Harry's Shawl--Unleashed!

It took months of begging and pleading, but this morning, Harry finally agreed to let me post about his newest creation, named, with his usual modesty, Harry's Shawl.

He chose dark red Gentle and size 2 needles--the same setup as the Black Widow Spider King. We both adore Gentle and the dark red is just gorgeous.

Yesterday, he rudely dropped a sloppy folder of notes on my foot before scuttling off to dinner. After wading through the file, I can tell you that the pattern for the central square is something of a mess. The basic elements are in place, but the thing is covered with Post-Its, cross-outs, added lines, and what looks suspiciously like wasabi (Japanese horseradish). I cleaned the pattern up a bit:


Harry explains the design thusly.

The design is heavy on hexagons, which symbolize the Sacred Web--home and hearth for all spiders. In the center of the webs, Harry chose to depict pairs of mosquitoes, symbolizing spiritual and physical nourishment.

The webs are separated by rows of alternating motifs. The four little blobs show groups of baby spiders, symbolizing fecundity and the generational hope for the future. The baby spider motifs are offset with little thingies representing karaoke machines. His notes get a bit vague here--he rambles on about how belting out My Way during a glorious full moon enhances his creativity, thus symbolizing creativity, belting, mooning, and so on.

The central Web/Baby Spider/Karaoke Machine area is bordered on each side by diamonds filled with Pachinko balls.* Well, I thought they were diamonds, but Harry just pointed out that the strip actually represents a dragon's tail, with space aliens filling in between the diamond shapes. The border, he explains, honors the late Space Dragon Pachinko Parlor, whose astounding neon light display was the highlight (sorry) of Togane City's night scene for many years. Alas, the business folded and the building now houses an adult book and video store minus the luminary decoration.

The center is framed in a line of pachinko balls, signifying good fortune and adding a sense of coherence to the design. (It's probably the only coherent thing in this entire post.)

For your enjoyment, I now present the bottom Space Dragon Pachinko Parlor border--complete!


Detail:

I am afraid the border design is still at the preliminary stage, but stay tuned for an update at some point.

*Pachinko is a pinball-esque game wildly popular all over Japan. No matter how small the town, there is always a Pachinko parlor. Go here to read all about it.