Bergamot Shawl

(Pictures Copyright Interweave Press)

The new Knitscene preview is UP with one of my designs, Bergamot Shawl in it!    Love is not a strong enough word for this piece, in fact, I do believe I cried when I sent it off to Interweave.  A large part of August was spent knitting this puppy while I camped with my family...  remember this post?  I even knit on it by campfire light!  Here are some close ups I took before I shipped it off....

I love the construction of Bergamot... it starts with the lace edging, and then sts are picked up all the way across it for the body of the shawl.  Decreases are worked at the center back and at each edge... so every row is shorter than the last!  The stitch has a stockinette base with 1 x 1 cables that create a V-shape.  The floating beads are then worked by reaching down in between the cables 4 rows below and creating new sts that then have beads placed on them with a crochet hook or dental floss.  (Expect to see a tutorial on placing beads this way SOON.)  Finally it is blocked and fringe is added, et voila! 

 

Bergamot is worked with two strands of Schaefer Andrea held together.  Laceweight silk held double creates one of my new favorite fabrics... remember Mythos II?  If holding yarn double gives you a headache, though, you could easily make it with a fingering weight yarn instead!

Knitscene hits the stands January 26th... you don't want to miss this issue!