What’s the best way of moving through the doldrums? New projects!
Like I said, I haven’t much felt like knitting lately. Nothing seems to be able to grab my attention for very long. I started a new shawl on my 6′ tri-loom last month, but it lanquished on my loom for a month without any additional work. I started it up again on Friday, when I realized that it really wasn’t me. The yarn just didn’t want to used on a loom.
It’s a beautiful German yarn. Horstia Maulbeerseide-Schurwolle. That’s a 50/50 silk/wool blend in a deep royal blue. Absolutely lovely against the skin with a beautiful sheen. Unfortunately, the softly spun single just wasn’t holding up well to the rough handling. The yarn is very sticky. And I can’t but help feel that the act of opening the shed and weaving the yarn will shred the yarn. I only got through about 10 pins of the yarn before I decided that this is just not the right project for the yarn.
So I took it off the loom, and casted on for a rib-warmer. This is using the modified rib warmer in Fall 1997 issue of Knitters. I’ve been wanting to make a rib warmer, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I’ve seem some really beautiful ones in the past few months. There seems to be some sort of renaissance of these things lately. I love wearing vests, especially with the unpredictable indoor climate at the office. There’s nothing worse than sitting at your desk all day and have your shoulders creep up to your ears because your back is cold.
But I didn’t leave the loom empty. I started another shawl on it with Classic Elite La Gran Mohair. It’s a bulky weight yarn, which is better suited to the tri-loom than worsted weight. It’s not the easiest thing to weave with because it’s so sticky. But with patience, it’s a lot of fun. I’ve learned that if you rush it, the worse the problem gets. Plucking a few warp threads at a time to open the shed. Once you’ve opened the shed for the entire length, the shed stays fairly open/distinct even without a shed stick. Actually, I found that any type of tools, other than your hands, is a waste of time. I’m planning on giving it to Sandy for her belated birthday when we take Ian & Sandy to dinner next Friday night.
But I haven’t forgotten this. I now have a lovely little stack of woven squares, made with my square quilt weaver loom. It’s still not enough to make a couch shawl, but I still have a few skeins to go. If it’s still not enough, then I’ll have to dye some more from my stash of Kool Aid.
Oh, and this came in the mail this week. It’s a jumbo pack of Earthues natural dye extract, enough to dye 160 pounds of fiber. More than enough to play with, wouldn’t you say?
