Stash

This is what my work area looks like when I'm working on one of those fabrics with lots of yarns. It doesn't show the bags lined up beside the table. I find that I need the array of yarns to be visible so that I can mix and blend, improvising with colors and textures. It makes it almost impossible for these projects to be taken anywhere, because it takes such a long time to set up and take down. And there really aren't a lot of places with a whole table available. Last year at this time I went to a hotel for a few days and took this project, and the hotel room just happened to have a big dining table, which immediately got appropriated for the yarn.

It must be arranged just so. I need to see the yarns that are meant to be carried with others, the thinner yarns and the thicker yarns, so that I can balance the fabric and it doesn't get too much of one texture, or it doesn't get too thin in spots. The base yarn (in this case the cone on the far left) has to be easy to use so that I can use it every other row or more frequently without having to dig it out of the piles.

Finished wash cloth

Linen, garter stitch, stockinette and reverse stockinette, size 6 bamboo cable needle, 16 in.

This is another in the linen cloth experiments, but the yarn is from my snooty stash, not the cheapo cone I got a couple years ago in Rhinebeck at the Sheep and Wool Festival.

I've washed and dried it in the machine, and I think I'm going to do it with hot water and try to shrink it a little more. It has already softenend and I think it will be a gleaming beautiful cloth. I can't wait to make more!! I think the size 6 needle is a bit big, and so I'm going to try something smaller in the next experiment.

Finished shawl

Triangle shawl [increase one stitch each row], suri [alpaca], garter stitch, size 10 aluminum cable needle, 24 in.

I think I enjoyed every stitch of this shawl, mostly because of the way it felt in my hands as I knitted it. I have some niggling concerns about the way it will fit. The triangle is very long. I think I'll probably increase two stitches each row as a default triangle length from now on. With this shawl the back is very long and the side that goes across the shoulders isn't very long, so keeping it on one's body may be a problem.

Using large needles with the relatively light weight suri yarn produced a lacy effect that I enjoy.

In the studio

Scarf, wool and mohair blend yarn, black and yellow intarsia pattern, rib stitch, size 7 bamboo needles

I'm working on many projects, however this is my current favorite. I chose the Hufflepuff House colors rather than go for Gryffindor right away. I looked around for suitable green and silver yarns, thinking I might do a Slytherin scarf, but it's hard to find a really sturdy silver yarn. I'll keep looking.

The size 7 needles make a lovely dense but still drapey fabric. I chose Brown Sheep wool company yarn because of the very reasonable price and also the colors. The photo doesn't do justice to the richness of the black and yellow. This is 26 stitches per row, and it will be very long, so that it can be wrapped a couple times around the neck or hang long, Dr. Who style. I think I'll have mixed single strand black and yellow fringe this time, or single strand yellow under the black and black under the yellow.

I'm looking up the school colors for local schools and may do more with this check pattern. I do enjoy the stark contrast of the colors.