Queen of the Night

OK, talk about *BLING*...

I had to order more beads and wait for them to arrive, and then I got distracted for a while by Harmonia's Rings and the moebius technique, but my Queen of the Night cowl is now complete, and boy, is she a *stunner*. The beaded picot bind-off around the lower edge really makes the design.

YUMMM.

After weaving in the tiny handful of loose ends, I soaked the fabric briefly in cold water and stretched it out to dry in lieu of actual blocking. When it dries, I will put it on and get my husband to take some pictures of how it looks when worn. But for now, here are the customary photos of the piece itself. As always, click on either one to get a closer look...

The rows upon rows of 4 mm silver-lined crystal magatamas really dominate the finished effect, because they stand out so dramatically against the black background. I think that the lace would probably show more if I had followed the pattern & used fewer beads, but the shimmer of all those magatamas in one place is absolutely entrancing.

The Shibui Silk Cloud yarn (60% kid mohair, 40% silk) is like a dream come true as well, with incredible sheen and softness, perfect color saturation, and a very fine gauge. My one regret is that I could only order a single skein of the Ink colorway on sale before it was out of stock at EarthFaire. I have found it available elsewhere at full price ($17 per 330 yard skein), so I will have to do some serious thinking about whether or not to invest in more, if not now then perhaps at a later date.

I learned recently that Rosemary Hill, the designer of the Ice Queen pattern on Knitty, has converted the same lovely fan-lace pattern to be knit flat as a scarf or stole, which she calls the Delta Queen. See all of her pattern designs here, and click here for multiple images of the Delta Queen scarf/stole. So if I do end up with more of the yarn at some point, the scarf to match my cowl would be a tempting project.