Presenting Icarus

Detail of Tail

Dec. 29th marks the day of Icarus' debut. On this day, Icarus was bound off and blocked after I finally sat down and decided to tackle the last 3 rows in the pattern. I began knitting Icarus in early Nov. using ColourMart's Emperor Jay double stranded lace cashmere with size 3(US) needles. I should have used a size 2 needle or knit one less repeat of Chart 1 because not only did the shawl end up longer than called for, I ran out of yarn, hence the green edging. Finished dimensions are 78"X44."

Chart 4 was completed a few days earlier without much ado but that first row of the last 4 was a challenge for me for the simple fact that I was not reading the instructions carefully. In all, I guess I had to frog that row a total of four times before I got it right. Once that was settled, the rest was a breeze.

Chart 2 did give me a bit of trouble initially since I had gotten very used to the rhythm of Chart 1. I was finally able to knit the first few rows of Chart 2 without major mistakes after a few tries and with a lot of concentration.

mistakes were made along the way but some I did not correct because I felt they could easily be overlooked or worked around with. If something was really off, then I'd frog and correct it.

Icarus before blocking

Close up before blocking. The colors in this shot are the most accurate to the real thing.

Icarus in the blocking stage

Icarus is the first "real" project that I block and not having enough pinable surface area was a real challenge. I made do with what I had and while the blocking could have been a lot better, I am rather happy with the end result.

Overall I liked knitting the pattern and the final result. If someone were to request Icarus, I would more than likely knit it again.