Actually, I've been wanting to knit frost flower since I saw Frost Flowers and Leaves, but I was a novice knitter, very new to lace, and knitting lace on both sides was very intimidating.
I had recently finished a very big project Mandala II for my mother's birthday, which she loves very much, thank God, and I was knitting a bunch of roses just for the heck of it. What I really need was a new project. Something not too big, not too complicated for it's summer in Taiwan and we're at 36 degrees C everyday with NO afternoon thunderstorms, strangely, which should happen as it's a typical sub-tropical summer weather, which means no knitting or no advanced knitting during the day. Anyway, I had to start Percy for we're having it as a KAL and I want a shawlette and I think I have just the yarn for it: Malabrigo Lace.
I have quite a few colors in my stash, blue color family mostly and a little of the color Holly Hock, with which I knitted a Spring Tulips Stole for my trip to Paris last June. I had 4 skeins and used about 2.24 on STS. Although I preferred to use a new color, but eventually settled with Holly Hock. Kind of get-it-out-of-my-sight plus destash-y decision, not that I dislike the color. I LOVE it!
Usually I use a swift and ball winder to wind my yarn, but this time, due to laziness (of taking out the gadgets and setting up), I hand wound it. I was actually quite proud of myself for finally managed to make quite a nice ball!
A Malabrigo hand-wound yarn ball, looks equally nice and soft and fluffy in a ball as it is in a skein or knitting.
Set up rows of Percy
Chart A went on smoothly and I liked the pattern. I thought it a different one until I saw it in knitting, and I liked this better than the one I thought I was knitting! There's a curvy shape outside the little leaves or diamonds, which gives the pattern a softer look and enhanced by the red-purple color it looks even more romantic.
Set-up rows +Chart A
I was very careful while knitting Chart B. Experiences told me that knitting lace both sides requires concentration and good knitting environment. Chart B was knitted mostly at night when the air conditioning was on. I did knit a little during the day but almost everytime I did I ended up unravelling what I knit. Too darn hot. Stuffy mind. There weren't big errors but just...errors. I was knitting quite tightly with 4mm needles and unravelling was a bitch for the unravelled stitches were so tight and very difficult to move on the needles. I had to be very patient not to break the Malabrigo and everytime I finished unravelling a row, I had to take a shower. Somewhere halfway throught the first Chart B repeat, things got better and knitting went on much smoother and I was starting to enjoy knitting frost flowers. I decided to add one more repeat of frost flower before going on to Chart C. Knitting Chart B once doesn't do justice to this shawlette nor the frost flowers. I would've done two more repeats but I wanted a shawlette so one was suffice.
Chart B + 1 repeat
Nupps, strangely enough I hated them before. They gave me a hard time on the two Swallowtails I knitted a couple of years ago. The first one was hell for the yarn I used was too thin too slippery and as a novice lace knitter I knitted double stranded. Bad choice. The second one was better for I googled and searched and found some advice from other knitters and applied a slip 2 purlwise p3tog psso alternative for the nupps. I was quite pleased with the result but I certainly wanted to do it the "proper" way this time. I should say that I can appreciate nupps more for I was reading about Estonian lace knitting recently and discussion have been carried on among knitter friends. I also watched the demo Nancy Bush made on Knitting Daily regarding the nupps and decided to do it exactly as she did. And what do you know? Nupps and I are best friends now! Didn't know why I made such a fuss about it years ago...well, I have much more lace experiences now of course!
Chart C + Edging
Blocking was fun. Come to think of it, I haven't made a triangle shawl for quite a while! And I have more experiences with blocking now and hopefully I can block Percy beautifully. This is how it turned out:
I love the yos on both sides of the center stitch
I like how the frost flowers emerge from the center stitch...
I really love these nupps! I used to hate them, for they were a nightmare for me to make.
This shot gives the evidence of the nice and hot weather we're having here: bright blue sky,fiery sun (hiding behind my Percy) with a stifling breeze...
I really love this shawlette. Too bad I have to wait another 5 months to wrap it around my neck. That's why I don't have a modelled picture! I did, however, wrapped it around my neck in a air conditioned room, just to feel the Malabrigo, the frost flowers and the nupps! <3
