Like a true crazy stitcher, I decided two days ago that I needed a gray scarf to match the coral dress that I intended to wear to the Smithsonian Craft Show Benefit Dinner. And, given that I am a crazy stitcher, I decided on a pattern that calls for laceweight yarn. So on Monday evening, I grabbed a hank of Skein Silky BFL lace (2 ply, 876 yards, 80% Bluefaced Leicester, 20% silk) in Graphite and downloaded the Bias ‘Before and After’ Scarf from Churchmouse Yarns. You won’t catch me knitting with lace yarns too often, so if I am going to jump into a lace weight project, it is going to have to be easy. This one fits the bill. The pattern is a bias scarf done entirely in stockinette stitch. If you can knit and purl, you would only need to know how to increase (a make 1 or perhaps a Kfb) and work a K2tog. That’s it. The pattern also has an option for adding beads to the beginning and end, which I thought would be a cute touch. I did manage to finish the project about 20 minutes before I had to run out the door to the benefit event. I steam blocked it on the fly, which worked amazingly well. It is my new favorite accessory for spring! So lightweight and slinky. And as my first neutral colored scarf, I am finding that it goes with a lot more in my closet than my typical brightly colored scarves do.
So about that Craft Show. The Smithsonian Craft Show is an annual show held at the National Building Museum. This year is the 30th anniversary of the event. Tickets for entry are $15 and it is open to the public today through April 22. The artists are amazing. You will find several fibre artists who are doing very interesting things with felting and wool. My favorite was Jeung-Hwa Park, who “combines knitting and felting to create textural scarves that bring a new aesthetic of knitting.”
I think my favorite booth was Ignatius Hats, whose hat boxes alone were worth the hat purchase.
I may have also stumbled over the most interesting jewelry from Tia Kramer! The artist is from Seattle and boasts that the paper in her pieces are resistant to even Seattle weather. Her packaging is brilliant. She ties a wonderful wire and paper flower around each box and then sprinkles bits of the dyed paper into the inside of the box. I bought two necklaces, one for me and one for a friend who just had to have it after I sent her a text photo 😉 I am an enabler.
So I would encourage you to check it out this weekend, particularly if you are already bouncing around the city for the Metro Yarn Crawl!
