Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Handspun scarf

If you've been reading this blog for some time you might remember Grandma did some spinning for me.



This started as 200g of merino from Ewe Give Me The Knits in the spectacular 'Moroccan Nights' colourway.

handspun

I wish I had done this earlier so Grandma could have seen what I made from it. I enjoyed every moment of knitting this simple 'mistake rib' scarf (cast on a multiple of 5 sts, and k3 p2 every row, slipping the first stitch). I love the way it has come out in subtle stripes. It's a little shorter than I intended, because the fourth ball was coming out as a just noticeably thicker fabric, so I stopped short and kept that ball to do something else with. Maybe something felted.

The yarn varied a lot in thickness, and I took the advice I have seen so many times about knitting handspun - use bigger needles than you would normally for the apparent thickness of the yarn. I tried that for a while, suspected the fabric was still a bit chunky, and went up a needle size (5.5mm, I just went and checked, and realised that by chance I happened to use one of the many circular needles I collected from Grandma's place after the funeral. Those things were springing out of every other drawer and cupboard). I wanted to keep it really soft and light. And it has turned out to be the perfect lighter weight scarf I have been wanting over the last few weeks, when this one has seemed a bit too heavy.

Of course, since the weekend the weather has turned the corner into winter, with a snowy feeling in the air. I'll probably get the blue one out tomorrow. It's going down to minus 3 degrees celcius tonight.

handspun2

Grandma* featured a few times here over the years. I suspect this might not be the last time either, and I like that. I still have more wool she spun for me.

*not to be confused with my other grandmother - I have a little collaborative project with her that I'll show you sometime soon.

5 comments:

Donna Lee said...

I love the thought of you wearing your grandmother's handspun around your neck. Like a grandma hug each time you wear it.

AMCSviatko said...

I checked BoM about 15 minutes ago. Currently -5 in Canberra :-(

Bells said...

Goodness me it's gorgeous. What a beautiful colour, a beautiful scarf and a beautiful tribute.

Alwen said...

Good to have her keeping you warm still. My grama didn't spin, but she did give me a good aluminum car brush/scraper for the snow and ice, and I do think of her watching out for me.

Lea said...

it was -2 when I left home this morning to take the pirate to school! what a wonderful story about the history of that scarf and something you can think about as you are comforted by it - oh and as for my disaster I think it had small 2 legged help rather than 4 legged.