Finished Object: Highland Triangle
Stats
Pattern: Highland Triangle Shawl (Ravel It!) by Cheryl Oberle, from Folk Shawls
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca (worsted), 5 skeins-1075 yds and I used all but a couple of those yards, too.
Needles: US 8 Susan Bates
Modifications:
There is an error in the instructions not listed in the pattern errata for the book: On page 90, after finishing the eyelet pattern-
-
either ignore “begin lace pattern 2” instructions and go directly to the charts
OR count the 2 rows of “begin lace pattern 2” as the first two rows of the chart.
Do not do as the instructions tell you and complete “begin lace pattern instructions” followed by row 1 of the chart or your stitch count will be hopelessly off.
Comments:
- I sweated bullets finishing the edging on this because that last cake of yarn appeared to dwindle very quickly. I made it with little breathing room, too, but I made it which is fortunate because I bought that yarn a couple years ago from an LYS that went out of business so matching the dyelot would have been challenging.
I finished this shawl in a total of five days, but two of those days I ripped everything I’d knit the day before, so had I not continually screwed up the border it would have been done in three or four. Big needles and worsted weight yarn, people, I’m not that fast of a knitter!
This shawl is enormous. I love that! I really feel cozy and warm when I wrap up in it, there’s nothing quite like a substantial yet pretty wrap.
This pattern is SUPER easy. There’s not even any purling in the pattern. The hardest thing is picking up the 276 stitches for the edging.
The yarn is not my most favorite yarn in the world. It’s 50/50 Alpaca and Peruvian Highland Wool. The wool content seems to have utterly negated the alpaca content. It feels like a wool yarn, which is fine-I love wool-but the name “Ultra Alpaca” would seem to indicate some level of additional softness which it doesn’t possess.
This is one of my favorite knitted articles ever. I wish I could wear it tromping up and down the Scottish Highlands in the mist and rain. I might make this one again someday, and believe me that’s saying a lot. I almost never knit something twice.
Jared came home for the weekend. It was short notice, he decided to come and happened to find a flight and was here for three short days. We squeezed a LOT into those three days, the biggest project of which was this:
I tilled up the back yard. I’m sick of mowing a hill and the grass was crappy there anyway. So it’s going to be a flower bed. I wasn’t expecting any help, but Jared was happy to pitch in and help me dig and assemble the pond:
Which will eventually be surrounded by flowers. I’ve already planted some and seeded much of it. I got the rest of the seeds today, but I need to bring down some more wheelbarrows of llama poop to fertilize the beds before it’s time to kick back and patiently await the fruits of all my labor. That’s the hardest part of gardening, sometimes-the waiting. I also got the vegetable garden done as well as the herb garden. Jared did everything on his honey-do list plus bush hogged the areas that needed it, watered the line of baby trees he planted earlier in the year and killed the poison ivy on the field road. Oh yes, and we sheared goats and trimmed hooves.
Needless to say you can’t knit when you’re sweaty and dirty, so no knitting has happened in several days, but I intend to remedy that as soon as I hit publish. I might even go knit out in the dirt patch while I daydream about the flowers that will be there soon.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Everything looks great - I am glad Jared came home for a short weekend. Love the shawl! Miss ya!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I love how the color of your shawl compliments the freshly tilled earth!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
The shawl is fan-freaking-tastic! It’s gorgeous!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
The shawl is gorgeous! The garden is awesome (I’m inspired) and I’m so glad Jared was able to come home for a bit.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
That shawl is just beautiful! Love the color, the pattern–it just looks so cozy.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
The highland shawl is one of my favorite finished objects too. Yours is incredible.
Don’t be jealous, but I did get a chance to wear mine last summer in the actual Scottish Highlands!
May 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Wow, the list of things you guys did in three days makes me so tired I might need a lie-down myself.
Pretty pretty shawl!
May 5th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
what a lovely shawl…I fave’d it. I am looking for something simple as a wedding shawl for a dear friend who is getting married at the beach in August. Might be just the thing. the time to finished object looks good.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I really love that shawl. My eyeballs have kind of been on shawl overload over the past months, and have been glazing over at the most exquisite examples. That shawl is the eyeball anti-glaze! ::How lyrical I have become. Heh.::
I like the image of you wearing the shawl, tramping along the Scottish Highlands. Unfortunately, a shawl like that on me invokes the image of me forgetting to pull it all the way into the car so as to allow it to drag 14 miles through Michigan slush and snow, on the ride to work.
I think I need to lay off the DayQuil. (Or DayCrunk,as I recently have started to call it)
May 5th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Is that the Georgia Dirt colorway?
It matches your new garden. Good to hear you had a nice couple of days.
May 5th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
That shawl is gorgeous. And your new garden spot looks like a wonderful place to sit and knit. Enjoy!
May 5th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Jen, your shawl is gorgeous! I’m going to have to put that pattern in my to-do list thingy.
I really like your pond. What a nice place to sit next to and have a beverage at the end of the day. I may be showing your photos to *someone*.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Cute shawl!
May 6th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Prettiness! It does look so very snuggly.
May 6th, 2008 at 3:25 am
That is such a beautiful, snuggly shawl. Your flower spot is going to be such a great knitting spot.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:57 am
wonderful shawl. wonderful pond.
Bench, Adirondack or lawn chair?
May 6th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Yes, you’ve already got your chair out there, you must go knit and dream about how pretty it’ll soon be! The shawl is very pretty, I’ve been on a lace kick myself!
May 6th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
What a pretty shawl! I was wondering what to do with my alpaca. Now I know. It might not be this shawl, as I don’t think I have enough yarn, but a shawl woudl be perfect! Warm and light. Thanks for the idea…
May 6th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Great shawl! It’s not one of the ones I’ve made from the book (I’m a sucker for anything even quasi Japanese, so only one guess for what I made). I did notice that the Ultra Alpaca was pretty scratchy for something called, umm, Ultra Alpaca.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
WOW!!! Looks great and it sounds like you got some fun stuff done over the weekend. Did you see my blog about moving out to Blue Ridge? We are so excited to start enjoying country life.
Also see the part about the alpaca yarn business we are starting - we have some yummy stuff!!!! So, if you are ever looking for something in particular lemme know.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Oh wow, that shawl is incredible!! And the pond is so lovely.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:04 am
I love the shawl! That is a gorgeous color, just beautiful! Woo! Pond! That is awesome! I have a little pond and I love it! Fish? Plants? Aquatic chickens? Have I used enough exclamation marks? OK!
May 7th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Lovely shawl!! Looks like a nice pond.
Hope you’re having a good week.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
My head is spinning and your broad achievements are sort of making me feel like a lazy ole fart. heh heh!
The pond is lovely and your flower power will likely create a sacred space for you - hope you knit there and feel oh so happy!
Also, uh, we’ve had one of those weeks on the homestead. You know, where you try your best at each project but they just all fall apart anyway and you end up with nothing REALLY done and feeling all mean and shriveled inside and feel like turning on each other and foaming at the mouth like rabid coons - it is only this despair and desperation that has led me to infringe on you in this way - could we ‘borrow’ you and Jared for a weekend?
May 7th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Love the pond! Wish I lived close enough to come see it and join you in your “dirt patch” knitting! All you need is a bench for to sit at your wheel! Whee!
May 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I love your pond - it’s going to be a fantastic place to knit by once the flowers come up!
May 7th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
That is gorgeous! May you never have frogs in your pond
May 8th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Yay shawl! That one was kinda on my list before, but it’s definitely on the list now.