swallowtail shawl

Yay, I finished something!

I don't know what it is about these silly lace shawls...I have no plans to actually wear one, but I can't stop making them. I guess it's the magic of going from a lump of crazy-looking knitting to a thing of beauty.

This is my swallowtail shawl, an Evelyn Clark design. Everyone has made one. (Well, nearly 10000 knitters have, anyway.)

Senorita Grumpypants was not in the mood to model today - can you tell by the hunched shoulders? She's pouting, too. Oh well, you want me to take you to that bounce-house birthday party later today, kid? That's what I thought. Now, show us how it looks when you hold it out to the sides:

It seems there are certain shawls that just about everyone makes (if they make shawls, that is). There's this one, and the flower basket shawl, the shetland triangle, ishbel, and ene's scarf, among many others. I guess because these designs are so accessible for knitters of every level, maybe? The knitting is really not difficult at all, other than those tricksy nupps. Lots of knitters substitute beads there, and I can see why...it would definitely be faster and less fussy. But I'm glad to have tried it as written. 

I'm disappointed I didn't use up more of the yarn, though. I had two skeins of Naturespun fingering weight in nordic blue, approximately 310 yards each. I got most of the way through the shawl with one skein, and only used maybe 1/10 of the second. Oh well, it's better than running out, and it came from stash so that's definitely good. This was knit on my favorite vintage nylon size 6 circular needle. 

I have lots of shawls in my ravelry queue, what shall I knit next? I also have two more skeins of Naturespun in a purple colorway to use up as well...I have to admit, I didn't "get" ravelry at first, but holy moly, it's an amazing tool. If you need me, I'll be over there trying to select my next project...