1 post tagged “woodwork”
In the past twelve days, I’ve had a lot going on in my little knitting world. I’ve been to my knitting group twice, and enjoyed myself a lot: There’s also been a lost stash enhancement package along the way, though I’m hoping it’s less ‘lost’ and more ‘merely delayed’ -- after all, Robyn of the Robyn’s Nest says she has yet to have lost a package, and I would really, really hate to ruin a perfect record. Also, Ravelry has started eating my brain, in parts.
So, to start with Ravelry: I’m becoming more active as of late, writing up what I’m actually knitting -- and what the hell am I thinking anyway, casting on with no less than four projects at once? -- and getting some camera practice in while I’m at it. I’ve joined a Harry Potter group, specifically the House Cup competition, and I’m largely lurking around until the sorting in May. (Well, not entirely true -- I’m trying to come up with a cheer for the Quidditch Cup thread for no particular reason, but mostly lurking.)
I’ve also joined a knitted kitty swap group, because some of the little stuffies coming out of that group are ADORABLE. (Also, I think I just want the excuse to give the ‘standard’ knitted kitty swap pattern a trial run.)
The rest, well, I think I’ll have to break it down by project.
The Kromski: Three weeks ago, I took my spinning wheel apart for the express purpose of putting a finish on it. It’s been slow going as unfortunately, it’s not a project that can be properly completed in a single afternoon -- but the good is, it’s coming along nicely. There was a bit of ugly when I went to use the golden oak stain that my father suggested: Luckily, I only stained the matching niddy-noddy before discovering that I don’t really care for the color. (The natural wood itself is SO pretty, really!) All that’s left on that project is 1) buying my polyurethane and 2) applying it, this coming weekend’s weather allowing.
The Husband’s Sweater: I’ve finally cast on for his long-awaited sweater -- A modified version of Jesse Loehsburg’s Retrofit, adjusted to include Aija Goto’s Space Invader charts across the back.
And the bad is: Figuring out the vertical placement of said space invaders is driving me BONKERS. I’ve momentarily put the whole idea down to come back to again, although I’ve definitely decided that losing the bunkers on the Space Invaders ‘screen’ is going to take a lot of the crazy off my plate.
The Tilted Duster: In the past five weeks, I’ve cast on for the tilted duster twice. Why? Well...
The Ugly: My completed Tilted Duster was made of Main Line in Ink, a green-based black yarn. It looked really good, it had a fabulous hand to it, and I loved wearing that sweater. Matter of fact, I wore that sweater non-stop. Which was enough time to realize that the main line was shedding like mad -- all over my shirts, my pants, my arms, my car, my purses and knitting bags... My cats didn’t shed that badly, so something had to be done.
The yarn is billed as machine washable, so surprise! I machine washed it. (And I put it in on gentle / slow cycle and cold, but still -- machine washed.)
And then it turned into a fur coat.
The shedding magnified, the sweater burst into a giant puffball, and eight times of re-washing has not yet convinced the yarn to stop with the damned shedding already. I’m honestly about to give up on the thing, which is heartbreaking since it took me 3.5 weeks to complete -- but I’m intending to go find a soft-bristled brush and try that on the duster before I give it up entirely.
Honestly. So mad.
Which is probably why I cast on again, this time in a full wool. (I had about 10 skeins, and only need about 6 of them.)
Other than that, I’ve been a spinning fool: Apparently, I only need to take apart my spinning wheel to rile up the urge for it. Thankfully, I have a spindle collection, so I’ve been using those instead. And it’s probably about time I learned how to ply without a spinning wheel, anyway...
