Tuesday, June 12, 2007

SHRUGGING THROUGH SPRING

A Shrug goes relaxed on my deck

Remember the Watergarden and Dune shrugs, one of the first patterns I ever made? Well, I keep making it. And making it. By changing the yarns and mixing up the stitches, experimenting with finishing details and adding or subtracting embellishments, I find the same design keeps creating new looks. The one above, knit in gold, cream and black ribbons and textury tapes, has turned into this elegant slouch of a garment. How can one be elegant while slouching, you ask? Easy. Put it down to a relaxed insouciance.. In any case, the same pattern worked in different yarns can bring about quite dramatic results, methinks. The one pictured above just sold in Toronto, by the way, but it inspired  Jackie and I to design a kit with all the necessary yarns to duplicate the look.

I LOVED working with these yarns: Tilli Tomas silk shantung ribbon like crispy cream strung with tiny beads, Tilli Tomas black silk woven with copper beads (Salt&Pepper in 'Burnt Pepper' ), a black tape from Crystal Palace, a hand-dyed ribbon from Judi&Co (Cappuccino) that feels like vanilla icing between the fingers and mixtures of Prism yarns in tasty, sugary shades complete the look. Oh, it's luxe all right. This is a project for the fiberholic who needs a bit of indulgance. This is a sensual feast of yarn with the end result a gorgeous shrug wearable any season, any time.

These colors reminded me of Florence, the center of luxury goods for centuries so I named it 'The Florentine Shrug'. The design, however, is exactly the same pattern as seen here: http://www.janethornley.com/patterns_shrugs.html#4 . Now I'm plotting on how to take the same pattern and further embellish it with beads.

More kit information on this design to come!