I’ve been working on my River Run Shawl, but progress has slowed considerably. One reason is that my elbow has been bothering me for some reason so I’m not doing much knitting (or gardening or bicycling or . . . .). The other reason is that I’ve finished the body of the shawl and moved on to the edging, where progress seems glacial.
This is a knitted-on edging that uses up the live stitches of the shawl. It takes two rows to bind off one live stitch and each row has about thirty stitches. Throw in the beads (the edging will use about 850 beads) and you can understand why it’s slow. (Thank goodness I only have 424 stitches in total to get rid of, but that’s still over 800 rows.)
As is the case with most lace before it’s blocked, my shawl isn’t very photogenic. It’s also tricky to get any accurate shots of the color. The sheen of both the yarn and the beads seems to disappear. Here are some not great shots to give you an idea. The shawl looks distressingly tiny in these photos, but I’m hoping it will block out to the appropriate size.
Here’s how much (or little) of the border I’ve managed to finish:
The requisite artsy shot to try to show the yarn and beads in detail:
I know. Not very exciting. Well, then, how about this? Inspired by my sister, I knit my very first dishrag.
My husband was horrified when I picked it up and started cleaning with it. He couldn’t believe I’d do that to a piece of hand knitting.
Your first spread-out shot is gorgeous already, in my humble opinion — I sure hope your elbow gets better for your sake as well as for the shawl’s sake.
Comment by Chloe — July 9, 2009 @ 12:16 pm
Beautiful!! Hang in there on the edging – you develop a rhythm after a while. 10 repeats down, that is almost a tenth of the border done already! You are right where I was when I did the math – The border has 47% of your total stitches. All together the finished project has over 52,000 stitches. And it will be the prettiest thing you have ever finished. I guarantee it.
My River Run blocked out fairly large.
Comment by lilly — July 9, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
It’s gorgeous. Those beads really make it look special. I can’t wait to see it blocked. I’m knitting the border on the Cap Shawl right now. I wish I only had 800 rows to go.
Comment by rudeek — July 9, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
Lol about your husband and the dishcloth. I had to work on my Mom for the same thing but now she wants me to knit her more.
River Run shawl looks pretty good in those shots! I love that you can see the pattern beautifully even though the yarn is variegated.
Comment by Carrie K — July 9, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
river run looks great so far. and the edge will eventually get done. love the beads.
Comment by dana — July 9, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
The shawl looks wonderful. Grandma’s favorite dishcloth is my all time favorite dishcloth pattern.
Comment by Wanda in Ar — July 9, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
hahaha your sister inspired me too!I just finished dishrag #2!
Comment by Michelle — July 9, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
I hope your elbow mends quickly. Your shawl is already lovely. I went shopping for beads for a shawl that doesn’t have beads in the pattern. I didn’t have a clue :
1. how many beads I would need
2. The beads I found were sold by weight, so I don’t know how many beads are in the vial. is there a conversion table somewhere that says, for example, 1 oz of size 6 beads = x beads, 1 oz of size 8 beads =y beads, etc.
I don’t want to start a stash of beads, so I’d like to buy fairly close to the amount.
Comment by Sigrun — July 9, 2009 @ 9:54 pm
Oops, I forgot. I was going to talk about dishcloths, too. I like to crochet my dishcloths: a ridged dc pattern in the center square, and a scalloped edge, often in contrast color to match the recipient’s kitchen color scheme. The first set of 6 i gave away, and I made it clear that they are dish cloths to be used for that purpose, ended up used for doilies. Now, I am proud of them. They are beautiful dishcloths–but they are not pretty doilies.
Comment by Sigrun — July 9, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
First of all, I think the shawl is gorgeous, the colors are really really pretty! And I’ve not been brave enough to try knitting with beads yet so I’m really impressed. 🙂
Secondly, I love that your husband tried to defend the dishcloth – gotta be happy that he respects the knitting so much! 🙂
Comment by Lynn — July 9, 2009 @ 11:12 pm
the shawl looks beautiful even unblocked! It will be gorgeous when finished. I’ve only been knitting silly dishcloths this summer. Have a sweater to finish (only the button band and blocking left) but it looks unappealing at the end of the couch . . . my brain is in a summer lull and needs the most simpleton of projects.
Comment by delores — July 9, 2009 @ 11:19 pm
What a pretty shawl and I love the color. I can hardly wait to see it after it’s been blocked. I almost lost my coffee on the keyboard with your husbands reaction, it’s nice that he has such respect and high esteem for your knitting. I hope your elbow gets better soon and that you have a nice weekend.
Comment by Debbie — July 10, 2009 @ 11:49 am
lovely shawl — inspiring!
i knit virtually the exact same dishcloth for my mom. when she said she could not possibly use such a piece of art ;-), i told her she could only have it if she promised to use it. she does!
Comment by Elise / knitinsage — July 10, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
That is why I never knit dishrags 😉 I would hate to do that to what I spent my time on…and then instead of a stash, I’d have an unused dishcloth collection.
Comment by Doris — July 10, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
Oh, it took me a very long time to use a hand-knit dishcloth. . . BUT. . . when I did, I certainly found it a treat! My mom won’t use the shawl I knit for her. Not because she doesn’t like it, but because she considers it too lovely to potentially. . .what, I’m not exactly sure (stretch out? dirty? lose?). It’s wonderful to hold hand-knits in such high regard and cherish them, but sometimes there’s just too much reverence involved!
I love your shawl. It is simply lovely. It will be a treat to wear! 🙂
Comment by Kym — July 10, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
Kym is right – it takes using a handknit dishcloth to believe that is absolutely the best use for them. I love that classic pattern you used – can you imagine how many of those have been knit over the years?
The shawl is going to be lovely. Good luck with the elbow – mine is flaring up with biking season, too. We buy ibuprofen by the pound around here!
Comment by twinsetellen — July 10, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
I think this is one of the funniest post yet. The combination of the intricate lace and bead work along with a classic-style cotton dishcloth. HA!
But I must tell you that it gives me great courage and I thank you. It seems that my knitting and over-all creativity has been reduced to dishcloths (I like the brainless repetition of the Lion brand knitted dishcloth pattern best… but I only cast on 36 stitches 😉 ) Whassup with that??? Oh well, the muse will return, I’m sure. I’ll keep visiting the inspirational websites like yours and… It will return. In the meantime, I’m accumulating a lovely pile of great little dishcloths. HA! After all, Christmas IS coming!
Thanks again!
Comment by Arline — July 11, 2009 @ 4:56 am
Your River Run is gorgeous. Sorry to hear you aren’t able to knit as much as you like. I still keep your wrist braces in mind whenever I am tempted to keep going despite warning symptoms from my wrists.
Comment by Astrid — July 11, 2009 @ 6:07 am
The shawl looks lovely. The color way is very unique and reminds me of antiques somehow.
Comment by LaurieM — July 11, 2009 @ 10:53 am
the shawl is absolutely beautiful! I love the yarn and the color way. Take care of that elbow!
Comment by Karen Slate — July 12, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
Where can I purchase the pattern/kit for the shawl. I tried the site you mentioned in a previous post and could not find it.
Thank You, Corinne
Comment by Corinne Cera — July 13, 2009 @ 9:56 am