BUT, thanks to the encouragement of friends, I have a wearable shawl. My (and Denise's) most heartfelt thanks go to Cindy the Super Shawl Saver. Cindy gave me permission to do what no knitter ever should, and what I had never even considered (because I'm such a proper knitter, y'know), and because of that, I could tackle the holes.
Eight of them. Yes, I know I said 5 or 6 ... but eight holes got mended. The cause, near as I can figure, was wetting, blocking, wetting, and .... whoosh ... 16 strands parted like roving while getting gently squeezed. ('Scuse me while I go put my newly mended shawl into a colander so it can safely drip damp).
Here are today's repair photos. Before on the left, and after on the right. The ruler is in there for scale -- one fixed hole is above, and one fixed hole is below.
This hole, to the left, was the first one I saw in the shawl, and the
first one I tackled with my Arsenal of Tools. See the tiny needle? See the thread through it? No --that's my yarn. It's tiny too. See the nassssty severed ends? My fix isn't invisible, but I think it will do.
And the last hole. The second hole I saw. The one that looked Miserable. The one that was miserable. It's not all better, but it's a rough representation of what the pattern is supposed to be. I am quite content to live with it.The shawl is laying upstairs to dry now. I am not blocking this under tension, ever. I saw plenty of roving-esque spots that are holding together by neighborly love and kindness, and I have no wish to go through the past 48 hours again.
It's done.
13 comments:
So much better than throwing her out on the curbside! I can't imagine what Cindy encouraged you to do, but whatever it was, it absolutely worked. A lovely mend.
Oh, it's just so sad. I'm knitting the same shawl right now. Different yarn. It's just so, so sad that you had to repair it so much, so soon.
Your fixes look great. I'm quite impressed.
I'm so glad that you were able to fix it enough to be happy with it. The results will never be visible to a non-knitter!
Shew! What a RELIEF! I'm so glad you were able to repair it.
Wow! That's quite some acheivement, well done.
Well done!! Nice repair effort, my hat is off to you for even taking it on!
Nicely done! I am glad you were able to repair it!
Wow! I'm so glad you were able to do something. I bet your next big lace effort will be in different yarn!
Bravo for fixing that! Your repair is really wonderful. You have nerves of steel.I will be blocking my own stole with great trepidation and after your experience with this yarn,I will be handeling it like the time-bomb it might actually be.
You've done well repairing that, but I'm wondering, are you sure your yarn is not defective? When you get into the realms of eight holes I'd definitely be wondering. If the yarn is still current I'd be contacting the manufacturers. Show them the pictures, that's what I did last year when a yarn was bleeding far too much colour and they gave me a full refund and let me keep the item.
Thank goodness you've managed to make the repairs work.
I'm so glad to see you managed to fix it. Some of the fixed holes I can't even spot, well done. They will definately be invisible when the shawl is worn
I'm so sorry you had to go through that experience - thank goodness you were able to save it! Brava! Hopefully you'll never have that happen again, but at least if you do, you'll know how to fix it.
Just followed the tale of your holes from the VLT knitalong blog. I think you've done an amazing job of fixing the holes :)
Hope the stole holds up ok from now on, it's beautiful and so much work must have gone into it.
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