The Little Yellow Duck Project

It's been a while since I posted anything, just been so busy lately. Today's I would like to share with you a very meaningful initiative called The Little Yellow Duck Project. If you hang around Ralvery a lot you'll probably have seen it already.

So what is The Little Yellow Duck Project?

"The Little Yellow Duck Project involves people around the world handcrafting little yellow duck gifts as random acts of kindness that are left in public places for others to find. A special tag on each one invites the finder to take their gift home to brighten their day and to visit this website to register where they found their gift. We hope that the stories and information found here will encourage them to pledge their own random act of kindness by registering to donate blood, bone marrow, organs tissues. " - copied from their website

There are some free patterns on their website you can use, so whether your craft is knitting (pattern by Allan Dart no less), crochet or sewing, there is a pattern for you.  

I made a crochet one today, during my study break, ahem.... it's a quick and easy make, but the only yellow yarn I have is some 4ply/fingering cotton yarn, so I doubled the strands and used a 4mm hook. It came out smaller than I thought, but it's rather cute.

There is even a special tag. I named her Yaya - Chinese for little duck, or can also mean little girl. Now I just need to find somewhere to leave her to be found :)

Thanks for dropping by, please hop over to Andrea's at Wisdom Begins in Wonder for more fibre fun.

Murano Tric Finale & Topsy Turvy Cowl

I finished the Murano Tric cardigan, finally, yay!!

Pattern: Tric by Åsa Tricosa
Yarn: Murano from Bendigo Woollen Mills
Needles: 4mm circular
Yardage: 800m
Notes:  Tric is a lovely pattern, it appealed to me because it's knit from top-down, seamless and with simultaneous set-in sleeves. But I will say this is a tricky pattern and I'm glad it is finally done. I love how it turned out, although if I were to do it again I will add a couple more collar increases and lower the button hole to under the bust.
Mods: I didn't do the triangular pattern on the sleeves and shortened them to 3/4 length.

I hope my friend will like it.

One more project which was a really quick make, once I'd figured out how to do the mobius. This is the Topsy Turvy Cowl, a free pattern on Ravelry.  The yarn is my alpaca handspun that spun up during the TdF, then later I dyed in the crockpot.

I love how the same stitch produces two different fabrics purely due to the structure without your having to do anything. Love it :D

This MIGHT be my last Fibre Arts Friday post for this year, tomorrow we embark on our big trip: Around the World in 40 Days. I'm hoping to keep a travel journal along the way, so I can share my experience with you.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Creeper Alert!

If you have a son who is 8~12 years old you will probably have heard of Mincreaft, if you don't, well, lucky you! Minecraft is a game where the world is square and everything is built of 3D cubes, there is no specific goal, instead it allows you to make it whatever the imagination fancies. Needless to say Master E is a covet fan who frequently lives in the cubes wonderland. He's been invited to a birthday party this weekend and the birthday boy is also a Minecraft fan, so he requested a "Creeper" for his friend.

Please excuse the terrible photo, I left it a bit late so by the time I finished it it's already dark. It's a fairly easy make as it's just a combination of cubes, actually it's one cube and five cuboids, but you get the drift. I used a 4mm hook and some stash yarn from my dyeing experiment, the stuffing is the wool fluff (clean) I saved from carding and combing. The head is not as square as I would have liked but this will do. Apparently in the game the Creeper would get close to the player and explode to cause damage, but this one is pretty safe ;-)

When not playing Minecraft Master E has shown some considerable interest in fibre art, he helped me with this breaking violet experiment:

I think we could have used a little more dye stock, the finished braid has quite a bit of white in it even though the colours seemed quite strong during application. Also, I think if I didn't add vinegar in the pre-soak it might encourage better distribution, because I did notice the dyes being taken up by the fibre as soon as they hit so the "massage" only helped a little bit. But overall I am still happy with the result.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

The Name's Beans, Black Beans.

I've been reading about dyeing with black beans on Ravelry and after seeing other people's wonderful results I was itching to have a go. I bought some black beans from the Asian grocery store:

I then put some beans in a large container and covered with plenty of water to soak in a dark cupboard, the water turned a murky muddy reddish brown after a few days. Not sure what to expect I filled a glass jar with some murky bean water and dunked a skein of pre-mordanted (alum) white wool in there and left it to cook in the sun:

See how murky the water is? Not very inviting is it? So imagine my surprise when I took the skein out and saw the result:

A beautiful soft denim, bingo! ...  I love this kind of dyeing, not much fuss,  some basic preparation and then just let time and the sun do all the work, like magic ;-)

I also managed to finish the Cookies & Cream Baby Blanket I was making for a friend.

Now a few words about motif projects:
Pros: Portable - worked one at a time so you can take it anywhere and use any spare moment; Modular - you can easily adapt the pattern to suit your needs.
Cons: Ends, ends, millions of ends! If you don't like weaving in ends, like me, then you should think carefully before embarking on a project made with motifs. This blanket is made up with 66 motifs, that's 132 ends to weave in. At least I did "join as you go" so there was no sewing.
The verdict? You won't be seeing me starting another motif project anytime soon ;-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Cold Sheeping ... well, the start of anyway ;)

OK folks, I joined the "Cold Sheeping 2013" challenge on Ravelry. The idea is you pick a starting date and if you can refrain from making any yarn/fibre purchases for the next 30 days you get a 30-days badge, and if you can stick to it for another 30 days then you get a 60-days badge and so on... there are badges for 90-days, 6-months and 1-year. If you fall off the sheep you start all over again. My starting date was 1st February, and you are my witnesses, so far I'm still on the sheep. The dates are counting, slowly... ...

I was really pleased with my Tulipano Piaf Cowl  from last week, and in line with my cold sheeping theme I finished another project using the same stash yarn. As a result I used it all up (well, about 10 meters or so left but I call that used up), the yarn has been in my stash for over 2 years so it is quite satisfying to finally shift it.

I made this crochet capelet, another quickie project :)

This is a Drops design, very easy to make. My yarn choice is larger than what the pattern called for and I used a larger hook. So I started with less stitches to counter the differences, other than that the pattern is a straight forward one.

Apart from that I'm still working on a couple of WIPs and spinning away for DH's jumper, I've done 8 skeins so far, but the supply is running low even though I bought 1.8kg of the fleece. But the fleece has "dandruff" in it so intense carding is required, hence the high wastage and low yield. I might need to add colourwork if I run out. Lesson learnt: Do Not buy fleeces with "dandruff"!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Oh My! Is it end of the year already?

There must be something wrong with the calendar, how can it be 28th December already?! It only seemed yesterday that I was making plans for 2012, it feels like I haven't had a chance to carry out my plans. Heck, I can't even remember them! Still, now that Christmas is over it's time to reflect on the time past and looking to the year ahead.

First thing first, my final FO: Purple Leaves of Summer Vest

          

Pattern: Leaves of Summer Vest by Doris Chan
Yarn:   Panda Regal 4ply cotton
Hook:  5.0mm
Note: I couldn't get the hem to come out right according to the pattern so I winged it with a simple border and made some ties just under the bust. This is my final entry for the IntSweModo2012 challenge, my 12th!! I must have been mad when I signed up for the challenge, although I made it (just!!) it was a real struggle. Was I pleased that I'd done it? You bet I was! Would I ever do it again? I'd have to be totally off my head!! like my new mannequin ;)

Reflecting 2012:

It has been a busy year, and not just because I made 12 sweaters (have told you that already? :P), looking at my projects page of Rav I count 30 completed projects, that's not too bad, right? Plus I have acquired a new passion - spinning :D 

            

I'm excited about 2013, there are so many avenues to explore in spinning and dyeing, and I have many knitting and crochet projects lined up already. But one thing is for sure: I am NOT making 12 sweaters!

Happy New Year Everyone! May 2013 bring you much joy and happiness in whatever you do!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!  

Paris in Melbourne Finale, and Spinning With Friends :)

My Paris in Melbourne Tunic didn't make it to my last week's post but here it is now :)

I am very pleased with the result, the decision to use smaller hook for shaping instead of following the instructions paid dividends, I much prefer it this way. The only problem I found after wearing is that the neck opening is a bit too wide, it became "off shoulder" by the end of the day, so I might run a round of slip stitch to bring it in a bit. It is very light weight and I can see a lot of use out of this :D Project page here.

Today I had a fun day spinning with a couple of ladies from my spinning class, we all have come a long way since that first day in class when we struggled to coordinate our hands and feet while cursing the lumps and bumps that went into our yarn. It was wonderful to just spinning away and chatting about all things in our lives, from children to husbands, from food to fashion, and of course about fibre! The conversations flowed easily accompanied by the soothing whirling sound of our wheels, it was such a shame when 3 o'clock came and I had to chuck everyone out so that I could do  the school pick up. But there is always next time :)

I've been spinning a BFL roving in Humbug and I just love the natural colours of the wool :)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

A Weekly Update :)

Hello there! Thanks for visiting me on this fine Friday :)  It has been a good week in the fibre world, I was having so much fun that I nearly forgot to write this post! So without further ado I will give you a quick run down of this week's happenings ...

My Paris in Melbourne tunic is progressing steadily, I've done the yoke and now working towards the bottom hem. I'm rather liking the colour variation so far.

Hubby is pestering me for socks again so I started a pair for him, project page here.

Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku
Yarn: Vera Moda Noir (I have tons of this yarn in stash, went a bit crazy in the sale one day!)
Needles: 2.75mm circular
Cast on: 29 October 2012
Mod: Making the socks toe-up instead of top-down, I'm partial to toe-up socks :)

Most of my knitting is done in the car these days while waiting around for kids, even the update photos were taken in the car!

I haven't mentioned spinning in the last couple of posts but I'm still spinning everyday, not fancy stuff, just practicing making even yarn and I taught myself to Navajo ply which is really cool. I'm also learning to blend fibre and making my own batts, most of my fibre supply is in ecru/undyed natural state because I want to experiment with dyeing (also I have a limited budget :)). My spinning pleasure this week has got to be joining a spinning group and catching up with the ladies from my spinning class, it's so much more fun to spin with friends!

Now what have you been up to this week? :)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Paris in Melbourne - A Spring Project

It's been a long winter in Melbourne, in fact this was the longest and coldest winter since we moved to Australia almost five years ago. But spring is definitely in the air, the days are getting longer and flowers are blooming, spring in Melbourne really is quite beautiful. We went for a walk around our favourite Cherry Lake last weekend, it's a 3-mile circle and only five minutes' walk from home...

The marshland by the lake is blanketed by the little pink flowers, the beige you see in the distance are reeds from last year but there are new ones coming through. There are abundant wildlife in and around the lake, we saw many tiny little birds with bright blue chest bouncing around the walk path but they were too quick for me to capture on camera.

The changes in the air make me wanting to start a spring project, so I did! ... the WIPs and UFOs can wait, I need something to set the mood ;)

Project: Paris in Melbourne
Pattern: Paris Tunic by Doris Chan
Yarn:  Panda Regal 4ply mercerised cotton, fingering weight
Cast on:  24 October 2012
Hook: 4mm / G

The beige and grey in the yarn remind me of the marshland, pity there's no pink, I'm not usually a pink person but a little soft pink wouldn't go amiss here. I'm not too sure about the variegated yarn, just hope the colour arrangement won't turn out too tedious. Also I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there's enough yarn, my sleeves won't be as long and I will be making a smaller bell shape at the cuffs so that might help.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

I've Got Wheel!!

At the beginning of the week I was feeling a little sad, because my spinning class was coming to an end and I was going to hand back my borrowed wheel. Then everything changed quite suddenly... I have been on the look out for a secondhand wheel without much luck, on Tuesday afternoon I searched again on eBay and found a listing for a vintage Ashford traditional that looked in reasonable condition. So I clicked on it to read the description, to my surprise and delight, the seller only lived 30 minutes away from me, and she welcomed anyone who wanted to go for a test drive! I immediately contacted her and cajoled her to let me have a go the same evening, she agreed. The rest, as they say, it's history... someone was looking after me that day ;)

Introducing Charlotte- my first wheel, isn't she beautiful! Charlotte came with a lazy kate and seven bobbins, she's in very good condition and spins smoothly. When I brought her to my last class my teacher told me that the style of her maidens suggests that she's circa 1965-1970, she and I could be sisters :)

Charlotte also came with the original assembly instructions and some leaflets:

I haven't had the chance to read these yet, but they look rather interesting don't you think?

My knitting has suffered a great deal in the last month or so due to my new found love, but I'm still chipping away (slowly) at some WIPs. I did complete a new project though, mainly because I needed it for show and tell, it's my first homespun item:

It's a simple crochet scarf, the pattern is free and can be found on Ravelry. I only had about 140 meters / 150 yards of the yarn so I just kept going until I almost run out, then did a simple shell border on each end. It came out rather cute I think :)

I really must catch up on more knitting next week, if Charlotte will let me ;)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Baby Dressage & Charity Rowing: Take Two

I can't believe it's Friday again, where did the days go? The London 2012 is almost coming to an end, during this past week I followed the games as much as I could, mostly through the official app - it has become my new routine, the first thing I reach for upon waking up is to grab my iphone and check the results. Team GB has done a fantastic job so far, although still far behind USA and China but that's only expected. The highlights for me so far are Jessica Ennis winning the Women's Heptathlon, Mo Farah winning the Men's 10,000 meters, and of course Andy Murray winning the Man's Single Tennis.  Oh, and Usain 'Lightning' Bolt struck twice :)

I did watch some live events whenever I could which afforded me the opportunity to work on my Ravellenics challenges, and here's an update:

Finished: Sweater Triathlon and Baby Dressage (#1)

The sweater is based on EZ's February Baby Sweater but much enlarged and without sleeves. I made notes of my calculations which I will add to my project page on Ravelry when I have more time. But I'm a bit miffed with the yarn for the sweater, all four skeins are of the same colourway and dyelot, but as you can see the fourth skein is decidedly paler than the others. I will have to explain to my aunt, hope she won't mind.

The baby kite jacket has come out well, it does look like a kite don't you think? It's very squishy and stretchy and I like the applied i-cord edging and button loops, it should be perfect for a growing baby. But for some strange reason I could not find the buttons I'd bought for it, anyone with psychic powers out there please help me!

Round Two: Baby Dressage & Charity Rowing

Pattern: Jacket from the Doreen Baby Set, available from Free Vintage Crochet
Yarn:  Patons Australia Dreamtime 3ply, 375 yards / 343 meters
Hook: 3.5mm
Start/finish:  7 - 9 August, 2012
Notes:  This is a very easy make, and only took 3 days. If I were to make it again I will make less starting chains and make the neck smaller.

I think that's me wrapped up for the Ravellenics 2012, I know there is still some time till the closing time but I'm working tomorrow (Saturday) morning and helping out at a fund raising event at my son's school in the evening, so there won't be much knitting/hooking done this weekend.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at  Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Lush Lace Pullover, and Grannies!

This is my very first Fibre Arts Friday post, I am excited and hope there will be many more to come. I love knitting and crochet in equal measures, sometimes I do more knitting and other times I do more crochet. For the past two/three weeks I've been in a crochet mood and this is what I was up to :-)

This was an impulse make, I was losing momentum on a fitted jacket and my Essential Cardigan was pulling my hair out because I absolutely *dislike* (I won't use the word hate) seaming - why did I choose to start on a seamed item in the first place? what was I thinking?! ... Anyway, the Ravellenics was still a few weeks away and I wanted something quick to make to cheer me up a bit, and I was glad with the choice.

Project: Lush Lace Pullover
Pattern: Lush Lace Pullover by Lionbrand available for free, Ravelry project page here
Yarn: Linate Angora DeLux
Yardage: 1099 meters / 1200 yards
Hook: 4.5mm
Notes: The pattern calls for worsted yarn and 6mm hook, but from I'd read in others' notes I knew that the sizes run large in general. Plus my crochet gauge tend to be bigger than most peoples' so I chose to make it in size S and using a 4.5mm hook (the yarn is listed as DK). I didn't make a swatch, I know I know, it's naughty of me and a bad habit. But I figured that if the swatch didn't turn out right I'd rip back and start again, so what's the difference if I make a start with an educated guess and start again if it didn't work out? (it has been on my mind however, one day I will make an honest swatch, one day!).

I followed the pattern almost to the T, except replacing ch3 with ch2 on the sleeves for the first 5 rounds after the cuff, so that the sleeves are not puffy as some people have found. Oh I didn't exactly follow the pattern at the neck (I did say almost), just did what seemed right.

The verdict: A very satisfying project, quick and easy, and the result is a light and warm pullover that will get plenty of use. I'm happy as Punch :D

--

Oh, here's something else I've been playing with:

I haven't decided what to do with them yet, but I have a cunning plan ...

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at  Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Millgrove Sideways Gloves and Hat

When JJ brought back the list of items he needed for his camp to Millgrove a week before he was due to leave, I nearly had a heart attack - on the list there were specific requests for a woollen jumper, woollen gloves and a woollen hat. Whilst I have been a knitting addict for the last 3/4 years I have never made any pure woollen items for my own children, partially there doesn't seem to be the need for these in Melbourne... Okey it does get cold here but the boys are happy with their fleeces which can be easily washed and dried... Anyway, the note says ALL items on the list are MUST, and woollen clothing was especially chosen for its ability to keep warm when wet and the note says they WILL get wet. OK, fair enough, but how on earth am I going to finish a woollen jumper, a pair of gloves and a hat all in a week? Luckily the old man had a flash of brilliance (he does that occasionally) - the Savers! Indeed it saved us,  luckily we were able to find a 100% woollen jumper that not only fit him but also got his nod of approval, which was a huge relief for me as I was psyching myself up for a week long super knitting marathon. We weren't so lucky at finding the gloves and hat, but I was confident that these were more manageable.

I remembered seeing gloves made sideways on Ravelry and thought they would be a better choice as I didn't fancy fiddling with making fingers when under time pressure, so I chose this sideways gloves pattern and cast on using some sock yarn from my stash. The glove pieces took 5 days to knit and 1 day to sew up, I really enjoyed making them as the instructions are clear and simple and the construction ingenious. In fact I think I will be making more of these for my charity knitting this year. The hat only took one day to crochet, I didn't use a pattern but mildly based the design on this sideways hat.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the results and JJ was nonchalant as usual, oh well, what can you expect from teenage boys!

The finished items:

Millgrove Sideways Gloves

Millgrove Sideways Hat

 

Race for Life Chemo Cap + 1 more

Christmas is an occasion for rejoice and celebration, and being so far away from our family and friends we especially looking forward to the Christmas cards coming from different parts of the world. Among the cards however we received some not so happy news, my DH's cousin Bridget was made redundant earlier this year, then to add to the blow she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She said in her letter that she's already been through one lot of chemo and has lost her hair, and she's due to have a second round in February. My heart went out to her and her young family, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she will pull through this. Being seven thousand miles away from Bridget there is little we could do to help, but I am a knitter/crocheter and I think that's how I could show my support so I made these:

Race for Life Chemo Cap

Crochet Chemo Hat

The top one is knitted in a wool/cashmere blend and the bottom one is crocheted in a merino blend, both are very soft to the touch, I'm very pleased with how they come out (the photos really don't do their justice, but I am terrible at photography). The caps are now being posted to England and I hope they would fit, but most of all, I hope Bridget will win her battle.

My First Design - Mist Stole

I still can't believe that I am actually writing a pattern. My Mist Stole generated some interests on Ravelry and I have been asked for the pattern. As I have never written a pattern before, this attempt will be rather challenging.

I wanted an airy lacy stole with an easy pattern that’s quick to make, one that would give instant gratification. I have a crochet pattern book that I bought from China some time ago and it has many lovely stitch patterns, and this one always catches my eyes whenever I flip through the book, it has no name, only No.265

The stitch pattern is easier to do than it looks, it has a 15 st x 6 rows repeat, however to get symmetry one row should consist of multiples of 15 + 8 stitches. I added 3 stitches each side to make up the edges. The sample stole has 5 repeats, so 15x5 + 8 sts + 6 edge sts = 89 sts to start off (stitch count varies each row).
Yarn: any fingering weight yarn about 700 meters. (I used Patons Australia’s Mist, hence the name)
Hook: 4.5mm or size to get the fabric you like

Gauge doesn't matter in this project. My finished stole measures 20 x 68 in (51 x 172 cm), but it can easily be altered to suit your personal taste by doing more of less pattern repeats

Instructions  (American crochet terms)

Ch92, dc in 4th chain from hook (2 dc made), dc in each chain across. Total 89 dc.

Set up row: ch3 (= 1dc throughout), dc in next dc, ch1 (these 3 sts form the edge on one side) :: *4dc in next dc, skip next 6 dc, 4dc in next dc, ch4, skip next 3 dc, sc in the next dc, ch4, skip next 3 dc*, repeat  between * * 4 times ::  4dc in next dc, skip next 6 dc, 4dc in the next dc ::  ch1, dc in next dc, dc in top ch. turn.

Row 2: ch3, dc in next dc, ch1 ::  *4dc in next dc, skip next 6dc, 4dc in next dc, ch5, sc in the next sc, ch5, 4dc in next dc, skip next 6dc, 4dc in next dc*, repeat between * * 4 times :: 4dc in next dc, skip next 6 dc, 4dc in the next dc ::  ch1, dc in next dc, dc in top ch. turn.

Row 3:  ch3, dc in next dc, ch1 ::  *4dc in next dc, skip next 6dc, 4dc in next dc, ch6, sc in the next sc, ch6, 4dc in next dc, skip next 6dc, 4dc in next dc*, repeat between * * 4 times :: 4dc in next dc, skip next 6 dc, 4dc in the next dc ::  ch1, dc in next dc, dc in top ch. turn.

Row 4: ch3, dc in next dc, ch1 ::  1dc in next dc, *ch4, sc between the 2 sets of 4dc, ch4, 4dc in next dc, skip all the chains and 4dc in next dc*, repeat between   * * 4 times :: ch4, sc between the 2 sets of 4dc, ch4, 1dc in next dc :: ch1, dc in next dc, dc in top ch. turn.

Row 5: ch3, dc in next dc, ch1 :: 1dc in next dc, *ch5, sc in next sc, ch5, 4dc in next dc, skip next 6 dc, 4dc in next dc*, repeat between * * 4 times :: ch5, sc in next sc, ch5, 1dc in next dc :: ch1, dc in next dc, dc in top ch. turn.

Row 6: ch3, dc in next dc, ch1 :: 1dc in next dc, *ch6, sc in next sc, ch6, 4dc in next dc, skip next 6 dc, 4dc in next dc*, repeat between * * 4 times :: ch6, sc in next sc, ch6, 1dc in next dc :: ch1, dc in next dc, dc in top ch. turn.

These form the 6-row repeat of the pattern, repeat these 6 rows until desired length. Obviously on Row 7 you will not follow the instructions for the set up row, but by now you will have a clear picture of the pattern and your hook will know where to put the stitches. :)   Please refer to the chart if unsure.  

I finished with a Row 3, but you can finish with a Row 6 if you wish. 

End border: ch1, slip stitch in the next 3 stitches, *ch6, slip stitch in the last of 4dc, ch6, slip stitch in the next dc*, repeat between * * until only the 3 edge sts left, slip stitch till end.  turn.  ch3, dc each ch across. fasten off, weave in ends. 

Block and enjoy! :-)

Chart:

(Hint: work the chains between the groups of 4dc very tightly)

After thoughts: 

The end borders of this stole are really quite unimaginative, just plain old DCs. When I made my stole I was under time pressure and couldn’t think of a border that would compliment the stitch pattern, although I like the way it is I would love to see what other options you could come up with. 

My stole was made in one direction, but I think it would also work from centre out in both directions. I also thought about adding buttons to the sides on each end to make it convertible, the edge stitches should be perfect as button holes.