My Flower Basket Shawl is completely finished! Honestly I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I love the size, the yarn, the color, and the lace pattern of this shawl.
Project Specs
Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl designed by Evelyn A. Clark
Pattern Source: Interweave Knits Fall 2004; the pattern is available for free on their website here, but the first page of the PDF does not display for me.
Yarn: Prime Alpaca (100% superfine alpaca, undyed, dk weight), 1 balls in Natural White.
Needles: US7 Denise needles
Date Started: 7/16/07
Date Finished: 7/20/07
Finished Dimensions: 58” wide across top edge and 27” long from center of top edge to bottom point.
Modifications: Completed 12 Lower Flower Basket (body) repeats instead of the suggested 7.
I have to start by saying that Evelyn A. Clark is a genius. She makes beautiful and elegant lace patterns that look complicated but are simple to knit, and the Flower Basket Shawl is just that. Although the construction is pretty much identical to that of the Shetland Triangle, I had a completely different experience knitting it. The Flower Basket Shawl has way more yarn overs than the Shetland Triangle, which makes it a tad bit more complicated. There are 104 yarn overs in the first body repeat of the FBS alone, compared to the ST’s 60. With each additional body repeat the FBS adds 16 yarn overs, while the ST only adds 8. I am glad that I made the Shetland Triangle first, but the Flower Basket Shawl is a great second project.
I started last Monday and finished on Friday, so it took 5 days to complete including blocking time. There were a few bumps in the road at the start and near the end but nothing too major. I completed 12 body repeats to create a larger shawl, although for some reason it didn’t end up much bigger than the dimensions given in the pattern. The yarn I used worked perfectly with this pattern, and I still have about a fourth of the skein (165 yards) left. Although it is supposedly DK weight, it is much lighter than Knit Picks Merino Style, and seems more like sport weight. Also I am used to working with worsted weight yarns so it made the knitting a little bit more difficult.
The next time I knit lace I think I will invest in some Addi Turbo needles. The Denise needles just aren’t cutting it for me. I love the pointyness of the tips, but the stitches get caught up on the connection between the cord and the needles. I read that the Addi Lace needles are seriously awesome with super smooth joins and nice pointy tips. The only problem is that they’re also seriously expensive at $13.50 to $16.00 a pop.
Like I said before, I really enjoyed knitting the Flower Basket Shawl and I love the results, but in the end I prefer the Shetland Triangle.
All the photographs were taken at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. It is a really gorgeous place! I have uploaded larger versions of these photos to Flickr so you can see them better.
