Sequinned Shawl Hell
The shawl kit from Patternworks I'd been waiting for came in. I hid it for a while, and then took it down into the family room (where I do most of my knitting) so that I could "look" at it. I fully intended -- no, I thought that I fully intended -- not to touch it until I'd finished BOTH Catherine Parr and Oriental Flower, the serious knitting projects left for the season.
But there it was, and I could see it. So I started working on it.
I was happy to discover that it does not, in fact, hurt to knit with sequined thread -- even when the sequins are square. I think you could make it hurt if you wanted, but you'd have to focus. And the thing drapes beautifully, and is lovely, and anyway, sequins in general are a good thing.
But you can't see it.
This is because I have discovered a Very Important Fact about knitting with Berroco's "Mosaic" and "Mirror" fibers, and that is that you must not drop any stitches. Ever. At all. If you do -- oh, let's say you try a little experiment wherein you tie on a new ball of fiber with a knot you're pretty sure is going to hold, and then it doesn't hold, it will not only not hold, but will unravel for about half the length of the needle, and then while you try to pick up stitches, a bunch of others will fall off the other needle, and even after you secure them on cable hooks, the cable hooks will fall out, and at some point the whole thing will just start falling apart and you'll unravel the whole project and go to bed.
Hence no pictures.
But I'm not disenchanted -- the two threads knitted together are gorgeous. I'd want to think carefully about using them for a large project -- just in the course of normal knitting, things happen, and these yarns are Unforgiving. But for a scarf they're wonderful.. So I'll take a few days off the serious sweater work and make this frivolous sequined scarf. Pictures soon.
(The "Mosaic and Mirror" scarf kit from Patternworks isn't available yet online; I ordered it from the Summer update catalog.)
But there it was, and I could see it. So I started working on it.
I was happy to discover that it does not, in fact, hurt to knit with sequined thread -- even when the sequins are square. I think you could make it hurt if you wanted, but you'd have to focus. And the thing drapes beautifully, and is lovely, and anyway, sequins in general are a good thing.
But you can't see it.
This is because I have discovered a Very Important Fact about knitting with Berroco's "Mosaic" and "Mirror" fibers, and that is that you must not drop any stitches. Ever. At all. If you do -- oh, let's say you try a little experiment wherein you tie on a new ball of fiber with a knot you're pretty sure is going to hold, and then it doesn't hold, it will not only not hold, but will unravel for about half the length of the needle, and then while you try to pick up stitches, a bunch of others will fall off the other needle, and even after you secure them on cable hooks, the cable hooks will fall out, and at some point the whole thing will just start falling apart and you'll unravel the whole project and go to bed.
Hence no pictures.
But I'm not disenchanted -- the two threads knitted together are gorgeous. I'd want to think carefully about using them for a large project -- just in the course of normal knitting, things happen, and these yarns are Unforgiving. But for a scarf they're wonderful.. So I'll take a few days off the serious sweater work and make this frivolous sequined scarf. Pictures soon.
(The "Mosaic and Mirror" scarf kit from Patternworks isn't available yet online; I ordered it from the Summer update catalog.)
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