update on Susan's wedding prep...

It's only a few days away, and things are pready for the wedding. She's got her dress, she's got the jewellry (which I'm proud to day I had a part in making!), and now she has the crowning glory! I can't believe she kept this from me, but she knit this totally without telling me, in case she didn't get it done! (Like I would have judged her! Well... maybe I would have a bit...) Gaze on this in awe, as I did, then read her own words describing it...

(The below is the exact email Susan sent me with the pictures - reproduced here with her permission).

Behold, the Jared Flood Bridgewater shawl. Surprised?

It’s knit in the white alpaca/silk laceweight I bought back in the spring, thinking I was going to knit that very beautiful shawl. But then we got engaged in March and the wedding date was earlier than I thought it would be – hence, limited shawl knitting time. I started this around early April and didn’t want to let anyone know I was working on it for the wedding, until I knew it was done and it came out right – just in case I ran out of time. This was an easy pattern, but it was still huge in size and time-consuming. I worked on it a lot, most nights, and all that interspersed with the moving and other chores, so I didn’t work on it as steadfastly as I wanted to (should’ve been done earlier!).


I ordered some grey acid dye from KP. Before it was time to dye the shawl, I crocheted a few fast swatches with the yarn. I prepped the dye water accordingly, but added a tiny bit of the grey dye only, not the whole bottle. I wanted this shawl a light grey to match my dress, so I had to be careful. In went the first swatch. The colour was perfect, so I was able to continue, took a deep breath and plunged the whole thing in. I figured if the dye this way didn’t work, I would just go full on and dye it a charcoal grey and I’d still have my lovely shawl to wear – just not at the wedding though, and I have a gorgeous cashmere cardi to wear as back up. But it all worked out beautifully. Blocked like a dream today, all nice and square with my blocking rods kit and here it is, ready to roll out at my wedding. I finished this sucker last night at midnight.


Photographer is going to be instructed to zero in on it, a LOT. (I’ll put it on after the ceremony, for party time). So more professional photos to come for the blog. Hope I don’t snag my bracelets on it! I sacrificed a lot of clay and paper and beading craft time and book reading for almost 5 months. Every time I wanted to do something different I had to remind myself that this could not wait. I’m not gonna knit again for a good while.


I need a break!!


(Back to me now...)
Susan has promised me pictures of the wedding, once she gets them back from her photographer. I would love to see the photographer's face when she insists on closeups of a shawl and a bracelet, and the cake toppers!

"Forget the family shots! Make sure you get the lace edging!"