Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Wet wool...

... smells remarkably like wet dog. Except cleaner.

My Lopi sweater is blocking. My process? I gave it a bath in cold water with Woolite (it's what I've got), and rinsed it well - I was really surprised at how dirty the wash water was. Maybe it's related to the rather high vegetative content of Lopi... After rinsing it, I folded the sweater up in a towel and walked on it until the towel was as wet as the sweater. Then I carefully laid the sweater out on a different towel and left it to dry. Despite the lack of steam and pins, the blocking has been remarkably successful in removing the imperfections.


I'll post a finished object series of pictures later this week. It's supposed to get cold and maybe snow Thursday and Friday, so I think I'll actually get to wear the sweater. :-)

Now that I'm done with the sweater, I'm trying to decide what to knit next. I really like the Cable-Down Raglan from the spring IK. I also kind of like the Green Tea Raglan - except that I'd knit it in purple. Or maybe I should knit socks... I was thinking of using the Trekking XXL I got to make a variation of these. I've got some Baby Ull I could turn into Jaywalkers... Or maybe lace is really what I want to do next. I've got some black Kidsilk Night and some ideas for a pattern...

Of course, as I'm pondering these possibilities, there are other voices crying for my attention. My collection of WIPs can be pretty vocal when it wants to be. A few weeks ago when I was weighing my stash, I came across my longest neglected WIP - a scarf that I must have started about four years ago. It didn't even have needles stuck in it any more, but its yarn is Mission Falls 1824, a delightfully soft, squishy wool.


I'm still planning to cast on something new this weekend - any recommendations? But in the meantime, I stuck needles back into the neglected scarf and have been working on it as reading knitting (something I can knit while reading). I've also been making pretty good progress on my class knitting - the cabled scarf that matches the mittenettes.


Don't tell the scarf (since I really do like it), but I'm starting to get a little bored with it. It'll be lovely when it's done, but right now I want some excitement in my knitting...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi I came via Harlot. Your sweater is amazing. I have to say I am very impressed with the knitting while reading, I can barely knit while watching TV. I know someone who knits and drives, NOT recomending this. (but still kinda of impressive!)

Anonymous said...

I vote for lace. It's a special kind of magic, and might chase winter away.

Mandy said...

Your sweater is beautiful!

If you decide to do the cable-down raglan, go find the knitalong because I believe there were some errors in the charts that they can clarify for you.

I think you should try some lace, too. Lace Style has some really wonderful projects!