Summer in Kansas
The Summer in Kansas shawl is coming right along. I started the edging this weekend. I think it will be a pretty edging for that shawl–prettier than I thought it would be from the pattern photo. Of course, mine isn’t dressed yet, but I can see the possibilities.
I will warn any of you who try this shawl to remember that the shawl instructions are written out as well as charted. I started the edging chart and was stumped by a symbol on it that isn’t explained on the chart page. The symbol means to slip 1 knitwise, knit 2 together, pass the slipped stitch over. It’s in the written instructions. Moreover, the tenth row of the edging pattern doesn’t explain that you bind off four stitches at the start, but you’ll also find that in the written version. So don’t let that throw you.
Rose of England
That’s one thing I liked about the Marianne Kinzel patterns from The First Book of Modern Lace Knitting and The Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting. She has every pattern completely written out as well as charted, and her patterns are completely error free. Can’t beat that! Working her designs was a terrific way to learn to read charted patterns. I’d try to read the pattern and when I got stuck, I’d head for the written instructions. After a few forays into the written version, I didn’t need it any longer. This is my Rose of England made from her pattern:
Pattern: Rose of England from Marianne Kinzel’s Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting
Thread: Size 20, all cotton, probably Coats and Clark
Needles: Size 2 US
Size: 40″ across
This pattern of hers was easy to do, but I got distracted in the knitting of it. I started it the day that Prince Charles and Diana got married. I made it so that when my daughter inherited it, she’d remember that we got up early to watch the wedding together that day on television, and she could remember all over again how beautiful the wedding was. Silly me! The marriage fell apart, and the Rose of England got stuffed in a bag and shuffled here and there for 22 years! I finished several of her other designs in the meantime, but the Rose languished in that bag. Finally, I got it out again and finished it. In all that time it had gotten a little dusty, so I treated it to a bath of Biz, and it came out sparkling white. I can’t tell you how many times I nearly ripped it out! Now, of course, it’s my favorite of all Kinzel’s projects, but it took a while getting there.