I finally got around to taking some photos of the Bella Bella Capelet.  It is progressing nicely now – just have the tip of one lace gusset and the collar to knit (the collar involves casting on 423 stitches in mohair, so…yeah…). 

I started it a couple of summers ago.  I have some vague recollection of seeing autumn clothes in pink and getting kind of excited about the idea.  I love traditional autumn colors – but clothing made in golds, oranges, etc. are so distinctly autumnal that I find I cannot wear them in winter and spring, so an autumn garment in a more year-round color seemed practical.  And I got kind of a charge out of seeing pink paired with traditional autumnal tones.

So, I bought a lot of fabulous yarn in different weights and fibers in a range of pinks, plums, grays – with dashes of blues, reds…And I started researching bell-inspired stitch patterns (get it? Bell-a  Bell-a?).  We like to work with stitch patterns that have similar lines when we are putting them into a piece that uses a variety of yarns.  It ties things together visually.

So, here are some views of Bella Bella in process. 

This shows the main section — you can see the bells!  The cental ribbon section is knit in weave-like linen stitch with columns of faggotting.  The hot pink line is mohair.  And, yes, there are bobbles in the Noro.

Here is the rest of the body — the cable-ish stitch is bell-shaped with an eyelet at the base of the bell.  The border at the hem is made of vertical tubes.  The triangular open spaces (where the yellow clips are) will have lace gussets in deep purple bamboo yarn.

This is the larger gusset (the smaller one is similar — and is done!)

This is the swatch for the collar.  Little hot pink mohair bells!  And the body of the collar in reverse stockinette. 

I plan to block the capelet in sections, so I can shape the bells — and I will block the collar and gussets before I attach them.  The capelet will be held closed near the neckline with hooks and eyes — and I will probably knit some sort of triangualr placket to lie across the center front.  Still thinking about that — but I will wait until it is complete othewise to make those design decisions. 

I hope to finish Bella Bella this week!