us8 and us 10
started: December 19, 2010
finished: December 20, 2010

After the annis disaster I needed something to pick my spirit up. I knew from the very beginning of 2010 that I wanted Ishbel to be one of my 10. So I finally got around to purchasing the pattern. I pulled out some very lovely special yarn and got to work.







the results totally amazing. exactly what I needed to lift me back up.

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: JulieSpins Vera Lace in concorde
needles: us 5 (3.75mm)
started: December 21, 2010
finished December 23, 2010

Was such a joy to knit. Julie is amazing with her colors. My pictures don't do them justice at all. This is a new yarn for her. Its amazing. A little like malabrigo. It is a laceweight single. Its crisp to knit with but softens up nicely and blooms some when washed. I wouldn't hesitate to work with this yarn again (and nicely so since I have almost half this one left and 2 others in stash!).

To round out the year I picked something a little different. A shawl that had only been knit a handful of times on ravelry. something simple but with some detail.







Pattern: Whipped by Mary Ellen Langieri
Yarn: Knitpicks gloss lace in sterling
needles: us 4 (3.5 mm)
started: December 24, 2010
finished: December 26, 2010

I did change the main body stitch to just plain garter. In the pattern its a more textured knit that I didn't care for.

That finished off my 10shawls2010 challenge. I feel so accomplished and proud. Throughout the year there were several times when I thought about giving up on the challenge. Especially there towards the end when I had a lot to knit in very little time. I'm glad that I was able to see it through. I owe Amie and Justin a lot of thanks in this. If it wasn't for Amie doing 2 of the lace kal's with me this year, I would have never finished. And Justin. honey I love you so much and I love that you let me neglect the housework to finish the challenge. You are an amazing man. I love you!