Fancy Up Your Knitting With Embellishments
Embellishments for your knitting to give it that extra pop
One of the things I am proud to have accomplished with my daughters, is their quest of uniqueness. It's my way of keeping them off the proverbial bridge everyone is jumping off of. Did your mothers say that to you too? "If everyone else was jumping off a bridge, would you???" So far we haven't had any bridge incidents. Whew!
I like to add a little something extra to projects when I do them; a subtle piece of flair to set it apart from all the others that are made from the same pattern. Sometimes it is a 3 dimensional addition to one of the shoulders (think butterfly resting on the left shoulder of your new lightweight spring sweater) or some fancy schmancy hand knitted lace added to the ends of a store bought table runner.
How to add uniqueness to your knit projects
When looking at hand knitted lace, sometimes it is a bit intimidating. Loops and knots all willy-nilly that somehow come together perfectly. But once you figure it out, bam! Awesome addition to just about any project.
Franklin Habit, at Knitty.com, did some research and wrote a nice article on the history and how to's of adding a little something to your projects.
Here is the definition Franklin opens with: "Although it has perfectly respectable roots in Old French and Latin expressions meaning "to make more handsome," the word "embellishment" is an expletive in modern design circles. If something has been well designed, so the thinking goes, it does not require embellishment. Embellishment is a trick, a cheat, a smokescreen. Embellishment obscures form and hinders function. Embellishment is gilt on a plastic lily, lipstick on a lopsided pig, a rhinestone-studded fourth wheel on a tricycle."
I agree with most of that definition with the exception of obscuring form and hindering function. Personally, I think embellishment is a great asset to just about everything we come in contact with. To me it means BONUS.
And embellishment keeps your kids off of the proverbial bridge. True story.
