Handspun Spiral: March 2005 Archives
Nothing like a little water and a flat blocking board to make a rug start to take shape.
P.S. She's not quite finished yet... still got those pesky ends to weave in and the i-cord edging to apply...
Sunday was an absolutely fabulous weather day here in Chicago. It was perfectly timed with the completion of the main body of the knitting for my handspun spiral so that I could finally get a picture that captured the real colors that Matt pulled together for me.
In the last couple of pictures I took indoors, everything came out with too much yellow. While there are warmer, yellower undertones in all these yarns, the solid blue yarn really is very blue. I think that that is more apparent in these pictures.
Knitting the long strip of garter stitch that forms the spiral is only half of the battle in this project. The finishing requires a relatively signficant amoutn of effort. First all the ends will need to be woven in, then the strips have to be whip-stitched together to create the spiral shape. And then there is far more I-cord to knit than I really want to
More good intentions led to almost nothing this evening. A few rows on a new project that I have started to help usher in the spring weather. But since even I don't consider 5 rows to be photo worthy, my handspun spiral progress is front and center tonight.
I'm only a couple more intervals away from getting to the finishing part. Even though the twisting that comes from working from both ends of the same ball of yarn is making me a little crazy, this is very nice knitting for when my brain is mush and I just want to watch TV. Not only that, but this is definitely a stash-busting kind of project. Got odds and ends of Cascade 220 left over after a bunch of felting projects? This is a great way to use it. Check out Julie's most recent post for an excellent example.
No, I haven't taken up a new hobby just yet, unless making knitted rugs counts as a new hobby. When I needed a break from Sigil, I was working on my Handspun Spiral rug.
The second gold section marks the start of the second color repeat, so I'm roughly to the halfway point if you don't count the finishing work. This rug, as you can see from the picture, is knit in one long strip of garter stitch and then the spiral is seamed together to form the rug. In order to keep the project reasonably portable, I'm opting to wait to do my seaming until after the strip is completed.
This project has been a reminder to me that even something simple, used cleverly, can become complex and interesting.
Thank you to everyone for your compliments and your suggestions with regards to Sigil. She's likely to get her first trip to work tomorrow. That outing should have a lot of impact on my decision to add a zipper or not. And for anyone who is interested, I will be wrapping Sigil up (one size only for the time being) and making the whole pattern available all in one place to anyone who wants it. For the time being, it will be without the chart for the cable pattern (but with a reference for where to find it). I'm going to try to contact Elsebeth Lavold and find out if there is any way I can include the cable chart in the pattern. I know it's not a difficult chart, but the inspiration definitely came from her Viking Patterns for Knitting. Always best to give credit where credit is due.
