Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Damson


So when I ran out of yarn, I had a few options:
1. Do the edging rows in a different colour of yarn, perhaps black? This is something I've seen people do with projects that they don't have enough yarn for, and I always feels like it looks unintentional. There is a possibility, however, that doing the edge in black would take the whole thing to a new level and make it a showstopper.
2. Rip back part of it (probably just to the end of the garter stitch section) and redo it on smaller needles, hoping that it would give me enough of a difference to be able to finish. It might not give me enough, however, and even if it did, the smaller gauge would make the shawl smaller, and frankly I think it's already small enough.
3. Rip back and reconfigure the decreases so that it will be finished in fewer rows, leaving me enough to do the edging.
4. Throw some money at the problem and get another skein, thus negating any ripping back or rethinking or artistic compromise.


Yeah, so I ordered another skein of Strawberry Lemonade yarn from Hazel Knits, and crossed my fingers that the dye lot would be close enough that people wouldn't notice that I had finished my shawl off with a new skein of yarn. I lucked out -- it was exactly the same as the one I had. Even I can't tell the difference. The last few rows finished up in no time, but it took me a couple of days to get it blocked, and a couple more to round up my photographer.


Had I known that I would be using two skeins for this shawl, I might have made it larger, since it is such a dainty little thing. Instead I decided to just finish off the last few rows and to use the rest of the new skein to make a pair of socks. I know, that's a real shock. It really is just a spectacular yarn, in person, and I would love to make a hundred projects out of it. The colours are hard to capture in a photo -- you really need to see it up close.

All told, a great little project from Ysolda that is as much of a joy to wear as it was to knit.

1 comment:

Brandi Beckett said...

That's a really cute little shawl Rhonda, I love how it still shows off your tattoo. It really does look like a nicely coloured yarn too. Miss you!