FF: (yet another) Weaving FO

An "ancient" but as yet unblogged handspun item for your Friday viewing pleasure: Boo's Overfond scarf.

Yarn: warp = handspun merino from Hello Yarn, colorway "Overfond", weft = recycled pale blue light fingering weight from a Goodwill sweater, 100% unknown wool fiber.
Start/finish: 17 January - 3 February 2012
Details: ummmm....I'd copy over my notes from my Rav project page, but I didn't leave any. Oops! But after I made Dev a scarf from her Christmas yarn, I had to make one for Boo.

Sproingy, boingy, bouncy merino at it's finest. Lovely stuff, and yet another example of how I should just trust The Adrian in All The Things Color: I was unconvinced by the colorway in top form, but adore the finished yarn.

I have made the unfortunate discovery this week that, not only should I avoid knitting like the plague, I should not spin. I managed to ignore this glaring truth long enough to spin up 8 oz of BFL/silk singles, but that will have to wait for a bath and a modeling session sometime next week before I can share. Suffice to say, it was not my best idea ever. Harumph. I do not like this situation one little bit, but I need to stop being a stubborn idiot and trying to do things before my hand has calmed down. Or else take myself off to the physio and start popping ibuprofen like candy. Ugh. Might mean a lot more weaving however...I can take care of all my Christmas gifts for the year! That's planning ahead for you.

Things that make me smile

Two finished scarves, about to head out to their new homes in tomorrow morning's post.

An almost Britishly-ironic headline in the NY Times online Political Section (ok, this one made me laugh out loud).

One finished mitt that I couldn't put down, even though I really really need to stop knitting (my first ever Madeleinetosh and Oh My Bob is it nice).

And a kick ass, last minute spur of the moment trip to Wembley Arena on Friday night.

It's been a good weekend.

The new culprit: work!

After a long stretch of not very much actual lab work in the last year or so, I seem to find my butt firmly planted on a lab stool more often then not these days. Usually accompanied by one of these. Or one of these. It did not become clear to me until today that these dastardly devices are clearly the source of my wrist pain that has developed over the last couple of weeks. Not to mention hundred of little vials that need to have lids screwed on to them. It certainly couldn't be the hemp! Consider this my apology, oh lovely orangey-red Gemini pullover. Sadly, I still can't work on you.

Instead of knitting on my sweater, I've been doing some other stuff. Like washing fleece for the first time. I did my first trial batch on Wednesday, using a technique from Deborah Robson (she of Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook fame). For £10, I picked up five washtubs and five little storage baskets with big holes along the side, and away I went.

The set up: 2 hot (~50 degrees Celsius, which is what I get straight from the tap) rinse baths, 2 hot soapy baths, and 2 final rinse baths (also hot). All done in the bathtub. Here's what it looked like, more or less:

The first rinse bath was absolutely disgusting.

Clouds of brown dirt came off the fiber, even without any agitation. Yuck! The second rinse bath came out fairly clear, thankfully.

The soapy steps seem to have taken care of most of the grease, but I may end up needing to wash again - either with hotter water or more water. Sadly, this round of three trays of fiber used up most of the hot water in the tank, so washing the entire kilo is going to take a while!

Last night, in a fit of frustration because I didn't want to irritate my wrist, I sat down in front of the loom. About an hour later, I had this (small teaser photo only),

which, after a bath this morning, now looks like this.

Hopefully it will be on it's way to Switaly soon!

The trick is to start them young

Tuesday night, the principal at the girls' school called to say that Devil's teacher wanted to talk to me the next day. After some gulping and panic, I went in to Dev's classroom Wednesday morning to discover that her teacher wanted me to brainwash indoctrinate demonstrate weaving to the class. They are learning about materials, this week textiles, and Dev had mentioned that I had a loom. I said I would be happy to show off my new toy, and she said "Do you knit too?"

Hahahahahahahaha! Yes, I knit. And spin as well. Over-the-moon teacher + captive audience of 6 year olds = a porpoise with a golden opportunity.

I must admit, I may have gotten a bit over-excited: Himself came home last night to a table piled high with fiber and spindles and yarn...I ended up bringing the following: unwashed and washed fiber samples, of various sorts, two spindles, a bright orange skein of handspun, a just barely started hat so I could demonstrate knitting, and the loom with Boo's christmas scarf on it. Everyone got a little chunk of fiber so they could try twisting it into yarn. I talked about washing fleece, and carding before spinning. A bunch of them had Grannies who knit (why is it always grandmothers?) they smelled unwashed fleece with suitable expressions. And finally, everyone got to take a try at the loom.

Which is why Boo's scarf has a nice tight spot in it now. Easy enough to fix, but boy did they have a good time. As did I. A good morning all around!

Weaving projects 2 and 3

After my initial foray into the wonderful world of weaving, I quickly warped up the loom again, started weaving and then...took a two week break. Last Thursday I climbed back on the horse so to speak, and finished up Scarf #2 before moving on to Scarf #3 - handspun variation.

Here's Number 2:

The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Blue Violet - I bought two skeins of this a couple of years ago for a pair of knee socks, but never got around to knitting the socks. Now it's been transformed into a wide scarf that I Love. I wear it every chance I get. I'm so pleased with it, even though my selvedges are still not what one might hope for - they've improved though!

Emboldened by finishing off one project, I promptly warped the loom for Dev's handspun scarf (she'd been asking about it). That was Sunday. Yesterday, thanks to some concentrated time with John Luther and a couple of animated features, I managed to finish, wash and trim this little beastie.

Warp is handspun Shetland in the colorway "Happy Dance" from Hello Yarn. Weft is some pale blue fingering weight 2-ply recycled from a Goodwill sweater bought long ago in a galaxy far, far away. I was dubious about the weft color (I managed to talk her down from Bright Electric Blue), but I like it in the finished project.

And what's more important, Dev likes it. She was anxious for it to dry so she could wear it to her first Big Girl School Visit this morning (aka "assessment"), which went swimmingly.

I think maybe I'll warp Boo's scarf tonight...this weaving thing is addicting!