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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Bee Fields Decision


This is one of those decisions that knitters have to make. It's similar to "do I frog back or can I live with this?" but this one is "do I stop now or do I go for the larger size?"
I'm at row 30 in the bee in the field chart of Anne Hanson's Bee Fields Shawl. This is the point where you can stop and knit the final 13 rows for the petite size. Thankfully the amount of yarn is not an issue. I'm using Lisa Souza fingering wool in the jonquil colorway, 1785 yards. The tall version of Bee Fields requires 1100 yards. Although I would love to finish this shawl in 13 rows, I think the shawl really needs a wider section to look proportionally correct. The size of the petite is better for me, but I know I wouldn't be satisfied with the finished piece. I love the look of this motif, the bees with their wings open, it begs to be knit in full with an extra 18 rows of this section. I don't have to block it to the full dimensions.
So I've reset my spreadsheet, and instead of 85% complete I'm back to 75%. But I have a better chance at being 100% happy with the finished shawl.
As I've been knitting this shawl, and others, like Laminaria, I'm considering how I would design a shawl for myself. Both of these designers are incredibly talented and I worship at their alters, but I'd love to have a shawl with a more "mashed up" transition between the motifs, so one would be integrated into the next over many rows, not leaving a "line" (literal or visual) between sections. In Pink Lemon Twist's Hanami shawl, she has a beautiful transition to the cherry blossoms. Maybe that should go into my queue. Chrissy is going to start a lace stole KAL on her Manic Purl podcast. She has knit a beautiful Hanami. It's very tempting...