Maderia and Horseshoes

Loving every minute of the shawl means that I made it to the end of the second ball of my second colour.  Unfortunatelly the work on the shawl must pause for a day or two because I did not make it to the end of the lace repeat.  More yarn is coming and I am really really glad that I ordered another ball of this shade as well as another ball of each of the remaining three colours.  

That left me with a lot of day for knitting.  I looked through all the projects and decided to give my version of Kate Davies sweet Myrtle  sweater some love.  

So if you recall, Myrtle is a laceweight sweater in four colours.  I am knitting it in sportweight Harrisville Shetland in five colours.  Because I can.  I am knitting it bottom up like the pattern just to stretch my limits though I am debating changing the way the arms are made.  The pattern is a modified drop shoulder design and I am thinking very seriously of making it just a simple drop shoulder.  It's a style I feel very comfortable in.

I hit the patterns thirteeen and a half inches from the underarm at the end of this third section of cream.  I measured myself and it would be a fine length for a cropped sweater but a cropped sweater would lead to only one thing.  Me, pulling it down in the back because my back feels chilly.  I would like to be able to wear this sweater with my upcoming Winslow Pants   so I don't want the sweater too  long.  Cropped tops and wide leged pants are a look I really like.  ** 

There is such comfort knitting this design too.  The Maderia lace of the shawl is a delicate variation of the horseshoe lace of this pattern.  It is such a lovely rhythmic knit. The other thing about this lace is how different it looks with colour changes and in a single colour.  Check out this pinterest link for many amazing variations of single colour work.      Compare those to this

and you see what I mean.

You know what the funniest thing about this is?  When I was looking at patterns for the border of the shawl, I wanted something really different but as different as Maderia lace looks, it feels like knitting horseshoe lace and here I am, with three projects on the go using essentially the same stitch:  Myrtle, the Bridegewater Shawl and my Shetland Shawl.   

**Look at me talking named independant designer designs and sounding like I care about style and the way things go together.  Who is this person I am become?