Roseraie Shawl and Russian Knitting

I wasn't able to get the big guy to sit on it, if fact he still hasn't since it was finished, but here is what has been keeping me distracted, in a good way, from the Slithering scarf all May.

It's called Roseraie and it was a text knit from a Revelry group. Well, testing is done and the pattern can be purchased here.

This was a great pattern, I think it turned out really well. For the most part it was easy enough to knit at my knitting group where there are some who do more talking than knitting. I also worked on it at home with A, who is now five and very chatty. Everything went fine until I got to the edging. It wasn't exactly difficult, but you can't play dolls and knit this edge, though it is fine to knit while watching TV.

My shawl turned out to be a great size for me. I used size 8 needles and my handspun Jacob and Icelandic yarn from when I first got my wheel. The Jacob was still a bit rough, but I was advised to put some hair conditioner into the water when I washed it, and it did yep to soften it up quite a bit!

I didn't count the gauge since no one will be able to use the yarn again, but the yarn was generally somewhere between DK and worsted. When I blocked it, it spread across most of my queen sized bed. Again, it will make a great shawl for me, and I'm usually a size 8.

Another fun thing about this shawl was that I did the bottom two grey sections with the Russian knitting and purling techniques. I had read about this method a bit on Crafts, and then found these videos on YouTube.

Working this way was interesting, and worked great for the bigger section where it is mostly stockinette. The purling was a bit faster, as advertised, but you have to be aware that using the Russian method will change how your stitches lie on the needles. You have to use the Russian method on a whole project not just on the pure rows, or you'll end up twisting all of your stitches. I think it may have also changed the directions of my decreases, but that will need further trials and inspection with a lighter colored yarn.

It was a great method that I would like to use again for projects with a lot of straight stockinette, like for the Moscow Coat that I will get back to someday, but for projects like this, especially where there are a lot of specific decreases, I think it best to stick to English or Continental, that's how most patterns are written.

Overall, it was a great project. I was happy to use my handspun, work a new pattern that gave me a nice sized shawl and worked fairly quickly, and try a new technique.