Oh, what a weekend.
First of all, we had a houseful of folks in attendance for a felted clog workshop Saturday afternoon. My thanks to everyone that was able to make it. We had a great time. We also had an amazing day for sales, so that's never a bad thing.
The afternoon came to a roaring crescendo when a couple of the non-clog-participating knitters in attendance felted a tote and purse, put them outside to dry, then realized that it was below freezing in Indiana over the weekend. Rob went out to check on the felting, and realized that the bags were frozen! When the laughter (and Viagra jokes) subsided, we hung the bags in the garage for drying. Notice the highly-technical drying rod leaning against the door to the left of the table. I understand that it somehow doubles as a floor-cleaning device, but who knows?
As folks started winding down, a few friends settled in and we sat around knitting and watched Wanda Sykes' new Comedy Central special. Between guffahs, I managed to get another inch or so knit on the body of the Philosopher's Sweater, but I failed to get pics taken. Maybe I'll snap a couple on my lunch break.
Then there was Sunday. Oh, my. Patsy, a coworker of Rob's and a friend of ours who spins, knits, weaves, and probably has eight to twelve other skills that I'm too tired to recall at the moment, came over and helped me wind a warp for several scarves out of some rayon chenille that she sold me. It's beautiful stuff, but that's not the end of the story.
Rob and April, another of their coworkers and the relatively new knitter I mentioned recently who's now knocking out a gorgeous Alligator Tooth Philosopher's Sweater, came in and the four of us hit the kitchen for a little hand-dyeing. Patsy dyed a few skeins of rayon, but they dried quickly, and I didn't get out the camera until everyone left. Fortunately, April, Rob, and I mostly dyed wool, so we all had pretty wet finished products, so I got pics of those.
I believe April dyed a hank of worsted weight wool in fuchsia, orange, and purple or navy... sorry, the photo isn't great, and I'm too tired to remember. This was April's very first time dyeing yarn, and the picture really doesn't do the yarn justice. Rob dyed two and a half skeins of Cascade Bulky Leisure (cotton and llama bouclé) in purple, fuchsia, and blue for the Shape-It Scarf in Sally Melville's new book, The Knitting Experience. I can't wait to see the finished product.
 As for me, well, I dyed one hank of the worsted weight wool in blue, green, pink, purple, gold, and orange. It looks like a tie-dyed t-shirt. But remember the warp that I wound? Look what I did with it. The wool was just prelude to the symphony. This warp is rayon chenille (16epi for anyone interested) hand-dyed, quite literally, in a rainbow of colors. I tested the colors on the wool, then dyed the warp. I didn't finish the warp and get it ready to hang to dry until ten o'clock last night. Needless to say, it was a very long day, but I now have a wonderful project underway. There's enough warp for four scarves, and I dyed enough of the chenille in the same colorway for weft for one of the scarves (that's the little chain hanging to the left). What will happen to the other three? Who knows? But I'll post pictures as they come off the loom. |
 Finally, we need a shop model for an upcoming class. The Asymetrical Vest that also appears in Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience will be featured in a ThreadBear class later this winter, and guess who's knitting the model? You got it. And these are two of the three or four balls of Cascade Magnum that will go into the project. I guess I'll be updating the WIP list this afternoon! |
Be well, folks, and happy knitting... and weaving!
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