I swore b.Lime wouldn’t ever be used as a swear word but I Was Wrong…
Seeing some of the fresh little lime leaves on the neighborhood bushes pushed this little shell back into the mix.
Like many a naughty thing, this knit benefited from a Time Out.
[A New Definition of YARN?] I’m using (Bettina) which is unusual, beautiful: High Maintenance. The base of the yarn (the yellow-chartruese) is mysterious, to say the least. On close inspection, it looks like it is not spun, not twisted, not fiber like we know it. Rather, a genius professor with mad skillz somewhere in Italy (Milan? Rome? Florence?) mixed up a huge batch of Viscose + Nylon and made sheer sheets of *paper*.
Then it was cut into the strips that were wrapped in taupe colorerd linen that became..
[M-W’s take on] YARN: “…1 a: a continuous often plied strand composed of either natural or man-made fibers or filaments and used in weaving and knitting to form cloth b: a similar strand of another material (as metal, glass, or plastic).”
Whoa. The powers that be are way ahead of my mental curve here. Important words: continuous, strand, used in knitting, of metal , glass or plastic!
My continuous strand of viscose/nylon wrapped in linen thread is indeed: YARN!
BUT. It is not Civilized Yarn ;p
Under normal knitting tension, where the yarn is just moving across the right hand, the linen wrap tightens and the chartruese strand becomes bunched so much so even the folks in the corner coffeeshop might’ve heard me screaming b.Lime it all to H**L!!! as I was forced over and over to smooth out the strand as I felt it knob up under my hand. [My friend Rocksolana calls this effect *worming* and isn’t that creepy?! But so true…]
Notice the contraption in the top left of the photo above. After struggling through the first skein of Bettina, I knew this would never be finished unless some Order was imposed, a Citizen’s Arrest of this bad boy, an intervention for its own good, Tough Yarn Love!
SO I rewound the skein on my ball winder and put it on the Rack…
This loTech machine is something I used on my shell and recently on some Baby Uggs and thank god it is working with this yarn as well!
As I worked on the lower body of the shell I started dreaming. All over the neighborhood, the ladies were starting to wear their springtime frocks! And this year, they are fanciful, flowered, mixing materials, embroidery and trims.
So I made a changeup of my own on the Shell: I named it Jessameen (you’ve been so mean to me) and I started knitting part of it with mercerized cotton in a much smaller gauge…
Lesson Learned?
Brilliant!
I love that “Rack” you’ve devised, need to make one myself. I call it “the Yarn Spit”.
Good Grrrl! You took a second bite and didn’t let go. I am so happy that frocks are appearing in the Windy as well as the Shaky City. The craft girls are designing with Spring prints here in my neighborhood. It does the heart good. All they need are smart, short cardigans to complete the picture.