Christmas Goodies

I know it is no where close to Christmas time, and that I should have stayed away from this post, but I could not resist.  A friend of mine finally opened her Christmas gift!  And since I haven't seen what I made her since it was finished...  Well I figured it was time for some pictures.

Here she is wearing it, a simple yet elegant blue scarf.  It is made up of a simple grid pattern which can be achieved by alternating knit and pearl stitches to create a square.  These I believe were done in a 5x5 pattern on size 3 needles.  I don't quite remember.  Then I put a fold in it, stitched the ends together (making it an elliptic scarf) and proceeded to the bead work.  This aspect took a lot of pre-planning.

I had to make sure I had enough squares to be able to have the leapfrog like pattern woven together, and I had to also make sure that when I put the fold in the scarf the ends would not be identical.  Much math later I had the number ready, adjusted the knitted length accordingly and then put it all together.  Reading this you may think that this was an easy thing to do, but really it is not.  As this friend put it: "You never stop amazing me."  But this is what I do.

The beads are for the most part glass and the pearls are not real.  Most of the fancy beads came from deconstructed samples of upholstery and curtain fringe - the kind you expect to find in snooty custom homes.  Even though it all looks very delicate, it is relatively heavy, which allows it to hang the way a scarf should.  This is important, because sometimes even if you get the gauge right for the weight of the yarn, the total weight of the piece might not be enough to complete the effect you wanted.

Soon there will be an update concerning another WIP besides the blue and lavender dress, so until then:

May your stitches be straight, and may your thread never tangle.