Posted on by Bonne Marie

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

FLASH from the past…

Once upon a time in a knitting galaxy far, far away, a young woman bought a bag of 1,000 beads…

They joined a bag of yarn, which had traveled from a far place, over mighty water.

These treasures were got at great hardship (~ 759 dinners of frosted flakes and skim milk…), and much scratching…

BEHOLD the FOLLY!
bolero1.jpg

What’s this to my wandering eye should appear! A Bolero! A Beaded Bolero! Hundreds of shiny black beads, all hand-threaded onto yarn and knit into the fabric, marching in swirls and flowers and more! Oui! Oui!

No, NO! One could add a thousand more beads and STILL not recover from the visual impact of the Hideous COLOR of the poor little Bolero!

Our intrepid girl knitter of long ago was so excited by the design and the fact she had finally scored some UK yarn, she forgot all about COLOR! The design, from a group called Artwork for Rowan, (shown only in a Black&White photo in the pattern book) was just too juicy to ignore! She was excited by the beads, the curves, the lone line of light blue edging the entire moss-stitch border.

She was too fresh a knitter to know that that body color suggested by the design group was, perhaps, NOT the color for her in fact might not be the color for most on the planet! She was just too polite to even think, let alone utter, the words: “WTF were they thinking?”

FLASH to the Future!

WTF were they THINKING!!! Hmm, that little knitter is no longer Fresh; (some might even suggest she might be smidge Ripe!). But now she KNOWS that she can substitute color to her heart’s content! And she knows, she can sometimes UNDO her Folly! Why should this lovely piece be ignored year-after-year when the Summer Clothes make their grand appearance from their storage state.

bolero2.jpg

Two boxes of Teal Rit dye later…

bolero3.jpg

…and we have Lift Off!

bolero4.jpg

…still not perfect – the color is a little striated – I washed the sweater before dyeing, but it still absorbed the dye a little unevenly (the story of my Dyeing Life thus far…) I was totally amazed by the finishing job I did (almost as hideous as the original mustard color!) and on the next rainy day, I will remove the sleeves, take in the side seams, and re-seam those sleeves…

40 Replies to “Wednesday, April 20, 2005”

  2. Rit dyes and microwave popcorn: two of the 20th century’s greatest inventions. Splendid idea, fantastic result, doll.

  5. WOW!!! POP! that is so you! I imagine the happy dance in your kitchen as the spring goodness reveled itself.
    Nice save.

  8. I actually liked the original color. But the green is excellent. You are perfectionist I think.

  9. I love the new colour. Speaking as someone who has never ventured into the world of dying… Will you tell me, how did you prevent the blue border from turning green? Sorry if that is a completely elementary question!!

  10. Wow! You really knit in all those little beads… I’m more impressed by that feat than with the dyeing, actually.

  11. The Border: it was light blue to begin with and I was using Teal Blue (dark aqua?) to dye with. So it was going to saturate and get darker…

    The overdye of the teal on mustard = LIME! Luckily, teehee…

  12. Yeah — how in the name of little lambs did you keep that border its proper color?? Elfin magic? It’s gorgeous – in both colors.

  13. I am constantly amazed by your talent! I think the green is much better for you than the original mustard color! Can you say Gulden’s 3x fast?

    Bonnie

  16. what a fantastic job – the knitting goddesses smile when we rescue an FO from the ‘loser’ pile – but this one isn’t just ‘wearable’, it’s downright ‘desirable’!

  17. Kermit was wrong.
    It IS easy being green and you make it so!
    What a faboo idea. Just gawjuss!!

  20. That has got to be the best, most dramatic knitting makeover I have ever seen. From hideous to fabulous with just a little RIT. Bravo!

  21. kick that mustard color’s ass!! you’ve given me hope to redo past, uh, judgement errors!

  28. If there is a banner to be worn for “Finest Fixer Upper in the Knitting Universe”, it better be around your shoulders. That is an ingenious fix! You’re always whipping out these creative solutions. Next time I have a rainy day I’m inviting you over to play.

    P.S. The bolero in its yellow color did remind me a bit of a toreador. It was like a suit of lights. Ole!

  29. I’m loving this new and improved version. And you my girl and best fixer I have seen in blogland….possibly the entire world!

  30. That was ballsy. If you are going to make a habit out of garment dyeing, I should send one of the Chicago gals home from MDS&W with some glauber’s salt for you. Its a pretty decent leveling agent.

  31. Actually I did like the original color, but mustard is a color that I like, but I could see that it wouldn’t go with your skin tone. The new color looks awesome and works. I’m constantly in awe of creativity.

  32. I bought that pattern book and I distinctly remember this exact sweater of yours! It still looks wonderful today – I am sure due to your good taste. I never made mine but hmmm…. maybe time to use that stash yarn and dig up the old stuff!! Great work! Terry in SF

  35. Well done Bonne Marie!! What a beautiful *new* spring jacket you’ll be wearing! Nice beadwork too!!

  36. What a great transformation. I love that color of green, and it feeds my new obsession with dyeing.

    Also wanted to thank you for your generous donation to the Revlon Run-Walk for Women. Just wanted to let you know that I’m going to write all the names of “in memory of” and “in honor of” on my racing bib, so that I can ‘take them with me’. Thank yo very much!

  37. Oh…my…God. Okay, I haven’t had my coffee yet, so that’s my excuse. HOWEVER. When I scrolled down and saw the picture BEFORE I read your text, I was thinking to myself…”When in God’s name did she have time to FROG and REKNIT that bolero…..” Then I read the text….WOW. Fantastic. Great idea, and it really looks cute on you, too. Nice job.

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