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Thursday, September 21, 2006
Stop Me Before I Finish Something Else...I was just NOT HAPPY at all with the yarn I was using for my mom's Lily of the Valley stole. It was Helen's Lace, in color Lakeview, and it should have been beautiful - purples, blues, sea greens... but it obscured the lace too much. It just looked too stripey.So, in a "just like Aristotle except without the whole running down the street naked" eureka moment, I realized that I could overdye it. And suddenly, I was in a race to finish. I cast off and promptly dunked it in the "let's get ready to dye" bath. Meanwhile, I mixed a little green and several shades of progressively darker blue dye, brought everything to the correct temperature for silk, and let it simmer for upwards of 2 hours. I then turned off the heat and went to bed. The next morning, I did some blocking....  It's just about the perfect color. You can still see the stripes from the purple sections, but it's so much more subtle and understated. The color is a rich, saturated jewel-tone saphire blue.  And I once again discovered the joys of blocking out lace - the wadded up pile of crap suddenly transformed into shapes and patterns!    Lily of the Valley Stole Pattern: Lily of the Valley Stole Yarn: Helen's Lace (Lorna's Laces) in Lakeview Notes: My mom will love this - she loves Lilies of the Valley, she loves rich blues, and I think this'll be the perfect size for a beautiful accent piece. HOWEVER, I don't think I'll be knitting this again. The pattern was fantastic - I shortened it by 5 repeats and cut out the width by at least 1/3, but otherwise just about exactly as written. The charts were clear, the instructions were easy to follow, and there weren't any errors that I came up with. The problem? Although it is technically a 14 row repeat for the lace pattern, in reality it is the same 2 rows knit 7 times - just slightly shifted. It made it both quick, because I memorized the pattern pretty easily, but also difficult because I frankly got bored. But I love the result, so all-in-all, a definite success! Labels: Lily of the Valley 0 comments || # |
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