it’s all about the tangles we get into

Posted on Posted in designing, projects

ok, a very quick post because i don’t have time for more today . . . i have classes and two deadlines i’m working on.
i finished my sweater and am throwing up a few blocking shots and a story. hope you like it.

i can’t start the story of the sweater without first telling the story of the yarn, and i think some of you will appreciate this one.

i basically started spinning with the help of some local friends and then was on my own to explore fibers and techniques (they spin one kind of fiber, one way, and that’s about it). one of these friends had “generously” given me a bunch of cotton, so of course, being a beginner, i thought that might be a good thing to explore first. on the wheel.

HAHAHAHA!

yeah, that didn’t work out so well, but i had this one-pound bundle of cotton, and the only other thing i had was about a pound of coopworth. and i wanted spin, dammit.

so i took out this old afro comb that i had in the bathroom, and spread out the roving in sheets. i laid tufts of the cotton on those and then sorta combed them into the sheets (OMG, i was so dumb! and lacking in tools; i didn’t even know enough to ask someone—that’s how much of a beginner i was.).

all of this took virtually forever, and though it certainly is one way of doing things, and may even appeal in its sheer doggedness to make a fiber experience happen, it is certainly NOT the recommended method for combing spinning fibers, or even desirable. they actually have these cool inventions called combs and carders that make this work a piece of cake and take a fraction of the time.

i just didn’t know that then. word.

i predrafted those bundles and spun them up into this yarn.

and actually, once i got the whole deal to the starting line, the spinning went very well, and the yarn washed up a treat. the only problem was that, by this point, it was pretty precious to me if you know what i mean.

so i promptly put it away until i found just the right project for it, taking it out of the cedar closet to pet and stare at once in a while.

till one day, i realized it just might work well for a project i’d had on my mind a lo-o-ong time.

doncha just love a big, juicy, weird cable?

i had this one bookmarked for, oh, about ten years in the BW3 book—no kidding; it was the first thing i saw when i opened the book for the first time, and i’ve been in love ever since.

it’s not an easy cable . . . its organic quality is derived mainly from the fact that in no way is it symmetrical—you cannot turn it around and see the same shapes either sideways or upside-down. so, it’s not very intuitive.

other than that, it’s a heap of fun. so why did i wait so long to use it in a sweater? we-e-e-ll, it’s one of those very heavy compacted cables that is difficult to find yarn for; the gauge of the cable is so vastly different from the background fabric that nothing ever seemed right (and OH! did i swatch that thing—in numerous yarns).

now, of course, we have every yarn under the sun and then some to chose from, so it’s not so hard. including handspun, which is what i finally turned to.

mmm, yummy, and it worked. you can still see that the background fabric has a looser gauge than the cable, but the poofiness of this coopworth/cotton combo fills in the gaps and the irregularity of the handspun echoes the weird cable in a quirky way that i love.

i’m really happy with it . . i had it on last night once i got it off the needles and it fits well. the yarn in the one sleeve has a little more white in it, and the lower arm is just a tad tighter than i would like, but i’m hoping that the cable will relax enough with its soaking to feel better next time i have it on. i’m not ripping it back though; it’s not that bad.

the mock neck was interesting. since i knit the piece top-down and the cable ran the other way, but is not vertically symmetrical, when i picked up stitches to do the neck, i was a little flustered at first. i turned the chart upside-down to work the cable backwards, but it was hard to read. it took a few rounds to adjust. i still don’t really get why that was a struggle, but i’m sure not laying awake at night to figure it out (i save that for new designs . . .)

ok i really gotta run . . . maybe the thing will be dry by tomorrow and we can sweet-talk david into taking some modeling shots.

61 thoughts on “it’s all about the tangles we get into

  1. Hooray! You showed up in Bloglines again! (I really need to remember to check people’s blogs after a couple of days…)

    You’ve been working on some really lovely stuff, as usual.

  2. Oh Anne, that looks sooooo cool. The cable reminds me of last year when we went camping and Steve and I took the kids on a hike. Well, we went down this trail that had all these odd looking but stunningly beautiful and secret looking trees and tree limbs and such all over the paths. There was this one HUGE tree that loomed right onto the path, we literally had to swerve to the far right and butt up against rock to miss it and keep from falling. Anyways, when I stopped and gawked at this tree, I thought it was so odd, it had what I called, “it’s own diamond neclace” growing. It had these awsome looking roots growing right up it. Attatched to it like ragged diamonds. Very cool, well, that texture has always kind of stuck in the back of my mind, laying dormant, resurfacing every now and again….this cable reminds me of that tree. Thanks for sharing it!!

  3. This is beautiful! I’ve been worried because you haven’t been posting, but come to find out it is just Bloglines being slow. Phew! And by the way, have I told you lately that you make my day?? I don’t think you’re a meme’er, but I did want to say thanks on my blog. 😉

  4. Catching up here, whew… I just sat here with mouth dropped open reading how you blended those fibres… patience of a saint? mercy.
    I too love the oddly weird cables and I’ve seen this one before and have always had a bit of a ‘chubby’ for it :^)
    Beautiful sweater, Anne, I’m looking forward to seeing the photos of you wearing it!

  5. Hi Anne! I nominated you as one of the ten bloggers who “Make My Day”. Your work always inspires me. You can check it out on my blog. Don’t feel obligated to pass it on if you don’t have time.

  6. Oh, I recall you mentioning this sweater awhile ago. I remember it because of the coopworth/cotton that you blended together. What a lovely story to accompany this sweater. Going to look for the modeled shots now . . .

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