Scorched White Diamonds

The morning light is pretty orange, so this picture came out yet another non-white shade.

But unfortunately I did scorch the linen "White Diamonds" bookmark! I had gotten it wet, run two knitting needles down the sides, and stretched it out on a plate to block and dry. I put it on the top of our soapstone woodstove, which I had also done with the "Brown Leaves" bookmark.

BUT

Yes, famous last words: I think "but" is one of those words!

But I had blocked and dried the leaf bookmark during the day, when I was in control of minding the fire.

I blocked and dried "White Diamonds" in the evening, when my husband was home, and when he takes a hand in tending the fire.

Now, his approach to fires and my approach to fires are two very different flight paths! I am usually at home during the day, and I keep the fire going by periodically raking up the coals and putting a couple of smallish pieces of wood on it. This keeps the soapstone hot, and we have fans that blow the warm air into the far reaches of the house.

My husband is usually at home at night, and usually makes up the fire before we go to bed. This means he crams the stove with as many pieces of wood as he can physically fit in there, and then closes the door-damper to the merest slit. Even when he's not making up the fire for the night, he tends to cram a lot of wood in there, and this overheats the room the stove is in.

So what happened to "White Diamonds" was that I made up the fire, put the plate on top, and went about my business. My husband had some friends over, and he often ignores fire-minding when he is having fun, so if I had thought about it at all, I would have thought my nice, lace-knitted linen bookmark was safe!

BUT

But for some reason, he built up the fire, and he came out about half an hour later, holding the plate with "White Diamonds" on it with a potholder, and told me he thought it was getting too hot! Yikes! I guess so! I peeled it off the plate immediately, dropping the hot knitting needles, and found the back faintly yellowed. It really doesn't look half so bad as the picture above. But still, I don't think I'll give this one away as an exchange. I did try bleaching it with a peroxide solution, but I am scared of weakening the already-scorched thread even more.

Such is life when you have a handy woodstove to dry things on!