Thursday, January 20, 2011


A couple bags of novelty yarns came my way recently, so I experimented making what I call "wild" shawls. I used two weights of rayon chenille on a blue shiney rayon warp sett at 10 epi. I interspersed the blue, light green and pink chenille with bands of the fluffy, multi-colored, novelty yarns for "wild" effects.

For one shawl, however, I used only the lighter weight chenille in deep teal, rust and rich purple, colors I observed in a crocheted shawl worn by a character in a Masterpiece Mystery Miss Marple episode. The colors are rich and very pleasing to me, conjuring up Medieval castles and aristocratic banquets, or by contrast, a colorful gypsy caravan.

Although Americans left the aristocracy behind in 1776, we are still fascinated by castles and knights and grand ladies in beautiful clothes.

And gypsies? Well, the mysterious world of living on the road, fortune telling, exotic music, women dancing in long skirts, colorful scarves, flashy jewelry, are always intriguing even for those of us who are more sedentary.