A Confession

As the title suggests, I have a confession to make. The birthday shawl that was to be gifted to my sister--that beautiful watermelony shawl--has been demolished, partly due to the type of yarn I used and partly to my own desperate stupidity. When I finished the shawl I thought I would be a good knitter and block it. Dutifully, I doused the thing, gently squeezed the water out, lay it gingerly on some towels and stuck blocking pins to keep it from escaping. As I checked on it occassionally, I watched to my horror the dye slowly seep out. Okay, so I said "this is not unusual, some dye is expected to seep out", so I stayed true to the blocking plan and practiced patience.

Approximately 24 hours later, the thing was dry and upon inspection, the dye leached onto one side of the fabric so that I had one side of the shawl a vibrant blend of colors and the other an ashen mess. What did I do then pray tell? First I worried that my sister would get stuck in some typhoon wearing the shawl and come knocking on my door wet and covered in dye and bitching at me for ruining her outfit. Second I worried that I was facing a knitting challenge that I did not understand which would just be preposterous.

Well, with that said, I proceeded to f*&$ things up even more. I said to myself "self, don't second guess, let's read the ball band again and make sure that it didn't say anything at all on how to treat this fabric". So I did. And the band said nothing. I then said "self, based on other articles of clothing that you own and have run through the wash and dried, this birthday shawl being rayon cotton and linen would hypothetically respond to such a treatment positively. Hah. So I stuck it in the wash, cold, delicate. Then I...I stuck it in the dryer on super dooper gentle knits.

When i first pulled it out, I was jubilant, the color was back to normal, and the shawl felt soft and luxurious. Then I noticed loops sticking out. Loops sticking out all over the place. Like someone had taken a crochet hook and just pulled out random areas. The color was pretty, the hand was soft, but it looked like shit. And my heart kept falling closer to the floor. One last pitiable attempt to fix things, I sat down with the thing and a cup of coffee and started tugging and stretching and shoving the mocking portrusions. Then, and this is close to the end...I took scissors to it. I cut the loops and tied them back together, and that's when it happend. I cut too close. I cut into the shawl. And the thing unravelled before my eyes. And that's when I balled it up. Swallowed my pride. Admitted hatred for the thing, and then admitted defeat. And then threw it into the corner of the closet. There, I said it. It's ruined. The birthday shawl is ruined.

So, the days passed and I stopped thinking about it. And I worked dutifully on my Lace Leaf Socks and finished the French Market Bag.

prefelted felted

I went to Uniquities the other day to cheer myself up and returned the other 2 hanks of Cherry Tree Hill Cotton Linen Rayon that I was to make a twin shawl from for fear of another disaster. I ended up picking out some new yarn for a new and improved birthday shawl for Nina and for Mom, some birthday socks for Mom(either Pomatomus, Elfine's socks, or the Japanese Feather Socks), and a felted bag to put Nina's birthday shawl in. Wish me luck!