Shirley

November 2009

There's something lovely about starting a dense, time consuming, gorgeously textured project which you know is going to ask a lot of you. I'd say Shirley was worth every second.

I modified Snowden's pattern in several small ways:

- I left off a series of eyelets above the lace;

- I added a few more rows of short row shaping than the pattern suggested;

- I knit the pieces in the wrong order (scarf, top half, sleeve, sleeve, body) so that I got plenty of practice with the lace; and

- I worked my raglan increases differently so that they would look less airy.

Nevertheless, it's an inspired and beautifully written pattern.

This project also taught me how to a simple thing like threading a tapestry needle with a line of dental floss and passing it through the live stitches every ten rows or so can really do a lot for a person's sanity.

Pattern: Shirley by Snowden Becker

Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze

Amount: 5 skeins

Colourway: 605 Smoke

Needles: 3.25mm

Size: 34"

On ravelry: here