Prairie Shawl1

Prairie Shawl1
Originally uploaded by virginiasaccurso@yahoo.com

This Shawl began as a vision back in December 2009, when I started carding some Cinnabar Merino and White Superfine Merino together on my drum carder. I had originally planned to have it knitted up in time for Valentine's Day. However, this didn't come to happen.

I carded up my first batt and came up with a name for this new yarn "My Heart Delight". I then began spinning the first batt on my drop spindle and new that I'd have to card more then 1 batt to make this shawl. So back to the drum carder I'd go, after the first batt was spun up. It was slow going, and my arm and shoulder would be tired and sore by the end of the day.

11 batts and 754 yards later on March 31st I finally began the knitting process. Once I started knitting on this shawl, I found that it wouldn't take me near as long to knit.....especially if I knitted all day long and everyday, with only a few breaks in between.

I thought when I started knitting this shawl that I'd have a few problems with knitting it. This was due to the yarn not being washed before I started knitting and also because it was only a lace weight type yarn. I didn't was the yarn before hand because I wanted to get started right away and also because I wanted to wash it all at once when the shawl was finished.

Once I finished this shawl I washed it by hand in my sink and rolled it in a towel to help absorb as much water as possible. Then I laid it out on my bed and pinned it down to block it. This shawl measures 69 inches wide by 39 1/4 inches deep.