Raven details

Pattern: Irtfa'a
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber's Haida Laci
Needles: 3.75 mm addi lace circular and 3.5 mm addi circular
Cast on December 14, 2007 and cast off January 26, 2008.

For me this was a project of contrasts and contradictions.

The pattern is at once complicated and easy; the structure of the shawl is much more complicated than the basic triangular shawls I have made before but most of the lace motifs are very easy and differ very little row to row. The repetitive lace made for easy knitting that I could do while reading and such but there were times when I wished for a bit of a challenge. I am crazy and in love with the needlessly complex so I don't expect that others will have the same reaction to the pattern as me in this regard.

The yarn is the first variegated lace yarn I've used. I like the general look of the shawl that this variegation gives but I also think that the lace would be better served by a solid black yarn. If I ever knit this pattern again I will use a solid coloured yarn with maybe a bit more weight to it. Getting gauge required going up a needle size and I find the stocking net bits of the lace a bit more open than I prefer. It doesn't help that lace shawls belong more to summer wear and I keep dreaming of a nice warm winter shawl.

The variegated yarn did help to hide my edging fix, though. The point in the middle is the one where I attached the fixed edging to the edging already knit. It wouldn't pass the inspection of a knitting judge but it is other wise unnoticeable. I was actually planning on carefully blogging about how I did this fix but once I started working on it I remembered that my approach to fixing lace is very much ad hoc and seat of your pants and therefore not easy to take pictures of and explain. I like the results, though, even if I can't share the method.


I also liked the ease of spit splicing with this yarn. Keeping this in mind I was very careful when I was washing the shawl because I really don't want a felted lace project. I found that some of the yarn was ever so slightly felted in the skein, the darker portions especially. It led to some of the yarn seeming slightly thicker. However it also let me knit straight off the skein without worrying about the skein falling apart and becoming a massive tangle. I usually wind my skeins using my ball winder but this yarn comes in such a large skein that I knew I couldn't get it all in one ball and I didn't want to break it into smaller quantities.

Anyway, overall I liked this project and there are portions of it that I really love. What originally made me buy the pattern was the way it looks with the shoulder shaping.
It really does capture the top of a birds wing. I also love the pointy edging. It stands out beautifully in this yarn and really makes the shawl into something special.