Well, that was my answer, and the question was how to block a knitted lace bag that is a small cylinder with a curved bottom. I couldn’t just pin it out like a doily, but it definitely needed blocking. The soy sauce bottle was the closest I could find to the right diameter, the lump of clay gave the curved bottom, and wrapping them in plastic kept the bag clean. Next problem was that the crochet loop edging needed stretching too, so I looped some cotton warp yarn through the thread I’d already run though the crochet loops, through a loop tied around the neck of the bottle, back through the thread and so on, then once it was all in place, I tensioned it carefully. Since that description is probably clear as mud, here is a pop-up picture.
… so I thought I’d better put something up tonight. I’ve been working on a bag for another small bag exchange. I decided to knit rather than weave this time – knitted cotton lace, of course. I’m using 10/3 crochet cotton on 1.75 mm (US #00) needles. It looked a bit dull so I added some beads. The bottom is a standard ‘swirly’ doily centre with a few decreases to make it ‘cup’ rather than lie flat. Then I switched to Arrow Lace (from one of Barbara Walker’s Treasuries), adding a few seed beads to accent the pattern. I’ve finished the beading (unless I decide to add some to the border) but I haven’t decided where to go from here, except that I’m going to need eyelets for a drawstring. I’ll think about that tomorrow. The scan isn’t very good – the lace needs stretching and the beads don’t show up, so I needed to include a detail scan.
I’ve finished the first end of the EG. The pattern says to start with a waste yarn cast on, knit the middle section and one tail, then pick up the open cast on stitches and knit the last tail. As I have barely enough yarn and I want to make the scarf as long as possible, I wanted to know exactly how much yarn a tail needs (10.1 g, it turns out) so I can continue with centre until I have just enough left for the second tail. I took a picture of the first tail before picking up the cast on. It’s pinned out but not stretched for proper blocking.
I showed my mother the yarn I dyed for ‘her’ EG scarf, though she doesn’t know that yet, and she loves it. Phew! Here it is:
I’m currently knitting a new swatch as the dyed yarn will probably not match the gauge of the undyed swatch. With luck, I’ll get to start the scarf itself tomorrow.
First, thank you to everyone who has commented so far. It’s good to know that at least that first entry was read. Charleen, I want it a light colour, possibly one that reflects the garden imagery. I tend to wear blues and greens, sometimes purples or greys, so I was thinking of a light greenish blue or blueish green.
I mentioned yesterday that I was waiting for more merino yarn. The order arrived today, but the yarn for the EG wasn’t with it – “discontinued!” I tried phoning the manufacturer to see if they may still be making it but just not supplying it that mail-order company or, if it really is discontinued, whether they still have any left in stock. No answer. I’m thinking that the mill may be shut down today rather than restart for just one day after yesterday’s holiday. I am supposed to start this knitalong early next week …
Next thought was to try to get the merino I used for the swatch in a colour I’d want to use, but of course I can’t find the samples for that. I decided to phone the shop anyway and ask for a verbal description of any pastel shades, and if all else fails, get it in white/natural and dye it. No answer. It seems the shop is shut this week too. It doesn’t open on Mondays, so even if I phone her again on Tuesday, it isn’t likely to reach me earlier than next Friday or Saturday.
I phoned another mill to get information about their fine weaving cotton. You guessed it … they were closed.
To end on a happier note, we may have found a way to get rid of an unwanted wheel. It is a fairly modern wheel, possibly Russian-made, saxony type with a 16″ wheel. We bought it second-hand a few years ago because we were trying to take two Ashfords (Traveller and Traddy) to meetings in a very small car. Soon afterwards, I treated myself to a Joy, and we replaced the car with a bigger one, so the saxony has rarely been used.
We have 4 other wheels in the house now. DH uses my original wheel (the Traveller). I use the Joy as my main wheel. My old Traddy has a lace flyer on it at the moment, though we may get a jumbo flyer for it eventually. The newest member of the flock is a yew Timbertops chair wheel, bought used just before Christmas. I need to clean it up a bit and oil it, as it hadn’t been used for a while. Jim Williamson (Timbertops) is kindly sending me a copy of the information sheet(s) he sends out with new wheels, so I’m waiting for that, and meanwhile getting the saxony fit for sale.
This seems an appropriate day to finally start a blog, though given my difficulty in maintaining a diary I wonder how good I will be at updating this. I suppose the only way to find out is to try …
This is intended to be a blog of my fibre activities, not my personal life (I bet you are relieved to read that!) So, what do I have to report today?
I have a number of projects I should be starting in the next few days. Two of them are knitalongs, which will be a new experience for me. I’ve been swatching for one of those, the Estonian Garden wrap from Fiber Trends. My first swatch was using a grey Shetland singles (not spun by me), but that skewed badly so I’m going to save that for a garter stitch lace project rather than try to block the skewing out of the wrap. My second attempt was with a 2/15 merino weaving yarn:
I like this one, the look and the hand of the fabric, but I don’t have it in a colour I’d like for this wrap and I can’t get more before the knitalong is due to start. I do have some 2/18 white merino yarn on its way, so I’ll probably swatch that when it arrives. If it works, I’ll dye some for the wrap.