Saturday, October 31, 2009

The mystery is what I'm going to do with it now.

I'm finishing things with a vengeance around here. This morning I finished the first of the four Christmas Stockings (pictures to come after a wet blocking to even out the colorwork). Last Tuesday I finished a pair of bed socks in rose Wool-Ease (pictures later, since this post is already picture-heavy). Yesterday I wound up the last of the Corriedale three-ply off the Fricke spinning wheel. I'll give it a bath this weekend, then see what I can make with 882 yards of slightly scratchy, light worsted yarn.

But the star of this post is the final blocking shots of the Mystery Stole 3: Swan Lake. I finished this before the move over two years ago, but it was never blocked until a few weeks ago. The particulars: three skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud Lace yarn in Smoke Heather. Size 6 nylon needle. Glass beads from a very disagreeable bead shop on Main Street. Final length: 71 paltry inches long, 18.5 inches wide.

My photography assistant Logan checks out the quality of the light before the photo shoot starts:
Logan with MS3 Stole
Unfortunately the full-length shot of the stole:
MS3Stole Longshot
The "wing", an ingenious design that really needs a grander scale than I achieved, so it could be draped over the shoulder in a graceful hug:
MS3Stole Wing
A closeup of the beautiful sigil design at the non-winged end of the stole:
MS3Stole Motif

It might make a very warm neck scarf (100% alpaca almost generates its own heat), but bunching it up would obscure the beautiful lace designs and the pretty blue beads. I've already given away the remaining yarn, so I couldn't perform some genius-level knitting surgery to lengthen it and regraft it together again. To be honest, I haven't even properly sewn in the ends. Any suggestions on what to do with it now?

1 comment:

Cindy said...

Whatever you want. It's gorgeous!! I didn't finish it because I didn't like the asymmetrical part of it. It bothered me;-P Logan is only enjoying that which we haven't seen for, like, ever!!! Can't wait to see the rest of your F.O's BTW, the scratch handspun? How's about a vest? A zip-up vest for over turtlenecks and stuff? It would be perfect for chilly days.