New Photos of Old Shawls
My birthday was a couple weeks ago, and I got a new camera, which found it’s way into my hot little hands Saturday evening. So this morning I grabbed a couple (slightly wrinkled) shawls to play around with it.
KORA
EIRWEN
YUKI
GENE TIERNEY
I can’t wait to play, explore & experiment some more…
All of the knitting patterns for these shawls are available on Ravelry.
Kora. Eirwen. Yuki. Gene Tierney.
finishing, restarting, ripping
The body of my Versio sweater is done, and I’m hoping to pick up for the sleeves tonight. My plan is to work them simultaneously, working stripe A on the right sleeve then stripe A on the left sleeve. I’m cutting it close on yardage, and will probably need to pick up a second skein of the black “Forest Hills,” but hopefully I’ll make it.
Remember this shawl? From weeks and weeks and weeks ago?
It was my main knitting project through the stomach problems, and the bedbug situation. Simple, straight forward, stockinette, half circle. I finally got it back on the needles, and have figured out what I want to do for the bottom edging. yay.
And Julie Asselin posted her fall colorways on instagram & in her Ravelry group, so I can show off the beautifulness that is the colorway “Anemone.” I’m working away on this new design and loving it – though I did need to rip a couple rows last night, which is why the stitches aren’t all sitting on the needle correctly…
How many yards/meters of yarn does it take to knit a shawl?
It depends on a lot of factors, but my preference is at least 450-500 yards (411-457 meters) of yarn.
You can read about some knitting yardage rules of thumb in “Shawls to Play With.“
Can you knit a shawl with less yardage? Yes.
I have.
“Wafian” is knit with 420 yards (384 meters) of Tosh Merino Light – a fingering weight yarn – on a US 7 (4.5mm) needle.
However those shawls tend to end up on the smaller side. More scarf-like than shawl-like. But I like my shawls on the giant side of huge.
That being said, the sky is the limit with shawl yardage.
“Tumbling Deco” takes 980 yards (896 meters) of a lace weight yarn.
“Eirwen” takes about 1600 yards (1463 meters) of lace weight.
“Ingrid’s Baby Bridal Knot” (one of the first lace shawls I ever tried knitting – it didn’t go so well…) calls for 3825 yards (3498 meters) of lace weight yarn.
And “The Queen Susan Shawl” calls for 6562-7108 yards (6000-6500 meters) of yarn. I’ve never tried knitting this shawl, but it’s the largest I could find with a quick search in the Ravelry database.
“Modern Heirloom” is a close second with 5000-6000 yards (4572-5486 meters) of yarn.
So the sky really is the limit. You can knit a shawl as large as you want, with as much yardage as you can stand. What’s the largest shawl you’ve ever knit?
