Juneberry

Ahhh, yes.  We have blocking space again.

Pattern:  Juneberry Triangle by Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed

Juneberry Triangle in Birte

Yarn:  Spirit Trail Fiberworks Birte, 2 sk, Dancing the Orange.  Skeins were alternated on the main body of the shawl, but not on the wide border.

Needles:  Signature Circs, US 6

Pattern mods:  zilch

Dancing the Orange

Finished size:  63 inches wide by 29 inches deep

Birte is extremely bouncy to knit with.  I can easily understand why it is so appealing for cowls, mitts and other close-to-skin accessories.  I didn’t know quite how it would behave when asked to perform lace tricks.  Based on the fiber composition – 75% Merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Silk – I knew it would block, but how well was the big unknown.

Birte's bobbles and blocking

Juneberry Triangle was a great demo to find out.  With double yarn-overs and even bobbles, there were plenty of different stitch patterns to block and see what Birte would do after ample drying time on wires.  I gave the shawl a good soak in warm water and Eucalan, then blocked pretty aggressively on wires and dried it for three days.

Well-charted territory

If you like knitting by chart, this pattern is for you.  Each chart comes with clear instructions at the outset as to the direction of even and odd rows.  Even though there is pattern on both the right and wrong sides of the work, the pattern is pretty intuitive.  Some knitters have worked the decorative bobbles larger than the 3-stitch version written.  I opted not to, as I was unsure how Birte would behave when blocked, and didn’t want them mondo big depending on that.

Digression on charts:  Knitters love ‘em or hate ‘em.  Give me a chart over words any day of the week.  I can see my stitches on a chart the way I can’t in words, and my brain and hands can be at work on a chart without my conscious mind paying much attention at all.  I can’t explain it any better than that.  Maybe I spend too much of my waking time with words to be able to digest them during my knitting time …

All in all, this was a most enjoyable project.  The pattern was clear, the yarn was well-behaved and most suitable.  I flew through it and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again, this time trying it in the worsted-weight wool (Shelter) also suggested for a different look and feel altogether.

Project Marriage Score: 9

Now that the runway is clear, stay tuned.  Lots more FOs just waiting to hop onto the wires.

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Tags: birte, brooklyntweed, charts, juneberrytriangle, lace, shawl, spirittrail