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Sunday, August 5, 2012

Better than Expected

This piece has a long and somewhat odd history. It's turned out better than it deserved to, really.
It started with a lovely lace-weight alpaca yarn, which unfortunately only came in muted blue and purple tones. My preference is for brighter shades, but the fibre was nice enough that I overcame my reluctance. I started on a feather and fan lace scarf. After about half a metre of knitting I flagged and stopped.
The project sat in my to-do box for many months. I pulled it out a few weeks ago. I felt bad about it, but couldn't convince myself to restart the lace knitting. On the other hand, I respected what I had done too much to pull it out. Then this idea popped into my head. Could I turn it into something else?
First I added a bit more length in garter stitch. The next step was to block the lace to make it look its best. That happened yesterday morning. As soon as it was blocked I was happy to have saved it. I stitched the short end of the garter stitch section to the side of the feather and fan section. Here's the result.
I like it. In fact I almost love it. Yes, I would prefer it to be a bit brighter, but I'm sure I'll wear and enjoy it as it is. And I have enough of this yarn left to try overdyeing it to spark it up a bit. There's a 100 meter skein in the dye pot as I'm typing. This story will be continued. 

5 comments:

Teresa said...

It's beautiful! It's lovely the way the different stitches display the colour variations. Can't wait to see the next one.

Chiara Z said...

Thanks Teresa--a tiny skein with a bit of extra purple is rinsed and drying now.

Dee said...

It looks pretty. I really want to see a pic of it on you. time for a selfie? Or perhaps a friend to take the pic.

Sharon said...

This is very beautiful! Nice work...

Chiara Z said...

Thanks, a selfie would involve putting on some nicer clothes. My old blue sweatshirt is not going to make this look good:)