February 2007 Archives

Still sick of socks...  The second sock class yesterday went much better than the first, and some of the class actually finished their mini sock this time.  It helped a lot that this time everyone could actually knit (yes, it was a class requirement...), but, as always in teaching, participants always find new and inventive ways to screw things up in a manner unforeseen!

The jaywalkers are progressing though, and I've dyed the yarn for the next pair of socks, which are intended to be in a rib pattern (precise pattern as yet undecided).  The dyeing was intended to be a not-so-solid, but ended up almost evenly dyed.   This is the first of three skeins of merino cashmere sock yarn I bought undyed a few weeks ago.  Visitors to my actual blog (as opposed to those reading this in an aggregator such as Bloglines) may have noticed I finally removed stash enhancement items dating from last July and added the sock yarn, as well as revising my links lists.  More has been coming out of the stash than coming in of late - especially as much of my stash is undyed, and I've had time for dyeing.

The latest yarn purchase bypassed the stash and went straight into a project that was not a sock.   It's the Alpaca Bolero from Debbie Bliss' Baby Style book.  I've substituted Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette for the Jaeger 4 ply Alpaca the pattern was written for, and the tension square was spot on (yay!).  It's a lovely yarn to work with, and I suspect I may at some stage buy more in the "Briar" colour to make myself something.  The Bolero is presently being made with Charlotte in mind.  It's meant to just be some mindless comfort knitting.

Some appalling length of time has passed since I last warped up my loom (about two years, eek!), but I've finally done so.  But this warp has been less than nice to me.  It started off being too wide and too weft-faced (I would run out of the handspun silk weft without sufficient length for a scarf), then I made two threading errors (near the middle, so nearly half had to be re-threaded after adding string heddles), so after nearly a week, I've finally got this warp on the loom for the third time...



It's still more weft-faced than intended, but the silk handspun will more than make it to the other end of the scarf, and the silk is pretty...

Meanwhile, having taught a sock knitting class last Sunday, and having another one to go next Sunday, I'm sick of the sight of socks again.  The jaywalkers are thus making only slow progress.  I have several other things I could work on if I were not so lazy, as each requires a gauge swatch and some thought before commencing.

And since my last post, I have also been helping with my Spinners and Weavers group garage sale and move from behind the town pool to the Showground.  The new space is a great improvement and already looks much better than in the photos on the site.  I nabbed some of the boxes after they were emptied and brought them home for when I eventually move house.

As promised, the silk hankies have been plied and the resultant yarn is yummy and soft.  And I have just finished grafting the toe of the first jaywalker sock.

I reached the end of spinning the singles from the dyed silk hankies yesterday and they are ready to ply.  But I've had the purple silk/merino blend waiting to be plied since around Christmas and thought it was high time I did so.  Especially as some of it has been waiting a long time (eek!  nearly a year!).  So as incentive (since I'm keen to see how the silk turned out), I've plied the silk/merino first.



The first skein was plied yesterday, and a second and a small third one were plied this morning.  I keep looking at it thinking "wow" and "why the heck didn't I do it sooner?".

Next up, the silk.  And the first jaywalker sock should be done soon too.