Wrapping up
Epic Lace Knit 2007-2008 has drawn to a close, and I think I’ve dragged the coverage out just about long enough. The fat lady has sung: the bride warmed her shoulders with her lilac lace during the wedding supper, and called it the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen and required that everyone admire it during her speech of welcome on the dance floor. That’ll do for me! So let’s say our goodbyes to the Mediterranean Ivy Lace:
I have the prettiest new sister ever, don’t I?
Final specs:
Mediterranean Lace by Maureen Egan Emlet, from A Gathering of Lace
Modified as a rectangular stole by working the ivy lace chart for the “wings” only, 16 repetitions. If you’re planning to knit this, note that 17 reps would have been a better number for picking up multiples of 42 sts for the edging. I would have run out of yarn, though. Speaking of yarn:
Most of 3 skeins (~1500 yards) ArtYarns Cashmere 1, in a color I call Pale Lilac. It isn’t listed on their website anymore, so it may be discontinued.
US#2 Addi Lacepoints for the body; US#0 regular blunt Addis, 48″, for the edging. Curse their stumpiness. I’d rather be cast into Tartarus than pick up 1200 stitches with them again.
Cast on in August 2007; finished in May 2008. I could’ve produced a baby in that time, folks. (And honestly, Marika would have been just as excited. But it wouldn’t have been as soft and pretty, and now I can sleep at night besides!)
So what’s next? I’ve just started the lace portion of my Indigo Ripples skirt. I think I’m going to like the fit a lot – I lengthened the stockinet upper part by a couple of inches for modesty, as I want to be able to wear this thing to school without scandalizing my colleagues or scarring the children. And yesterday I basted together my quilt sandwich and began hand quilting it. I’m going to do a mixture of hand quilting around some of the large flowers and machine quilting long vertical lines as given in the instructions. We’ll see how it turns out! But I’ve had to put the crafting on hold today. I’m blogging while I watch the conclusion of the Giro d’Italia, but then I need to get back to my major task of the weekend: I’m the faculty reader for a young man who has produced a 480-page historical fiction/biography entitled Aeneas of Rome as his graduation project. That’s graduation from the eighth grade, you understand. He’s been working with a classical scholar and a college English professor. The chapters open with quotes in Latin and Greek, with his own translations. The kid is going places. But he has to present his work to the faculty for review on Tuesday, so I’ve got my work cut out for me!
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Congrats on finishing and having such a wonderful person to give it too. I would be admiring it too if I was her. Great job!
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 2:18 pm
aww! it’s so pretty on her, I’m glad she liked it so much. and congrats to Marika and your brother. that’s quite the epic shawl (4500 yards?!)
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 2:35 pm
It’s just beautiful! So is she. 🙂
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Oh, wow. That is just stunning. (And yeah, so is your new sister!)
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
It’s breathtakingly gorgeous, Sarah! As is your new sister. 🙂
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
It’s just beautiful, Sarah, as is your new sister-in-law. Great work!
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Really beautiful. What a labor of love! And congratulations to the new couple!
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Congratulations on a Herculean task beautifully accomplished. Had it been mine, I wouldn’t have been brave enough to place it on the bench. But it did look as lovely there as it did on the bride!
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 6:49 pm
stunning, sarah. just stunning. i love the comment on the baby vs. the lace. i may have to argue about the soft and pretty part…so far lace cannot hold a candle to my boys’ cheeks.
sounds weird, but i would love to be the reader of this weighty tome from your student. i was in AP latin in high school (yep, bona fide nerd) and our task was to translate the aeneid. i could not recount any of it now, but i have a feeling it would all come flooding back if i had to faculty read. what a lovely life you lead. i miss academia sometimes.
smiles.
Posted: June 1st, 2008 at 7:36 pm
It’s absolutely beautiful!! you did a fantastic job. Your new sister in law is so lucky!!
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 6:47 am
She looks completely thrilled ~ as she should be with such a lovely shawl wrapped around her. That was quite a project.
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 7:13 am
It looks absolutely stunning– congratulations both on the gorgeous shawl and on the new addition to your family! I’ve been watching your progress here over the past few months; you’re the one who inspired me to use my ArtYarns Cashmere 1 on this pattern! (And I shamelessly copied your idea to knit only the “wings”) So I’m a few months behind you in progress, and you’ve given me hope that someday I might be finished 🙂 The finished shawl came out beautifully, and the border is just astounding.
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
A Gorgeous gift for a gorgeous bride. I’m sure she’ll treasure it always!! 1200 stitches to pick up?!? Quite the labor of love!
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
I hope your new sister-in-law appreciates how much she is loved! What an epic knit… I can’t even imagine starting a project like this without being overwhelmed at the sheer enormity of the task. What an amazing piece inspiration you’ve served up to us!
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 10:03 am
it came out beautifully. and as hellish as they must have been to tackle, the borders are stunning.
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 am
Oh my Sarah, this stole is breathtaking. Please tell me your didn’t really have to pickup 1200 stitches on size 0’s! Congratulations to your brother and his new wife, and your new family member 🙂
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Phil and Paul would be so proud!!! Dancing on the needles, indeed. Your stole and your new sister in law are just stunning.
Posted: June 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Absolutely gorgeous. Stunning. The color and the pattern – beautiful. And the bride looks exquisite.
Posted: June 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 am
I LOVE that edging! Congrats on a successful FO 🙂
Posted: June 3rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
Beautiful lace! (and the new sister-in-law is not hard on the eyes either!)
I don’t suppose you could get the kid to submit his dissertation (!!!!eighth grade??!!!) in an audio format? Then at least you could knit and listen.
Posted: June 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 am
And I just now saw the comment you left on my blog! I was definitely very pleased to see that you’d done only 16 repetitions 🙂 Thanks for the tip!
Posted: June 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
Just gorgeous, Sarah. What a special gift (to her, and that you have!)
Posted: June 4th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
What a beautiful stole and the border on it looks great. Great job.