kitty: adventures into Orenburg Lace continues, see I promised more Fo's

First off, I would just like to wish a very happy birthday to a dear friend who I know reads this blog. I also know you would kill me if I revealed it was your birthday, so this little warm wish will have to be anonymous. Sending you lots of Birthday Good Wishes and Hugs!!!!!

My First adventure into Orenburg Lace after my amazing chance tea meeting! The Specs: Starter Orenburg Shawl kit (62*59 inches lightly blocked) Yarn: The kit just says Goat - Not the nicest yarn in the world. I wish I had ordered the Orenburg lace yarn from Schoolhouse. Needles: Size US8 Time: about 1 week of lots of late night waiting Cost: 12.95+Shipping - A Touch of Russia Seattle,WA

Woho, it passes the ring test. A successful Orenburg Lace shawl is suppose to be able to slip easily through your wedding rings. Mine passed with flying colours. Though I couldn't find my wedding rings when it was time to take the photo, so I just grabbed my favorite cameo. It is a Victorian Morning ring from 1818 with a weeping willow and an urn carved into shell. (M and I really don't wear our rings since we are on the computer 18 hours a day. It is definitely an occupational hazard when you want to find them to pull your lace shawl through.)

Since the last lace project I worked on I swore up and down I would never knit on a border again, I used one of the techniques in Heirloom Knitting where you knit the border as you go along. You leave your double points kind of hanging on the edge and you pick up the last stitch of the row you are on. For me it really speed up my knitting speed. It also eliminates the seam line that you run into when you knit it on. The shawl is a really simple design. It consists of only two lace patterns. One is the body and the other is the Strawberry Border no fancy points though which are a major characteristic. I have more yarn I may go back.

All and all it is a great introduction to an Old Russian craft. The only down side is the yarn though not mohair has me sneezing my head off. Update: Thanks Francesca and Opportunityknits for commenting. I will try to get photos of the whole shawl the next time we have a sunny non-windy day here in Columbus. The photos my husband took of me wearing it were horrible and I could never get it to lay flat to get a full photo. :( Also Francesca I will try to take some photos of the technique and write up how I did it. Thank you so much