Hello everyone! I am brand new to this site. I just started knitting my Icarus this week, this is my first lace project and my first shawl that I have done. This is also the first KAL I have ever done. Here's some pictures of my progress so far, I am in the middle of the second repeat of the rows 19-42 repeats of chart 1. I am using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Iris.

Day 4



Day 2



Day 1

The Giant Icarus is finally finished! Previously, I wrestled with blocking it or leaving it unblocked. The beautiful feathers still appeared, but were not as defined as the other shown shawls. However, the yarn's texture encouraged no blocking. So I decided to hand wash the shawl and drape it with minimal shaping to dry. It was the perfect solution, and I have the photos to prove it!

I LUVLUVLUV how it turned out! Sorry, but I just cannot contain the excitement I had when I photographed the shawl on my favorite walking path. =:8

Hi everyone! My name is Becki and I'm just starting on Icarus. I finished Seraphim a couple of weeks ago and didn't really think I wanted to do any more shawl-knitting for a while...but then...the yarn I had earmarked to someday use for Icarus was just too pretty to wait.


It's Alpaca Cloud from Knitpicks, in the Iris color.

Also, on account of me being a Latin teacher, the name "Icarus" alone made this pattern irresistible! :-) My goal is to have Icarus finished by the time my AP Latin class starts reading "Daedalus & Icarus" this year. Should be a very manageable goal since we don't even start on Ovid till the spring semester! But hey, I can always use additional visual aids in class, right?

This is the first KAL I've joined, so I look forward to seeing everyone's progress and sharing my own. And now, I'll leave you with a parting picture of my progress so far:

Progress - graphs are okay..

I have the first Icarus graph as a photocopy beside me and I'm marking off lines as I do them. I'm now on chart 1, row 12 and I'm finding this cotton a dream to work with unlike the Alpaca I had. I only have the one chart copied at the moment and when I finish the first repeat, I'm going to get a second one and continue to do that in order to keep where I am straight. I got lost the first time through with the Alpaca and just about went nuts trying to figure out where I was, or wasn't. This way, I can destroy the graph, but keep my original pattern nice and locked away in my desk drawer. I've also enlarged the graph pattern so I won't need a magnifyer to read it.

I really should just concentrate on no-think-ums for the next while, but Icarus is bugging me. It wants to be made. So I'm going to work on it.

Icarus - restart?

I had put Icarus away because right now all I need for projects are no-think-ums. Baby hats, baby booties, a filet afghan that I also finished. The baby is due any time from now till 3 weeks from now.

My grandma who tried to teach me how to knit died this past month too, so no-think-ums were definately on the menu for knitting. And someone, I lost the pm telling me who, from Knitters' Review sent me a small care parcel of Jaeger Siena mercantized cotton. I have more than enough to make Icarus out of it instead of the alpaca that has been driving me batty. The card said to make my daughters matching sweaters, but I'd rather make something they could curl up in. The filet afghan finally got my Irish Diamond Shawl out of DD's hands, but she still uses it whenever she can.

So, I'm in the process of frogging Icarus so I can restart it for the umpteeth time in cotton. It is a beautiful pale purple/lavendar colour that I adore. And it should go faster too. But I won't really be concentrating on it until a few months after Bitty's born. Which means I'll be able to save the Alpaca for something feltable.

I am so giddy. Yarn. What a wonderful present!

Finished!!!

Icarus is finished and oh, so lovely. It turned out better than I ever dreamed. This is definitely the loveliest thing I have ever knit. And, of course, it has whetted my appetite to knit more lace. Thanks so much, Miriam, for the beautiful design.
Specs:
Icarus Shawl from IK, designed my Miriam Felton
yarn: Shadow lace yarn from Knitpicks in Oregon Coast color-2 and 1/2 skeins
needles: size 4 Inox gray
finished size after blocking: 74"x41"

So... with three and a half rows and the bind off left, I ran out of yarn. For those that are curious - 650 yards is NOT enough, even if you cut out one repeat, to knit this shawl. It may be possible on a 2 instead of a 3 needle, but I doubt it. (And your shawl would not be lacy.) I love it, but now.. I must wait. Wait for Wendy to finish her shawl (haha! I'll be waiting what? one day? two days?) and hope she has enough Alchemy left (and is still willing to part with it) so that I can finish mine. Because I will RIP THE WHOLE THING OUT before I order $27 worth of yarn (including shipping) for THREE FREAKIN' ROWS. (BTW, I know I should have known. But the insult still stings.)

This Icarus is a bit unusual compared to everyone else's shawls. Because its recipient will be (literally) climbing either Mt. Everest or a nearby mountain, I decided to use Catalina's Alpaca worsted weight with my aluminum Inox US9 circulars. When I ran out of yarn for the last 2 rows of Chart 4 and could not get another hank, I decided to use a different yarn (similar to the colorway) altogether. Here is the result of Rasha's Icarus. I enjoyed knitting this project, but must admit that if I had to knit it in laceweight instead of the light worsted, I would get bored with Chart 1. I loved how the BO looked, and will be incorporating that technique in other patterns. This shawl was already huge unblocked! Please note the DVD case included for scale. I had displayed it at the Boston Knit-out and Crochet Too! event this past Sunday.

Yarn (MC): 3 hanks of Catalina's Alpaca Worsted in NY55 colorway, 200m/100g
Yarn (CC): 1 hank of Berocco's Ultra Alpaca, 200m/100g
Needles: aluminum Inox US9 for Catalina, aluminum Inox US10.5 for Berocco
Time spent: just at 2 weeks
Notes: I did one repeat of Chart 1, but if I had not, only the 3 alpaca hanks were needed. My careful calculations hint that my heavier version of this shawl would be a good substitute to knit instead of a Clapotis for the same amount of yarn. I will be confirming this theory with either TC's New Tweed or Horstia's Silk/Wool yarns.
=:8

We are motoring along.. Chugga chugga!

UPDATE .... I won first prize in the knitting section and managed to take out the supreme needlework item .. very nice suprise .
The judges were taken by the pattern and the drape of the shawl ... so from a very hpapy knitter ..Thank you Miriam for the beautiful pattern!!

Finished and unblocked .......boy did the binding off take a lot of wool . I used about 1 and 1/2- 2/3 of the 2nd handpainted yarn skein Blocked and beautiful .. so nice that I ''ve entered her in our local show (a little ol' dear with her crochet needle and 12 ply will beat me , but who cares ..I just want the world to admire her !)
I enjoyed this KAL and it gave me the 'ummph' to keep going and not abandon the knitting ..so thanks to you all .
After the weekend I'll post a proper picture .
l

Finished the first repeat on Chart 1. Yah!

I am new to the KAL and I say hello to everyone!!

I casted-on last week, and after many loving things said to my lifeline, I am back on track and about halfway through Chart 1. Hopefully, I will be able to get Chart 1 done tonight and start my repeats.

I am using Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in Periwinkle on #6 needles. I am glad that I swatched b/c mine would have been quite small if I would have done it on #3 needles. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

I've only got 6 rows in chart 3 and chart 4 left to go. I have to admit, I'm getting tired of it! I cut out a repeat in chart 1, since I only had two hanks of the haiku, but I think I will be okay in terms of yarn. If not, Wendy agreed to let me have her leftovers from her Wings of the Moth shawl (since her colors are featured in my colorway as well.) let's hope I'm okay, I saw that the harlot needed almost 3!

This is a very special post.



This is the 200th post! Wow. This KAL really took flight. You all have been really great. Some are attempting their first lace (still love that buttton, Kate), others are seasoned knitters who saw something special in Miriam's pattern. It's been lovely to see how supportive this little community has been. I thank you for that.

And we're still adding new members almost every week (usually more often than that)! (and apologies to those who send me an email and don't hear back for several days - I seem to fall chronically behind. No worries though, you're not forgotten.) Even if you've finished your Icarus Shawl, I encourage you to check back in from time to time and see the progress of the other KALsters.

Happy Knitting.

My Icarus is finished! Here she is on the blocking board:

There are more pictures on my blog. The yarn is Alpaca Silk from Webs and I added beads. I really love this shawl.

Aloha everybody! Tons of encouragement and empathy! Did you see this yet? Scroll down to about halfway and see a great photo shoot of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot) and Miriam Felton (our beloved Icarus designer)with Stephanie's newly completed Icarus Shawl. Beautiful!

How do we get the beautiful Icarus KAL button??

Has anyone seen a KAL for the Equinox Yoke Sweater (Interweave Fall '06)?

Spent the weekend knitting 10 rows and then frogging 10 rows. Does anyone put their lifelines every 5 rows or so or maybe every other row, or is that totally insane? No one told me how %^$* hard it is to fix lace.

Can I ask a not-icarus question of the bloggers on this knit along?

Any suggestions for an easy, possibly online, pattern for a poncho for a little girl? I'm going to use Malabrigo in this crazy pink. Looked really bright to me, but the lady at the yarn store in St. Paul assured me that it was right for a little girl.

83 stitches remain on the needle.

12 inches of yarn remain.

I should be in tears but I saw this coming.
I frogged my my swatch just before the center stitch and tied it on. But that wasn't enough.

Project: Icarus

Designer: Miriam Felton

Yarn: KnitPicks 100% wool, laceweight, dyed with Mandarin Orange and Pink Lemonade Koolaid at various dilutions, 850 yds.

Needle: size 4 24" Inox circular

Size before blocking: 49" wide by 28" long

After blocking: 59" wide by 39" long

Done! Dropping it off at the yoga studio one day before the auction and benefit.

This was a nice project to participate in - hope to see you at another knit along sometime.

I need advice! I've finished the Chart #1 section as written (I think it's chart #1 - the one before the 'real' lace work), and was planning on doing an extra repeat, just to be on the safe side. I've never knit lace before, and I have no idea how much it will really block out once I get it off the needles. So I measured - right now, the center line measures about 17 inches and each side is about 22 inches when I pull on the yarn a little...

I've read (in the Yarn Harlot book) that a shawl should be about the size of your 'wingspan' - and I am not 44 inches tall. Any thoughts on this from y'all? Thanks!

My Icarus is done! Photos and details here. I can't seem to get Blogger to republish the photos on the KAL site, so I'll just leave the link! Three cheers for being finished! Hip hip, horray!!!

I finished binding off last night at about 10 p.m.

But I waited until this morning to lay Icarus out and photograph it pre-blocking.

That's because I found an open, bright pink highlighter at the bottom of my knitting bag yesterday, which had bled all over my pattern. I was amazed and relieved that the shawl hadn't been touched.

And because the cat chewed through my yarn while pretending to pose in front of it, while I was taking a picture the other night.

So, released this morning, here is Icarus, pre-blocking.

And a picture of the yarn left. Not much, but enough to finish the shawl without having to find another yarn to coordinate with the handdyed Pink Lemonade and Orange Mandarin Koolaid colors.

On to Chart 4!!!
Yesterday I finished Chart 3 and today it's chart 4, then the edging and cast off. I am seeing light at the end of this gorgeous tunnel. I have become so comfortable with the pattern and chart reading in general that I really hate to see it end. But Miriam has other shawl patterns I can't wait to start.
Sue J.

Thanks for all the advice on my previous entry. Of course I posted my entry and immediately went ahead and just fudged everything myself without realizing that I could just drop that one stitch and have everything be OK.

I see from my photo and your suggestions and I totally understand how to correct it now, but I'm not sure exactly what I did, but I didn't frog and I ended up with the right number of stitches and it ended up not too shabby.

So I made it to the end of chart 1 once and I put in another lifeline. I can see how this shawl can get huge fast! I'm already starting to notice the rows getting longer and longer. It's quite an easy repeat, I'm just wondering if any of you experienced lacers can do this while reading or watching TV? I can understand doing stockinette or a sock or something, but lace?

Doris

Last row done. Ready to bind off.

And yes, it is very early, but I couldn't sleep and thought that it would be great to have this off the needles by the time I leave for work.

Chart 4!!!!!

Finally!!!!

I had like the curse of chart two. I could never get past the third row on chart two. And now, I am starting chart 4 tomorrow. I put Icarus down for a bit to work on some diaper covers and soakers to sell (need some money!!).

I'm soo excited, I will be done with this soon. Pictures tomorrow as it is entirely too late to take them now.

I'm on row 1 of the edging. I decided to do a few knit front and backs to add stitches to the borders and center so that I could skip the last few rows of Chart 4.

It's rainy and dark here today. Hope you're having some sun in your part of the world.

As soon as I wrote my last post all optimistic and hopeful, I accidentally did a lace row on the wrong side. I'm so good at jinxing myself. So I tinked back carefully and somehow I got 2 strands on a YO.



I think if I had become a knitter when I was 16 and believed that perfection and control was attainable in all areas of life, I would have ripped back to my dental floss lifeline and started over.

Since I'm twice that age now and I believe I have practically no control over the bulk of things that occupy my world now, I just looked at the double strand and carried on.

Is it better to go on or go back? I have such a struggle with this question in real life (as opposed to my knitting life (?!?)) as well.. I want to set high expectations, but I don't want them to be so high that feel like a freaking failure everyday of my life.

Doris

I complained about my inability to get past row 11. I had to frog at least 6 times, but I think I'm in a groove now. I can recognize all the YO and the K2TOG and SSKs and it's all going smoothly. Chugg, chugg, chugging along.

I usually am able to do a few rows during the day and also for about 15 minutes before going to bed, but sometimes snuggling with the hubby wins out over Icarus Shawl and the rows never get done.

Eunny wrote a nice entry - go to the bottom and you'll see how she manages to get so much knitting done. I so want to be a knitter who knits while reading, walking, humming, waiting, but I'm not that experienced or coordinated. Maybe if I actually finished something more often than once every fortmonth.



Dental floss as lifeline.

Doris

Hooray! I finished!



I used Alpaca with a Twist Fino for most of the body. And I LOVE IT. I had been contemplating gifting it, but I don't think I could now. I have some more pictures and talk at my other blog.