Shipwreck Shawl
Well, here's the project that was over a year in the making. I finally finished my Shipwreck shawl. I followed the instructions right down to using the same yarn and the same dyeing technique. I obviously knit looser than the pattern creator though, since I ran out of yarn a few rounds short of the pattern and had to bind-off with a different sock yarn. Still, I think the darker border looks nice. Mediocre pictures of a very pretty shawl after the cut.
Above is the shawl a few seconds after I cast-off the final stitch. Did you know it takes at least 2 hours to cast-off over a thousand stitches?
Above is the shawl after it's been washed and is now soaking in a nice warm dye bath. I wanted to poke at it so bad, but I didn't want to mess up the dye job or cause the shawl to felt to itself. So I waited breathlessly. You see, after spending over a year of your life knitting something, the thought that it might come out of the dye bath horrifically ugly is enough to drive you nuts.
So, I rinse it a zillion times (it's like your jeans or navy blue towels, they're always ready to shed a little blue dye and stain your white socks) and then pin it out to dry before going to bed. In the morning, I got up to go check on it and walked in to see this:
The image doesn't do it justice. The blue color is absolutely stunning. And the beads glinted brightly in the sunlight. I had a moment, I have to admit. It reminded me more of stars in a dark blue night sky than the sea. I don't care, I made something beautiful and I love it to pieces.
This last picture is fuzzy, but I wanted to show you the scale of the thing. The futon I've pinned it to is a full-sized bed when laid flat. The bright white dots in a circle around the center are the heads of the pins. Can you spot my cat Amy?
Above is the shawl a few seconds after I cast-off the final stitch. Did you know it takes at least 2 hours to cast-off over a thousand stitches?
Above is the shawl after it's been washed and is now soaking in a nice warm dye bath. I wanted to poke at it so bad, but I didn't want to mess up the dye job or cause the shawl to felt to itself. So I waited breathlessly. You see, after spending over a year of your life knitting something, the thought that it might come out of the dye bath horrifically ugly is enough to drive you nuts.
So, I rinse it a zillion times (it's like your jeans or navy blue towels, they're always ready to shed a little blue dye and stain your white socks) and then pin it out to dry before going to bed. In the morning, I got up to go check on it and walked in to see this:
The image doesn't do it justice. The blue color is absolutely stunning. And the beads glinted brightly in the sunlight. I had a moment, I have to admit. It reminded me more of stars in a dark blue night sky than the sea. I don't care, I made something beautiful and I love it to pieces.
This last picture is fuzzy, but I wanted to show you the scale of the thing. The futon I've pinned it to is a full-sized bed when laid flat. The bright white dots in a circle around the center are the heads of the pins. Can you spot my cat Amy?