stash, knit, repeat

Sometimes, when it’s been a really rough week and you’ve had to rip out a few hours of work on an incredibly dull lace shawl border, you just need a little breath of fresh air.

Pattern: Chevron Lace Top, from Debbie Bliss’ “Wish You Were Here” collection, 2-3 year size

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold’s Hempathy, 2.5 balls of color 13

Time Elapsed: Under a week

Modifications and notes: There’s really not much to say about this one. The lace pattern as marked has a small error (a row ending in k1 when it should be k2), but otherwise it’s a clear and simple pattern, very easy to knit. I love the little details that Debbie Bliss puts into her patterns, especially for babies and children. There’s a little decrease detail at the middle of the v-neck, the sleeves are set in, the top will look great over a tank in summer or over a turtleneck in winter.

Really, the story with this top is the yarn. I have wanted to try Hempathy for awhile now, but just got around to it with this project. The yarn is obviously splitty, when you look at it, and it feels somewhat rough in the ball. My tension, which is usually very even (if I do say so myself), was somewhat off with this yarn just off the needles. But the color is gorgeous, and any trace of roughness or uneven fabric goes away with a good soak. This is one of the softer, silkier things I’ve ever knit. The drape is incredible. I’m very excited about the 6 balls of a tweedy tan I picked up in Maine for a modified version of this top.

So that’s it, really. (Well, aside from the usual on the FO page.) A sweet, quick, easy top to clear my mind and get me rejuvenated on the shawl.

It’s going much better, this time around. And I may have started on something else, too…

I figured, the yarn’s been in time-out for over a year. It’s probably learned its lesson, right?

(Thank you all so much for your lovely comments about the cardigan. Each and every one made me smile.)

When I came up with this post, and took the pictures, I had a lot to tell you about rushing to try and get the border done on my shawl, making hugely noticeable mistakes, and having to rip it out.

And getting so frustrated that I had to cast on for something else or I’d lose my mind.

And taking the border nice and slow, and being thrilled with the results, even if it’s going to take another week or two to complete it.

But instead of talking about any of those things, let me tell you about my father’s mother, Lois.

In the way of things in (poor, rural) Maine, all of the women in my family were avid crafters. I got the knitting bug from my mother, and my mother’s mother’s craft of choice was crochet, but all of the women could do everything. Lois could knit well, and crochet well, and cross-stitch, but her passion was sewing. She made lots of clothes for me and my cousins, she made quilts, she made stuffed bears with movable heads and arms, she made my prom dress, she made my wedding veil.

I inherited my perfectionism from her. Everything she made was flawless, even my first quilt (badly pictured above). She patiently guided my clumsy hands on the machine, showing me how to create straight seams and graceful curves. We spread the filling and backing out on her living room floor and cut it together. I was the only grandchild to really get interested in crafting, and it created a bond between us. When I picked up knitting in earnest after my mother died, she gave me supplies and patterns for knitted dishcloths as good quick beginner projects. I still have several that she made.

When I was a child, I liked playing in her sewing room almost better than anywhere else in the house. An old couch was lined with bears and other animals she’d made, the closet was full of fabric, and the noise and smell of her sewing machine (always running, it seemed) comforted and soothed me. As she worked, she would tell me what she was doing and show me how to pick seams, cut cloth so that it wouldn’t fray, properly stuff an animal, hem pants, anything.

She was strong, opinionated, stern, and caring. My mother may have helped me understand the joy of crafting, but Lois helped me understand pride in a well-finished object, that hand-crafted items could be heirlooms, that process and product can provide equal joy. I owe a lot to her, and I will try very hard to be worthy of her sewing machine. She’ll be sorely missed.