Wednesday, August 31, 2005

In the Studio



Scarf, variegated abaca, sequins, seed stitch

I think I finally was able to capture the glint of the sequins in this photo. They've been a source of real delight and experimentation. With this piece I put one black cup sequin on each side of the scarf within a patch of black stitches. It doesn't make sense to try to wind a thread through all the knitting between black patches, so I have made an individual loop of stitches for each pair of sequins, making sure that one will show on each side of the scarf. With seed stitch there's not an RS and WS. I had a passing urge to add hot pink sequins to the pink patches, but I've resisted. I'm not sure I'd recommend the abaca fiber due to its tendency to spring off the needles. It's more stiff than linen before it's washed, so very rascally to knit. I haven't washed it yet, but I've seen a swatch that's washed and it becomes beautifully soft. I knitted this with a size 9 needle, so there's a lot of knitting. The swatch I saw was knitted with a much larger needle, and although it was lacy, I didn't like the sparse look of it. This is still somewhat lacy, but more substantial. It'll look more like fabric than merely string, IMO. I can imagine this scarf being a smashing accent for a black outfit.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very pretty! Just what IS abaca? I've never heard of it.

LorreS said...

It's also called Manilla hemp, and it's a long plant fiber, used to make ropes, papers and fabrics,like hemp. I've also used a woven abaca fabric which is used in the box called "Victoria also Dreamed of China" on this page: http://www.albany.edu/~ls973/gallery3.html

Anonymous said...

i'm in agreement with your decision to not use pink sequins as well. the pink provides enough "pep" with colour alone.

looks nifty!

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