Menkreatikkul; Saturday Stitches

One WIP that has been haunting me somewhat has been the Timelines Dupatta. It was going very well up until July... In August, I returned to Dunoon, with all the summer distraction that implies. Hook and yarn did not get lifted that entire month. In September, as I worked my way down to the visit in the Lake District, I managed a swatch of twenty rows to try and catch up. 

That was it until my conscience finally kicked in just before Christmas. I determined that, once my festive tunic was done, this would be the next FO (finished object). Before 2026 kicked in. That would mean not only making up for the nearly four months (remember, it was to be a row per day...), but also I decided it would not stretch into the remaining four months for the originally planned year-long project. This also made me reassess that plan, as (and this may have been one of the reasons that I stopped working it) I realised that to make the full number of timelines (the black rows) up to 66, I'd have a hall runner length, which would have been next to unwearable!

By some decree of fortune/fate, when I picked the work out of its bag on Christmas Eve, on counting the work to that point, I found a total of hdc (UKhtr) rows was.... wait for it... 66! That's all-inclusive, so the timelines numbered 11. Pure fluke. Okay... so let's do two more swatches of 66/11 rows, one section in single (UKdc), and the other section in double (UKtr) stitching.

Now, the other part of the plan was to be as random as possible with the colour choices, this being an odds-and-sods stash-buster project. This was no problem when doing the daily work as intended. Sitting at it for hours at a time, though, this slipped a bit, as you can see from the photo above. I did fall into my natural colour-wheel tendency for about four panels. No matter. I caught myself and reverted to deliberate randomness after that, and, in fact, that little section serves to emphasise the greater part of the work.

Switching colours every row would have become excessively tedious if I had been forced to continue with my snips. Picking them up. Putting them down. Once a day was fine, but twenty rows at a time, nope. So when my new little bag of crochet hooks arrived (I just wanted another set with the soft grip handles which I have grown to love), it brought with it a little vial of metal bodkins (blunt-nosed needles, something I have wanted for ages and was a pleasant surprise) AND, a finger scythe, both as 'gifts' in the purchase. This little thing was a game-changer for this multicoloured work!!!

Life was a whole lot easier with that to cut the yarns. Cannot recommend it highly enough. 

Anyway, just in time for Hogmanay, I completed the Timelines Dupatta, at half the number of black lines originally intended, but with three sections of 66 rows with different stitches, bordered with long double/treble, resembling blanket stitch, used to disguise the ridiculous number of 'tails' from all that cut and change. The rustic wrap is exactly what I wanted, and it is so soft and drapey and cuddly, and I shall have many happy hours wearing this!