Manteau Capelet

Back in September of last year, when I used a swift to wind the yarn for my for my Spritz cardigan,  I dug out other hanks of yarn in my stash, and wound them as well. One of the was a hank of gorgeous purple silk. I had already marked a pattern for a Manteau Capelet in the book on the right as suitable for this yarn, but it required another ball of matching, beaded yarn.          It's different to the listed yarn, but should work.                    

I managed to find some of Louisa Harding's Grace Hand Beaded  - a silk/merino mix with glass beads twisted in on a fine acrylic thread - at Yarns on Collie in WA.  

When it arrived I lined it all up with the pattern before getting out the swift. 

I started it as soon as the cardigan was finished. Once I had the beaded border done and started on the centre, I used it as a grab-and-go project in between embroidering Kasia Jacquot panels.

During this time we went through several weeks of heat wave with some temperatured in the mid 40Cs. The silk content of this yarn made it quite pleasant to knit on all but the most extreme days. 

I misread the pattern in several places and did not go back to correct.  There should be more open lace in the top rows.

As I got towards the end of the bottom band it was hard to judge how long the yarn would last. I made a judgement and cast off loosely with a regular cast off. I tried it on, but as I expected, it was tighter than comfortable. I had not used all the yarn, so I undid the cast-off, rejoined the yarn and used an elastic cast off.

Although the finished shape appears trianglular when flat, it moulds nicely to the body. It's not as defined as the pattern illustration, partly because I missed several rows of holes, but also because my yarn is much softer.

Veronica generously modelled it for me and it looks great. No one will want or need to wear it for the next 6-8 weeks, but I think it will get used once Autumn sets in. I'm very pleased to have had the chance to try both the silk yarn and the beaded. The twinkle doesn't show in the photos. It looks quite good and is very pleasant to wear.