Starting Over

Well, it just wasn’t working. I tried my best to make things better, I tried to be clever, subtle, patient, softer – nothing worked. Finally I had to make a hard decisions, I had to call it quits and now, alas, I am starting over. Lady Eleanor and I have to begin again.

Yup, I ripped the whole thing out. Sigh. I had such an amazing vision of what my Lady Eleanor Stole was going to look like by using a strand of hand-painted, sport-weight silk and a strand of hand-painted, lace-weight wool but the result wasn’t what I wanted. The color transitions were too obvious and the fabric was just a tad too light. It didn’t have that rustic, heathery look I envisioned so — ri-i-i-i-i-ip.

Now, I am starting over using the silk and two strands of wool switching the colors on a rotating basis and, so far, I like the results. Plus, because I am knitting it on size 8 needles instead of size 5, it is going much faster. See what you think of the results.

I was plowing through my stash recently looking for a few more yards of an ivory colored angora I needed to finish up a project. I opened a bag that looked like it had something that color in it and discovered, much to my amazement, a very large hank of a gorgeous silk/rayon chenille in a color called “Pearl” that I bought at Webs in Northampton some years back. I had forgotten all about it! Originally I made a triangle shawl out of it that I ultimately gave to my friend Caroline. I had completely forgotten I had a lot left over.

So I got out my finest needles and started a simple scarf on size 2s. It is just gorgeous! Unfortunately the photo doesn’t show it off the way I wish it did. Maybe when it is longer I’ll re-photograph it against a dark background.

So it is almost Christmas and I am trying to finish up a few projects. I have three finished shawls which will be winging their way to their new owners next week. The Snowflakes and Snowdrops angora and wool shawl I posted pictures of here is going to my niece Emily. There is also a shawl for my godmother and one for a dear friend that I need to photograph before they are gone.

As for the Mermaid Shawl... I haven’t forgotten about the requests for directions, I’m just abysmal at writing them so I am thinking about starting a knitalong for it after the first of the year. The whole idea of knitalongs appeal to me. I have been following the progress of a couple of them on other blogs and think that might be the best solution.

So it is another cold day and I have a mountain of work ahead of me. Lady Eleanor is looking good – I am optimistic that this time the relationship will prove lasting.

Thanks for reading.