Defarge Does Shakespeare and Hairpin Lace

Image by Caro Sheridan
Image by Caro Sheridan

Unparallel’d, my contribution to Defarge Does Shakespeare, is an excellent introduction to hairpin lace crochet. I used Habu 1/20 silk stainless steel, beads, and a purple cord–the only color fit for a queen like Cleopatra.

Designing the necklace provided me a lovely trip down memory lane. As I wrote the essay to accompany the pattern, I re-read my MA thesis about Antony and Cleopatra and lingered over lines that captivated me 15 years ago…and still do. I especially love this description of Cleopatra:

Enobarbus: ...For her own person,
It beggar’d all description: she did lie
In her pavilion, cloth-of-gold of tissue,
O’erpicturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour’d fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did. (Act II, scene 2)

You can download the digital book today and pre-order a print copy. Take a look at the gorgeous array of pattern from the book. Which do you want to make first?

Ethical Elegance: Make It

Abbi

As soon as my Rhinebeck sweater settled into her bath*, I wound up five skeins of Dragonfly Fibers Super Traveller in Peach Melba. I worked Shannon and Kate’s 2012 Stitches East booth, and the yarn was my reward (among others). I’d been modeling the sample Abbi (and lusting after it), and she is almost mine to wear! Super Traveller is, well, super. The yarn is pleasurable to knit, and Kate has a great eye for color.

I used three skeins on the body, which knit up soooo fast on 15s. Maybe 13s would have been better, but I like the fabric of the 15s–all drapey and cozy when I try it on. I plan to make the shawl collar as deep as I can tolerate knitting and worried my two remaining skeins would leave me short. Since variegated yarn does not whisper “elegance” to me, I hope to raise the swank factor of the sweater by using a solid for the ribbing and collar. Enter Malabrigo in Burgundy.

I anticipate the Burgundy will temper the sweetness of the Peach Melba (wouldn’t that be the case if we were sipping and eating these flavors?). We’ll find out!

How have you upped the elegance factor when knitting?

 

*No FO pictures of the Rhinebeck sweater just yet; I realized after wearing it once that I knit the second sleeve’s cuff in the wrong size needles. Rip, rib goes the ribbing! 

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