Gravity

Lace designing is something I really love and enjoy. I like to mess with shaping of shawls and other garments, and to imagine floral images and geometric shapes, and convert them to a lace stitch. And of course to envision garments and make them a reality. So I thought I'd amuse someone with my very first attempt to design my own shawl. This was, let's see. Well, the yarn was an anniversary gift so it was August, and the year--? Uh. Maybe 2001?

Looks kinda nice, huh? Yup, I have it laid out on my bed; it looks like it will look lovely over a bare-shouldered dress, drape nicely, etc, right?

Here's another shot. Maybe you can see something happening, maybe not.

How about now?

This is over a shirt, which has some frictional element -- and that keeps the stole's true colors from showing as clearly.

But let me tell you, this stole obeys one thing, and one thing only, when you wear it.

Gravity.

This is what it does when I pick it up and hold it vertically, then gently lay it on the ground:

Yup. It turns into a scarf 12 feet long.

Fun fur crazy scarves have nothing on this baby.

I can block it and stretch it like so:

But as soon as you pick it up to actually wear it?

Scarf.

Now, since I did intend it to be a shawl-type garment, not a bed decoration, I call it an utter failure. (Although I have worn it)

On the other hand, if you knew what I learned from this baby...! Over the course of swatching, charting, knitting and repeating the whole process multiple times, I became a totally different sort of knitter. More experenced, yes. More respect for the incredible potential in yarn/stitch combos. More love for genuine lace yarn rather than fingering weight yarn in a lacey object.

And I have learned many things to never ever do again.

And-- I'm a lace addict!

Well worth it.