For my Bohemian Friend ~

There are times when using recycled or thrifted supplies becomes a false economy. This shawl is a good example. I thrifted a bag of baby wool; all off-white. (thrifting knitters know that one does not pass up WOOL at the thrift store unless moth-eaten). There was a label or two in the bag, but clearly the wool was not all of the same dye lot. I learned the hard way years ago (cabled fisherman's knit cardigan) that mixing dye lots is not ok, & in fact can never be made ok. In my arrogance I dove in to this project thinking I could make it ok. With an attitude of 'throw caution to the wind' & a bit of wishful thinking, I knit along. At about the 85% complete point I *spliced a new ball into the knitting & began to notice a stripe where the new yarn was a different white. I frogged that knitting*. Repeat from * 5X. I then knit in a charcoal grey fingering yarn, thinking I'd overdye the whole thing & it would have a nice stripe... The charcoal was way too dark, blah blah blah & then I took myself down to the yarn store & purchased some light grey fingering yarn, knitted in a grey stripe, bound off with the remaining white fingering etc. Dyed blue, beaded with some faceted AB Czech glass, & lived happily every after. Yes, there is stress involved in dying an already knitted lace shawl. The only place one has to go in case of dye pot mishap is BLACK.

I call this false-economy-with-happy-ending. I will spend the $12 for a hank of lace yarn next time.