I Died For Beauty

I Died For Beauty
by Emily Dickinson

I died for beauty but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
"For beauty," I replied.
"And I for truth, the two are one;
We brethren are," he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

The shawl turned out lovely, and was delightful right to the end. As the rows get shorter and shorter, it really builds up momentum, and before you know it, it's done. It didn't block out quite as big as the pattern says it should -- I think if I had blocking wires, I could have blocked it much more severely, and made it closer to those dimensions. I intended it to be a neck-scarf more than a shawl, though, so I don't mind if it's smallish. I'd rather keep it smaller and have the garter stitch stay squishy than block it bigger and have it flatter and more drapey.

Who knew that simply putting pink beads on would make it so girly? It is such an adorable bit of fluff, and reminds me of one of my favourite things in the world: red velvet cupcakes with their pink and white frosting (aka Scarlett O'Hara, from Fuss cupcakes -- feel free to pick one up for me, if you're ever in town.)

Now that I have this little alpaca obsession out of the way, I can get back to some of my other projects. I've made a bunch more little crocheted sock yarn hexagons recently, and good progress on the back of my red wooly cardi. I even did some *gasp* sewing!

Emily Dickinson is Holding Me Ransom

Of course I mean that I just can't put down my Emily Dickinson shawl, in the last few days -- I have gotten as far as the beaded portion, and the pink beads make a subtle but lovely sparkle through the lovely alpaca haze of garter stitch.

I have also realized how ingenious the design is, since the rows are going faster and faster as they are slowly decreasing down to nothing. With the bottom-up design, you get the slower and more fiddly rows for the edging done at the beginning, and then everything gets faster and easier as you carry on.

I can really forsee me making another one one of these, in the deep lovely red alpaca laceweight that I have leftover from my previous Ruffle shawl & Veyla gloves. All I have to do is decide what colour of beads to use...

Something New

Since my self-imposed restriction to only use up yarn from the stash this year, I have certainly felt some frustration at the limitations of it. There are many projects that I have seen and admired, many yarns and fabrics that I would love to stock up on, but alas. It certainly hasn't curbed my impulsive nature -- that part of me that makes me want to cast on new things constantly, that disregards my well-made plans to instead skip the queue with any little new project that comes along.

I haven't felt much like finishing things, lately. My suede tote bag is sitting here, probably an hour or two of fiddly hand-stitching away from being done, and while I do look guiltily at it every day, I haven't yet girded my loins and done it. My lovely twisted-stitch sock is also waiting patiently for me to finish the foot and toe.

Instead, like a raven, something sparkly and new has caught my eye.


When I saw the simple and beautiful Emily Dickinson shawl on Ravelry, I was enchanted. It just so happens that I have some laceweight Alpaca sitting around (yeah, I had planned to use it for something else, but sometimes you have to follow your heart) that would be just enough to make it. I went out and bought some lovely rose pink beads and cast on, the other day. It is an interesting shawl, in that the construction is reversed from the norm: for this one, you cast on at the bottom edge and decrease your way to the center top. A bit intimidating, I must admit, when the first line of the pattern is "cast on 545 stitches." Yikes. I am past the lacey points at the bottom, which has cut the stitches by half already, and into the lovely mindless garter stitch body. Have I mentioned how much I love garter stitch? So simple and beautiful and squishy. And this yarn is just completely the softest butteriest alpaca you can imagine. I am really looking forward to wearing this one, which must be why I have been working on it pretty exclusively since I cast it on.


On Tuesday night with the knitters, over a long in-depth analysis of The Wire Season Three, I managed to knit six inches of 2x2 rib for the back of my new wooly cardigan. I am really hoping that this one will turn out as good as it is in my head. The swatch for it looked really good, and the yarn is very soft and round merino, so as long as it doesn't pill horribly (cross your fingers) it should be a winner.

Maybe one of these days I'll have something finished, to show off.