My most recent FO is one of the coolest things I’ve done in a while: I got to knit a lace wrap for a bride. She wanted something to cover her shoulders and upper arms for her November wedding, something more like a capelet than a full shawl. She wanted it open and lacy, and I hadn’t done true knitted lace before. I spent days poring through Ravelry, looking at shawls and ponchos and wraps and capelets. I looked at knitted ones and crochet ones. I looked at fingering weight projects and bulky weight projects, though I was hoping for a thicker yarn so it would work up faster. We went back and forth until finally I found the perfect pattern: the Regalia Cowl Wrap. It called for super bulky yarn and has two size variations so you can wear it as a cowl/capelet, or a longer wrap. I chose the smaller size so it would hug her shoulders.

The color was the most important factor, since it needed to match her dress. She found some Bernat Alpaca in Peony that was the perfect shade, so I held two strands together to mimic the super bulky yarn called for in the Regalia pattern. Knitting lace was a little overwhelming at first: lots of wyif and k1tbl and p1tbl that I hadn’t done before. The first few rows were scary, and I thought I’d vastly underestimated the time I’d need to get it done. Fortunately, once I got going, it got a lot faster, and I managed to finish it in a little over a week. I loved watching the pattern emerge from these rows of seemingly random letters and numbers. I can’t imagine being able to design something like this, so I’m in awe of Brenda Lavell at Phydeaux Designs.

Blocking opened up the lace pattern immensely and it held its shape pretty well once I unpinned it, even though it’s 70% acrylic with only 30% alpaca. It was a little bulkier than I intended, so it came out as 14″ by 46″ instead of 12″ x 32″, but that ended up working fine. The bride has a brooch to pin in closed, instead of buttons, so she can pin it to make it hang just right.

Once the wrap was done and drying on the blocking mat, I made a quick pair of fingerless gloves with some of the leftover Bernat. They’re called the Iris Stitch Fingerless Mittens, and it’s my new favorite pattern for crochet fingerless gloves. It took some finessing to get the size right (I had to do the first glove four times) but I love the delicate lacy look, the simple little thumb hole, and how quickly they work up.

I’m so happy with how this project turned out, and I really hope the bride is too! It was a great excuse to learn some new techniques. Now I’m looking forward to seeing pictures from her big day!

This has been my focus project for a while. Really, the only other thing I’ve finished lately is an eye mask. My son had a mystery party at school where he had to dress up as a literary character. It had to be from a book originally, from a book the other sixth-graders might have read, and something not glaringly obvious (i.e. no Harry Potter). We chose Westley from The Princess Bride. It’s one of our favorite movies but the book is delightful too. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot. Anyway, the boy had black clothes, black headscarf, cardboard “sword” but needed a mask. Crafty mom was happy to oblige!