I just had to do a new kit for this design -- this one is totally awesome.
A beauty by Nim Teasdale, Radiata is a striking beaded shawl that just sings!
The Design
This is what Nim writes:
Radiata is inspired by the spiraling form in the centre of a sunflower, and by an absurdly cheerful cake of yarn which was a gift from a friend, like a sunbeam in the grey depths of winter.
The design uses a spiraling wedge shape which increases in gradually expanding leaves that radiate sideways out from the centre to form a generous crescent.
*The pattern can be worked in 4 sizes, and the edging continued to any size to use up any remaining yarn.
*Pattern rows on the right side only.
*Optional beading
*The pattern can be worked entirely from either the written pattern or charts.
*Adaptable to a range of yarn weights from lace to DK.
The Yarn and Colorways
We are not offering kits using the same yarn as Nim used in her original shawl. Ours can be seen in the inset photo on the upper lefthand corner of the top picture and again below that. The photos of Nim's piece are here to show you the design (used with her permission) and allow you to use your imagination.
Nim writes in the pattern that this design can be easily worked with a variety of yarn weights, from the light lace up to DK weight, anywhere between 437 - 875 yards (400 - 800 m). Nim knit hers (photos of which you see on this page) of a lace weight yarn, about 440 yards.
I took a look at the Project Pages for this beauty and noticed that the shawls that really appealed to me were knit in gradiently dyed yarns.
This kit is set up using Laines du Nord's Poema, 100% merino wool, with 656 yards/ 150g disk.
The yarn is dyed in a perfect sequence to produce a gradual degradé or ombre effect.
The colorway is #305, where a rich orange gold gradually changes into a soft tangerine ochre.
It is a bright happy colorway, which reminds me of the sun just touching the horizon on a clear summer day. Perfect for winter wear too as a reminder of summers-to-come.
*****
The Beads
As I mentioned above, there are a lot of options for adding beads to this shawl.
This is what Nim suggest:
Beads:
For the small: 162
For the medium: 185
For the large: 209
For the largest: 234.
The edging uses 75 for the first 4 rows on the largest size, and 1 extra bead for each subsequent repeat.
Actually, when I looked at the Project Pages I found a number of knitters who made real beauties using up to 500 beads!
It is truly up to you.
And so to cover most of these choices, each kit will include roughly 35 grams of 6/0 beads, or about 420 beads, + or -.
If you want more, contact me and we'll work it out.
Tell me any color preference(s) you have; otherwise I wil choose for you.
The Pattern
Note also that the kit will not automatically include the pattern.
You can get it directly as a PDF file of the pattern from Nim via her Ravelry web page. In this case set the drop-down menu to "No Pattern Needed" as you won't be getting the pattern from us, instead getting the pattern via Ravelry and Nim. This will ensure that you receive any and all updates as well.
Of course, if you would prefer a printed copy, we can do that. In that case, please make sure the "Pattern" drop-down menu is set to that.
You can also get this as a PDF file. (The pattern will not be saved in your Ravelry library but we'll make it available via earthfaire.com if you choose this option.)
