Paisley Progress and a Cone Spinner

I've made some progress on the Paisley Long Shawl. The shawl is knitted from the center provisional cast on toward each end, beginning with the small botehs (flowers), followed by small paisleys, then large paisleys, then hexagons. The paisleys in the photo look upside-down because the provisional cast on is at the bottom. The work is hanging from my circular needle as I progress toward the end of the first half of the shawl.

When I get to the end of the first half, I will pick up stitches from my provisional cast on, and work the second half of the shawl, from the center toward the other end.

The edging on either side is knitted as you progress down the long rectangle. I've put some noticeable stitch markers in between the edging and the main body on either side to alert me.

This design is a pleasure to knit. I can't say enough good things about Fiddlesticks patterns. They are clear and well-written. The pattern changes from row to row, so it never gets tedious for me. I would recommend this pattern to experienced lace knitters. It is true knitted lace (lace patterning on both sides).

As I began to knit this shawl with my Euroflax linen, I struggled a little bit with pulling the yarn from the cone. It wasn't a huge problem, but it didn't flow as smoothly as I would have liked. I started thinking about making a cone spinner. I've knit from cones before, and I knew it was something I would use again and again.

At first, I considered size and portability. I wanted this light enough to bring to my knitting group and small enough to fit into my knitting bag, yet it had to be stable so that yanking on the yarn wouldn't knock it off the table.

The spinner mechanism is simply a small lazy susan about 3" across, purchased from the local hardware store. The wood pieces are two cedar fence post caps that we happened to have in the garage. They are about 4.25" across with beveled edges.

The dowel is another scrap from the garage, about one inch in diameter and five inches long. The pieces were sanded and stained with some leftover redwood stain.

Hubby drilled pilot holes in the center of the dowel and the center of one fence post cap. He screwed the cap to the dowel, countersinking the screw and adding a drop of wood glue between the cap and dowel.

With all the pieces in order, I tested the spinner with my Euroflax cone, and it seemed to work very well. It spun freely and didn't tip over. I tried it with a larger cone, and it still seemed stable and spun freely. More on this when I have more experience using it.