Icarus, complete.

My blocking wire kit arrived yesterday, and I took advantage of being able to work from home today to block Icarus this morning. The results?

Gorgeous. I am so in love with my new shawl. Before I overwhelm y’all with more photos, here are the details:

Ravelry Project Page
Pattern: Icarus Shawl, by Miriam Felton, in the Summer 2006 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby, in “Spring Tickle”. I only had to break into a second skein to do the bindoff row.
Needles: Size 3 Knitpicks Harmony circulars (love ’em!)
Time to knit: June 25th-September 14th, 2008

The blocking opened up the stitches so nicely, and made for a really beautiful edge:

I loved the way it caught the sunlight when I held it up to the sky:

But enough of that…let’s see some modeled shots, yeah? Here it is, in the classic “yes, I knit a triangle!” pose:

And here it is, from the front:

I so enjoyed knitting this shawl. I really loved the yarn; it was somewhat heavy for a “laceweight” (closer to a light fingering weight, really), which was a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. And the color (as so many of you have noted as well) was just amazing. Part of me wants to order some of their “Classy” (the worsted weight) yarn in this colorway, to make a cardigan for myself or something, but there’s that whole “not buying new yarn” thing that I’m trying to do, so that probably won’t happen (plus, that stuff ain’t cheap!).

The pattern was also a delight. The majority of the shawl was very simple, just columns of eyelet stitches, perfect for knitting while watching TV or chatting with company. The fancier section was still very intuitive, I think, and still much less complicated than the lace in the shawl I knit for my sister-in-law, since the same pattern repeated across the entire width of the shawl, making it very easy to memorize. I think this pattern would make a really excellent first shawl/lace project, and I highly recommend it. The results are gorgeous!

Well, that’s all, folks. Icarus is done, and it’s time to move on to my husband’s sweater. We’ll be down in Hemlock, NY on Saturday, for the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival. I’m curious to see what it’s like; the only fiber-related event I’ve gone to before was an Alpaca Festival, in Ohio. I’ll be sure to post about it, in any case!