Aimee, Emily’s Wedding Capelet

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aimee, emily, pure silk, wedding

Ok, I think this is the last post that has anything to do with Emily’s wedding (well, except for when I write about what I made with the yarn I bought in Portland, but that doesn’t really count).  Sheesh . . . you probably think I’m obsessed with Emily and her marriage, or at the very least that we are good friends :-)

Although I repeatedly told Emily that she was getting married in JUNE, she insisted that it might be cold the day of the wedding (something about weather in the Gorge being unpredictable, or some such Pacific Northwesterner nonsense).  Seeing as it was her wedding, though, I conceded that maybe she would need a coverup, which led to the inevitable desire to knit her something to wear.  This desire came mostly from love, but, I’ll admit it, there was a little bit of wanting the bride to wear something I made on the wedding day.  That way, when she looks back at pictures of the wedding wearing the coverup I gave her, she will be forced to think about me just a little bit.  I know, it’s selfish.  But it was mostly love, like I said.

After perusing shawl, wrap, shrug, etc., etc., patterns on Ravelry, and after one dress change-up, Emily settled on Aimee, a cute little capelet by Kim Hargreaves.  (You may remember me discussing it a little bit here.)  There was one issue with this pattern, however – it calls for Rowan Kidsilk Aura, which, unfortunately for Emily, contains mohair.  Mohair just cannot be abided by Emily’s skin, so a substitute had to be found.  This led us to Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, which, as the name suggests, is 100% silk.  And, fortunately, 100% of knitters named Emily, Linden and Kristen think it feels exactly like a cloud.  It was love at first touch, and we ran gleefully from the store with 500 meters of silk.

The capelet construction is simple, with decreases to shape the shoulders and a long cowl neck.  The pattern calls for you to knit the garment in two pieces, but I decided to go for knitting in the round (my motto: when in doubt, minimize purling).  I also modified the neck by working a few rows of seed stitch before binding off.  In the silk yarn the purl bumps looked like little pearls, which I thought was very pretty.  Emily is very found of flowers, so we decided to take on some more knitted embellishments in the form of silk flowers from Nikki Epstein’s Knitted Flowers.  (I also talked about making the decision about the flowers here.)  In the end, we went with four buttercups on the shoulder (two knitted by me, one by Emily, and one by Kristen – aww).

It did turn out to be quite cold on June 7, 2009.  Please enjoy these beautiful photos of Emily in her capelet that I stole from her wedding photographer, Lauren Brooks.  If you want to see more photos from the wedding, please visit Lauren’s blog.

Photos by Lauren Brooks

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On Silk Flowers and Wedding Preparations

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aimee, flowers, silk, wedding

You may remember me discussing a pure silk knitted capelet I was making for a special bride-to-be?  Well, the capelet is finished, except for the flowers that Emily and I are thinking about adding.  I checked out Nikki Epstein’s Knitted Flowers from the library because we wanted to try out a few of the patterns and see if any worked on the shoulder/neck region.  I actually really enjoyed making the few flowers that I did, and I would recommend this book to any knitter who has considered taking up crochet for the sole purpose of flower-making.

Before I show you the flowers, though, I wanted to try and express what I was feeling while contemplating, knitting and writing about them.  It just struck me the other day that making  something for a best friend’s wedding is a very special thing.  This project is, to me, very different from the secret  present, because it is something that will be a part of the wedding.  Working on it makes me think of the days when mothers and sisters would work diligently to create everything needed for the wedding celebration, including the dress.  It just feels really important.  I can’t wait until the wedding day when I can be with Emily, her mom and Kristen as we three help E to get ready for the ceremony.

Since it is so important [practically the most important thing about the day :-)], we need to decide which, if any, flowers will be added.  I present to you a few examples of knitted flowers, made with Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, on size 1 needles.  (please disregard the un-woven-in-ends).

WALLFLOWER

This flower was the reason that we decided to check out the book.  I really like the way it turned out, although it is bigger than I thought it would be.  (Please imagine a pearl sewn to the middle of the flower – there’s supposed to be one – I just didn’t have any lying around).

SCALLOP ROSE

There are many different roses in this book, so I tried a couple of them out.  The scallop rose is (to me) more of an idealized rose shape, and although it is pretty in the book, I’m not sure how much I like it in the pure silk.  We’ll have to think on this one . . .

BUTTERCUP

This may be my favorite of the flowers I made, although it might not be the right one for the wedding.  I just think it is adorable (and really simple to make).  Maybe we could put a group of these on the capelet? (It’s supposed to have a french knot in the center)

CABBAGE ROSE

I think the cabbage rose is closest to what I was envisioning for the capelet (although it is all up to Emily, of course).  This version is small, but I think that I could double the yarn and modify the pattern to be bigger if that’s what we wanted.  I like that the flower is moderately flat, so that it could be attached to the capelet without flopping to one side, and I really like the slightly ruffled edges.

What do you think?

June Wedding = March Knitting

Tags

aimee, kim hargreaves, pure silk, wedding

Well, that doesn’t have the same ring to it as “April showers bring May flowers,” but that’s what I was going for.

Emily is getting married June 7, 2009. That is 80 days away. A more helpful unit of measure – the wedding is 1943 hours away (and, sadly, not all of these hours can be spent knitting). That means I’ve got to get a move on if I’m going to finish Emily’s wedding cover-up plus a secret wedding present.

The cover-up . . .

(That’s my office for those of you who haven’t seen it.  It’s not much, but at least it has windows!)

I’m knitting Kim Hargreaves’ Aimee for Emily to wear over her dress in the event of cold weather (which Emily thinks is quite likely).  Emily and Eric are getting married in Oregon, and I’m told that we may need galoshes for the ceremony!  Hopefully the weather is nice, but we need to plan just in case.  I’m making this . . . (is it a poncho?  it doesn’t really seem like a poncho but I don’t know what else to call it) . . . we’ll call it a capelet (eventhough it isn’t really that either) . . . out of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in color 03.  Emily’s not too much into the fuzzy yarns, so we thought silk would do nicely for a wedding!

This is my first time knitting with silk, and I’m finding it a little bit difficult.  My stockinette is very, and I stress, very inconsistent right now, but I’m hoping a good blocking will fix it right up.  The yarn is beautiful, and Emily and I have both described touching it as like “touching a cloud.”

The plan is to add a bunch of these flowers (sorry to you non-Ravelers, I couldn’t find another picture) from Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Flowers to the neck and shoulders.  Oooh, it’s going to be so pretty!

Ok, now the secret wedding present . . .

You didn’t think I would actually say what it was here?!  Where Emily might read it any time she wants to?!  Nope, I actually need ideas right now.  I’ve got a few things that I’m stewing over, but I’d welcome any suggestions.  And please, don’t worry about the timeline – I’ve got 1943 hours and you can knit anything with that much time.  Right?