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It's A Wrap for the Wrap

Over the weekend I put the finishing touches on Gallatin.  It isn't really a wrap, nor a scarf, but rather an accessory that can add a bit of warmth to the neck.  What a fun and quick project to knit up; I didn't touch it for an entire day and still completed it in four days.  (Contrary to what you might think, I do not knit all the time.  There is cleaning, exercising, cooking and errand running to be done as well.)  One thing I should mention is how much I miscalculated the amount of yarn needed using the lighter weight I selected, Laura Harding Willow Tweed yarn in the colour, Denim.  Gallatin used 2.5 skeins or approximately 325 yards/298 meters, about 100 percect more than I thought at the outset.  At completion there when 112 rows to get the proper depth and length for this accessory, and at row 112 there were 448 stitches.  At that point a row was taking me 20+ minutes to knit across.

There was more fun blocking Gallatin.  Although the designer says she steams hers, I wanted to do a full 20 minute soaking.  This is to be a gift and I know yarn in my house can roll on the floor or brush up against the cat so a proper wash and soak is a must.  The challenge once the wrap was completely wet was to not stretch the fabric too much in the blocking process.  That could have dramatically increased the size so no wires were used as one might normally do at this point, instead it was carefully shaped in a semi-circle to dry.  Even though it was rainy last night Gallatin was ready for a photo shoot this morning.

It was my plan to take the thing outside and string it either on some shrubs, a tree or the fence, but it is wet and rainy today.  Instead I tried different approaches to see what worked the best, you can judge for yourself.

On the banister with one of Paul's t-shirts

On me in a mirror.  (This time I remembered to hold the string on the camera.)

On Paul's t-shirt on the table.

My hope was to get some sort of life-like look at my finished project.  Having a model or even a manikin would help, but I have neither so I use what I have in the house.  To me the shot on the table is too flat (as one might expect).  The shot looking in the mirror makes correcting the colour very difficult.  My favorite is on the banister where the natural light is good and it captures the denim colour of the yarn so much better as well.

Gallatin is all wrapped up now ready to move on to its new home!

Here's my next project

Pom Pom Anklets by PurlBee


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