Special Week

This is a big week for the woman in the fabulous crocheted sweater at the top of this photo. Last week was a big week for the members if the monthly craft group I am fortunate to attend.

This week the woman pictured above is getting married and as she stands with her back to the assembled guests at her ceremony in Florida this amazing creation will hang from the back of her Bridal Sari. 

Last week our craft group had the privilege of helping complete this amazing secret wedding project.

The project started out last spring with the Bride to Be sourcing first an ornate red and gold Indian Silk Sari then selecting silk yarn from two Indi dyers to get the weight and consistency of the thread and the colours just exactly right both on their own,together and with the Sari. There really is no eye more exacting than that of a determined bride!

I believe the Bride to Be then worked the framework motifs herself asking family and friends to make motifs that float within the centre of the piece.

Each motif, made by someone special to the Bride, represents an aspect of the two families, the heritage of the bride or groom or a detail of their relationship.

The artfully arranged elements were basted into position on a table cloth and rolled for careful transport. (BTW the colours in these photos are all waaaay too orange! I tried to adjust the setting in the camera to better represent the crimson colour but the brown of the table cloth was too visually bossy to overcome.)

The hands you see belong to the members of the monthly craft group in which I am somehow lucky enough to be included!

Using a blanket stitch they are connecting the pieces together before the whole thing was to be removed from the table cloth then affixed to a piece of tulle for stability and then finally to the sari.

With the sari the bride will wear a stunning custom made blouse wrought in gold silk brocade. There is also a custom made evening dress in Chinese Silk, again in red and gold for the reception when the sari will be displayed on a form for one and all to see and admire up close. (Yes she had the other pieces with her that evening. No I did not think to take pictures. Yes I am an idiot!)

When the Bride to Be outlined her plans at the craft group last spring she had nothing more than a concept and some sample yarns. I worried the whole plan would never be done in time but just look at the results!  As she unrolled the cloth out onto the table last week everyone gasped. My heart was pounding.

What a magnificant way for a passionate artist from a family of talented crocheters to present herself at this most important day in her life!

What an honour to have been in on this closely guarded wedding secret from almost its conception to its completion!

What a blast to be able to meet with these remarkable and talented women each month!

All the best this week Lara! We cannot wait to see the pictures!

Eye Candy Friday

If cream wool kilt hose aren't the best kind of Knitter's Blog Eye Candy I can' imagine what is.

These are not my creations. They are a collaborative effort between an inspired knitter/master crochet artist and a gifted and exacting knitter. My Number One Son is the lucky, lucky recipient but until he has the kilt to go with them I will be the careful custodian/guardian and I will probably always insist on remaining the one to launder them!

They are knit in Austermann Step Classic with ribbed rather than shaped construction and surprisingly (to me) the same number of stitches on the cuff as down the leg!

Look at all those little cable crosses!

 Have a great weekend! Thanks for dropping by!

 

Not Neglected

Recently posts here have been about the knits that insinuated themselves into time and places planned for another project.

Don't imagine though that these dalliances have diminished my interest in the current "Woolly Wool" project in my basket which, despite the interruptions, has made considerable progress towards completion.

It's the EZ square baby shawl I began swatching for back in July.

It's knit in the lovely lavender yarn Lyn sent from Australia about which I have been pondering and imagining all kinds of wonderful FO's ever since it arrived in the mail from the other side of the world.

As I wondered "aloud" in a recent post about adding a lace detail to the shawl Lyn herself suggested something "simple". I took that to heart and added this wee little flourish.

It reminds me of a tiny flower in bud just about to open.

I love how it compliments the soft colour of the yarn and imagine a sweet plump baby sleeping peacefully beneath it.

I've struggled a bit with the math of maintaining equal unadorned borders between the increases and the rather wide pattern repeat so I'm kind of winging it but loving it just the same.

Elizabeth in her Almanac famously touts the benefits of a shawl on a circular needle as ideal travel knitting and as ever, she's right. A simple shawl works well whether knitting while taking in new sights and sounds or filling the often long periods of waiting that travel today entails.  Of course that also makes it great car and TV knitting too!

So perfect a mindless knit is it that despite occasional neglect the shawl is rapidly growing so that I'm thinking I need to sort out how to treat the cast off edge. (At 600 or so stitches per round its probably hovering near the half way mark)

So I knit around and around and around...with ideas floating around and around and around...ahhh woolly wool!

Thanks for dropping by!