As The Yarn Turns

Blocked and Done

Remember the red cashmere and silk arrowhead lace scarf? I finished it a couple of weeks ago but I still needed to block it. Well I finally got around to washing and blocking it last night. I usually wash my lace and block it wet. After I've washed it, I roll it up in a towel and mash it and walk on it until most of the water is out. Then I pin it out on a sheet or towel on the floor. If I block it out in the evening, it's usually dry by the next morning. My "helpers" were sleeping when I blocked it out last night so the blocking went quickly.

In case you've forgotten or are just getting here, the yarn is Jade Sapphire Cashmere-Silk (45% cashmere, 55% silk), a lace weight yarn, in the color Ruby Slippers.. It's wonderful stuff to look at and touch. The pictures just don't do it justice. When I gave the scarf its first dunk in soapy water, it bled badly. I was kind of nervous but there was no more bleeding once it got to the rinse water. I also put some vinegar in the rinse water for good measure. The scarf was dry by this morning but my "helpers" had discovered it so I had to act quickly.

Here's the scarf after blocking. I like it. I made it so it is almost as long as I am tall, about 5 feet. I still have some yarn left from the 400 yards. I'm sure I can find a use for it one of these days.

If I had to guess I'd say I might have as much as 100 yards left, but I haven't measured it. If you're interested, I've got the Arrowhead Lace Scarf pattern up. There's a link on the sidebar.

by Sydney  |

Knitting and a Movie

Well like I said last time, I've been a slug. I haven't done much knitting, or anything else for that matter. The power outage we had last night didn't help either. I tried to knit by candle light but Katie decided it was a lot of fun chasing and pouncing on things in the dark. I'm at least ready to start the heel flap on my Schaeffer Anne sock so maybe I'll actually finish these socks before Socktoberfest is over.

I'm also having new project lust. I have this great desire to knit a shawl or a sweater or something other than what I've got here. But I also want to finish up some things so I can get them out of the way. I've been looking at all of these shawls people are knitting and the lace the calling me. Maybe I'll do a quick hat while I decide what I'm going to do with my knitting life.

So I'll leave you with a little ferret movie while I ponder my knitting future. Zoe loves to be tossed into the pillows on the bed. She always does her little ferret dance after the toss and comes back for more. The other day I took a short video of Rick tossing her. Thanks go to Rick for the movie conversion. For those of you with slower connections, the video is a little over 1 MB. Enjoy!

 

by Sydney  |

Saturday Sky and the Great Pumpkin

Every Saturday I go out the front door, point my picture at the sky, and take a picture. Not once have my neighbors asked me what the heck I was doing. Well I take that back. One day, not a Saturday, I took some pictures after a hail storm and one of my neighbors wanted to make sure she wasn't in it because she was in her pajamas. Anyway, this year my neighbors have this inflatable Halloween decoration thing going on. We decorate but we're out of this competition for sure.

Yes, it really is as large as it looks. I'm not really sure why the house in background has multicolor streaks across the roof. It doesn't in real life. As for the Saturday Sky, it was clear, sunny, and cool on Saturday. It was a nice day. I've been pretty much of a slug all weekend though. Friday night Rick, our friend Sandra (blogless), and I went to Man of the Year. It was a decent movie with some of the things you wish candidates really would say and it fit our mood. Other than that, I had big plans but got almost none of them done, including knitting.

The ferrets, on the other hand, have not been sluggish at all. The cooler weather has got them all wound up. That means Balt has been in a prime foot attack mood, usually Rick's foot.

by Sydney  |