Monday, February 05, 2007

Superbowl Sunday, a good day to frog and to dye


Say Goodbye to the third Swallowtail Shawl I had started in Schaefer Yarn's "Anne". I got the center done and realized it's really not made for a lace shawl. It's really a sock yarn with 60% merino superwash wool, 25% Mohair and a pesky 15% nylon. As a result, it has way too much bounce in it and was actually not very nice to the touch. It was frogged during Superbowl Sunday and is now history. You will see it again in the future as socks because I gave it to my sister to use. She loves to knit socks. I also took some white lace yarn from Crystal Palace and dyed it, just as an experiment. I've had the supplies to dye something since last year but never the time or incentive. More green than I intended (the yellow all turned green when it mixed with the blues), still,not too bad for a first effort. I have some Merino and BFL that I want to dye but I will do a few more skeins of yarn first as a test. This was done via the cold dye method and cooked in plastic wrap for 3 hours in a old crock pot on high. I'm going to try the hot pour method next and then I will move on to rovings. I'm still working on the WRS but it feels nice to get rid of things I really didn't want to finish. I'll do the Swallowtail Shawl again later, but having done it twice and given both of them away, I'm not in the mood to make a third one only to have it go the same way which you just know would happen. I'll wait until I get a few of the other projects done. High on my list to finish is the Peacock Feathers Shawl which I had to pick back and then put aside in disgust. I refuse to frog that. I just have to be awake to knit it, that's all.
What do I do next? Boundary Waters Shawl, Spider Queen, and maybe, just maybe the Mountainash shawl are all possibility's. I joined the Yahoo group for Mountainash and am reading all of the posts from oldest to most recent so I can get the information from those who have already gone before me. I've only made it through about 1/3 of the messages and it is unfolding that this is a pattern that can be altered to your own satisfaction. Of course, you can do that with just about any pattern but they really give you permission to do it on this one. Part of that may be the fact that no one really can read Japanese on this group though some have friends who can who try to help out. I have to become more comfortable with this pattern before I give it a try. I also have to enlarge the chart about 150% because it's so tiny. I'm not sure what I will do with this somewhat loud lace weight yarn yet but when I do knit it up, you will see it here first. Live and in color!
Good Evening to All!