Lliclla

Recipient: MIL
Designer: Helen Hamann
Pattern: Llcilla
Source: Andean Inspired Knits
Completed: November 26, 2008
Colours: Dark brown, wine, orangeish red and pumpkin
Yarn: Peruvian Highland Wool
Completed status: She really liked it - apparently there was gasping when it was unwrapped
Pictures:

2008-Nov-30

Just finished. It's gorgeously scrumptious and I love it to pieces. The knitting and finishing was all totally done, but it still had to be washed and blocked. I did that this week, wrapped it up, and sent it off to her.

You see, earlier this month, my dear MIL had such a bad cold that it turned into pneumonia, and she checked herself into the hospital. While undergoing treatment for that, they did a CT scan of her lungs to make sure there wasn't anything else going on (she'd been a smoker for several decades before quitting cold turkey several years ago once grandchildren were on the way). And they found cancer. Cancer which was doing very nasty and painful things to her system, and at an alarming speed.

On Thursday, DH took DD1 over for a visit. And I insisted he bring along my gift, while there was still time for it to be useful and appreciated. If she's cold - particularly if she needs to go outside in the winter weather in order to be shipped from hospital to hospital for tests or whatever - she should be wrapped in something warm and insulating: wool. Nor did I want to chance her not seeing the last gift I made for her. And if she's feeling scared, or hurt, or down, she should be surrounded by a personalized garment which has the happiness of a totally-thrilled-with-her-project-knitter-who-loves her worked into each and every stitch.

2008-Jun-11

Thanks so much, LLB, for the compliment! (And congratulations again, BTW. Will you be knitting a veil? :) I am absolutely thrilled with how well it's come out. Yep, the knitting and the making up is completely done and I love it. However, I still have to block it, and I've been procrastinating pretty fiercely on that because I'm still trying to figure out where the heck I can block it so that DD2 won't be able to get at it. This may be an impossible task. I might have to block it at my parents' home instead. It's definitely a project that needs blocking, so I'm not calling it 'finished' yet.

2008-May-24

This has been the focus of most of my knitting time lately, and it's in the final stages. The main body is all done, and I'm just starting to pick up all around the outside (772 freakin' stitches) to make the edging.



I adore it.

2008-May-14

Soon after the yarn arrived, I did feel like crying. But not for the reasons you might think.

Were the colours wrong? HELL NO. The colours are gorgeous. I honestly could not have gotten better matches if I'd had them custom-dyed. Wellll, the pumpkin I suppose could ideally be more golden, but it's still great. The other colours are absolutely perfectamundo.

Did I find something at my LYS's Mother's Day Sale that would have worked just as well for a lower price? Nope. They do have some lovely stuff on sale (which ends Saturday, I believe, in case you're interested in heading in), but nothing that was right for this project.

What, is the yarn crap? Oh, goodness no. This is niiice stuff, this is. 100% highland wool, and it feels great. I still can't believe I paid so little for it.

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?!?

I mixed up two of the colours. I ordered two of the burgundy when I should have ordered four, and I ordered four of the orange-red when I should have ordered two. All my own stupid fault.

There are no words.

So, I've had to switch the colour patterning around a little bit. I did a preview drawing on my computer beforehand just to make sure the new combination wouldn't look like ass, and it doesn't...but it doesn't look the same as the pretty pictures in the book, which really bugs me.

The other problem is that I seem to have completely lost one of the skeins of burgundy.

I am just screwing myself up right, left and centre here!

Fortunately, everything else about the project is absolutely awesome. It's knitting up ridiculously fast - I'm already almost two-thirds of the way done. Yes, you read that right. I mean, I know I've been flaking out on the couch for most of the past week, so I've had more knitting time than usual, but this is really a super-fast knit. Except for the cast-on, which was a complete BITCH. Seriously, folks. 514 stitches in a provisional tubular cast-on? Not even a little fun. Amazingly, I got the count exactly right on only my second attempt. (And the screwup of the first attempt was pretty minor and painless.) I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Oh wait...I guess the way I feel right now is the other shoe. As is the lost burgundy skein. Crap.

Anyway, it looks awesome:

2008-May-5

Every year I look for something spectacular to make for my MIL, and every year I have tons of wonderful ideas, and every year I can't afford any of them. Le sigh.

I have deeply wanted to make her Helen Hamann's Llcilla mantle for almost two years, ever since I won the book with the pattern in it. It is truly spectacular, and the colours used in the model for the book would suit my MIL (a redhead) bee-yew-tifully. But I've been stymied by the price of the yarn it would take. Actually, no, not really the price of the yarn. I have actually found two places which offer appropriate yarn in more-or-less the right colours, and the yarn is vaguely within my budget: elann.com's Peruvian Highland Wool and KnitPicks's Wool of the Andes Yarn (hmm, I sense a theme...). Unfortunately, this affordability of both of these hits the crapper when you add the shipping cost.

I felt like weeping. Here was the yarn that would make this gorgeous thing, and my budget could almost handle it...but not quite.

But then...I had an epiphany.

If I ordered something in addition to the Christmas project yarn...something really inexpensive that I could slough off on some other part of our household budget...well then, I could have that part of the budget 'eat' the shipping costs, and I'd only have to assign the cost of the yarn for Lliclla to the Christmas budget! YES!

Almost giddy with glee, I added four balls of Elann's Sock It to Me 4 Ply yarn in black to my cart, and checked the whole thing right on out. I make black socks for DH as gifts and clothing ALL THE TIME. I'm going to account the sock yarn and the shipping charge to the birthday presents budget, or the clothing budget, and all will be taken care of.

Ahhhhhh. I can't wait to get the yarn. I'm going to cast that sucker on so fast it'll make your head swim.

Unless the colours end up being totally different from how they looked on my monitor. Then I shall cry.

Oh, and if it turns out that the yarn sale that my LYS is having this Saturday brings other yarn that would've been good for this project into my price range...well, I'll cry then, too.

Wish me luck!

Labels: lliclla