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April 01, 2007
goodbye, winter blues
I had every intention of triumphantly unveiling a lovely two-ply yarn at the eleventh hour of the February/March round of Project Spectrum (blue, white and gray), spun out of the beautiful merino that Mama E sent me a little while ago. I spun it all up as fine as I could on Friday night, intending to ply it on Saturday night after I was finished at the studio. But after wondering all day Saturday why my abdominals were feeling so sore, I sat down at the wheel, began treadling, and suddenly figured it out. It seems to be a combination of the double treadle and the very long draw, and it's giving the old belly quite the workout. Is this normal? Maybe I should try a different chair or something. Too bad I don't have a different chair. Actually, maybe I should just leave it the way it is. I ate a lot of potato chips and Clif bars on my trip to Kansas City.
So, spinner/knitter people, I have a question: I started with 4oz of fibre here. It's going to be a 2-ply and once plied will be about 16-20 wraps per inch. Can I get a shawl out of this? A little one?
As usual I've committed to something and then been a total slackass about it, but that's certainly nothing new so let's just move on, hmm? Although I suppose if I looked back over the last two months and tallied up everything I made or worked on that had blue and gray in it (many prints, actually, two or three dyebaths, a good chunk of my sketchbook project) I'd find that I didn't slack that much after all, it's just that I wasn't really thinking of those things as specifically for Project Spectrum. I have to remind myself that the project is a way to think about the things we do normally, our everyday living, crafts and hobbies, in terms of an overall colour scheme and hopefully find inspiration in looking at colours in ways we normally do not, rather than a list of rules and tasks we have to complete. So, hey, I'm doing great! Bring on the pink and green!
I did finish the secret blue knitted thing (at knit night over at Courtney's, which is the best time to finish something because then you can hold it aloft and cry "woohoo" and get congratulations and ego strokes from people who care, rather than just showing the roommate's cat or tossing it behind the laptop with ends not yet woven in and looking around for something else to cast on, pronto) but for the time being that's still a secret. I also started something else, also secret (no guessing!) with the leftovers.
stripes!
The next round, green, pink and yellow for April and May, should be easier, if only because I can at least pick up some of the many green knits I already have on the needles, and I've got fabric I dyed yellow and green waiting to be printed on and sewn with. Colour inspiration is all around me these days: in the last week or so every single thing has flowered in Athens, it's suddenly as lush and green as June around here (perhaps because the University of Georgia, in a spectacular display of waste and wealth, waters its grounds all winter long), there are more shades of hot pink flowers on shrubs and trees than I thought possible, and the whole world seems coated in a thick layer of yellow pollen. Hoping to get a jump on Project Spectrum this time around I went outside and found a lovely pink-and-green backdrop for my bobbin of blues to rest upon; there was plenty of yellow out there as well, but having a grimy splotch on the front of my t-shirt from wiping the pollen off my glasses is bad enough, I don't particularly want it in my yarn, thanks. Now that I look at the photo, though, it seems that when I dropped the bobbon on the ground it picked up one of the wormy tree-flowers, the source of all that is yellow and lung-clogging; you can see it there stuck to the yarn at about two o'clock. You just can't escape the stuff.
Posted by jodi at April 1, 2007 03:55 PM | categories: project spectrum
Comments
Three things that suck: Roommates, spelling the word "roommate," and pollen infesting anything, especially one's private space. But the yarn is gorgeous, and, as usual, can't wait to see all that you do to/with it. Thanks, also, for giving me a word that finally describes me in a nutshell,
"slackass." I should have it on the mug I drink coffee from when I'm procrastinating :)
nstssj
Posted by: nstssj at April 1, 2007 04:55 PM
Hi Jodi! I thought you might like to see my finished Gatsby Girl. It's here:
http://cnp71203.blogspot.com/2007/04/about-time-gatsby-girl-fo.html
Thanks for your help! I loved this pattern, and I am sooo happy with the finished sweater. :-)
Posted by: Crystal at April 1, 2007 09:41 PM
Your going to end up with about enough to make a pair of socks. A lace scarf would do it, or a tiny shawl where you can end the last repeat any time.
Posted by: lunastrixae at April 2, 2007 12:15 PM