Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Son of a ...!!!!


16 stitches to cast off, and all of three inches of wool! So annoying!
But... the joys of a large stash - I found a lace weight int he pale orange that worked just fine, and solved the problem.


This is the Jeweled Cowl, and I love the pattern. I made a couple of changes - I increased the size of the beaded portion, as well as the overall size - the recommended 200 stitches didn't seem big enough.
Well, I'm an idiot -now it's too big, and the 100% cashmere laceweight I used does not have enough body to really hold up to the weight of the beads. It's still nice, and works well as an infinity scarf and cowl when doubled, but I want a little more body, so I figure I will felt it a bit (by hand), to give it a little body and heft.
So into a bowl of hot water, and with gloves on, I swirled it around a bit to agitate. What I noticed first off is how much this wool bled! That's a serious amount of orange dye in the bowl! (I'm wearing white nitrile gloves here).


Plus, I may have been a little too gentle - it can probably use another hot and cold dunking and stir, but I'd rather do it in stages, than risk ruining it.


It's drying after the first round, I'll try it on when dry and see if it needs more.

I love this pattern. SO much so, that I've already cast on another one, using Merino/silk fingering weight with tonal beads in green tones.

I'm sticking with the recommended 200 stitches, and the slightly heavier wool should give it the heft I'm after.

9 comments:

Saren Johnson said...

Some projects are more challenging then others.

It looks lovely.

Knit and Purl Mama said...

That is awesome you made it work! Looks great!

I haven't yet knit with beads. One day soon, I hope.

TracyKM said...

It's very pretty!
You should read how machine knitters wash their cashmere items! VERY hot water, dishsoap...no felting though.
I've learned how to machine knit with beads--so easy, no pre-stringing required!--and just did a simple scarf with some beads. I can see doing more!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous dahling!!!! Especially blocking ... mmmmm

Acorn to Oak said...

Whew! Good save with the stash dive! The yarn and bead colors are pretty together. I like all those even rows of beads. The colors in your next one are pretty too.

Needles said...

Thank heaven for stash. I love both of these colour combos.Fantastic.

Brendaknits said...

Some time ago, the yarnharlot wrote about casting off without using any yarn. The blog post is probably available in her achives. I should have memorized it. :)

TracyKM said...

Casting off with out any yarn is a machine knitting trick. Knit the last row as large as possible. Take a crochet hook/latch tool, and starting at the end without the yarn tail, simply chain the loops together. Most of the time, I'd rather undo the last row and just make the item one row shorter, LOL.

Carol said...

It's funny how different a project can turn out with slightly different yarn