Sunday, October 15, 2006

Shawl Surprises

I know readers have been awaiting the modeled photos of the shawl in all its autumnal glory. I intended to show you pictures like this:


or like this:
or even this:

as I wore this shawl this weekend to my cousin's wedding. It was going to be a quick little entry, something like this:

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence
Yarn: Schaefer Anne
Mods: none except for change in yarn weight in pattern.

I was going to tell you about how I would highly recommend this pattern to the beginning lace knitter, because in every row, you have two signposts to tell you if you have made a mistake. If you get to the YOs in the center, and your stitch count is off, you have made a mistake. If you get to the last YO stitches at the end of a row, and your stitch count is off, you made a mistake. There was very little frogging needed, and NO LIFE LINES necessary. I was going that thank Margene for recommending it and Susan for designing it, and I was going to urge everyone to knit it and I was going to take recommendations for my next lace shawl pattern. I was also going to wax on and on about Anne and just tell everyone to Get. Some. Anne. Now.

I was going to bitch a little about how no one even noticed my shawl, but my wonderful sisters (I include my sisters-in-law in the general term) all fawned over the shawl, looked covetously, and one sister-in-law (the one who managed to get my Regia socks) even told my brother when they were getting ready that she wished she had a shawl like mine. (Note to self: explore this further.)

But that is not what I am going to tell you about. Blog-friends, I got knit-spotted at my cousin's wedding. A wedding guest in a chic little black dress, whom I remembered as a reader at the ceremony, approached me and acknowledged (note: she didn't ask) that I was wearing a hand-knit. She asked me if it was Flower Basket. I told her it was Forest Canopy. Knitters met, having spied the pattern across this room. This was awesome! I mean, we were surrounded by Muggles, and she spotted the knit. It is one thing to sit next to someone at a Yarn Harlot reading who just-so-happens to be knitting the same sock pattern as you, but at a wedding? Crazy!

So we sought each other out at another time, and you'll never guess who it was...Ashley! Go check her out (if you don't already -- we have readers in common, as we discovered!) and view her lovely knits and her fantastic blog. We even came out of the knit blogger closet to my cousin, who very kindly told us that our nerdy hobby was really cool and hip.


What a pleasure it was to meet you, Ashley. It was a highlight of a night that was wonderful to begin with.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

THAT is a fantastic story!!
And the shawl is beautiful.

Aileen said...

I love the shawl! and the story! It just shows what a small world, esp since we have one thing in common...WE LOVE THE FIBER!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm a loyal reader of you both--can't believe you guys met so randomly. Great shawl, too, of course.

Ashley said...

My only regret is that I was wearing an embarrasingly pedestrian pashmina--not a knit in sight.

Francesca said...

What a great story -- and what a great shawl. Good knitting times.

KellyFaith said...

What a beautiful shawl! I'm not much of a shawl person, but even I am inspired!

eyeknit said...

Fabulous story! That colorway of Anne is to die for! What number was it? It looks stunning with a black dress. Nice work!

Dorothy said...

That is so cool! Knitter's are taking over one event at a time.

Kirsten said...

He-he, great story! And by the way, I am one of your "readers in common"!
The shawl looks beautiful

Angelika said...

I love the wedding story. It's amazing where you can find people with the same interests. And you even found the one you already "knew", just not by face.

Wendy said...

Yes, everyone must get Anne!!! The shawl looks great!

Wendy

Cindy said...

What a great story! I love "small world" occurrences like that. I've had a few of my own last month, which I detailed in my blog, but they weren't as cool as yours.

& the shawl is gorgeous, by the way.

Birdsong said...

Your shawl is lovely, but that is an absoulutely once-in-a-million story!

Christine said...

I have some Anne that didn't have a purpose, and now it does - I am going to have to make that shawl! Yours is lovely, and what a cool way to meet another knitter.

carrie said...

it looks STUNNING! absolutely stunning. and isn't it just great to meet knitters? i always say to jon that i can pick knitters out a mile away. there's just something about us, isn't there?

Anonymous said...

Very cool! (It looks great btw.)

Ann said...

Liz! It's gorgeous! And the knitter spotting was great! I have been too shy to ask about handknits in the past, but now, I will be more daring ...

Christine said...

I broke down and bought different Anne and want to whip this out before Kid & Ewe on Nov. 11th - do you think it is possible? Also, what size needle did you end up using on yours? (I barely have time to swatch!) Any help would be greatly appreciated!