Friday, August 20, 2010

Bertha


Pattern: Citron by Hilary Smith Callis
free at Knitty
Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace color 402 gray
437 yds/50 gr - a bit less than a full skein

Needles: size 4 KnitPicks Options; 32" cable

According to wikipedia, a bertha collar is a wide, flat, round collar, often of lace or sheer fabric, worn with a low neckline in the Victorian era and resurrected in the 1940s.

You can see a lovely lace one here and another lovely lace one here. One in Carrickmacross lace here with sweet shamrocks. Too expensive? Here's a less expensive machine-made one. One in Burano lace for Mary.
While this 100% baby alpaca was lovely and soft to work with, I think a smooth merino lace in a bright, happy color would work better for this simple pattern - at least for me.
To block this, I just soaked the finished piece as usual for about 20 minutes. I pinned out the top straight edge and gently patted out the semicircle. I didn't want to flatten any of the gathered sections or the edge ruffle.

5 comments:

Bonnie said...

What an elegant Citron - a beautiful choice of yarn and color.

Mary said...

Your Citron is lovely--very classic looking.

Sheri said...

Funny that they are called Bertha! I agree with the others, it came out great!
Sheri

Yesterukes said...

Makes me wish autumn would hurry up.

minipurl said...

It is absolutely gorgeous. Wow!