FO Friday 110: Bloody Vlad Lives !

Victorian Flower Oracle

 Many apologies for the return to rubbish photos - it is dark, grey and raining today, and the Bloody Vlad turned out to be so large it wouldn't quite fit on the table how I wanted it to.

You can see very clearly that there are no points - when the designer says 'bind off loosely', she means 'bind off like knickers without elastic'. But hey, it still looks fine, a non-knitter would never know.

 

You might be able to see the beads if you squint and use a magnifying glass  ...

Detail of the 'wing'

 The yarn - 'Mistoffeles' merino/nylon 3ply sock yarn from Black Cat Fibres was lovely to work with: soft with a very slight stretch, washed and blocked easily (although it bled a little, I forgive it, since this is a vampire shawl it seemed appropriate).

And here is my other creative work for this week, completed at Destructo Boy's Savannah Sharing Day: 

 

 

Which inexorably reminded me of this:

Hop on over to Tami's Amis - hopefully any music will be less dodgy than my selection remembered from childhood.

WIP Wednesday 115: A Seasonal Knit

So Auntie Fashion's Blankey is finished and awaiting collection this weekend. Thus, my needles were once again free, which was a good thing as I had an Urge. 

I find it almost impossible to resist Urges when I get them - and at least this one is harmless, as it was the Urge to knit another shawl.

It's not like I even wear shawls, but I love to knit them: so lacy, so pretty, delicate, feminine, old-fashioned yet modern; I love to see them grow and then the full blossoming of the pattern that occurs with blocking ... The only shawls I don't like and won't knit are the solid, chunky ones that involve garter stitch and/or colorwork, ie. the ones that seem to be on trend right now.

Wow, sorry about that - it's been a while since I exercised my mad soap-box skillz and the tendency momentarily escaped me.

So. I knew that I wanted to knit Vlad, right this minute, even though it wasn't in my queue and there are plenty of other shawls which are; and I thought I had the perfect yarn for it:

                                                          Drops Lace in Black

It's very luxurious at 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk. And of course, who could resist knitting a big lacy shawl with 800 metres of this mournful black color during the dark winter months using eco-lightbulbs ? The perfect recipe for going blind and insane, although I'm not sure which would occur first.

But - and here is where I am glad that I checked the projects page and the pattern more closely, although (naturellement) it was not until after said skein of yarn had been wound - it turns out that the Vlad pattern is written for 4-ply/fingering.

Drama ! I have no black 4-ply.  

Crisis ! It's Sunday, no yarn shops open. 

Dilemma ! What to do ? 

As you already know, I am not only quite obsessive very focussed, but also I'm an Instant Gratification kinda gal, so you can see that things were really serious - no way could I alter my plans and cast on something else (heavens forfend !), yet how could I make the highly anticipated Vlad without the proper yarn ?

Phew ! I could hear your sigh of relief almost as loudly as my own: buried in my stash was 'Mistoffeles' a 425m. skein of semi-solid merino/nylon superwash red 3-ply from Black Cat Fibres, that has been awaiting the right project for the longest time - since 2010 actually.

So I have named this shawl Bloody Vlad: perfectly appropriate for an October knit, I feel. Go see if there are more seasonal projects over at Tami's Amis ...