Trenchwork

The last week or so has been busy with odds and ends of one thing or another.  You know, the small jobs you tell yourself you’ll do when you have time or energy, or which need a little more focus than you’ve had to spare.  Work is continuing on the EVU project (the upcoming online continuing-ed teacher cert course which begins in the fall), and I’ve found that I’ve got enough bits and pieces of work for the fall to add up to 100%.  The life of an adjunct is chaotic and frankly stressful, but it’s good to know now what’s on deck for the coming term, keeping in mind that all things are subject to change.

But, I have manged to clear away a few small non-work loose ends.

I’ve outgrown my old knitting needle case and needed another, and since I loved the one I sent my SP13 pal, I had to make one for myself.

It’s a plush upholstery fabric with a rich silk-brocade type interior lining. I added a turquoise–>teal band (the color darkens to teal further along the band) to help hold things in place and where I could pin stitch markers, a row counter, and a gauge. It works like a charm, and is hereby designated as the Lace Case.

It’s essentially the same as the others I’ve made myself, but I love the richness of the fabric!

Lace is making progress:

(The markers, by the way, are from Karen of Beadmarkers.  They don’t snag on the lace and are frankly perfect.)

You’re looking at the first 75 rows of Eugen Beugler’s Feather and Fan shawl from Gathering of Lace, in Zephyr.  There are 114 rows to go.  And no, there’s no way I can finish it by June when I head stateside for a few weeks.  But I’m going to try.

And last, there’s this:

I had the *worst* time getting the colors in the photo, and they’re still not quite true. The dyebath was a blend of colors in order to create variation in the yarn, but the base was green and turquoise.  The real color is somewhere between a deep emerald and green-turquoise, and I just can’t seem to capture that.

Fiber: 50/50 blend of Teeswater and a Corriedale/Rambouillet cross, hand prepped, carded, and dyed.  The raw fleece came from Kate Lowder of Lowder Colours Farm.
Weight: 185 grams/6.5 ounces.
Yardage: 315yards.
WPI / TPI: 12wpi, 2×2 cable.
Spun on: Rose

The lessons. I learned a few things in this round.  I started with raw, unwashed fleece and did a combo dye/wash job.  This was the first time I’ve done that, and it’s a process I’ll cheerfully use again.  I’ve always been told that you cannot dye fleece in the grease, and that’s actually true—to a point.  The key is that the process needs all the necessary ingredients and temperatures to set the dye and the detergent, temperature, and time necessary to get rid of the grease at the same time.  If the grease isn’t removed, then no:  It won’t work.  The color will crock off.  That’s pretty straight forward and makes perfect sense.  But what fun!  It’s a process you’d use for variegated rather than even color, and is beautifully appropriate for kettle and rainbow dyeing.

There was an even balance of Teeswater and Madison (the Corrie/Rambo cross), and the two fibers work very well together.  The Teeswater is silky and shiny while Madison is fine and crimpy.  Madison adds an incredible bounce and elasticity to the Teeswater, while the Teeswater adds a bit of sheen and a rather silky handle to Madison.  The interesting bit here is that while you may have even amounts by weight, you don’t have even amounts by volume, and that makes a difference.  Teeswater is a heavy wool, while both Corrie and Rambo are lighter wools.  So, blending these two lightens the Teeswater, but adds a bit of sheen and drape to the Corrie/Rambo.  I’d like to try this experiment again, but this time with a larger quantity of Teeswater.  I have a hunch that a 70/30 blend would create a lovely lace yarn with lots of sheen and drape, but just enough bounce to have the right amount of memory.  In an even blend, the Corrie/Rambo actually comes very close to overwhelming the Teeswater.

That was the first lesson.

The second was that I didn’t do as good a job of carding as I’d have liked—there were a few noils and a few bits that weren’t blended as well as they should have been.  I’d also have preferred a more aligned fiber prep.  Had I realized, then I’d have run the carded batts through combs one time in order to eliminate any noils and finish lining things up properly.  It has also confirmed how much I really, really want an electric carder.

Because I didn’t prep the fiber as well as I’d have liked, the singles weren’t as even as I’d have liked.  I didn’t quite have enough to do a 3-ply comfortably, and rather than have a rustic 2-ply, I decided fairly early to make a cabled yarn instead.  It’s been a while since I’ve done one, the process would even out the yarn, and I had a hunch the fiber would make for a very cushy cable.

It was nice to see that SOME expectations hold true.