Whew, no sooner do I go and write a post about how manageable my day job is, than it gets insanely busy! A big belated thanks to the Yarn Harlot for blogging about the Paul Atwell Socks pattern, and welcome to all the folks heading over from there! I know it's a little late for many of you, but FYI I am having a 20% off promotion through the end of December; just enter the coupon code EXPERIMENT! at checkout. I really hope you enjoy the pattern.
I thought I'd write a few notes about the second project to get put on hold during my last few months of soul-searching: the Maddalena Shawl.
Let me admit that none of my ancestors were named anything so lovely as "Maddelena." The shawl is named after David's great-great-grandmother, Maddelina Camerlingo Artone, who (maybe needless to say) came from Southern Italy; it's also the name of his great-aunt, although she goes by Molly. (Galli relations, please correct me if I have these relationships wrong!) I haven't done a lot of research on Maddelina herself, although David's uncle and aunt did give us a beautiful book of family photos for our Partnership Celebration, which includes some shots of her. She appears as a tiny, elderly Italian woman, with a light-colored shawl knotted around her neck. As she was undoubtedly Catholic in addition to being Italian, I thought this somewhat church-inspired shawl would be a good match for her beautiful name.
I've loved this stitch pattern since first spying it in Barbara Walker (she calls it "shower stitch"), but oh my, I have been through about a zillion iterations trying to actually USE it in a design! My problem was basically that shower stitch cries out for a very fine, lace-weight yarn, but I stubbornly tried over and over again to use it in designs with fingering or light fingering-weight choices. A couple of sock yarns and a heavy laceweight later, I've finally arrived at the finest yarn I possess, Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb in a sort of eggplant color. I'm finally liking the general look I'm getting here, but it's seriously been YEARS, people. If I end up actually completing a shower-stitch design to my own satisfaction, it may truly be miraculous.
Which brings me to the theme of this shawl:
Shower stitch reminds me of those curved, layered roof tiles one sometimes sees in Southern European architecture and are sometimes paired with arches (the photo above isn't exactly what I mean, but it's the best I can find in ten minutes' searching). My idea for the Maddelena shawl is to create a transition out of the shower stitch section that would mimic the church arches, as if the eye is traveling down from the roof to the outer, arched walls. Here's a quick sketch of what I mean:
I'm thinking that the heavy lines will be represented by, perhaps, double columns of ktbl's, and that there will be some kind of delicate mesh between them. I have some ideas about how actually to accomplish this, but hit a gumption trap somewhere along the way related to (what else?) whether this design is "marketable," and haven't gotten around to sitting down at the computer to actually figure it all out. Now that I don't have to worry about that anymore (I just love writing that), I hope to get back to it soon!
Oh, I can't wait to see how that comes out. It's lovely.
Thanks, Kaphine! I'm finally liking how it's turning out as well. :-)
Oh, lovely! What a lovely idea for where it'll go next, too.
I'm wondering if columns of tiny 1/1 ktbl cables might make a heavier line than a column of two ktbls side by side—those tend to pull apart from each other a bit with blocking and might end up looking more like || than |. Tiny cables are used extensively in Niebling patterns, so there is definitely a fine lace precedent for them. (Usually in Nieblings the tiny cables are arranged in a grid to make a kind of dense mesh fill, though, instead of in columns to divide sections of mesh.)
Glad you're still firmly resolved not to worry about marketability. Keep not worrying!
Rebecca: Oh, interesting point you make about two columns of twisted stitches tending to pull away from one another. That is definitely something to consider. I think that charting-wise it would actually be easier to stick with one column, but I thought a single column might not show up clearly enough on a background of mesh...now I think you're probably right, though - and 1X1 cables weren't something that had occurred to me. Thanks for the suggestion and the support! :-)
You mean these roof tiles on this kind of church?
Living in Southern Europe, as I do, it's always a pleasure to see our architecture inspire others.
Lovely images, Susan! That is the general feel of church in my head, but the specific tiles I'm thinking of are those scale-looking ones, like these. I may be mixing two different, incompatible styles of architecture in my head, though!
(And my apologies that the blog thought you were spam at first; I think it was the links.)
I'm really enjoying seeing your ideas and in-progress works! And I'm so glad you've decided to just design what you want and not worry about anything else. I hope the experiment goes well becuase it clearly seems to be making you happy.
Becky, thanks so much for the support! And I'm glad you're enjoying these abandoned-for-now, soon-to-be-resuscitated projects. It feels good to me to get them out into the open air. :-)
It's so nice that you're posting again! I'm really glad you've freed yourself from "marketability" worries (total coincidence that once you do that, you get some good press coverage?!). And it's fascinating being let in on the creative process behind your designs. It may have taken years, but once you've brought Maddelena fully to fruition, it will be a wonderful design for many more years to come.