Long Live LaReine!

Another shawl, number 8 for me this year, but definitely one of my favorites.  Why?

Well, in part because it was designed by a friend, the first pattern I have ever worked that was designed by an honest to goodness friend.  Angela was one of the three founding members of the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Knit & Crochet Group, so I've known her for more than two years now. In addition to being an accomplished knitter and crocheter, she used to design jewelry, so I knew she had latent design capabilities, but only recently have they re-emerged.  And boy, have they emerged.  This is her first design, and will be available to the public later this week, but she's already worked up another design and has plans for a third.  You'd never accuse her of being lazy.

Details:

Pattern: LaReine, by Angela Tong

Yarn: Araucania Itata Solid

Needles: 3.75mm

Started: September 12

Finished: September 29

Although it took me 2 weeks to knit this, it is not a two week shawl.  Because I was a test knitter for this pattern and I wanted the finished result to look as good as possible, when I made mistakes (dropped a stitch, missed a yo, etc.) I actually fixed them instead of ignoring them.  Also, because this pattern consists largely of stockinette, mistakes become pretty glaring, which makes them easy to find and easy to fix. The yarn that I chose is a light and airy wool/bamboo/silk blend, resulting in a soft, drapey shawl that's more suited to spring and summer than winter.  I love the color and chose it, in part, because the lace pattern in the shawl reminded me of flames, so I thought the orange would make a good pairing.  Almost all of the other test knitters picked up a water vibe and have knit LaReine in shades of blue and blue-green.  Not sure what that says about me . . .in any event, I give this pattern, and it's designer, a thumbs up

p.s. Angela's hosting a give-away on her blog right now, featuring yarn and the LaReine pattern, so I'd pop on over if I were you.