Thursday, April 17, 2014

April Flowers

We are in full bloom a month early.  For us, April showers really do bring May flowers. April flowers bring allergies.
I worry about our fruit trees since normally we'll have frosts right up to Memorial Day.  There's nothing typical about this year - who knows?!!
Maddie has discovered windows.  She's a really clumsy cat and has struggled with Windowsill 101, but she's got it now.  There's something plaintive about a cat in a window.
Kaaren Reid suggested that I lop off the frayed tassel just below the knots on the scarf that Maddie had disfigured.  The knots are secure, so I followed her advice and was really pleased - it's the one on the right.  I sat down this morning and did the same for all the scarves.  It really makes them look much more finished.
These are my two most recent scarves.  The blue warp was one of the first I did and I learned from it that I have to use close to 3 ounces of fiber to get a 7 1/2" scarf, which is what I've come to prefer. It's been waiting in the wings for the back-ordered tencel.  The green one is 8" in the reed and it feels just a little too wide.  It's funny what a difference such a small measurement can make.

I'm doing a craft fair in two weeks, sharing a table with Mim.  I have time to weave two more scarves and finish the towels on my big bertha loom.  I suspect weaving will wind down as the weather warms up.  It's still only about 70 on the warmest of days so far and I'm trying not to fret over what the parched summer will bring.

I started this sweater last summer and finally finished it last month.  I like the yarn and I like how the sweater fits, but I don't like the sleeves.  I tried it on again this morning and am trying to think of a way to make the sleeves less flappy.  I could unravel back to the picked up stitches and just do a few rows of garter.  It will be off the shoulder, probably pretty large armholes and perhaps still flappy.  I have more yarn so could knit them longer but this pattern doesn't lend itself to shaping.  I could just pull back the last couple of rows and then knit in garter, decreasing sharply.  I'm looking for advice. Anybody have some?????

5 comments:

Valerie said...

We aren't up to flowers yet...maybe in a week or so. Hope your weather moderates.

Lovely weaving. You've really been cranking them out!

The sweater sleeves: Any way you could decrease a couple of the stitches in the stockinette stripes then switch to progressively smaller needles to pull it in?

Michelle said...

I'm not proficient enough with garment knitting to offer advice, I just think it is very attractive on the hanger!

Laura said...

That would look great in linen! What's the pattern? As for the sleeves, I think Valerie has a great idea - if you decrease at the edge of the stockinette sections, k2tog on left, ssk on right, it'll be less noticable. Also if you do the decreases every 4-5 rows, and maybe not every stripe (like only the ones under the arm), it should work out well.

Kaaren said...

Here's my 2 cents again. re: your blue and the green scarfs (really NICE). It appears there is about a 2" difference in finished width. a weft that has more body (grist) will cause the warp to spread farther apart than if using a very soft weft that snuggles into the warp. Like knitting with soft wool vs. linen. Even if you used the same fiber to spin singles - what you use to ply it with can change the grist. If you used the same weft fiber and ply fiber - - then that's a mystery !!!

Maggie said...

I would make the sleeve cap smaller, in stockinette, then finish them with a version of the body's hem edging. Or just have cap sleeves!