Yarn Bits

Happy Anniversary

Last night the Mississauga Handweavers and Spinners Guild celebrated their 30th anniversary.  Unfortunately I haven't been a regular member now for quite a few years, but I keep in touch with a lot of the weavers from the guild.  I did belong for about 20+ years and served two terms as president. There were some photos from the past and boy! were we all young and thin once! There were 3 of us there last night that had attended the first organizational meeting of the guild, Sue Smart, Margaret Pointing and myself. It was great fun to reminisce about past shows and exhibitions and experiences and to remember other original members who have moved away, several out of province. We all enjoyed a fabulous strawberry shortcake to top off the evening.

Happy Anniversary to the Mississauga Handweavers and Spinners!!

New Yarn

Don and I have been able to purchase a limited amount of some lovely yarn, undyed.  It is a blend of wool, silk and nylon, 50/30/20, which is a new adventure for us.  We just picked it up last week. It has an exceptionally soft hand. I have dyed one 125 gram skein in my usual manner using MX Procion fiber reactive dyes which resulted in rather muted, heathery colours, which are quite pleasant.  I plan to experiment more with dyeing this yarn following directions specifically for wool and see what happens. I am knitting up a scarf to find out just how far one skein will go. 

The knit pattern is quite simple; K2, yo, *K4, K2tog, K2 tog, K4, yo, K1, yo* repeat 'til 2 sts left, yo, K2; every other row is Purl.

I also knit up a swatch using 3.25 needles and the gauge was 24 sts. in 4" after washing and a light pressing.  I also plan to weave a sample or two using this yarn as weft.  It would not be suitable for warp because it has a soft twist like most knitting yarns, but should be very nice in a warp of tencel or cotton. Stay tuned. 

Inspiration

                                                   

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a glorious day and I visited the Royal Botanical Gardens with a few friends.  www.rbg.ca  If you ever want some colour inspiration this is the ideal spot to find it.  At the moment the tulips are showing their colours, but iris and lilac are soon coming into their own. There are always fabulous blooms somewhere in the gardens. The restaurant in the main building  has great offerings for a quiet lunch and there also is the tea house for lighter fare.                                        

                         

I have finished the woven table runners for Fawn Ceramics at the distillery.   www.fawnceramics.com  As soon as I have them pressed I'll get a picture and post it.  Meanwhile this is the profile draft I used for this set of runners.

Ongoing Projects

                                                    It seems I have several projects going on at the moment.  Some have been around for quite a while as various life interruptions seem to impede a lot of progress. I've returned to the lace knit sleeve which I am knitting on to a woven piece of fabric.  This is a test piece to see if the sleeve will actually hang well and to find the correct length of knit lace section and the correct length of the cuff. The current plan is that the cuff will be quite long and the lace section wide  and 'puffy', having an Elizabethan type of style.  The final decision is still up in the air, but I am getting closer to finishing this trial piece and making decisions.  At the same time I have begun to knit swatches from all our Tencel yarns to determine some approximate gauges with suggestions also for needle sizes. I have also knit a swatch using some silk noil yarn along with Tencel and love the result.  The Tencel added some weight and lustre to the knit fabric.  I went ahead and immersion dyed some of the silk noil and am planning a top for myself. Don't ask when it might happen, but at least all the materials are ready and waiting.  I'm also weaving some table runners for a shop at the Distillery District.  Weaving happens during the day and knitting happens in front of the television at the end of the day or at other times  when I can't get to the loom.

This Saturday Don and I will be at our last knitting show for the season.  This show is a local one which focuses on machine knitting, so that should acquaint us with another audience for Tencel.  Apparently the knitting community is just beginning to become curious about this great yarn. We have applied to the Knitters' Fair in the Fall in Kitchener, Ontario and have been put on a waiting list for now.  Stay tuned and we'll let you know if we are able to participate in that show.  It's a good one.