Wednesday 8 June 2016

Too big

I was complaining about how my Lucca shawl keeps coming out way too small, and I mean wayyyyy too small?  Here's the opposite problem:

I made another curtain, gah!  All that work and I can't really do anything with the finished item?

This was meant to be a shawl that's up to 100cm across. Instead it's a good 150cm diameter!
I can't wear that!?


Just look at my tippy-toes at the bottom edge of the photo, for size comparison (okay, you don't see much of my foot, you'll have to imagine it - each foam tile is about 50cm across).  I could have easily stretched this to even bigger, my constraint was the foam tiles. The area where the middle flowers are is a bit dense - I could have pulled this further on the outside points.

It is a pretty pattern though, I got lots of enjoyment out of knitting this.  Except when I ran out of yarn.  And that should have tipped me off about just how big this was going to get: I had two massive Fyberspates Scrumptous lace yarn skeins and got too close to running out - I used the dark blue yarn (also Fyberspates lace, this colour is called Midnight, my main light grey colour is called Water).

I wanted to switch to the contrast colour at a point in the pattern where it wouldn't look too horrible - this seemed as good a place as any.

I was glad to use up a stash yarn that I've had a number of years, so long in fact that I couldn't get more in the same dye lot and had to buy yet more in this dark blue. So I am left with the rest of that.

I was thinking that it might be nice to make a shawl like this in a few colours: different colorus for the centre and for portions of the outside.  Not in stripes or rings of the same width, perhaps one ring that's just an inch or so if it's a good spot between two other portions of the pattern?  It could look really good.

But that means that I would have to buy even more!  Yikes.

But I like the idea of a shawl in different colours: I would love to use this dark blue, a light pink, a small area in white and then some other colour for the rest.  I even saw a Niebling pattern that would be suitable.

But let's be honest: should I be buying yet more yarn?  I mean really?

The answer to that has to be no.

But I am still tempted now that I had the idea!
It's being able to see the finished product in front of my inner eyes, that's the problem.  I see something I like and I want it.



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