Friday, August 19, 2011

May Queen Mystery Shawl

A sweet knit from Tiziana, the May Queen started out as a mystery shawl from one of my favorite designers. The pattern is quite easy, so I thought I would experiment with my very own Firebird yarn and some colored bead sequences. Unfortunately, the #8 beads were really too small to show off my clever gradients and could hardly even be seen at normal viewing distance. But the beads were an adventure, and rather than writing about the perils of using ten different colors of teeny, tiny, round, bouncy, exuberant objects, I shameless quote kath1996's description (with her kind permission) of her own interaction with the little rascals. The experience closely mirror my own except that she used a single color, so you can multiply this scary scenario tenfold:

First you open the container with the beads, then you pick up the ten or so beads that always drop out of the container while you are trying to carefully open it…then you spill a small amount out into another dish or container so as not to have the whole container open in case the cats knock it over, then you hit the new dish of beads with your elbow and knock them all to the floor (where they roll under everything and cause you to grab a flashlight and crawl around with your nose almost dragging on the floor while you search every place for the blankity blank little suckers), then you get back on your feet, set the dish down with satisfaction, certain that you have every bead back in the dish, and tip over the original container scattering the beads everywhere. Now these beads can fly…so they make it into every room in your house (except for those ten over there that somehow managed to get through the window and are now outside). I would tell you not to worry about them, except that I can tell you for sure that you will be exactly ten beads short on the project…(and no matter how hard you look you will never find those beads again). At this point you could try the old tried-and-not-true method of vacuuming up the beads…but this only sounds good on paper…your vacuum will only further scatter the beads making it impossible to ever find them again. Ooooh, look over there, isn’t that the cat eating the beads? Yep…and she seems to be turning a bit blue….off to the vet.
 
Laptop is a little too finicky to eat beads, but that did not deter her from Getting In The Way from the beginning to the end of this shawl. I can't figure out the attraction--Firebird is odorless, the color is not red (which she finds attractive), and it doesn't resemble either a hamster or the ugly brown scarf thing she enjoys cuddling. I couldn't get her off my lap for the entire project, and, as you can see, once the project was completed, she claimed complete possession, beads and all.


Attempts to remove her were met with The Look:


And she followed up The Look with The Snooze:


A few hours later, I filled her food bowl--a guaranteed draw--and snapped a few Laptop-less photos:




Well, almost...





24 comments:

Winterhart said...

Awww, pretty sleepy Laptop! I think in the first pictures she's saying "But just look, this shawl matches my eyes perfectly. Obviously it was meant for me!"

The shawl is beautiful, and so is the gradient!

Mo said...

Methinks Miss Kitteh Laptop has a taste for the finer, silky soft, most luxurious cashmeh blanky.

Just sayin...

Anonymous said...

My cats "help" with blocking all the time too. Laptop must be giving lessons!

GinkgoKnits said...

It's a lovely piece of lace as always. That description of working with beads was definitely too good not to share. It only left out the bit where after the beads are in the bowl you can no longer find your crochet hook.

Cecilia said...

Amazing shawl and truly wonderful in your yarn!

Soo said...

Beautiful -- cat AND shawl!!

LittleBerry said...

beautiful work and colour - at least you now you have one appreciative fan of your work in laptop!

fluffbuff said...

Ah, gorgeousness! Both the shawl and the kitty.

I love The Look. :)

Annie Cholewa said...

'The look' is not confined to the gorgeous Laptop, or even kitties ... try moving a whippet from atop your favourite handknit sweater and you will get a look that could freeze hell!

Love, love, love the shawl :D

Shell said...

Amazing work as usual, the color is so delicate! It does happen to match Laptop's eyes..

yarnlot said...

Laptop is quite serious in shawl matters I see. The look says it all. The shawl is beautiful and seems to be a very wearable size too...

blandina said...

Your work is always amazing, this shawl is beautifully made and the wool looks almost too fine to knit.
I am full of respect!

PenCraft said...

As always, gorgeous! Your knitting always inspires.

Laptop is such a fantastic name for a cat.

Kathy Kathy Kathy said...

My laptop is orange and his name is Teddy. He does not go on my knitting. That was his sister's bailiwick. He gets sprayed by skunks right underneath the window, thus perfuming all the unfinished objects in the room at once. But I digress . . . Nice shawl and pretty kitty.

Raveller said...

I think that Laptop belongs in Vogue!

Nic said...

Love the shawl. And I think laptop makes a great model :)

Carol said...

So pretty. I mean the shawl. The kitty is cute. Clearly kitty understands that kitty is the center of your world. Not that silly knitting!

Unknown said...

That is just gorgeous! that shawl is very lovely too *grin* You never stop amazing me!

Delusional Knitter said...

LOL!! I so put beads in a plastic dish once and whacked it with my hand sending them everywhere! Love the Laptop pics, she's so cute ... hey she has good taste in knitting!

Vicki Stammer said...

A beautiful shawl. A beautiful cat. We, too, have amongst our employers/cats a Torbie, and the idea of MY giving HER direction is simply incomprehensible to her. "What is this word 'no' that you keep repeating?"

Yep, I know that look very well indeed!

Darin Calhoun said...

Very beautiful lace work.

Anonymous said...

she knows how beautiful she looks on it.

Bluebird49 said...

I just know it's not much--but you just continue to amaze me. You are so talented---and in so many ways. Your writing style is so good, and so humorous.

And, by the way, the little Canon Elph that you offered for sale on your blog some years back--is still working for me. Thank so much for that!

Rosemary said...

That is such a pretty kitty!

Your post made me laugh. I once did a beaded project and I did run out of beads, something like 7 beads short, and I was doing just that - crawling around behind the sofa with a flashlight, heh. I found beads all over the house. How does this happen, I have no idea.

Wonderful memories... heh