Radiant Mantelet

When I ordered this yarn I had no idea that Radiant Orchid would be selected as Pantone's Color of the Year for 2014.  I felt pretty fashion-forward when I found out.  That is not natural for me.  It was definitely more characteristic for me to not really wear it until new colors had come out.  Twice.

I used it to crochet Lizzy's Lace Mantelet, from Austentatious Crochet.  Sadly, this pattern gave me more trouble than its sisters have.  I had gauge problems, as usual, and tried a few different hooks.  Then I took the project on a trip, where it comforted several idle hours.  Some distraction made me skip a round early on, and by the time I noticed the problem, the product looked like a hat, not a disk.  I took it out and tried again, increasing hook sizes as I went.  Eventually, I completed the final round and tried it on.  And it just didn't hang right.

Most of the interest is in the layers on the back, you see.  It wasn't really layering on me.  So I took it out again, all the way back to the armholes.  I set the armholes closer together for my narrow shoulders, and tried again.  This time I was happy when I finished. 

I tried wearing the mantelet a couple of times, but it didn't really go with the outfits I selected.  A little over two years after choosing the yarn, I have sewed myself a simple gray dress.  It supports the soft, warm, lacy radiance quite well.