Designing a shawl

And I've to do it and knit it by this Friday... In time for my friend's wedding dinner the day after. Tried looking for a shawl last Saturday but couldn't find any that I like.. Either that, or they're really expensive..

Have chosen an edging for the length and lattice lace/cable pattern for main body from a stitch dictionary, and the edging for the width from another stitch dictionary (Over the Edge?? Need to check both titles).. Most probably will incorporate a more fanciful yarn/ribbon as trimmings for the eyelets on the edgings.

Stay tuned for progress shots.

I've also finished making a necklace (for the dinner) last week. Quite a nightmare attaching the clasp to the necklace. Well, I managed to ruin the bronze-colored crimp ends that came with the D-I-Y necklace kit. =(

What happened was this: After stringing all the beads and the beaded components, and the 2nd crimp end, instead of stringing the stopper bead through one of the 2 strands of nylon string, i strung through both. After tying a few knots and thinking that the hole in the stopper wasn't big enough for the knots to pass through, I put some glue on the knots and cut off the remaining 2-stranded string.

I have a very bad habit of tugging strings/wires to "test how hardy" a necklace/bracelet/earring etc is... And as you might have guessed, the stopper bead came off the nylon string after I gave it a tug... >< Gripes.. There's no way I could put back the stopper bead the right way since I've cut the remaining string already...

So without much choice, I restrung the necklace, only to meet with another problem. The 1st crimp end that I've strung successfully on the initial side need to be undone. But it seemed that the crimp ends could only be closed over the stopper bead once. I was greeted with a slight "crack" when I used my pliers to pry it open... That's it. Ruined..

Thankfully, I've my own small collection of beads, trinkets and tools and such. Managed to find a packet of silver-plated crimp ends and a silver clasp. But after stringing for the 3rd time and attaching the crimp ends and clasp in place, I was kinda annoyed by the whole look of it... The casual look of the silver ends and clasp sort of destroyed the whole classy look of the necklace...

So my final straw... After unsuccessfully finding a shawl on Saturday, I went to Chinatown to find some bronze-colored crimp ends, double rings and another clasp. And boy, do I love the clasp to bits... It reminds me of the closings on those metallic analogue watches, where you click a flap to secure the watch over your wrist. On the 4th try, I finally got a necklace that I'm satisfied with. =D

Pictures to follow after I've transferred them to my comp and uploaded them.


p.s. Hope to finish Julienne's birthday shrug by this week too, so I can proceed to continue knitting Jeanne's...