Latest Knitting Project - "Comfort Shawl" using Knitipicks Shimmer

My latest project is a triangular "feather and fan" type stitch shawl.

I am using the "Shimmer" yarn in Turquoise Splendor that my Secret Knitty Pal gave to me - a very fine lace yarn (70% Baby Alpaca, 30% Silk).

If you haven't heard about it yet, you should check out the KnitPicks site - they are making some fabulous luxury-type yarns available at regular very low prices - I think they have done this by cutting out the middle party in the yarn food chain - they develop direct relationships with their yarn manufacturers in places like Peru and Italy.

The prices are literally 1/3 or 1/4 of the price you would pay for similar yarns that are made of such pricey fibres (silk, wool, alpaca, etc.)

I haven't bought anything there myself yet, but the reviews on the Knittyboard seem great as far as customer service etc. - I was lucky enough to recieve 2 seperate gifts of yarn from the site.

I have two skeins of this Shimmer, and I might get some more, depending on how much shawl I have after I've worked through the first skein!

The other knit picks yarn I recieved is a similar very fine lace weight, but is 100% merino wool, and I'm not sure what to do with it either (suggestions anyone?) In the meantime it is pretty cool to have such fancy-schmancy yarns hanging around waiting to be used!

My other Knitpicks yarn is called "Gossamer" in the colour "blue jeans" which is a variegated blue, light blue, to grey colour...

I would like to say a special thank you to all the great knitters, who help each other out all the time on the Knitty Coffeeshop, the message board for readers of Knitty, the online knitting magazine. I can't recommend the magazine or (especially!) this message board enough - particularily if you like innovative and creative knitting patterns, and even more so if you don't have any knitting pals in your area, or if you are the most advanced (read obsessed) of the knitter's you know.

I have never failed to get some answers to my weirdest questions here, and even better, it is very busy and very widespread - so no matter how late it is, someone is probably around to help you out!

And thank you to all the kind people who put free knitting patterns and tips online! Like this great Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl that I'm working on now.

I had done, ripped out, and done again, the first 30 or so lines of the pattern several times, until I finally realized that the mistakes I kept creating were because I was doing the yarn over's (YO) the wrong way.

Now, with this challenge fixed, I am having a much smoother go of it. This seems fine, except it doesn't really look like a pretty wavey pattern at all... Even when I had completed to the 30th line or so (with mistakes, granted) it still just seems to be tiny thread circles looped into very round looking interlocked circles.

(this is scanned in, so the colours are a bit funny but you get the idea)

I have read that lace patterns really don't show up nicely at all until you have washed and blocked your lace project, and I'm hoping that is why it doesn't look too spiffy just yet...

I would love to hear from some more experienced lace knitter if there is any possibility that the knitting which looks like this will eventually take on the right shape and pattern, as shown in pictures of the completed shawl...

It is alot of fun though, I thought the very fine yarn (of a width like 2 strands of sewing thread twisted together, I swear!) would drive me batty but it isn't like that at all - the large-ish needles (4mm or US size 6) I'm using seem to make all the difference. I am sure it would drive me nuts if I was using very fine needles.


Maybe I should just ask Gonzo for some help?