Sat 30 May 2015
Sorry for the radio silence! Between the end of semester rush, a lull in my knitting, and the garden coming back to life, May has been a busy month.
I cannot believe how long it has taken, but I finally got to the end of the Tunisian crochet cowl. I added a little rib edging with an improvised slightly-lacy cast off, and blocked it last night.
Sadly, the edges are still showing a pronounced desire to roll after blocking, so this is likely heading for the frog pond as soon as it’s dry.
Good thing I love those colors, and will want to work with them again!
It was interesting to try a new technique, and I’m excited about the possibilities of Tunisian crochet for accent features in knitted garments, but it is not going to replace knitting for me anytime soon. The time it took to finish the cowl is a reflection of the fact that the crochet method just doesn’t draw me in.
Knitting also hasn’t been drawing me in much lately, though. This is by far the longest I have been without a (knitting) project on the needles since I started knitting again in 2008. It’s also only the second time in 8 years that I have had so little to say that I could get by on just one blog post in a month!
I have been petting a skein of Briar Rose Sea Pearl, and wound up a ball several weeks ago now to start a swatch. I started out with a simple knit-purl design, in my standard firm fabric for sweaters. (This is heading toward a rectangle sweater like the one my sister was wearing in the last post.)
I wasn’t loving it, though. I tried a bunch of things, and eventually ended up working the yarn at a very loose gauge.
I’m still not sure that this is “it,” but I do like the semi-sheer fabric it creates. For a scarf, I’d probably go with it, but I’m concerned that a sweater won’t hold its shape. I’m also worried that it will snag on things, because the fabric is so open. I’m not very good with high-maintenance garments, and anything I wear has to be pretty low fuss.
I do like how the garter stitch diamonds really pop when viewed in the right light, though.
So that’s still in the early stages, and I’m feeling pretty far from casting on. The swatch is now about 2 feet long, and is quickly heading toward being a small scarf rather than a swatch. I’m hoping that this idea gels pretty quickly, though…can’t leave those needles empty for too long!
I’ve also been doing a little bit of weaving. I warped and wove a project earlier this spring, but I’m not sure I ever blogged about it. It’s not terribly photogenic right now, so I’ll wait to take pictures when it’s off the loom. In any case, I finished it a month or so ago, and wound a new warp to put on in its place. I decided to try tying on the new warp this time rather than rethreading from scratch. Â
Some people swear that tying on is the only way to warp a loom. I can see how it might be useful for a very complicated warp with a difficult threading (provided that you wanted to thread the same thing over again), but I think I’ll probably stick to threading from scratch for simple projects like this one. Tying 361 knots in the right order was a pretty fiddly business!
Now that the threads are tied, the new project is mostly on the loom. There’s a little more fiddling to be done with the setup, and I need to re-sley the reed, but other than that it’s almost ready to go.
Other than that, there hasn’t been much news in my crafting world. Hopefully June will be a better month for knitting!
In all the years I’ve been weaving, I think I tied on to an existing warp once and said I’d never do it again but then again if it’s a simple pattern………
I really like making the shawl/scarves because it uses up a decent amount of my stash, but only if I make a lot of them!! I finished the Hapalong and now will think about the Mystery Knitalong doodads.
Lovely to see you back, even if without a lot of projects to share. Absence did make the heart grow fonder.
That’s too bad that the cowl curled too much – it really was very cool looking. Oh well, more mileage out of those pretty yarns! I really like your Briar Rose swatch and will be interested to see how that all works out. YOU, knitting at a loose gauge??!!?? Are you feeling okay?? 🙂 As for the weaving, I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds interesting and I’m sure it will turn out beautiful! 🙂
It’s too bad about the Tunesian cowl, but at least you learned a new technique. I’ve been thinking about swatching some Sea Pearl for a sweater for myself recently (only–from someone else’s pattern, not my own!), but haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe you’ll inspire me!