The stole was designed by Sivia Harding, and the yarn came from Three Bags Full Yarn shop on Main Street in Vancouver, a wonderful resource.
I started the stole about two and a half months ago in April, 2007, and finished it in two weeks. Then things got in the way, and I could not show it off to my guild (WestCoastKnitters in Vancouver, BC) at the May meeting (May 1, 2007)because of a "little" medical problem. I hadn't even blocked it when my medical problem took over my life for four days, so maybe it was for the best.
A month later - the day before the next guild meeting (June 5, 2007), I blocked the stole, which turned out to be both easier than I expected and made the stole even more beautiful. I had to block it on the floor, using two large towels and 176 quilters pins. My back was hurting when I finally hauled myself back up.
So now it is time to unveil my work. It was a labor of love, made with lots of swearing because every now and again I made a little mistake that required me to unknit row after row, no lifeline in place, (tried that and hated it). With a 54 row repeat, done 12 times, there were lots of opportunities for errors, so the fact that I still completed it in only two weeks is even more remarkable.
I used Fiddlesticks 50-50 Merino-Silk yarn in Copper and 70 small orange beads at cast-on and cast-off, 3.5 mm Addi Turbo circular lace needle, and lots of stitches to produce this work. Now I just have to figure out how to display it in my apartment since I didn't make it with a ricipient in mind - I just wanted to do it.
The model is my beautiful niece Kara Pottle who was visiting me from Kamloops, BC. I took her down to the park in front of my apartment, so we could use English Bay as a backdrop to equal the beauty of the stole. It was a cool day, but she told me the stole actually kept her warm. Must be the merino.
