Thursday, February 01, 2007

So what do you do ...

... when you have a hand-knit garment that you just don't/can't/won't wear anymore but is too precious to just toss in the give-away pile?

This mural, "The Blue Ridge Parkway", started out life as a shawl. I made it when we were in Austria. It is a sampler of some Austrian knitted lace patterns that I wanted to remember. After wearing this shawl for an audience with Pope John Paul II in 2002, I just couldn't wear it anymore -- after all, it would be a third class relic if he ever is canonized!

So, when we got back to the States later that year, my dear FIL made a frame to its exact dimensions and hammered in a gazillion black finishing nails and I just stretched it right onto the frame. I do occasionally take it off the frame to freshen it up, but then it goes right back on the frame for drying/hanging!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, how neat!

Someone told me that Germans like to rip out old garments and knit new ones with the yarn.

Mary G said...

Jenn,

Another thing you can do when you don't like the way something comes out -- if it's wool -- you can felt it and make something completely new. I made a multicolored vest that just wasn't right and felted it, cut it and made a tea cozy and coasters for my MIL!