Aeolian Wedding Shawl

As some of you know, my dear friend (and now former coworker) Mel is getting married this fall.  I wanted to knit her something pretty for the occasion and as she picked a strapless dress for her November wedding and I had a great big cone o' ivory colored lace, a shawl seemed like the best option.

Hence the Aeolian Wedding Shawl:

The pattern is by Elizabeth Freeman and can be found (for free!) on Knitty.  Unlike Laminaria and other shawls with Estonian motifs, this one wasn't especially difficult, just labor intensive...and contained nupps.  If you can read a chart and can work a nupp, you can make this shawl. For those who have never tried nupps before, give them a whirl!  The key is to make them very, VERY loose, so you can purl them all together on the next row.  Don't worry if they look a little bit sloppy at first, blocking will straighten that out.  You won't regret it!

This pattern also comes in smaller versions for the not-so-adventurous.

Here's a close-up of the edging:

Pretty, right?

Modifications: 
At the request of the bride, I did not incorporate beads into this shawl.  I was a little relieved, to tell you the truth.  I'll tell you a little secret: I've never knit anything with beads and it makes me a little nervous!  At some point, I will have to knit a little something and learn to incorporate beads, but this was not the project on which to learn beading.

My shawl also came out a bit smaller than the larger version was intended to.  It's about my wingspan wide (67") and maybe 35" tall. I think this is because I didn't check my gauge before and on a size 2 needle, the whole thing came out smaller than it was supposed to.  Oh well!  It covers her shoulders and should keep her bare shoulders warm--I hope!

I love the yarn, too!  It's Valley Yarn's 2/14 Alpaca Silk, basically 1750 yards of lace on a giant cone.  I had enough for a shawl for my wedding, this wedding shawl, and still have about 250  yards leftover.  Crazy, right?  I think I will make those leftovers into a pretty cowl.  What do you think? 

In any event, I have already passed this shawl on to the lucky bride and she was very pleased with the result.  I can't wait to see it with her lovely dress!  Congratulations Mel on your upcoming wedding!  I hope all your planning goes smoothly!!

For next time, I've finished the Lizette pullover and plan to take some pictures tonight.  Check Ravelry later!

Cheers,

-Allie