Squiggle Lace Shawl with yarn from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm - Done

Quick and easy?

This was supposed to be a quick and easy project.  It is, after all, just garter stitch. 

Lots and lots of garter stitch.

So while it was easy, it wasn’t nearly as quick as I’d anticipated.  As a matter of fact, I was really ready to be done with it by the time I reached the third of four balls of the lovely chunky brown.  The combination of thin white and chunky brown fibers made for way too much tangling.  I hadn’t anticipated that this project would make me so frustrated.

There were good parts, though.  As with lots of locally sourced wool, there was a lovely touch of lanolin (the waterproofing substance naturally found in sheep wool) in the brown, and my hands always felt softer for having worked with it.  The switch between fibers at least kept things interesting.  And every time I looked at it, I thought of that cake you make with Famous Chocolate Wafers.

Still, I was worried.  I know enough of squiggle lace to know it changes dramatically once you get it off the needles.  I wasn’t particularly fond of the way it looked on the needles--I kept telling people it looked like something that belonged on Carmen Miranda’s sleeves, an endless stretch of ruffles.  Would it look better or worse once bound off?

Oh, the answer is definitely better.  I like it.  I mean I really like it.  It’s wonderfully stretchy and just the right balance of light and chunky.  It’s fabulous.  I’d have picked it up off a store shelf for its stand-out beauty and versatility.  

The fact that I’ve visited the yarn source and knit it myself?  Well, that makes it just about perfect.

Next up, some brilliant green fingerless mits.

Squiggle Lace Shawl with yarn from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm - Day 1

If at first you don't succeed...

Squiggle lace has not worked for me in the past.  I love it in the photographs--it looks so delicate and textured.  Then I knit it up, and mine looks like seaweed caught up in a poorly made fishing net.

When I saw the lush, thick, undulating chocolate brown of the yarn from Homestead farm, I knew I had to give it another try.  It’s spring, after all, and I wasn’t willing to relegate this wool to a thick winter cowl.  I wanted to give it some chance to hang out with a lighter texture.

Normally, squiggle lace utilizes a single, non-turning row of thicker yarn intersperced with several rows of a much thinner yarn. 

I wasn’t happy with the results of a single row, so I used two rows (up and back, as it were).  This means I ended up with more of a ridge than a squiggle, but I liked it that way.

As I thicken the piece with more rows, I think the space between the thick brown ridges will lengthen.  Blocking will do the same.  The only thing I don’t know is how the piece will lengthen out once I get it off the needles. 

I’ll just have to wait and see.