Mucking About

Before using the term "mucking about" in the blog I wanted to be sure about its use.  There's no need to use something unsavory and I believe this is a term I picked up in Canada.  So I looked up the meaning of the phrase when used as a verb.

do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly; "The old lady is usually mucking about in her little house"  - Free Online Dictionary

Well that was so appropriate and in this case I'm the old lady mucking about in my home. Here are two projects both clearly on the needles I have been fiddling with lately.

The variegated hand spun merino and the CEY Ava (twice)

First, the merino spun last week was so luscious I simply had to start something with it. There are 100 grams of merino and spun properly it could yield enough yarn to make a small scarf; spun improperly it will create something very, very small. I also wanted to try using German Short Rows (GSR) because to make the collar on the pink and brown Gramps sweater one needs to use short rows with wraps and turns. I have done this technique before but did not enjoy the process. Identifying the wrap and turn stitches when one is doing the final pass was difficult for me. And the real truth be told, I did not much care for the look of the final product. (Perhaps because I was not necessarily doing it consistently right.) So while I was mucking around watching VeryPink.com I carefully watched her tutorial on GSR.  It is worth a look just to see Staci giggle her way through the entire demonstration; something very uncharacteristic of her.  As VeryPink puts it this way of doing short rows is so simple it seems as if one is cheating. I wanted a project to practice GSR so when I do them on the Gramps I have the technique under control.

So I looked for a short row pattern on Ravelry and found Laura Aylor's Lizard Ridge Dishcloth and paired that with my hand spun merino and Classic Elite's Ava (86% wool, 9% viscose and 5% metallized polyester) in the colour #6854. Ava is a thin yarn so I doubled it. My thinking was the hand spun would be (and is) a bit tough to work with since it is inconsistent so I needed something easier to knit the GSR; Ava was the perfect solution.

The GSR look great and I can find the wrap and turn stitches, if you will, very easily. Here's a close up for you to review:

Note how clean the turns are and how even all the stitches look. This is excellent. The only down size is I have already used up half my hand spun merino so what I am creating is a large mouse pad or a small coaster for a big plant or a wall hanging. I am still deciding which way to go with it.

The second result of my mucking about is this:

My Dragon Tail shawl, so far

This is one of 15 Dragon Tail (BTW that orange triangle thing is the dragon tail).  Here's what it should look like when I am done.

There is a story behind this WIP.  While watching Handmade and Woolens podcast I saw a completed Leftie shawl.  I loved the basic look of that shawl where Jenny used some of Devon's hand spun wool in the shawl along with a purchased yarn.

Photo from Ravelry account for Tinypaperfoxes

As you can see the "leaves" are done in the hand spun, but I didn't quite like how much each leaf was free to dangle around at the bottom of the shawl.  So I looked further into the same concept and found Dragon Tail by DROPS where the "tail" is more connected to the shawl.

Mine is made with Titus in the colour Coal by Baa Ram Ewe.  It is a 100% British wool (50% Wensleydale longwool, 20% Blue-Faced Leicester [BFL] and 20% UK Alpaca).  It is a lovely fingering weight.  The orange is from Yarnia, a blend of merino, wool, cotton and silk.  (BTW the retail store for Yarnia has closed in Portland, but they still have an online presence.  This yarn business is a tough one.)  The orange has tiny flecks of blue that turn almost gray next to the coal coloured Titus. (If you look really closely at my photo above you can see those flecks.)  I love the combination of these two yarns and the simplicity of the pattern. It is a simple pattern that has the capacity to create quite an interesting effect.

My efforts of last week brought two new WIPs this week.  Even if it doesn't sound all that interesting to some, this old lady is really enjoying the time she has to be mucking about.