Thursday, March 22, 2012

Weekly spinning, or Desdemona and the dropspindle

Now, I have a few long term project, and this was one of them.
My good friend Angela sent me the pattern for my birthday in december 2009, (BTW this gift pattern sending service in ravelry is great! :-) ).
Inmediately I knew I want to knit it from handspun, and from something dark red maybe with a bit of black for blod and mourning instead of the strberry color of the original one. I also knew I can't just take any handdyed wool from Etsy, as at the time I could "only" spin about 5-600 meters of two ply out of a 100 gramm braid. If it would've been now, I would just dive into my stash and dye up something in the necessary amount, but back then my ventures into dyeing were slightly less than disastrous (most ending up in one sticky bunch from which only a lumpy-bumpy art yarn could've been spun).
So, I kept looking at Etsy, until I bumped into this wool in march next year.I promptly started spinning it, but on the handspindle it took ages, and constantly got bypassed by other projects. I've tried looking up some progress photos, but only found some on the finished yarn :-(.
I finally finished the spinning, when because of my rebel nature in HP (umm, told the boss when a bunch of their rules were against the law) I was seated aside in a niche, where hardly anyone saw what was I doing. Therefore I didn't mind it a bit, because in that quiet corner as long as I've done my job,in the times between calls I could happily spin or knit away. The finished yarn was about 1200 meters of two ply out of that 5 ounce braid. in big, soft and springy hank..
Also as soon as the yarn was finished I started knitting, but once again, other, fresh, and shiny projects got in the way....
Until recently I found myself with some extra time on my hands, and finished the lady.
Since it is MY shawl, I guess no one is surprised to find beads in it.
A LOT of beads. Actually thousands of them, as only in the very last row there were more than 440...
Yes, I do love big shawls. This one is not a giant (in my eyes at least), but it is still sizable.
Angela, darling here it is, finished. Not that I need anything to remind me of our friendship, but still this one makes me think of you... Love ya.

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