Month: March 2003 Page 1 of 2

Guess what this is?

Yup. I did it. I cut into my Timber Frame vest. This is the cut out of the first arm hole. I haven’t picked up the stitches of the second one nor the neck yet. That’s tomorrow. I hope to have this finished either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Why the delay? I’m not happy with the neck that I’ve outline stitched. I think the neck opening might be too small. I might turn it into a short “V” neck instead. Here’s a picture of the sweater with the templates pinned in.

Yes, the armholes were a bit pointy, but I fixed that when I stitched it. I found it quite difficult to do curves on the sewing machine with the knitted fabric. I suppose that will come with some practice.

Well, the Sheep to Shawl wasn’t really a Sheep to Shawl. It was part of a Small Farm exhibit put on by the state extension services to help small farmers. It was actually pretty interesting exhibit. A little of everything from lectures on West Nile Virus, composting, herding dog demos, and, of course, fiber demo. That’s where the Sheep the Shawl comes in. I did get a close up view and a demo of how a Triangle Loom works. It’s a lot easier than I thought — once you’ve seen how it’s done.

Of course, that motivated me to try my hand at a small weavette style loom that I’ve been meaning to experiment with. I stopped off at an art supply store and bought 4 stretcher bars, went home, and built me a 7″x7″ loom with some brads set at approximate 5 nails per inch (technically, 3/16″ apart). Here are my Woven Samples. Clockwise from the top left: double stranded Fisherman’s Wool (Lion Brand), kool-aid dyed; variagated cotton ribbon; single strand Fisherman’s Wool; hand spun silk; hand spun 2 ply wool (kool-aid dyed).

I like the way the hand-spun wool square turned out. Here’s what it looked like in roving form (see Experiment #2). I’ve been trying to figure out what I was going to do with all of this. Now, I should be able to make a lap blanket.

If you are interested in how I built the loom, see my project notes.

Here’s a picture of my current sock project. I really like the way the the spiral ribbing is working out. I just made it up as I went along … k2,p2 for 3 rounds; k1,p2,k2 for 3 rounds; p2,k2 for 3 rounds; etc. Notice how even the colors are spiraling around the leg, along with the rib. Let’s see if I can duplicate it on the second sock.

I doubt if I will get to the Timber Frame today. Sunday afternoons are usually reserved for volunteer time.

Just in case any of you are waiting with bated breath for the cutting of the Timber Frame, I have a confession to make. I haven’t done anything with it since Wednesday night.

Instead, I’ve been coming up with every other tasks I can think of … getting a mailing out for my favorite non-profit, an impromptu stitch-n-bitch with my friend Patti, getting the dog to the groomers, getting a facial for myself at a spa that I’ve been wanting to try out for a long time, sitting on the back deck knitting on my LL sock until sun down (first time this Spring).

I’ve been busy! And I won’t get to it today because I’m going to watch a Sheep to Shawl demonstration.

This will be my first Sheep to Shawl. I wanted to see how it’s done. I’ll take lots of pictures and report back later today (along with a picture of the LL sock).

Ta!