Swallowtail

I blocked my Swallowtail Shawl today, and boy is it beautiful. Blocking is such an amazing thing. It was pretty before, but now the lace is so open, and the nubs really pop.It was a really fun pattern, too. And surprisingly quick. I'd had this idea that shawls took forever, but they really don't. Especially not this one, cuz it's little. I'll probably end up wearing it more as a scarf than as a shawl. My Blocking wasn't perfect, but I can live with that. I can always re-block if it starts to bug me.
After this little beauty, I'm totally on a lace kick. Everything I'm queuing of late is lace, lace, lace. I even bought two more sizes of Addi Laces needles for it, because I loved them so much on this. There's pointy and the stitches never once slipped. It was pretty glorious.
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Buscando Azul
Needles: Addi Lace size 4, 24 inch circs.
Modifications: None. I knew it was going to come out little, but I'd never knit with Mal lace before, and didn't want to chance running out, so I didn't add any extra repeats, but seeing the amount of yarn I had left over, I definitely could have.
Started: July 2008
Finished: July 2008, four days later
What made it even cooler, is that everything I used for it, I got from my awesome Mal Swap buddy, Lori. She sent me a lovely Magic Yarn Ball, full of all sorts of delightful goodies, including the yarn, pattern and needles. She did such a fantastic job picking out goodies for me, and I was definitely excited to cast on for it, that I knit the whole thing up in a jiffy.
In addition to the yarn, pattern and needles for this shawl, she sent some Lion Wool Prints, an emory board, a little yellow bear tape measure, a set of mini natural soaps, a magic washcloth, two rubber stamps, one of which has a quote from Antony and Cleopatra on it, an aromatherapy patch, incense matches, a soak sample in Aqua, which I haven't tried yet, delicious tangerine hand cream, an Eat Sleep Knit ruler, and Eat Sleep Knit Lotto card, which I won a skein of smooshy on, and the most beautiful stitch markers ever, that she made herself. They have little green beads and crystals on them and they are so so pretty. I adore them and use them every chance I get. Plus, it was a set of thirteen that she sent, with one contrasting one, so I'll always have plenty of them. Really, I couldn't be happier with them. The whole swap, my first ever, was pretty cool. I had such a fun time putting everything together, and waiting for mine to get there, plus I got such an awesome, thoughtful package. The whole thing was great.
Thank you Lori!