Ever since I saw scribble lace garments in Debbie New's brilliant book Unexpected Knitting, I've wanted to use her technique to make something other than a scarf. I love the Icelandic jacket in the book, so decided to start small with a scribble lace shrug and maybe work my way up.
Scribble lace is a delight, combining a very thin yarn or thread and a thick-and-thin yarn to produce a fabric with great personality and a fascinating, protean quality – just give it a shake and it changes. It is virtually weightless yet surprisingly warm. The back of the shrug shows off the visual appeal of the exaggerated, scribbling loops better than the front (click on photos to view larger).
The shrug was knit up using one skein of each of Crystal Palace Kid Merino colorway 0204 (previously featured here) and Di.Vé Fiamma Stampato colorway 404 on size 15 needles. Ordinarily I dislike working on anything over size 10, but this was a happy exception. I couldn't find a button light enough and interesting enough to serve as a fastener, so went with Schiaparelli-style ties.
I wore the shrug to MDS&W over a white Modern Yarn PurlGurl short-sleeved tee (a dark long-sleeved tee works better for blog photography). There were hissing noises behind my back ("Scribble lace!") which were oddly gratifying, but I was a bit surprised by the number of people who wanted to pet it. With me in it. This doesn't happen when I wear other shrugs. Most people asked permission, which is one thing, but a few sidled up to cop a surreptitious feel, which is quite another! (Boundaries, people, honestly!) It was always a sidal approach. I became very aware of my peripheral vision. Now that was unexpected.
Despite that oddness, I see more scribbling in the future. The technique would seem to be like clay court tennis – a bit out of control and not to everyone's liking, requiring finesse more than speed or power. Happy news for a Tortoise!
7 comments:
Well, heck. It seems that Good Girl Purl and I missed you at MSW on Saturday. Did you attend the knitbloggers' meetup on the hill?
I've never seen that before, but it looks really cool! I'd love to see it close up. Will you be at NHS&W or MAS&W?
Really innovative design using the scribble, it makes me ponder other garment items with scribble...
Your shrug is very pretty. I don't think I've seen the technique before. I'll have to check out that book.
Very cool. And, isn't that book amazing? Any woman who can think to knit a boat is going to have some fabulous ideas (grin)
I like the shrug, but I totally agree with you about being petted by random people - euwww!
Your shrug is great, I too wanted to see it in something other than a scarf. Very nice!
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