Saturday, June 26, 2010

FO: Haruni

As you probably guessed, I finished my Haruni shawl a couple of days ago. I just can't get over how pretty it is.


Actually, I'm astonished that this is a free pattern (yes, I said free, you just have to log in to Ravelry to get it). It's a clever combination of a couple of common lace motifs, easily worked in a single skein of laceweight yarn. Ok, enough gushing, here are the specs:

Pattern: Haruni by Emily Ross
Yarn: Malabrigo laceweight in colorway Paris Night - less than 1 skein. I had enough left over that I didn't worry about being able to finish the edging but not so much that I felt like I should have done an extra set of repeats in the main pattern.
Needles: size 4 addi lace circulars and a size B/1 (2.25mm) crochet hook for the edging
Mods: absolutely none. The pattern was delightful as written.


Working those big leaves at the end was a ton of fun. Don't get me wrong, I could happily knit fern lace (the main body pattern) all day long but the designer seemed to know the perfect moment to switch gears and knit something new. None of that feeling you get with some shawl patterns when you burn out on one motif a repeat or two before it's time to start the next one.


This particular color of malabrigo has proved quite tricky to photograph accurately. It's a deep blue with washes of blue-green and subtle splashes of purple. This showed up perfectly when I was looking at this pic in iphoto but the color looks a bit washed out now that it's up on blogger. You'll just have to take my word for the fact that it's really lovely in person.


For all that the pattern looks frilly and complicated, it's really quite an easy knit. It might even work as a first lace project for an adventurous knitter, but it's interesting and clever enough to keep more experienced knitters engaged, too.


What, I haven't shown you the whole shawl yet? How about this:


But you know I'm much more likely to wear it like this:


You've probably noticed a couple of changes to the blog lately, mostly in its layout and design. I'm having fun tinkering with blogger but it's a slow process. Now that I've figured out how to put my own images in the background (you may recognize the handspun that became Coraline) my next goal is to put up FO lists, since I love clicking through those on other people's blogs. Here's hoping I can get to that this weekend (and figure out how to include pictures with the links).

4 comments:

Estella said...

Simply stunning!

Gale Bulkley said...

What a beauty. I have been ignoring this shawl and now want to cast on immediately.

elizabeth said...

Oh geez, I thought I had my beach project figured out, but you may have changed my mind! Free pattern! Malabrigo lace (that I have in my stash)! It's meant to be!

Rachel said...

Wow--it's so amazing! I particularly love those big edging leaves!

I've been thinking of making some changes to my blog design lately too...just need to find the time. I like your new layout. And checking it out I saw that you have quite a few finished projects to parade through this space...looking forward to seeing them all!