Because I am a crazy person, I started yet another lace project. I got a skein of Madelinetosh Prairie a couple of months ago while out with my mom, and wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I remembered Ene's Scarf, one of the many stellar patterns from Interweave's Scarf Style. I've had the book forever - I originally bought it because I fell in love with the many Lady Eleanor stoles that were floating around the blogosphere. I did make one scarf from the book, but then put it away, which is a shame because it is a veritable treasure trove of great patterns.
Ene is constructed much like Miralda: a long (long long) cast-on that decreases by 4 stitches each row until you graft or three-needle bind off the last 20-odd stitches. One change I've already made is to add two rows of garter stitch right after the cast-on. I knew I had about 100 extra yards than recommended, so I'm not worried about running out by adding more rows. Miralda has this little garter border before the main edging pattern, and I like the contained polish it gives. I was also wary of jumping right into the edging as recommended in the pattern, for fear of curling.
So far, the Prairie is one of my favorite true laceweights ever. It's more substantial in the hand than Artyarns Cashmere 1, softer than Tosh Lace (a plied laceweight), and more pleasant for my alpaca-sensitive fingers than Silky Alpaca Lace. The only other laceweight for which I have felt such affection is Jaggerspun Zephyr, which has a lovely (and addictive) fluffy-yet-shiny feel and look. The Prairie has a little bit of sheen, great depth of color, and a weightlessness of the fabric despite being heavy enough to work with easily.
Seriously... at this point I'm totally fighting the urge to buy All The Tosh.
1 comment:
Love the color of that yarn...I really need to knit something from that book!
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