Damson

I know the Olympics were on a month ago and that is when everyone was talking about the Ravelympics, well I have been busy and I haven't been posting much. ( That is my story and I am sticking with it.)  One of my ravelympics project was the Damson shawl.

(Seen here checking out our Olympic inukshuk)

This is from Ysolda Tegue's Whimisical Little Knits 2 book that I discussed back in January - (you know 3 blog posts ago).  It was a relatively fast knit - except for the fact that I didn't check gauge and ran out of yarn and knit the second half twice.  I ended up switching needles and making the scallops slightly smaller.

The yarn I dyed myself and had a quite a bit of fun doing so.  I have had so much fun in fact that I have decided to sell my yarns on Etsy.  This is part of what has been keeping me busy.  I am still playing with colourways and dyeing technique and looking for good source of base yarn.  However the Keeper's Dyepots store is up and running. 

Weaving - A scarf

I last left this blog with a mention (okay maybe it was a post) on how I was taking a weaving class.  Well that class ended a month ago, so maybe it is time I showed you some pics.

We had warped the loom with enough yarn for samples and a 60" scarf.  The first classes were trying different samples and techniques and the last 3 classes (which I missed one) was to weave the scarf.

After doing trying several different patterns I decided on weaving a mix twill (done in orange on the left).  I liked how it showed texture in two colours.  We were given the option of changing some of our warp threads, and I decided to change 6 threads along the one side.  I wanted to change it to the wool (Cascade 220)  that I was using but the instructor said since the rest of the warp was in acrylic I should change it to acrylic as well.  I wasn't keen on this but took some mulitcoloured yarn and made the switch.

To tie in those six threads I did a couple of pattern repeats on each end in the multicoloured.  The variagated in the warp is lost, but it was a learning experience.

The scarf is in need of a good blocking, and is ready to wear.  If you want a rectangle for a scarf, weaving is the way to go.  I am thinking of getting a rigid heddle loom which would be good for scarves and table runners but not for wide things like blankets.  We will have to see what the year brings me.