I made the Seraphina Shawl just about a year ago. The pattern is written a bit oddly but the pattern isn’t difficult to get the hang of. The shawl itself makes a gorgeous bat (or angel) wing shape that actually stays put on one’s shoulders without resort to tying, pinning, holding on or contortions - always a nice feature :) I gave this shawl away to someone who adored it because I didn’t like the yarn - an acrylic boucle that felt seriously yucky to me. In fact I hadn’t bought the yarn because of it’s fiber content but because it was the first self-striping yarn I had ever seen and I was dying to see how it worked up.
But lately, I’ve been remembering the lovely shape of it and the fact that when I put it on, it stayed where I wanted it to stay instead of meadering around my shoulders and down my back without so much as a by-your-leave. And I wanted to make another one so I dug out a ball of lace weight wool (of which I thought I had plenty) and a ball of rayon flake (of which I thought I had a ton) and went to work with a size G (4.25 mm) hook and the two lace-weight threads carried together. Much smaller scale than the original than my original effort which was worked with a size J (6.00 m) hook and bulky, fluffy yarn. And oh, was it beautiful!
But of course, while I knew I had 800+ yards of the wool, I’d forgotten I wasn’t working to the same scale. Doing it this way was going to require substantially more yardage. And while last night I was prepared to swear that I had at least 1000 yards of the rayon flake, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I went through each cabinet and every box and bag. Nada, zip, zilch, goose eggs. Well, poop…
So I will need to rip this and start again with something I know I have plenty of. If I wanted to put it off (which I don’t but which may be necessary) I could simply designate a box or a bag for “Seraphina” and collect sport/DK weight yarns in a particular color range and a variety of textures and then go to work when I have a sufficient quantity. Anyone out there think I’ll wait that long? Neither do I :)
The other thing I’ve been thinking about is sleeveless-ness. For several years now I’ve been enviously eyeing all the pretty tanks and otherwise sleeveless tops that come out during the warm weather. And there are a ton of patterns for these garments and, for the most part, they’re simple to do. Two things have been stopping me. For many years, I avoided sleeveless tops because I have rather broader-than-usual shoulders and felt that the no-sleeve look made me look like a line-backer :)
Well, I’ve lost 42 pounds (and counting!) and am beginning to wonder if I mightn’t take the chance rather than spending another summer consumed by envy of those who didn’t worry about having sleeves on their summer tops.
The other issue is that I abhor the bra-strap-peeking-out look (and don’t even get me started on those plastic “invisible” bra straps…) and because of the mastectomy (and that fact that I seem to have been built droopy in the first place - I’ve had old-lady boobs since I was fifteen), I can’t go without a bra. Well, I won’t - not in public anyway :)
But I was looking around this morning and had another long look at Grumperina’s Picovoli and have been wondering if that wouldn’t fit the bill. At least one modification would have to be made, of course. I would minimize or even eliminate the waist shaping because I don’t have a waist…maybe in another 50 pounds :) But the rest of it seems good and I like the idea of it being top down and worked all in one piece.
I even have yarn, believe it or not!
This is Classic Elite Pure and Simple, naturally dyed, cotton sport weight and it’s been in the stash for quite a long time because while I love cotton, I don’t much love the color of this stuff (or lack of color - depends on how you look at it, I guess). However, it’s not much to risk for an experiment and if the tops turns out to be a howling success that I love to pieces - I can dye it (or have it dyed).
So that’s what been on what passes for my mind over the last couple of days. Have any of you had a stab at Picovoli? Like it? Loathe it? Things to watch out for? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Yes, it’s still raining here and is likely to go on raining for at least another couple of days. Here’s hoping all your weekends at least, are bright and sunny :)
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