Crochet Wrap

I started this crochet shawl mid 2021 but have been saving similar patterns on Pinterest for years.  I believe the pattern is Nova Shawl by Sara Kay Hartmann though it could be a French or a Russian one.

It is made from a handspun sliver from Anna Gratton Ltd called Everglade, 29 micron Corriedale plyed with a fine commercial Merino.  3.5 hook.

Making use of an under used Pilates mat and way under used knitting machine weights to block the wrap on our sunny deck.  I actually thought it was going to be too small and enquired of more sliver from Anna!  More coming soon but slightly different colours.

I spun the singles by breaking off 15-20cm pieces of sliver, spreading them out flattish so the colours were seperated then spinning on the fold.

I wanted to break the rows of shell motif up by adding in the rows of treble blocks.  Therein I met a problem with the graphs available on Pinterest.  I finished the blocks but then couldn't get the shells to sit flat.  I think I undid it at least 5 times before realising the problem was with the blocks and not the shells.  I found a graph where one works the first row of pattern, the chains, and work the treble blocks into the chains.  This gave a lighter appearance as well.  Presto, it worked and I was inspired to finish it quickly.

Wild Berry Wrap

One of my entries in the Creative Fibre National Exhibition.  Its handspun corriedale sliver from the Little Wool Company, one ply is variegated and the other a plain claret colour.  The pattern is Thao Shawl by Melinda VerMeer downloaded free from www.happyknits.com   I used 4 mm needles and just love the garter stitch combined with lace.  This is the first time I've used wires to block knitting and I'm sold, though I think its probably not a good idea to continue using the wires from my knitting machine combs.  Next challenge is to make up my own pattern.

Random projects

Handspun from Little Wool Company (Anna Gratton) corriedale sliver.  One sliver multi shades and the other plain bordeaux.

Greek key, my first attempt at double weave pick up, which I really enjoyed.  But shock horror, can you see where the dye ran into the white.  Is there any way to remove the run of dye?  The rust thread is a guide to rap it straight around a canvas block.  I will have another go at this as I like the clean lines.

The blotchy variegated fabric using space dyed warps, one dark and the other an echo of it.  Woven echo weave, 28 epi, 560 threads, wove almost 5 metres giving me approximately 4.5 metres of cloth.  I'll have to do some fancy cutting out to obscure the band that stands out as being different (shame it wasn't on the outside edge).  The cotton tags are my half metre marks as I weave which I find less muddly than using string or a tape measure which I always seem to get tangled in and pull on.  I cut the tags before I start weaving and as they're used I know how many metres are woven and how many to go.  The tags also give me an idea of take up and shrinkage after fulling, in this case shrinkage was 4 cm per 50 cm, and a pause to stretch my back.