Fiber Musings – Page 81 – Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast – mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Dilemma

On 20 Jul, 2011

black line as of 20 July (grey line shows progress as of 16 July)

As you can see, I’m making slow and steady progress.

But I’m at a crossroad.

I have just finished the last round of the last chevron increase at the edge of each panel in the pattern. I need to make a decision on whether to continue with the pattern as written, which sets me up to the finish line.

Or, I start another chevron set to make the shawl larger.

The shawl will already be fairly good sized. Making it larger will make the finished shawl huge. But, I also have a lot of yarn left. I hate to see any of this yarn go to waste.

Just how much yarn do I have left? I used up 2.25 oz of the 9+ oz of yarn to date. And based on my calculations, I’m just shy of the half way point (49.1% for those who must know), sans edging. I don’t expect the edging to take up a huge amount of yarn — an ounce at most.

So, I ask you, should I start another chevron? Or should I just head for the finish line? Please leave your vote in the comments. I have guild today so I will not likely get back to the shawl until Friday.

Color!

By Ann

On 20 Jul, 2011

In Knit

as of 19 July

Finally enough rounds on the shawl to see the color change instead of just looking like I was knitting with very dirty hands.

Lark and Jay

By Ann

On 20 Jul, 2011

In Spin

It didn’t make sense to pay for postage on a replacement shaft alone, so I bought another spindle from Wanda. :)

I bought a convertible Meadowlark, aka Lark. When converted, it becomes a Jay. The photo on the left is the Jay conversion with a Bolivian Rosewood shaft. The crossbeams are made of Pistachio.

Jenkins provided a picture of the difference between a Jay and a Lark. Really, it’s a line up of all of their Turkish Spindles.

With the addition of the Lark/Jay, I now have one each of the Turkish spindles they make. Yup. I’m a sucker for these little cuties.

Photo on the right is the Lark with the Jay shaft next to it. And in case you are curious, the Lark comes in at 18g. It should spin laceweight yarn beautifully.

Hmm. I may have to take a bit of time off from knitting the shawl to playing with my new toy. I’m curious what difference the different shafts will make to the feel of the spindles.

Yeah. I’ll call it research. It’s not playing if I’m doing research, right?

In the meantime, I’m moving right along on the shawl. I’ll post a picture of the color change tomorrow.