ring around the rosies

Rare Elfin sighting!

Way off in the distance, rarer than the famed unicorn, an Elfin is spied cavorting in the trees:

Click here for a clearer shot (The fog is mysterious. Must be thumbprint on lens!)

Ah! It's the legendary FO! She dances, she frolics, she celebrates the completion of the Elfin. Of course I had to include some dancing shots a la Becky! Anyone for a spot of tea and some crumpets? I feel ever so fancy. It makes me want to watch BBC America and read a Mrs. Marple mystery.

Have you ever seen a girl so happy?
Click here for a better shot of the sleeves.
I love myself. Really I do.

No one, least of all me, thought the day would come when this sweater would be finished. And guess what? It isn't really. If you look closely, the neck ruffle on the right, my left, is a bit fuller than the other side. Somehow they're not even and the outermost frill is about 2.5 inches longer than its twin. ARRRGGHHH!!! I didn't notice this, of course, until the garment was complete and the rose-colored "oh you're so beautiful because I made you myself" glasses came off. Then I started critiquing it and observed the lopsidedness. Drat the asymmetry.

So, the sweater dammit strikes again. But I'm working on a plan! A plan, you say? Yes, a plan.

Another fine mess, but Abbott, I'm going to get us out of it. I'm going to make a prosthetic frill, about 2.5 inches long and sew it onto the end of the outermost frill, to make it frillier, and to compensate for its...er, inadequacies. Read this in a knitting book, you ask? Oh, no, just came up with it out of my own crazy brain. I hope to be able to accomplish this trick with the literal scraps* of yarn I have remaining. It's so crazy, it just might work. If not, I take it off and I'll just have to live with it.

The other small problem is that the right (my left) front band is a bit wider than its twin, too (longer AND wider?? Mother Nature really isn't fair sometimes). It flops out a little more and that kind of annoys me. I think if I seam it again, a little closer into the ruffle, it might do the trick.

The nice thing about the sweater is that even with these minor flaws (I mean, I am really grateful that the blessed thing FITS!! Especially with my relative inexperience in garment construction.) it remains a gorgeous piece of knitting, and one I'll be proud to call my own for years to come. The ruffles, as much of a pain in the arse as they have been, are what make this sweater. Others have said it before and I concur. The jury is in and RUFFLES RULE!!

I'm also ready to wear it out, even if it is 95 degrees F here. The wardrobe analysis has begun...let's see, what can I wear this with? New skirt definitely in order.

*The ball of remaining Felted Tweed with which I planned to seam said sweater, a lump about the size of a walnut, fascinated my cat in a way I've never seen her taken with yarn before.

After three tries to steal it from under my nose, she absconded with it whilst we were out to dinner, unravelled it all over the house, and then tried to assimilate it into her fur. I found pieces of it in various rooms for two days and took a while trying to pry it out of her hair wherein it had become entangled. Couldn't really tell the difference, though, between her fibers and those of KSH. Pretty much the same consistency, though the color was sadly quite off. I was hoping to market her to some enterprising spinner!! :)

Posted by Rachel at June 27, 2004 09:12 PM