This trip thus far has been lots of fun, but also provided a decent amount of crafting time so far. I was waffeling a bit if I’d over packed the crafts, but I think I got it just right. That is to say, just enough too much that I’m not in any danger of running out, but also not seriously regreting what I’m hauling around.
I packed the following:
– Blue socks – 3/4 complete
– Blunk the hat – 1/2 complete
– Kilt socks – sock #1 with 1/2 a foot left
– Cardigan with first of four balls
– spindle with mohair (about 3/4oz to go)
– spindle with merino
– spindle with silk hankies
– one ball sock yarn
I’m half way through the trip, and two items are completed, one is almost done, and I’ve worked on all but the silk hankie and kilt socks.
That said, I actually did run out of things on the flight from France to Chicago, but that was due to bad luck. See, I have a bunch of things on the needles and couldn’t stash all of them under the seat. I took the blue socks and hat in my “small item” and placed additional projects in my carry-on. (Note: security did not blink an eye about a very masculine leather duffel packed full of yarn, wool and a stuffed animal).
First, I finished off the socks (blocking right now, pics to follow) about half way through the flight. Then, with 70min to go on the flight, I finished the hat. About that time, we hit some rough turbulence and they turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. I am by nature a rule follower, but it was also quite real and genuinely a bad idea to get up and start pulling down bags from overhead. So, I gamely started in on weaving in the ends. So many ends. I did as many as I could stomach in one go and poor airplane lighting.
The pattern is Blunk the Hat and I used the same Welsh Mule yarn as for the Baby Surprise. I really really love the yarn. I feel like it has the squish of merino (though not as soft) with the lustre and sturdiness of BFL (blue faced leicester). Which isn’t shocking, since Welsh Mule are a cross of BFL and another breed. I love the stripes, but if you don’t like weaving in ends I strongly suggest using self-striping instead. Did I mention I have a lot of ends to weave in? I’m kinda not done yet…
This is a pattern that doesn’t really show itself off if you don’t have color changes to see the triangles and squares being formed. So I don’t recommend just doing a solid or varigated unless you are going to do different solids for the different shapes. It’s a really clever constructions of a big triangle, a big square, and two little squares on top. I’ve done it several times now.
Plane crisis over, I’ve also been able to work on my cardigan (I’m really looking forward to having it for next fall) and started in on the merino hand spun for my next brioche adventure.
People often ask me what I’m going to do with my handspun. Frequently, I say that I don’t know as I’m spinning a yarn I want, but I don’t have a project in mind yet. I’ve spun yarns that took me a few years to determine what I’d do with them, and I have a bunch of handspuns still awaiting their destiny. But sometimes, as with this one, I know what I want it to be.
I am going to do a 3ply – mostly likely chain plyed for convenience of not manipulating three plys on my drop spindles. The crimpy merino and 3ply should give good stitch definition for the brioche. I want each colors’ knit side to stand out from the purl background. I’m aiming for a sport/DK, so I need to spin the singles as a pretty light fingering since the crimpy merino will probably plump up a good bit.
As a tight single, the purple in the top is dominating, but when I do little ply-back samples, I see more of the yellow coming through as light can filter through the fibers again. Yellow may appear really bright, but it’s actually a very delicate and easily overwhelmed color as soon as you start mixing pigments. Blues and purples will quickly take over. So overall, I expect the yellow to be a subtle presence in the finished yarn.
The other craft related thing I’ve done this week is book my activities for Shetland Wool Week, which I’m super excited I’ll be going to. I’ll arrive first, and TheEnabler will join me a day or two later (he has a work conference). I was really worried, because booking opened on the 18th while I was on a plane. And everybody was saying how quickly things would go. So I made the wise decision of not thinking too much about it, and not setting my heart on anything.
I checked out what was left on Sunday instead. While there are some really cool things I would have loved to do, I’m pretty happy with what I got. I picked up one class, and then a couple of talks. Frankly, it also looks like there are plenty of fun exhibits and drop-ins available, as well as perhaps some time to just wander around the Lerwick area, maybe take a ferry over to Bressay for part of a day. We are thinking that we’ll probably head out Wednesday afternoon back to the mainland of Scotland, and spend a couple days there before going home.