Knitted masterwork: the amazing technicolor dream shawl.

 The amazing technicolor dream shawl is complete!!!!  I began this huge shawl in 2008 and stuck with it through thick and thin. I consider it my first knitted masterwork.

Shawl, mixed fibers - wool, mohair, nylon, silk; woven stitch, size 4 wood cable needle, 24 inches.

 

12 years! The challenge, beyond persistence, has been to keep the characteristics of the fabric the same over all those years.  With the basic formula of color sequence being to use a black yarn every third or fourth row, the challenge was to keep the color sequences as random as possible and to keep from beginning to favor warm or cool colors. The process had to involve looking back at the fabric each time I began kntting in  order to check the colors and keep them at a sufficient level of consistency so that the fabric stayed the same and didn't change into something else.  I loved the whole thing!

All told, it has dozens of yarns, beads and sequins. I also had to be vigilant regarding the beads and sequins. I watched carefully as I used the beaded and sequined yarn to make sure that they were distributed evenly through the fabric and not clustered.

Previous entries:

Included in summary entry for 2012

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/catching-up-fall-of-knitting.html

December 2011

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/shawl-mixed-fibers-wool-mohair-nylon.html

March 2009

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/in-studio-lightweight-linen-stitch.html

September 2008

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-studio-woven.html

 

In the studio - aqua silks and alpaca

The rib stitch is best seen in the left photo on the bottom right.

Shawl, mixed fibers: silk, alpaca, bamboo, nylon, metal sequins, beads; rib and mesh "simple lace" stitch; size 7 aluminum cable needle, 32 in.

As I was working on another shawl with lighter value colors I came across the left over yarn from this scarf  (January 1, 2014 entry) and wanted to take advantage of the uplifting feeling I get from aqua.  I scrounged through the stash and found some other lovely aqua remnants and decided to try this lovely rib stitch.

I worked most of one day figuring out the pattern with a couple of other yarns, so I thought doing a little more of it would help me get into the rhythm of it.  I was skipping a comma in the first pattern row and doing  k2tog yo twice instead of k2tog, yo twice.  After working on that other piece and now this piece I don't think I can mess up easily.

I'm doing long rows of 300 stitches so it will self fringe on the short ends.

Aqua

Scarf; silk, mohair, alpaca, bamboo, lurex, sequins; garter stitch, size US 9 needles

One of my first visits to Fabulous Yarns, or Fab Yarns, or whatever they call themselves, in Tivoli, New York, involved lovingly selecting these yarns.  Their beauty attracted me immediately and I have very much enjoyed working with them.  They include a heavy silk singly ply yarn with brass sequins, a brushed suri with a bamboo core and a very light mohair twisted with a lurex strand.  This to me is the ultimate party scarf.

Voila

I took it off the needles late this morning and I've been twirling around in it.  There's just that little bit of sparkle, and a lot of great drape. The out-of-focus rows you see is the result of the tulle yarn with the lurex inside.  It adds a really distinctive lacy, dressy accent to the whiteness.

More whites from the in progress bag

2012 has been a year of white exploration.  I found the dreamy nylon tube with a shiny strand inside at Wonderful Things in Great Barrington, MA and have mixed it here with white white cotton (not creamy or gray) and a totally glitzy yarn with gold sequins.   The glitzy yarn is a strong cotton thread, and gives a very noticable lacy effect at even intervals. The rib stitch keeps it from curling at the edges and lends a fascinating vertical line to counter the strong horizontal row lines.  YUM.  

The big needles give it a very lacy texture, and I keep thinking of weddings and evenings out, or really any time you feel like some slinky drama in white. It is a triangle shawl so that it can be tossed around in a million different ways for many different effects. It can even be worn as a big glittery babushka.

Greens

Capelet; mohair, linen, silk, wool, sequins; stockinette stitch, size 5 cable needle, 24 in. and 16 in.

Another in a very long series of capelets.  This one is the result of stringing together random lengths of yarns as I created a large ball.  I like the stripes.  The fine guage suits several of the more fine yarns and this will be a lovely light spring wrap.

Silk and mohair shawl

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

In the studio - sawtooth ruffle with sequin edge

Scarf, mohair, sequins, nylon, knit stitch, size 10 plastic needles, 10 in.

This is going along very quickly and is a study in contrasts with the fuzzy matte mohair and the very shiny sequins and nylon yarn along the outer edge. The ruffle is very subtle and the larger needle makes the drape very lovely and soft.

In the studio - black mohair and silk shawl

Shawl, mohair strand plus silk strand. size 7 steel needle, 14 inches.

The airyness of the mohair on these larger needles makes this wrap look lacey, and the sequins and beads on the black really make it look dressy and wonderful. I am knitting side to side so the shawl will have vertical stripes.

In the studio

Scarf, green silk with green sequins, lace stitch, size 9 wood cable needle, 16 in.


I've been making progress on this wonderful experiment lately. I began to shred the yarn because I ripped the first ten yards out about five times. So this final time I just kept going, and learned how to rip out just a little and repair mistakes. The lace kicked my butt for awhile, but now I have the pattern in my muscle memory. The sad part of this photo is that I'm not skilled enough to capture the sequins!!! They really make the yarn and the fabric much more attractive than I can show here. My design idea is to make this a very long scarf, and I'll braid the fringe. I think that the light weight of the lace fabric will make it suitable for summer, more as a decorative scarf than one for warmth.

In the studio

Scarf, green silk with sequins, lace stitch, size 9 wood cable needle,

I gave up on the crochet version and ripped it out. I've ripped out several attempts at stitch patterns. For some reason I didn't find it easy to settle on the stitch pattern with this yarn. But I like this lace, and I think it shows off the yarn and the sequins very well. The yarn is a rather loosely spun silk and gorgeous. Too bad you can't tell much from this photo. I'll try to do better next time. The lace pattern is from the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework , which has a small section of knitting lace stitch patterns.

In the studio

Scarf, silk, sequins, double crochet filet lace.

This is one of the dozen or so things I've started.

Finished scarf

Scarf, forest green kid mohair and silk, rib stitch, size 9 plastic needles

Et voila - I got all the sequins into a crochet border. This technique is much easier that stringing the sequins onto the yarn and pulling them into the crochet as needed. I tried that technique in the black kid mohair scarf, December 4, 2006 entry. I'm using a size 14 steel hook, which is so teensy that it's easy to bend it. But the hook fits through the center of the sequins, so I can pull the kid mohair through each sequin. I'm certain this technique can also be used to inclue beads in the crochet or knitting if the yarn is fine enough and the beads are large enough.

I'm getting my sequins from Cartwright's. Warning. This site is dangerous...

In the studio

Scarf, forest green kid mohair and silk, rib stitch, size 9 plastic needles

And speaking of the scarf from the December 8 entry... It's easy to carry do I've been taking it with me and having fun with it.

It seems that when I have not been working to finish this scarf I've been knitting and then ripping out hours and hours of lace. Honestly I need someone to call me late at night and force me to put down the lace. I begin to make mistakes and then end up wanting to... well...I guess you can't just shoot knitting and make it go away, but you get my drift.

Finished Scarf

Scarf, black kid mohair/silk, seed stitch, size 9 wood needle

Voila! The sequins don't show, with the exception of the one little glint in the upper left corner, but I'm really enjoying this scarf. Threading and managing the sequins was somewhat of a drag, but I'm glad I tried it. I think beads might be a little bit easier, or even larger sequins. It was very difficult to get the little blighters to separate once they were threaded. So there was a lot of fumbling with teensy pieces of plastic every four stitches. It makes be appreciate Borocco's carry-along sequin strands, which make it all very easy.

I'm doing a forest green scarf with a similar kid mohair/silk blend, and I'm doing it in rib stich, which makes a delightful fabric, and I have no idea how I'm going to embellish it. I'm wondering if beads would pull it out of shape all the time.

Scarf with sequins

Scarf, rib stitch, linen/cotton blend, sequins, size 9 cable needle

This yarn is almost antique, and they don't make it like this anymore. It's a thick and thin spin. I enjoy working with it, but I've come to the last skein now, after two of these thin, long scarves.

Finished scarves

White scarf, wool, rib stitch; variegated scarf, abaca, seed stitch, both embellished with sequins

Both these scarves are finished as of today and will go with many others to Woodstock for sale in the Fleur de Lis Gallery there. I decided to sew each sequin individually to the front and back of each black patch in the abaca scarf, and it took time to knot the thread each time to begin the stitches and anchor the sequins into the scarf, then to knot it again after the sequins were attached. For the wool scarf I used a continuous thread and worked in a zig-zag path across the scarf, alternating from RS to WS. So I'd fasten a sequin on the RS, then take a very long stitch down through the knitting and end it on the WS of the scarf. Then I'd fasten a sequin onto the WS and take a long stitch and end it on the RS. This went much faster, but now there's a sewing thread that runs all through the wool knitting. This requires a careful selection of the sewing thread so that it is as invisible as possible. I found it easier to match the yarn with embroidery floss, because I have about a million colors of it.

I barely captured the sequins, but you can see there aren't too many of them. I'm convinced that on a lot of scarves, fewer sequins are better and they add interest because they're a little bit mysterious. The temptation at first was to put something that starkly contrasted with the white scarf, like black or hot pink. But I'm endeared to the "flash" effect, where the sequin starts to show up after flashing light, rather than being an obvious embellishment at first glance.

Progress

Scarf, wool, rib stitch, size 5 cable needle

This is within inches of taking it off the needles. It's about 1.75 in. wide and will be about 72 in long. I think I'll add about 6 more inches, which won't take more than a half hour. The butter colored sequins are the ones I have chosen to use for the embellishment. That tends to go slowly, but I adore the effect.

This is done with Colorado Wool's "Vail" yarn, which I like more and more as I handle it and use it to create different pieces. It's a dk weight, and in a tight rib like this scarf it's just perfect. The sequins are from Cartright's which has provided endless fun for only $20. I have to restrain myself on a site like that because of course I want them ALL.

I finally am investigating the closeup focus function in my camera, so I hope to have less and less blur in each closeup image.

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.

In the studio

Triangle shawl, mixed fibers

This is probably my last fling using many many yarns in one piece. I've made lots of these now and it's time to move on, although I do love them very much. I'm going back to a mix of EuroFlax tan linen with several other linens and fuzzy yarns, adding in sequins and yarns with sparkly fibers in them. I'm also back to making it all rather lacy by using large needles. So it'll be a very loosey goosey drape in the fabric. I've made balls of yarn by selecting arbitrary lengths of the various yarns, being sure to use the EuroFlax between each different color. This makes for much of the shawl being the rich tan of the linen with the other colors contrasting and coming forth, and a lot of earth tones make it look like something you could pick up off a forest floor. I'm also not weaving in the ends so that it'll be a rather shaggy, barbarian sort of looking thing. At the end of each row I'm tying a big loop to make a loopy fringed edge.