Monkey Craft Brain - Being Multicraftual

I had the urge to start another VEVO (see last post). Rummaging around my office/craft room, I came across a large-ish ball of fine, laceweight yarn that was attached to an almost-completed crescent swallowtail shawlette. 90% finished almost 9 years ago.

I loved the colour of the 100% superwash merino yarn - curry.

I started knitting a new VEVO with the ball of yarn that I had freed (cut) from the abandoned project but quickly realized it was too thin. I decided to unravel the almost-finished crescent swallowtail shawlette, wind it into a ball and with my spinning wheel, ply it with now-freed ball of yarn. 

I hadn’t used my spinning wheel in years - definitely since before COVID but it worked really well. First I had to wind each ball of yarn onto separate bobbins. The curly strand was what I had unravelled from the shawlette. Each ball was about 38g. Then plied  them together.

The resulting yarn was about fingering weight. 

I cast on the number of stitches for fingering weight and started knitting. The yarn was a bit overplied and curled up a bit on itself, but I really wanted the two strands to stay together. I used a 4mm tip on a circular cord with a 3.75mm tip on the other end. As I’ve probably mentioned in other posts, when knitting in the round, having a smaller needle that you’re knitting from makes sliding the stitches onto it so much easier. The important needle size is the one you’re knitting onto.

After a few hours last night and this afternoon, I’m 2/3 finished. 

It looks like a scrunched up blob but with a hard, wet blocking those lace designs will open right up.

Hopefully I can finish it this evening and get it blocked.

While moving some things around yesterday I came across this sashiko kit my dear friend, Poppy, brought me from her textile tour of Japan last fall.

Earlier on, I had come across this little video showing an inspiring sashiko sample in the making.

So this afternoon, while I was knitting away, I watched several YouTube videos on the subject of sashiko. If it is pronounced properly the emphasis is on the first syllable - SA-shi-ko. (I’m just picky about pronouncing foreign words the way the foreigner would).

Poppy also gave me a kit for a patchwork bag that she had also brought from Japan.

All the homespun cotton fabrics were included. So what if the instructions were all in Japanese? 

Google Translate made quick work of converting them to English.

At some point I will construct this kit. In the meantime, I have sashiko designs dancing through my head.