Men Who Knit Promoting and inspiring the art of knitting amongst men.

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 09th August 2009
Finish: 25th August 2009
Needles: 4 mm / 80 cm Addi Lace
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle; 100% superwash merino; colourway "Versuchskaninchen" (test-dye for Tuerkis)
Pattern: Gail - Nightsongs by QQCoisa
Name: "Lómelindë" is Quenya for "Nightingale" (literally: lómë = night; lindë = song)
Location: A wall of the Bavarian National Museum and at the Nornenbrunnen (in German).

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Well, it certainly seems like I'm going through a phase of blue right now. Every FO that I have finished and blogged about recently seems to have been of some shade of blue. LOL.

Anyway, like I promised another FO to show.

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

So this is my "Lómelindë", or better known out there as "Gail".

Funnily enough, I never would have knitted this pattern, although it has been on my Ravelry queue ever since the pattern had become available to the public. The colour of the original shawl that was shown just didn't appeal to me at all. I don't mind a busy colourway as long as the lace pattern can still be seen as a whole. But it was just the colour of the original shawl altogether that didn't appeal to me.

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

I ended up knitting the pattern because quite a few people from the Friday knitting group decided that we should do a KAL.

The pattern is an easy enough lace for intermediate knitter, however, I have had trouble knitting it as well as the others who did the KAL.

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

First off, it was very unusual to not have a centre stitch running through the shawl, this resulted in a big hole in the middle each time a new pattern repeat starts. For some, it's no trouble. But for me, it looked weird. So we all ended up just putting in one extra centre stitch to make our lives easier knitting the pattern.

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Then I also had problem understanding the edge chart and ended up making a bit of a mistake there that I ended up fudging.

I think that it’s a bit unfortunate, but there seems to be a lot of people who have problems with this pattern. I think that it is all about how the pattern is written up. I find it pretty concise, with just charts and vague instructions but no detailed explanations. It should have been a bit more detailed and worded clearer than it is.

I know that it’s hard to write up pattern and the fact that the pattern is for free evens it out...but still. A bit more care to the pattern would have been nice.

Lómelindë (Gail), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Bottom line though, is that the pattern is a beautiful one knitted up. The pattern is a bit hard to follow and to understand, but the fact that it is free evens it out.

I'm happy with the end result. No need to mention how much I love the Wollmeise yarn. The intensity of the colour and the softness of it just add to the shawl.

Well, that's it for now. Wishing you all a great start to the month!

Current Mood: Good