Saturday, September 23, 2006

The importance of finishing

The process is similar to felting, but much gentler. Gentle cycle, 5 minutes, minimum agitation. The idea is to have the fibers "full", or relax and expand. The huck lace pattern is more obvious - the floats (where the weft, or horizontal, yarn travels over several warp threads) become more pronounced, emphasizing the pattern. A key step in weaving is to plan for enough material for a washing sample. Key when you're working with new fibers and aren't sure how they'll react to the finishing process. If something felts easily, it's best to find out with the sample, and not the blanket.


Yes, the edges are pretty scary looking. Practice is the only thing that will help there.









Time for an update on Icarus. I'm finally on the last full repeat of Chart 1. I am bound and determined to finish this before starting my Christmas knitting.











It has not, however, gotten in the way of my sock knitting.


This is the "Snakes on a Sock" pattern from Lime & Violet, with my special Random Fibers colorway sock yarn from Mama-E. I highly recommend this pattern - it's a fun and quick knit, and shows off sock yarn very nicely.

In related news. I'm co-host of the Lime & Violet Knitalong, featuring the L&V colorway from Lisa Souza. The KAL officially starts on Friday, October 13th, though sign-ups have already started. There is no specific pattern, though we'll have some suggested patterns to pick from. Like Snakes on a Sock.
I still haven't decided about Rhinebeck Bingo.

1 Comments:

Blogger Theresa said...

You've been busy . . . Finishing seems a little more like blocking than felting, or am I missing something?

7:20 PM  

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