Sunday, February 24, 2013

Klimt Scarf

Hello everyone!  It's been a long time since my last post, but I am resolved to do better from here on out!

In the spirit of the waning days of winter, here's the Klimt Scarf I mentioned in my recent Ravelings for Interweave Knits.  I spun a fine two-ply from a painted roving by Lynne Vogel.  I separated the shades, from deep purple through magenta to gold, and added some two-ply spun from bombyx silk I dyed in gold.  I wanted a graduated look to the scarf, with the gold-coin effect Klimt gets in his paintings by using gold leaf.  (See the postcard in my notebook, above.)

I knit the scarf in the round, using stranded knitting, with Lynne's wool/silk in the background and my gold silk as the pattern, in 5 stitches X 5 row squares.  I began with a provisional cast-on.  My yarn was fine, so I knit on size 0 needles, and the project did take months to complete.  Instead of sewing the scarf's ends together, I crocheted long tassels joining the two sides, then knotted them into a bold fringe.

I gave the scarf to my beautiful sister-in-law who lives in Vienna.  Hope it fits in there!