Chinoise

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.”
- Confucius

Well, turns out I had one more surprise up my sleeve. I changed the name.

I was thinking Beryl because the motifs looked rather like six sided polygons before blocking and Beryl is a six sided crystal.

But once I blocked it, the motifs opened up and began looking move diamond-like in shape.


See what I mean?

All along, I kept thinking something Chinese would be good. Must be the color: Chinatown Apple. I thought about China Rose, but having already done two designs with rose in the title, I decided against it.

I wondered about Rubino, which was the color of the diamond shaped beads on the end.


Then I hit on the idea of a variation on the word Chinoiserie. According to Wikipedia:

Chinoiserie, a French term, signifying "Chinese-esque", refers to a recurring theme in European artistic styles since the seventeenth century, which reflect Chinese artistic influences. It is characterized by the use of fanciful imagery of an imaginary China, by asymmetry in format and whimsical contrasts of scale, and by the attempts to imitate Chinese porcelain and the use of lacquer-like materials and decoration.

A chinoise is actually a conical sieve with an extremely fine mesh. It is used to strain custards, purees, soups, and sauces, producing a very smooth texture.

The name chinoise also comes from the French adjective meaning Chinese.

Now, what could be a finer mesh than lace, huh? And the shape at the center of the motifs has a conical shape.

DING DING DING!!! We have a winner...

CHINOISE WRAP $8

a lovely lacy bit of Chinoiserie
from the needles of Susan Pandorf

SIZE:
20 inches wide by 70 inches long

MATERIALS:
1 skein (700 yds.) Dream In Color Baby
or other laceweight yarn
model knit in Chinatown Apple
10 decorative beads (optional)
Size 3 (US) needles

GAUGE:
main motif = 2 inches wide (blocked)

Charted Directions
Intermediate Lace Knitter