Needles on the Move

Monday Musings

A Love Affair

Think of lace.

Of shimmering, silken lace.

Of silken lace with the sparkle of tiny crystal beads.

Just recently, I have fallen in love with lace. A consuming passion which devours my time as I discover new patterns, new swatches, new yarns. I spend countless hours online, reading blogs and tutorials. Gazing at galleries of finished shawls and hungrily watching auctions of coned cobweb-weight cashmere on ebay. I dream of winding around myself a gauzy, floating wrap and imagine tracing with my fingers the trailing vines and intricate patterns of a crisply blocked stole.

I have set myself a limit. One lace project at a time. One shawl, or stole, one pattern. And yet that doesn't stop me in my feverish creativity. Planning, scribbling ideas, buying books, lying awake at night thinking about this new love of mine. Next time, with that yarn from my stash, with that laceweight I am tracking on ebay, with that new design, I will make lace.

But this shawl is to be finished first. As I thread beads I visualise the final article. The luxuriant drape of the silk, the elusive sparkle of just a few pale beads, that wonderous moment when the shawl is blocked and the pattern revealed for the first time. This is a project I know I will enjoy from beginning to end. From the first few stitches cast on to the glory of blocking and finally, hopefully, the look of pleasure in the recipient's eyes as it is unwrapped from its tissue bindings.

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Labels: Monday Musings

posted by dianemulholland @ 12:17 pm