Off the Loom

The gray yardage is off the loom. In fact it's all laying out on my living room floor waiting to be sewn together in time for tomorrows guild meeting. I'm hoping to twine the fringe there. Once that's done all it will need is a light washing before going to it's new home. Unless I decide it needs some I-cord embellishment.

While I'm very happy with the rustic look of the blanket- I spun the yarn fat and nubby purposefully just for that appearance. I'm a worried that the whole thing is too plain, too rustic. After all this will be on display in someone's home and I don't think it's ready to represent me to the nonfiber world. After all I don't want to be perpetuating the rustic myth and yet I felt it wouldn't be appreciated for what it was if it didn't meet the nonspinners ideals. Anyway, I think I can satisfy my creative sensibility with an I-cord knot in a corner. I have a nice pattern for a Chinese knot of good fortune but I'm going to look for some Celtic designs.

Next on the loom will be some commercial wool. I have a deal with myself. I'm going to alternate commercial and hand spun yarn on the loom for the rest of the year. Thankfully this deal only involves my weaving and I can knit with what ever I want. The next woven project will be a poncho. I'm tickled pink that pink ponchos are everywhere in the stores this fall. After trying several on I decided that I can do a better job than what was at the mall. Not surprising. Anyway, I have picked out a thin pink wool from my stash and it is ready to go on the loom. I wasn't sure how I wanted the poncho constructed so back to the mall, this time with DH in tow. It turns out he doesn't like ponchos. His loss.

Right now I'm knitting Dad's Christmas socks. These socks have been an ongoing saga covering 2 years of work. He gave me a bag of cotton grown in his garden because I might like it. I was able to spin it up using a support spindle since my Kiwi wheel whined a bit at such high speeds. After a month of spinning I realized there is no way I was making a 100% 3 ply cotton yarn. I fixed that problem nicely with a ply of superwash wool and a ply of silk. I now have a decadent rag yarn. While I can recall the spinning fondly I can't say the same with the knitting. Lets just say I don't like knitting two socks on two circs and that I'm working on one foot for the 3rd time and when it's finished I will frog the other foot and give it a second try.

If you can't tell I gave up on knitting both socks at once. I am still using too circs. I just can't keep the OOO double pointed needles from falling out so the circs are necessary. I finally found a way to keep from grabbing the wrong needle and knitting myself into a knot. I use one pair of the regular nickel coated and one pair of addi gold plated needles. The color coding really helps.

What am I spinning right now? All month I have been spinning for my blanket. A nice gray CVM roving. I have been so project driven I haven't worked on anything else. Today I'll spin the joining yarn. I think I have enough thrums to do the I-cord. I just have to sample to make sure it's the yarn I want to use. Once that's done I don't know what's next. Time to do some shopping in my stash.

-S-