Belle Nuit - Finished!

 

I finally finished this shawl this morning (the picot cast off was all I had left) on the way up to Fort Belvoir for a meeting (no, I was not driving).  The beads really slowed things down, but they do look beautiful.  I know that I sang the virtues of using a needle and thread for placing the beads, but I switched back to the crochet hook method because it was considerably faster.

Belle Nuit - Update

 

I have mostly been knitting lace this past week.  I am working on the 6th repeat of chart B on this shawl.  There are 8 repeats of chart B and then chart C and I will be done.  Placing the beads is a bit tedious, but the results are beautiful.

Belle Nuit - Started Chart B

I've finished one repeat of Chart B.  I re-charted both Chart A and Chart B, mirroring the side pattern to make the shawl symmetric and getting rid of the purl stitches.  They really weren't doing anything for me from a design aspect, plus they were interrupting the flow of the knitting, so I decided to get rid of them.

I've been using a new piece of software for charting, Knit Visualizer.  I discovered it via ravelry.  It really made the charting easy, especially mirroring the side pattern.  I just copied the section and then mirrored it after pasting it.  I was able to print all three pieces of Chart A on a single sheet, but for Chart B I had to resort to three sheets, which provided a bit of a challenge when it came to actually knitting.  I use a magnetic board with magnet strips to keep my place in the pattern, but I needed 3 surfaces and only had two magnetic boards.  I solved the problem by putting the two side charts on opposite sides of one board.  I also put the charts plus boards into page protectors.  It has been working quite well. 

I'm using a needle to put the beads on the knitting rather than a crochet hook.  This is another technique that I picked up on ravelry.  It is really easy.  You just thread some beads on a needle and thread with a bead stopper (the spring in the picture) on the end.  When you need to add a bead, you just poke the needle through the loop of the stitch, pull it off the needle, slide the bead into place, replace the stitch and pull out the needle and there you are, easy as pie.  I was using a tiny crochet hook, but sometimes I split my yarn, and it was a bit fiddly.  This method is very reliable, and your beads stay safely corralled on your thread - no getting away and rolling onto the floor or into the cushions of the couch.  Just keep it away from curious kitties.

 

Here is a view of the back side of my setup for the center Chart B so you can see the magnetic board and one of the magnet strips.  I didn't think it would be cool to post pictures with the charts showing because you could get the pattern that way without paying the designer.

Belle Nuit - Finished Chart A

I finished Chart A of the shawl.  I actually started it over again.  It had a simple cable stitch bordering each section and I just couldn't stand the interruption in the flow of the knitting, and cabling with lace weight is just too fiddly, so I substituted two fake cable stitches - a right twist and left twist.  It made things go much quicker and gives a similar appearance as the original cable.  Before I can do much more, however, I need to get a smaller crochet hook.  I have a 1 mm, and I can get it through some of the beads, but a smaller one would make things much easier.  The pattern calls for a 0.6 mm one.

Belle Nuit - Year of Lace 2009 #4

 The fourth kit in the 2009 Year of Lace arrived this past Wednesday.  The yarn is Curious Creek Fiber Meru, a lovely 50% Tussah Silk, 50% Merino in my favorite color.  The designer is Sivia Harding.  The kit comes with blue color lined beads, but I think that I'm going to use the lavender instead.