Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Spring!

It's a wonderful thing to see in March. I refer to the dripping from the roof. The sunshine is strong and warm and Minnesotans are filled with energy and excitement in anticipation of Spring.
I finished a wrap for my Mother-In-Law. It is a shawl that can also be used as a lap throw. Just in time for Spring. [insert wry facial expression here.] I hope she can use it, and it doesn't just take up space. Space is so limited where she is. I know she likes pretty things, so I'm hoping it will bring her pleasure.
I'm busy knitting up something else too. It's a Birthday surprise.
The yarn is my homespun which was an especially difficult batch. I made just about every kind of error on this yarn a person could make. I bought the fiber on the cheap, sight unseen, and the wool was poor quality. Short, full of second cuts, yellowing, and manure. It was good for making mistakes on, though. I had to wash like crazy, and took out more of the lanolin that I would have liked. Then I over-did it with the dye, and "cooked" it in the dye bath, so I ended up with fibers which were a bit crispy. Then I did not yet have my new wool carders, and was using some fragile antique ones which made it very difficult to get a good result. (Plus me being a n00b!) The resulting yarn is rough to the touch, uneven, and very color saturated.

And actually, in spite of all that, I think it's kind of cute for the right application.
I'll post an "after" shot later - unless it's perfectly dreadful, in which case we'll all ignore it. Okay?

1 comment:

  1. Fun mom! Gramma's shawl is GORGEOUS! Good work. Looking forward to next weekend! Love you.

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