Another Crafty Sunday

Didn't get a lot of knitting done this week. But I did find a way to incorporate fiber into my work day. Wrist acting up from typing? What better than a skein of sock yarn as a wrist rest? (It's much nicer than my gel rest, and works on my lap, which is where laptops should be.)



It was really good to take a break last Sunday. So, I decided to do the same today. This was good for crafting.

This morning, I finished the handspun scarf (it's blocking at the moment). I find it funny that I can knit contentedly for months on a sweater, but that I get sick of a scarf after a week. It must be something about setting expectations; I know a sweater will take forever, but a scarf should just fly off the needles, right? Or maybe it's turning the piece at the end of every row.

I don't know. But I do know that I have more scarves languishing on the needles than any other project. Fortunately, the handspun was thick (an 8 oz scarf???) and the needles were large, and I made it to the end before wandering off in search of something more interesting. It took a bath this afternoon, and it's blocking now. And I think it's going to be perfect.

After finishing the scarf, we did this:


That, my friends, is a warped loom. Weaving goes very fast. Warping, well...warping kinda makes up for it. Fortunately, you only warp once per project, and this is going to be a big project. So a few days worth of prep work is worth it.


That's 196 pieces of yarn, threaded onto the loom and tied carefully in place. Fortunately, Branden seems to enjoy helping me warp the loom, so it went reasonably quickly. It's much more fun with two. Now, I just need to add this:


And we'll have a new throw for the bedroom.

This is some of the oldest stash that I have. In fact I think it is the oldest. I bought a lot of Paton's Merino on sale at the same time that I bought the yarn for my first sweater. I liked the yarn, it was a great price, and I intended to make a bunch of sweaters. I made one for Branden and one for me, and both lost their shape and pilled horribly within weeks. Now, part of this was definitely my construction and my knitting, but part of it was also the yarn. So, in addition to having two sweaters that we don't wear, I suddenly had a bunch of yarn that I no longer wanted to use.

The yarn has now sat in the stash for two and a half years. My Paton's collection probably makes up almost a quarter of my stash, and I don't want to knit with it. I've started a couple of projects with it, and I don't make it very far before putting them aside. When I discovered that weaving eats up yarn, I naturally thought of the this yarn. It's really soft, and it's a decent yarn, but it's not one that I'm going to use for knitting anytime soon. I love the color, and I'm thinking that weaving might be sturdy enough to keep the pilling to a minimum.

And, I should get about 6 yards of 20" fabric out of it (I think...that's a very rough and uneducated guess). Lots of weaving for not much money, a new throw, and room in the stash; sounds like a winning combination to me! And, now that it's warped, it's all fast and easy from here!