Knitting: Confessions of a Blocking Virgin

I had a date on the weekend and I kept it. No procrastinating or getting out of it. I had made a commitment.


I first confessed that I was a blocking knits virgin. I took Dr. Phil's advice that I couldn't change what I didn't acknowledge.

So I confessed. Never mind my hiatus from knitting for over 10 years (that's another story). I had been an obsessive and passionate knitter for years and yet I had never blocked.



(Photos of the Eliott Bunny Vest in progress).

I'm particular about my knitting. I'm patient and I want it to be right. I don't fuss over it, and I've never ever cried over my mistakes--my theory on that is how can you cry over something that can be fixed???

I'd rip back row after row if necessary and in one case when I didn't want to rip back, I bought more wool and started again. But that piece didn't have an error. I just didn't like the colour combinations. That piece is now in use as a cat bed so nothing gets wasted.

Knitting is so forgiving. You CAN start again. You CAN fix it. It's not like a bad hair cut or fabric cut the wrong way. Now those are things that can be very challenging to fix.

I admit that I had gotten away without blocking. My garments always turned out the way they should and although (another confession) I'd never done a tension guage/swatch, all my knits fit me fine.

But now I'm making my own wool from rovings and I'm substituting other wools in patterns that appeal to me.

This has brought me face to face with the two things I had avoided to help resolve disasters - tension swatches and blocking.

I got out my Knitters' Companion book (LOVE that book by Vicki Square) and I looked up what to do.

I'd read about it before numerous times over the years but I always mentally glossed over the thought that I should actually do it myself.

You see, I'd gotten away without doing it. I did notice though that my knitted garments always hung and looked better after a wash. The washing seemed to settle the fabric - so I knew that blocking wasn't some extra task dreamed up to occupy more of my time.

(Pictured - Taos Chunky Vest in progress).

I used this puzzle like soft flooring material that I use to sit on when doing floor exercise (like that happens often--NOT!) I found it worked really well as a nice flat soft pin cusion.

I put my knits inside a wet towel and set the whole thing in water to get them nice and damp and then did the pinning out.

I will confess that I didn't get too busy with the tape measure. I focussed mostly on making sure the two sides were close to being the same... so I think my first forage into blocking was pretty light.

Now I'm thinking since I'm really out of the closet I should seriously consider a tension guage, especially since I had to reknit a garment twice because I was too lax about doing one.

Let it snow!!! Let is snow!!! Let it snow!!!! So we can knit!!!

If you live in the northern part of North America then you're already aware that Canada and some parts of the USA have had tons of snow. Even England had lots of snow.

This time of year I rely on the Weather Channel to keep me up to date on road conditions. I felt some relief when the weather man announced that we're finally in the time of longer days of sunshine. He reminded us of the warming effect of this extra sunshine.

The cats certainly understand this. A long afternoon of very bright sunshine through the window the room is much warmer and the cats all gather to bask in this sunshine. This same effect thankfully will melt the snow or ice off my car if I leave it in the sun.

My nephew Ben from Australia was here all last year. He was using the truck that I currently have. I discovered why the truck's washer fluid wouldn't come out. It was because someone had put just plain old water in the washer fluid tank. Now, no one raised in Canada would do that!!! My Dad was gracious and said that Ben probably bought washer fluid without antifreeze, but I had to add the comment that in Canada they don't sell the washer fluid without the antifreeze. Ben probably did what all Australians do. He grabbed the garden hose and topped up the tank when it was low. Imagine living in a part of the world that doesn't use antifreeze. How strange :) Now I'm trying to think how I'm going to get it to defrost......

At the same time that I keep thinking I'm so tired of winter, enough already I'm reminded that cold weather means wearing the woollies and that means knitting and making more and more woollies because it's so cold. I've got my drop spindle at the office and I've been spinning Margarite's angora fibre.

After all, it's very uncomfortable to knit with super warm fibres in the middle of summer! By then, all you want to deal with are silks, cottons or maybe (just maybe) acrylic.

The Ziraldo Alpaca Farms white roving from Miss Muppet the alpaca is spinning up like a dream. I'm loading my spindle with as much as I can fit. Right now it's one ply, but I'm hoping by week's end I'll have made it into a 2 play. After that I'll happily be knitting on the bus to work and during lunch.

Now for my knitting confession. I have never blocked a knit in my life. I do lay out my knitted garment once it's washed and put it into shape, but I've never done a proper blocking. But I guess you can call it a New Years Resolution or just that I've finally had a sincere knitting ah hah moment. I have decided I will join the ranks of people that block after knitting.

Unfortunately, at the moment that new decision is slowing me down. I have two garments on the go that both require blocking before I can finish them.... so they'll have to wait for the weekend when I can give this whole blocking thing the proper time it deserves (and probably a little Internet research so that I can be sure to do it properly).

Tigger curls up on the mostly completed Taos chunky vest (waiting blocking before finalizing). I'm not certain if he's lying there as a fashion statement because the colours look so good next to his fur or if it's because it's warm--probably both reasons.

This is a blue "Elliott Bunny Vest" from Stacy-Charles. I have a free pattern for this vest. If you want a copy emailed, just leave me a comment with your email and I'll send it to you (I couldn't find a link to it on their site).

I've substituted Rowan Plaid and Tufty yarns instead because I had them on hand and I've been looking for a project to put these two yarns together.

This garment too is awaiting an infamous blocking session with me this weekend.

The angora bunnies have really settled in and now are both housed in bigger cages. I couldn't stand the thought of them being in a small cage all day without much room to move--how incredibly boring. I do try my best to create some entertainment and excitement for them, along with a regular routine and periods of time out of the cage to hop around. I do similar tricks with the cats to help keep them from getting bored (I'll blog on this very soon sharing my tips and tricks for indoor cats).

The rabbits LOVE attention and being groomed and they quickly become jealous of each other if one is getting more attention than the other. I'm certain they can keep count of the time so they know when the other one is getting more attention.

I wonder if it'll snow tomorrow? Mostly likely. Yeah!!!! Knit--knit--knit.

Knitting: My Taos Chunky Vest

Some yarns are just beautiful. Beautiful to look at. Beautiful to touch. Beautiful to slip through your fingers under a little tension as you knit. Then some yarns are not only beautiful but they have a story to tell.

This Taos Chunky Vest is a project I had wanted to do for a while. I waited and waited, mostly because of the cost of the yarn. Finally, I was ready to place my order on-line at Tahki Stacy Charles.( http://www.tahkistacycharles.com/dyn_prod.php?p=L08-TAOS&pb=L08-TAOS-003).

The order was then picked up by Janis who promptly mailed me my package of wool. As soon as I got home I poured the wool out on the table and just enjoyed the feast of colour for the eyes. I took pictures right away.

I waited patiently to start this project. I had wanted to make this vest for a while and it was an investment of wool, money and time. I was plesantly anticipating knitting this project.

Beautifully dyed, I had to unwind at least one ball to examine how the wool was dyed, transitioning from one colour to the next.

I noticed it had a fine black thread that it was plyed with, giving the spinner in me some ideas. I could try doing that myself.

I held off on plunging into the knitting. I wanted to draw out the sensation. The waiting, the anticipation.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot (http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/) talks in one of her books about how yarn and knitting is so much better to buy than other things. She even calculated out the cost of enjoyment per hour and I have to agree that when you add up the anticipation, the selection, the actual project itself, hour per hour, you get your money's worth when it comes to buying and knitting with wool.

Finally I started my project only to discover I had a few balls of the wrong colour. This ended up being a bit of a delay while the supplier shipped me more wool.

Then disaster struck! I lost my bag of knitting. Not only did I lose half the balls of wool for the project, I lost my knitting and my brand new 6.5 mm circular Addi Turbo needles and the pattern (even my back up photocopy of the pattern was missing)!

I looked for days. I did the usual, checking most likely spots and then widening my search from there. Nothing!

I checked at work, at home, everywhere I could think. I even called the bus company to see if I somehow left my knitting on the bus. No luck anywhere.

This loss was topped off with more really defeating days at the office and I then dragged myself home to once again check and re-check. I didn't just want to find my knitting. I needed to find it. This was supposed to be my fun stress releasing project. Something that I had looked forward to doing for months!

I considered the cost of starting over rebuying everything to be prohibitive. I sent Janis a dejected email to say I had given up on the vest and I didn't think it was meant to be. But Janis was more clever than I, she emailed back to say she was praying. Praying I would find my knitting. I had prayed too, albiet very briefly. But now I had a partner in this, praying from miles and miles away. I felt like I had help. She said if it was meant to be, I would find it. I agreed and finally let go. I let go of my frustration over it, my need to have this wool, the project, the whole shebang. I felt a whole lot better after that. It may have been gone, but I was moving on.

As I was entering the hallway a few hours later I had a thought--what about the coat tree? Could it be hanging there? I checked and indeed it was! There, under a sweater, was my shopping bag with my half knit project inside. I was estatic. I had to email Janis right away and thank her for her encouragement and prayers.

It may seem like such a small thing, God helping me find my silly knitting, but often isn't it the small things that we finally lose it over? His help with this small thing was like a huge reassurance and comfort--and a reminder that the world may be full of people, but I do matter. It reminds me that God puts people in your path for a reason, sometimes for a reminder. Thanks God.

The knitting project is progressing very nicely. I'm enjoying it, but I've got something more important brewing inside now. I needed help and God was there and that's way more important than anything else.

My Treasure Collection: Oriole

In my china cabinet are many little treasures. I have figurines made from pottery, glass and china and even some bread dough figurines. Mostly the cabinet is filled with eggs—real decorated eggs. (That’s another story for another time).

One of my favourite treasures that I keep in my cabinet is birds’ nests. I collect them. Just to clarify, I only collect the nests from the ground where they have fallen or retrieve them from fallen branches.

Why do I collect bird’s nests? That’s a very good question. Here are my reasons: They’re totally cool! You can learn so much about the intriguing habits of a creature by looking at their homes (God forbid if anyone came into mine or they’d wonder what kind of messy creature lived inside!)

Here's an example of what I've learned from birds:

The Oriole:
My second favourite bird is the oriole. I regret that I don’t have any personal photographs of the bird that I can share…. (this spring I'll make a point of taking some and will post them). I don’t have a zoom lens on my camera and the digital camera I’ve been using is so slow to click that you could go back in the house, brew and drink a whole cup of coffee before it takes the photo. But I digress…

This oriole nest was found on the ground after a severe thunderstorm. It was found at the beginning of fall, so the birds had long since raised their young and left the nest. I’ve kept if for years as part of my cherished collection of treasure.

People talk about bird’s brains – yes they’re pretty small—but birds can do some amazing things that I could never do (or at least not as well as them). Notice how this bird has taken the plastic strips that some careless human has tossed on the ground. They have used them as the foundation of their purse-like nest by looping the plastic over the branch to secure the nest.

The oriole’s nest hangs from tiny branches way up high in poplar trees. When the parent bird goes inside, their body weight causes the nest opening to close up completely, creating a safe and warm haven inside. The nest is constructed entirely by weaving and knitting, which the oriole instinctively knows how to do. It took me many lessons and much ripping back before I successfully knitted a garment. This bird does it with no training and hangs upside down, dangling from very high heights while constructing it!

Every spring I cut and leave out pieces of string and yarn (ATTENTION KNITTERS) – this is a great use for those stray bits of yarn. I read about this trick in my favourite birding book titled 525 Ways to Attract Birds to Your Backyard. It was during the second spring of laying out the yarn and string that I was in the back yard when I turned around and there, right in front of me was an oriole, beautiful bright orange and black and it was taking the string that I had left out for it. The bird looked over several pieces before it finally chose what it thought was the perfect string to use. It plucked it up in its beak and flew off. It was one of the most thrilling moments I can recall. I thank the author for that book which has paid itself over and over in the joy of backyard bird watching. Of course, I was so busy with my jaw hanging open that I never got a photo. I even forgot that I owned a camera.

So what did I learn from the oriole? They’re pretty smart. They can knit and sew and tie knots with anything from found bits of long grasses, string and yarn….and plastic! And they’re innovative, taking a manmade piece of plastic and incorporating it into their nest design. Their brains aren’t obviously stuck on thinking “I can only use grass”. They are able to see things outside the box, to think of plastic strips and extrapolate a way to use them. That’s a very inventive and uninhibited way to think in my opinion—pretty high end stuff for a small creature with a small brain.

I noticed that when the nest fell, it was not as a result of a failure of the bird’s nest construction. It fell because the branch broke in the storm.

To further attract this beautiful bird to my yard every spring and summer (they migrate down south for the winter) I put out two oriole feeders made up with 3 parts sugar to 1 part water. Every year the birds come regularly, usually about every 20 minutes and more often than that if it’s a rainy day. The oriole feeds on insects so if we have many days of bad weather with no flying insects, the bird will go hungry. In fact, the first time I saw an oriole in my yard was during a very rainy summer. When outside I turned around and saw an oriole trying to feed from my hummingbird sugar water feeder. I raced right out to get a proper oriole feeder. Also, I observed the bird eating peanuts that I had put out, using its beak to break them up into small pieces—this is not their normal fare. Obviously the bird was very hungry and needed some protein.

I sit here now and I ask myself why I never took pictures as I sat outside each summer and watched them come and go from my sugar feeder. If I had taken photos I could personalize this message by showing the proof. Maybe I wanted to keep this treasure all to myself for a while?

But what good is treasure if you don’t share it?

How to Kool-Aid Dye Sheep's Wool

I reported earlier on how to wash a fleece so now I'll show you the progression of dyeing a sheep's fleece with Kool Aid. (This was my first but successful attempt :)

I first spun my washed and carded my wool from Francis the sheep and then spun it on my spinning wheel. I wanted a bulky yarn that wasn't perfectly even so I spun it to be a little larger. I didn't use the whole fleece - I just created 3 skeins and then I was ready to dye it. I chose not to dye the wool roving and also I chose not to ply the yarn until after the dye process was completed.

Here are the steps to Kool Aid dyeing your wool:

Use unsweetened Kool-Aid for this recipe.

1. Open the skeins and tie them loosely and then soak them in room temperature water for 30 minutes or so. This helps them better soak up the dye. You can had a 1/4 cup of vinegar to create acidity but many reports on this process say the Kool-Aid is acidic and it isn't necessary (I went ahead and added vinegar to mine). Also, because Kool-Aid is approved as a food you don't 'have to' dedicate your cook pot as a dye pot, although it would probably not be a bad idea if you did.
   
2. Fill a metal (non aluminium) container with water and add packets of Kool-Aid. I used five 8 gram packets of the colour Ice Blue because I had three skeins and I wanted a fairly strong colour. Stir to disolve all the crystals. The amount of water used isn't the issue to the strength of colour taken up by the wool - it's the number of packets that you use that make the colour stronger.



3. Remove the wool from the water and place the skeins into the dye pot. Press them down gently until they are covered in the water.

Turn on the stove and simmer (not boil) for 30 minutes. You can stir--very gently and slowly--but be careful not to agitate the wool or it will felt.



4. After 30 minutes you'll see that your coloured water has become clear because the dye has been completely absorbed by the wool (note that the water showing in the spoon is clear--and yes I have a very ugly harvest gold stove!)




5. Remove the wool from the pot and place in the sink to drain and cool.


6. Hang to dry. The wool will have a lovely Kool-Aid smell which really makes up for the poopy smell before washing it! The smell will come out eventually.
7. Hang your wool to dry.

Now I went one step farther. The blue came out more a sea foam colour which was fine but I really wanted a purple-blue colour. So once the wool had cooled down to room temperature I repeated the above process and added five 6 gram packets of Grape Kool-Aid to a fresh pot of room temperature water on the stove. Note that you can re-dye and also mix your colours too.

I simmered the seafoam coloured wool for 30 minutes (per directions above). My thinking was that the colours would layer (same technique I use when painting watercolours) so I wanted to build the colour. Also, I wanted to blue to show through the purple.

After the skeins were dry I plyed them on the spinning wheel. I really love the end result--the dye colour varies slightly from raisin to purple to blue-purple and the two-ply helps to show off the colour differences.

I plan to knit a vest with this wool.

If these directions were helpful, please leave your comments to let me know.

Thanks.