Rip, chomp, shed
It’s finally getting a bit chilly here in the evenings, and I brought out a shawl I made two years ago, the North Sea Shawl. I was quite impressed with the Malabrigo lace, for not pilling at all despite two years of good wear. But here’s what I found:
My first thought was that there was a mouse in my closet and that all my woollens had been chewed through over the year that I was away. (No, I did not individually wrap each one in plastic with mothballs in them..) But nothing else has been damaged – the socks, gloves, other shawls and sweaters are all ok. Just this bit. Yet it does look like the yarn has been cut or bitten through in several places in that one area of the shawl, and not worn out. Any suggestions on how to fix it? I don’t have any pink malabrigo left, but even if I were to find some, how does one sew or darn something that already has holes as a design element?
Speaking of durable yarn, I am quite disappointed with a lot of brands I used over the last year. The Cascade Eco that I used for my Ribby Cardi and the handdyed merino for my Cobblestone pullover have pilled quite heavily.
What’s bizarre is that the same merino I used for the aran pullover has barely any fuzz on it. Maybe it’s because the fabric is so tight? I generally tend to go down a couple of needle sizes to get a firm fabric just to avoid pilling to the extent possible, but I guess some yarns still start shedding earlier than other. I have worn both these sweaters quite a LOT, but still, I wish they wouldn’t look so unkempt and old this quickly.
What are your favourite durable yarns? I think I want to make another Ribby Cardi in Blackwater Abbey or one of those scratchy finer gauge Shetlands. I love the pattern, and think it will be worth the maths required to redo the measurements.
Wow, I’m so sorry about your beautiful shawl! I wonder what it was…mouse does seem most likely. I don’t know much about darning, but I suspect the only way to fix it is to have a solid stockinette patch of some sort…I can’t imagine there is any easy way to replicate the lace pattern. Hopefully I’m wrong!
Sweater shaver! Works great, when I actually use it. I wonder if there was a snag you didn’t see before? Seems like something I’d do. And I don’t know how I’d fix it, besides crying and hoping it fixes itself.
i LOVE cascade 220 – holds up really well, and softens up nicely with a good wet-block. the heather colors are lovely
I second the sweater shaver comment! I hate pills on my sweaters and luckily it only takes a couple of minutes to keep sweaters pill-free. With my sweaters it seems like they stop pilling so much after a while. I think this is once all the looser fibers work their way out.
Sorry, no ideas for the scarf
I have no suggestions, just commiserations, re your beautiful pink shawl. For the pilling – I have a Sweater Stone from KnitPicks that does an incredible job of keeping knits looking new. Worth a try anyway!
Oh, NO!
I think you could definitely darn it. Don’t get me wrong, it would take a lot of concentration, but it can be done, I’m sure. (I’d definitely attempt it; I actually have a pair of gloves that had the same thing happen. One glove was all chewed up, but nothing else damaged at all, even the other glove.) Even if you could find a similarly colored yarn it might not show up too much.
Good luck!
Gasp! I hope you can salvage that rip. But I’m sure that lots of nail biting and cussing will be involved since you may have to cut your shawl and do some grafting. Good luck! That pink is lovely.
I am soo sorry to see that lovely shawl like this. if you find similar colored yarn and use crochet hook to connect the ripped pieces together. I think it should work.
and sweater shaver is a good buy to get rid of those balls. BB&B has them and works great.
Hi there, so sorry about the shawl – perhaps get some yarn of a similiar color/texture, knit up a few rows of that pattern, rip out the rest of the torn area of the shawl so you have two pieces, and attempt Kitchner stitch on both ends of the “patch” to put it together again? That seems the best – albeit complicated! – way of maintaining the pattern integrity.
I read you blog all the time btw – I was bored at work one day and randomly typed in “Desi Knitter” into google and there you were! I’m pchampan on Ravelry
Oh no! Tears, recriminations! Evil, evil mouse (or other culprit)!
I agree, though, that it *could* be darned, with great concentration and cleverness, though I doubt you could make it invisible. At least, I couldn’t. But it could be made not-that-noticeable, if you can find the same dyelot.
Commiserations!
Why not go to the destash boards on Ravelry, and see if anybody has scraps of the pink malabrigo they’d be willing to sell/trade/give you? I’d think that you could figure out where the pattern begins, knit a length of the pattern, then graft it in (sewing it up on the horizontal.) If you pick the right place, the patch wouldn’t be very noticeable at all. I know, I know – it’s a lot more complicated than it sounds. But it’s such a pretty scarf, I’d think it would be worth the effort. Good luck!
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