I was straightening up yesterday. Bustling through the house, tidying up, my mind in far off places as I went through the motions of housework when……
…when I picked my shoalwater shawl up off the back of my computer chair. I’ve been using the shawl a lot recently around the house, as it’s gotten colder. I lifted it, spread it, and that’s when I saw it.
And once I started breathing again, I took pictures.
You probably can’t see it there, but it’s a cool picture. My modern couch is instantly “grandma-fied”. It cracked me up.
How ’bout now?
And finally,
What the heck? My only asumption is that because Noro Kureyon isn’t the strongest of yarns, I happened to end up with a particularly weak spot in a stress point, and it snapped.
In the absolute dead center of my shawl.
I didn’t know how I was going to fuse the yarn together once I had it fixed, but I figured I’d start in on it and deal with each problem as I encountered it. Fortunately, Kureyon is a felted yarn, very sticky, so it hadn’t run too far or gotten out of hand. So I re-threaded it. It didn’t look right. I did it again. Bingo.
In the end, I pulled as much length through as I could and spit and spliced it. I hope it holds. I really didn’t know what else to do.
To celebrate, I finished washing my second romney fleece.
Is it really that neurotic of me to spend hours picking through the locks to remove all second cuts and roughage, arranging them parallel to each other by length (generally speaking), and washing them in small batches?
I think it must be, but wow! When it’s washed and dry and all tidy like that, my heart just flutters.
I’m going out today to pick up my serger, and to do something else that I’ve forgotten already. I’m hosting Thanksgiving again this year. Dinner will be significantly smaller than last year, I think we’re feeding about 22, but we’ll be back up to 38 or so for dessert.
I’m making lists and assigning days to tasks. I can’t figure out exactly why I love to host big parties. But I really, really do.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:49 am
OH NO! I’m glad you found the hole while it was still small Laura!
Also, your fleece looks lovely!!
November 14th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Oh. The shawl. I think I would possibly pass out if I found a hole in the middle of something like that! EEK! I’m so glad you could fix it.
I am almost ready to embark on my first shawl experience. I’m debating yarns and patterns. Any suggestions?
The fleece looks lovely. And I think the yarn harlot also tries to preserve lock integrity by having them all lined up and tidy like that. So no…not neurotic at all. It makes sense to me. if you are going to be spinning and making yarn with it. It’s defintely worth it to do it your way.
I also like big parties. I always host Thansgiving. I LOVE IT.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:03 am
That shawl is breathtaking… I’m so glad you were able to fix it!!! I’m off the hook for Thanksgiving – I don’t do turkey. I’ll be hosting Christmas this year though, so it will be roast beef and yorkshire pudding for me. 🙂
November 15th, 2007 at 10:44 am
The shawl is absolutely beautiful! Now I finally know what I want to do with the five skeins of Koigu I bought to congratulate myself for becoming a non-smoker!
I’m glad you were able to fix the hole in your’s. It would be such a pity to have to do a fix that wasn’t seamless.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving. I know I will. I’m cooking for ten to fifteen people and I can’t wait!
November 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Egads! I knit my Clapotis out of Noro Kureyon, and considering I’ve been using it a lot lately the hole in your shawl does not make me happy. However, I’m glad you managed to fix it. The ‘spit and slice’ is the best way to join Kureyon skeins, so why not fix a hole that way? Well done!:)
November 15th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Wow! Yur shawl is gorgeous. I love the colors! Do you remember what colorway you used? Also, you did a great job repairing the hole.
Louise
November 15th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Good save on the shawl! One other thing you might do now that it’s back together is to take another strand of the Noro and do some duplicate stitching over that area – for at least 5 or 6 stitches on each side if you can stand it. that way if the yarn in that general area is a little bit weak, this will hold it together.
I think your fleece looks lovely all washed that way. I wish I had the patience to make beautifully washed fleece like that! 🙂
November 16th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Great save on the shawl! It really is a beauty. Sorting the fleece, removing the ooky bits and preserving the lock structure is just good planning. It looks yummy.
November 17th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Ooh, me too! (On the big parties, not the picking roughage out of the fleece…)
November 18th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
you can get some fray stop stuff from the sewing store and put it on the part that you spliced together. Not sure what it would do to the texture of that stitch, might make it stiff, but it’s worth trying on a swatch, I’d say.