A Shawl of Tulips

I can feel it! Spring is in the air.
This week I finished a shawl with tulip as my motif inspiration. The motif design took me several tries.  It actually took me longer to design than to knit the shawl.

I had the preliminary idea of a tulip motif sprouting in my head few weeks ago, and I even drew up the rough chart. I got sidetracked with doing other stuff, so I didn't start making the design until last week. Somehow, the funny weather got me really impatient with making modification after modification, swatch after swatch,. There were few days between the first and second take, and coupla days before the third take.  Finally I thought I was happy with the third swatch, and next morning I woke up and decided the shape looked too much like a generic leaf shape.  So it took me 4 swatches to get it right.

But I'm happy to say that the shawl itself took me only 4 days to knit.

The yarn was Malabrigo Superwash Lace with size 5 needles.  I love working with the yarn.  It's not as dainty as true lace weight, which made it easier to work. It's thinner than light fingering, so the result is more airy.  It's unfortunate the entire line of yarn was a limited edition deal with Jimmy Bean's. I wish I had stash up a whole bunch.  It's only 50 grams per skein with 355 yards,yet 1 skein was enough for this shawl, with with about 5-10 yards left.

The crescent shape shawl was knitted from top down, with the fun part of lace at the end.  Even if I don't wear much lace, I sure love knitting them.