Embellish the Story - 2KCBWDAY8

Wild Card Prompt: "Blog about an embellishment, be it a zipper, amigurumi eyes or applique patch which you are either saving to use or have in the past used to decorate a project with. "

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"Nice"

In the waning hours before bed a woman holds up a baby sweater that she had just finished. She proudly turns it to show her husband her face waiting for the coming praise. "Honey, what do you think?" she asks holding her breath.

Turning from the TV he gives it a quick once over and then affirms with a nod, "Looks nice."

Nice, she thinks. I want more than nice. Nice means, you did it, you made it, you put just the right amount of effort to complete a project. I want more than nice, she muses. I want "Wow" or "Great" or "Fantastic" or "You Did That?"

The knitter frowns as she looks at her handy work and wonders where she went wrong. Did she block it right? Are her stitches neat and uniform? Are there any oddities? Yes, yes, and no but something in the back of her mind is nagging at her. She puts it down in front of her and thinks.

Her knitting is a blank canvas, inches and inches of clean stockinette stitch longing and begging for attention. Then it comes to her. She needs some embellishment. The knitter, now fueled with knowing the solution chooses some bright pink yarn, threads it through a needle, and gets to work. In a few moments she has added a flower, a heart, a little something to take her creation away from nice. 

"Honey," she says to her husband as she displays the sweater for him, "what do you think now?"

His eyes light up just a little like he's seeing the tiny sweater for the first time, "I like that, it looks nice."

This time the knitter does not fret over "nice". He said he "liked it" and she could see in his eyes that he meant it. Happily she sets her work down and picks up her needles, it's time to start a new project.

finished 

___________________________________________

That was a scene from Friday night at my house as I finished a sweater for a baby shower. It seems that often when a project is "finished" it's not really "complete" until that last little bit is added.

I usually add a little embroidery because I have not planned to add anything and I'm pressed for time. Some times, when I'm thinking clearly before casting on, I will add some intaria or fairisle to a project to "jazz up" the plainness of stockinette stitch. 

One of my favorite things to add on is a little butterfly I found on Spud and Chloe. I have put it on hats and doll clothes even though the intended project is a little ring.

 Doll pattern can be found here, doll dress pattern can be found here, sweater (with hearts) can be found on Raverly, turtles found here, hat is here, the flower on top of the turtle is here, 

and the other sweater (with trees and buttons) here. 

Embroidery is my own