While there, showering Kylie with birthday gifts and affection, we had a little fun doing a photo shoot for my finished Myrtle Leaf Shawl with Willow Border. We tried hard to emulate the photos from Victorian Lace Today because, well, why not. In a setting as green and English gardenesque as this, you sort of have to, I think.
If you know the book, these might make you smile.
So this is one of those projects that takes forever and pays off in the end by being every bit as delicate and beautiful and ultimately triumphant as you could hope a piece of knitted lace could be. I really don't think it gets better than the feeling I've got from having finished this. It's not just relief. I don't even feel in mourning for it being over. I just feel so pleased!
And getting to drape it around my shoulders and have a bit of fun playing with Dr K as photographer and George as stylist was just the icing on the cake.
Myrtle was started on the Australia Day weekend in late January and I did put her down for quite a long time while I got on with more practical knits, so really, I think she took seven months all up. It's the kind of project that I think, if I focused, could have been done in three months. I vow next time not to let a big piece of lace drag on because near the end, it does all become a bit of a burden as the desire to work on something new takes hold.
All black is not easy. I think I suffered a fair amount of eye strain as I tried to get through it. The pattern itself is not hard. It's a two sided pattern, which was my first time of doing such a thing, so with no rest rows, it's fairly intensive, but there's nothing overtly challenging once you settle in.
Knitting on the border was a bit of a challenge at first but once I was in the swing of it, it took about three weeks.
The yarn is JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 and it's just stunning. I'd use it again and again. In black. In any colour. It's the nicest laceweight yarn I've used.
Sure, she's not the kind of shawl I'm going to get to wear every day, but I have plenty of everyday shawls. This one's for special moments, like next month when I get all dressed up to see Tori Amos at the Opera House. That'll be just the right night.
Bells
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