Thursday, September 5, 2013

And Even More Billions of Beads

Well, I see my faithful audience has finished all their scarves. I love that one...points to a neon-orange number decorated with lime-green pom poms.

So, as soon as you finish admiring this shawl, you can all go home and get a hot meal. Sorry about the pretzels. I bought them from Skinflint Airways and they assured me that the packages could be opened with the appropriate sharp cutting tool. I guess they lied, huh? But look on the bright side! I'll bet you never had pretzels fresh from a laser cutting torch before.

I was going to show you a sweater (Old Town), but I still haven't gotten around to photographing it yet. In the meantime, I finished my second rendition of Melissa Simmons's ethereal Nouveau Beaded Capelet.


 I cannot praise this pattern enough. Aside from the impeccable charts and written instructions, the pattern is truly original. You start by individually knitting the seven scallops, then joining them for the shawl body. Most delightfully, the shawl narrows to the neckline, so as you get tired of it, the rows become shorter and shorter.

On the down side, you need 6000 beads. The first time I knit the capelet, it took me two months. Thanks to my wonderful Fleegle Beader, I completed the second one in three weeks.The shawl was knit with my very own AK47 silk in a pretty dark blue and purple color. One of the advantages of owning a little lace knitting store is the abundance of goodies in the cellar, heh heh.


Because 6000 #8 beads weighs about four ounces, the shawl drapes beautifully and stays in place on your shoulders. It also produces charming clicky noises when you move around.



The beads themselves are from The Land of Odds 8c-455 cut--an iridescent purple/blue/green/gold color that shimmers in even the faintest light.



So, Okay. You guys can go home now. Unlocks auditorium doors....Don't forget your scarves, and feel free to take as many bags of roasted pretzels as you wish! Come back soon!

15 comments:

Winterhart said...

Wow. I ... wow. That is lovely - and the colors!!

I'm breaking out my Fleegle Beader for Lyanna's Shawl (Not very many beads, but that being the case the beader helps to make the knitting much more portable). Really loving it so far!

gayle said...

Echoing the Wow...

PenCraft said...

echoing the echo.

I was smitten by this pattern the first time you showed it to us. I'm even more smitten now.

Soo said...

Hello! Popping up to say hello and "oh my god it's lovely!!!"

Beautiful beautiful work as always.

Katie K said...

I really love the close-up pictures.

ripple said...

Gorgeous, and my favorite color. For you to knit it twice is high praise indeed.

Umm, thanks for the roasted antique pretzel crumbs. Guess there were a lot left over due to lack of laser cutting tools on airplanes.

Anonymous said...

Beuatiful!!

SusieQ100 said...

Stunning! I have this pattern, and one day I AM going to knit it for myself...... :)

yarnlot said...

It must feel like wearing a rainbow with all those beautiful iridescent beads...

yarnlot said...

It must feel like wearing a rainbow with all those beautiful iridescent beads...

blandina said...

I always wondered where the Art Deco patterns have gone and why I never saw one being knitted. I guess that at the time there were many estheticly beautiful and fashionable patterns.
Your capelet is exquisite.

knittingdragonflies said...

175Wow! This is so totally beautiful!! Don't know if I would wear it or hang it up as a piece of art!!
peace
Vicki

Whatzitknitz said...

I have said it before but it bears repeating what a beauty.(or perhaps I just think I commented before but whatever. it is a work of art.
it must have worn you out ; )
looking forward to new and exciting from you in the new year.

linda said...

Dear Susan, I've just got to tell you, you've changed my life! A year and a half-ish ago my daughter got me your book for Christmas and ordered a Malcolm Fielding Tibetan spindle. Now, I've been spinning quite a while and like many of us, have a huge spindle.collection but the only support spindle was a takli. Well, I fell in love with the support wooden spindles and since I need a shoulder replacement it's the perfect excuse to get a few new spindles. The learning curve was longer than I expected, but well worth it as I can still spin with a busted wing! And I just want to share it with the spinning world!
Why is this such a dark secret..it's like, if you know to look for it you can find it on ravelry( and boy, is the Spindle Eye Candy site fun but dangerous) but otherwise it seems like it just slipped right by me, and probably plenty of others, too. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for your book and let me know if there is anything I can do to spread the word.
Mummy (on ravelry)

Kitty Kitty said...

Hello... I was just thinking about you and wondering how you were these days. Miss seeing your funny blog post. Hope you and the furry ones are doing well and that you haven't been sweltering this summer.

Priscilla