Keri's Saldanha Adamas Shawl
Keri had a birthday last week and by way of celebrating completed her very first large lace project, a beautiful rendition of MimKnits Adamas Shawl in Fleece Artist’s Limited Edition Saldanha. The pattern is a free download at what is a juicy and inspiring web site filled to the brim with beautiful lace designs, including the Adamas Shawl.
The Perfect Birthday? We all think so.
Let me tell you some of the wonderful things about this shawl. Of course, the best thing about it is that it is beautiful and that it is Keri’s first (stellar!) lace effort. But there’s more. Something you’ll all want to know is that this shawl measures 75″ across the top and 40″ at the center back, and it’s made using less than half of a single skein of Saldanha!!!
Then, there’s what happens to the colors when knit in the Adamas pattern:
It's like draping your shoulders in the night sky!
Although this photo doesn’t show everything we might all wish it did, you can glimpse the flashes of starry light dancing amidst the purples (the colorway is Twilight, by the way). This is just a hint of the magical changes that take place when you knit one of these colorways in this pattern. One of the things we can’t show in this medium is that some of the purples show up as plum notes on her shoulders, but as periwinkles agains her white dress. This makes for a color dance that is hard to tear yourself away from.
And, here’s some of the pattern detail ~ notice what a perfect job Keri did on this. Truly heirloom quality knitting. And she’s SO young!
Adamas pattern detail
Finally, I want to show you a trick Keri used when blocking her shawl. She had early on determined that her Adamas begged for what is known as a “severe blocking,” but went one step further to make absolutely shure that all the stitches opened evenly and that the shawl remained balanced:
Adamas being blocked
You see how beautifully equal each side of her Adamas is to the other? Here’s why:
The secrets of the center
She very cleverly ran blocking wire down the center of the shawl and secured it before even thinking about beginning the gentle stretching that her shawl required. It made all the difference and absolutely guaranteed that the beauty of the design simply sings.
Oregon Shawl Dreams
Needless to say, visions of future shawls are already on the horizon! You’re invited to send her an encouraging email at keri@bobnancyinc.com.
