I have been swatching for the Evenstar mstery shawl and concluding that although I need to knit from stash, there’s nothing there that is really substantial enough to hold 3,000 beads. Even though I knew I couldn’t buy any yarn, I went Googling for laceweight silk. I found an indie dyer that I hadn’t come across before, and I was wowed – Artist’s Palette Yarns. The Glisten silk laceweight was perhaps just a little heavier than I was looking for, but the colours were just so fantastic… I kept going back, several times a day, for several days… just mooning. Wishing… Sighing…
Well, as is often the way in life, the Knitting Goddess has her own way of taking care of matters and supplying the wherewithal for stash acquisition – and she in fact supplied me with a very nice cheque on Wednesday evening, that would more than cover the Glisten requirements for my Evenstar shawl project.
This left me with a new quandary… which to choose? The skeins are 400m, so I’ll need 4 skeins and could only choose from colours with that many skeins in stock. Sadly the one that I most wanted (G7044) had sold out while I was havering and I found it difficult to choose between G7029, G7045, G7036, G7039, G7037, G7041 and G7052!
In the end, I settled on G7036 – “Petrol blue with medium persian blue”.
I order 4 skeins and went to bed. During the night, I began to panic. The maths is right, but the yardage requirements are based on a yarn giving 1125 yards per 100g. Glisten has only 800m (0r 875 yards) – 4 skeins gives me only 5o yards or so in hand. Would the fatter yarn use more yardage? I decided to order a fifth skein as insurance. Juliet at Artst’s Palette was extremely friendly and helpful and facilitated the order adjustment very willingly. I’ve just PayPal-led the extra money to her.
If I end up with a skein left I can always de-stash it via Ravelry, or simply make a 400m shawl from it, there are plenty of those to choose from (but, please, not another Gail!)
Next problem: getting the right beads! It’s so difficult when you can’t go shopping and use your eyes and your hands to match and to purchase. Until I see the yarn, and how well it matches its photograph, I can’t really consider choosing the beads – and they in turn may not match their photograph. Minefield! For now I have some outline ideas…
Yarn:
Bead possibilities:
Or maybe just some simple silver beads?
Go visit Juliet’s shop – she has Sales items and bargains, and also fibre for spinning, sock yarns, and also stocks my favoured interchangeable knitting needles!