It was quite strange for me, I got to watch. I spent my time spectating productively, I knit and I hollered like a banshee!! It seems that screaming yourself hoarse isn't the done thing in these parts as I got a few funny looks. It was definitely that and not the brightly coloured sock I was working on!I also learnt that I knit a lot faster when I'm cheering my team on. Who knew?
Other happenings this week where few and far between. It's been an odd kind of week at work. An 'all or nothing' kind of week. I'd much rather have a 'steady away' week! Ultimately it was uneventful and that's the most important thing.
Following on from last week's colour theme, I dyed my hair again. Once in a while it's a big job because I have to bleach the roots too. It takes a good 2 hours to do the job, so I set about it yesterday. I'm loving the results. I used 2 different colours, a purple and a red. What do you think?
It's a funny kind of red, it's called 'Vendetta Red' and it always seems to be more of a pink to me, but still, I'm happy with the results.
All of this looking at colour has started me thinking about the whole dying process. Could dying my own yarn be the way forward? Woolfest is only 2 weeks away now, and I know I can get everything I need there. Do I take the plunge? Should I curb my urges and spend my money on lovely indie dyed yarn like a good girl? Oh, help! I crave colours. Mmmmmm purple.......... red.................. blue!!
ANYWAY!!!!!!! Onto the fibre based madness
Feeling the love this week -
It's been an odd kind of week all around really. I feel I've un-knitted as much as I've knitted. I took many projects away with me last weekend. I took the rejected sock, Jean's birthday scarf, Monica's shawl and a cashmere jumper to recycle.
So here's the state of play so far - Monica's shawl has been frogged. It seems that nupps are not my friend. At least they aren't with my knit picks needles. My interchangeables are my babies. I love them, but they just aren't pointy enough to cope with a 7 stitch nupp even when I'm using laceweight. So, until I find some sharper needles, that project is on hold. It's a shame, because until those evil nupps I was having fun!
Recycling the jumper has been similarly frogged. The yarn was just too fragile. Whoever had had the jumper originally just hadn't taken care of it properly. I'm gutted. £10 gone forever. At least it went to a charity, who will do some good with it, the sweater? In the bin!
Jean's scarf is going well. It's a scarf with a border and I'm enjoying the knit. I told Jean she could pick anything from the book, or I'd knit her an Evenstar (gulp) if she'd like. It's her 70th in August and she's my rock. As mother-in-law's go, I fell on my feet there! She chose this scarf, and inside I breathed a sigh of relief, I'd happily knit anything for her, but I was a bit worried about the time pressures of getting a big project done on time! It has a new construction to me, you knit the first border sideways, knitting until you have the desired width of your scarf, then you cast off and pick up the stitches along the side of your work and work up the length of the scarf. At the other end it's like an applied edging I think, to give 2 matching borders.
I'm loving the project, the lace edge was just enough to keep my interest, and now I'm romping up the length of the scarf with a no-brainer dropped stitch pattern. I'm using the straight needles my mum bought me when I learnt to knit umpteen years ago. I've lost a few, and most are bent in some way, but I need the straights for this project. The yarn overs for the dropped stitch pattern where getting stuck on the joins on my interchangeables. Work wasn't progressing smoothly, and I was worried about wear on the yarn, so I swapped to the old way. It feels so strange using straights after so long, but I'm working much faster now.
The last project is my rejected socks. On the way home last week I turned the heel. I continued to work up the leg but the further I got, the less happy I was with my results. Using the short row heel, gave me a sudden colour change on the front of the sock at the ankle. It bugged me, so I ripped it back, and I'm going to do an afterthought heel. I'm not a great fan of that heel because I'm not confident that my kitchener seam will stand up to the wear experienced on a heel. We'll see.
I have been spinning too. I'm aware that Tour de Fleece is looming soon. I want to clear my wheel so that I'm ready. I finally finished the first half of the cornfield polwarth. It's been a joy to spin. This first single ended with a bang though. I was just feeding the last few fibres though, when my single snapped. As it snapped the end was buried, so I tried to find it with no success. I'll have to break the single when I start plying and hope I don't lose any of the yardage! I'm so cross! Ah well, I've started on the second single. I'll spin this half straight from the braid with no pre-drafting at all. I'm looking forward to seeing the long colour repeats.
On the subject of Tour de Fleece, originally I'd said that I'm wanting to spin my Nunoco stash. The more I think about it, the less happy I am. I love this fibre and I want to do it justice. Ideally I want to spin each batt as thinly as I can so that I can knit each one up into the most beautiful project I can. Do I want to race through this fibre, spinning thicker so that I can process it quickly? I'm thinking not. I'm leaning to joining the laceweight team, going for mileage rather than weight. I think this could be the way forward.
On the horizon -
Next week I'm aiming to start the second rejected sock, to work some more on Jean's scarf and to spin my heart out on the second single. Wish me luck!
Have a great week x
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