Finished! And Then Some

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we awoke to glorious, sunny weather.  Perfect for picture-taking, and dry enough that a wet-blocked 100% woolblanket might actually dry in a reasonable amount of time (gasp!).  So, I set about cleaning the kitchen, so that I could use the big, deep sink to wash a few knitted items.  Of course, that was also a good move in preparation for Thursday's cooking extravaganza, but on Wednesday morning, the knitting was front-and-center on my mind.  :-)

So, at long last, Brooklyn Tweed's Hemlock Ring Blanket is complete!  I used 1 and 2/3 (or so) skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool, which I really enjoyed working with.  It's soft and smooshy, and knitted up just beautifully.  I used US 10.75 bamboo circular needles, mostly because that's what I had on hand (I didn't swatch).  As usual, the project took a while to do because I was simultaneously working on Rob's Never-ending Raglan (it's kinda like a Willy Wonka sweet, only even more never-ending), some socks, etc., etc.  I took pre-, during, and post-blocking pictures, because I realized that that's the kind of photo-journaling that I enjoy seeing on other people's blogs.

Here are two pre-blocking photos.  I ended up with only two ends to sew in, because I used the spit/felt method of gluing two ends of yarn together.  It works really well, since this yarn is 100% wool.  Gross, but good.  :-)  Pre-blocking, the blanket looked like a misshapen blob of yarn, as anything lace is wont to do:

I particularly like the detail in the center.  The pattern was inspired (as you can read on Brooklyn Tweed's blog) by a doily pattern, then expanded upon with feather-and-fan lace.  The transition rows were a bit challenging for me, switching from the doily pattern to Mr. Tweed's feather-and-fan chart, but I muddled through with good results.

Here it is getting it's bath.  Check out that sink!  The designer was very excited about the depth of the sink.  We attained it by purchasing a deep-ish sink, but gained two more inches of depth because we used poured concrete countertops, which are two inches thick.  I think it ended up being a three- or four-hundred dollar sink, but if you actually bought one as deep as ours, it would cost over a thousand!  (Holy smokes!  A thousand dollar sink!)

This new kitchen is proving very useful in more areas than "just" cooking.  Ha ha ha.

I used Soak no-rinse wool wash, after reading it about it in a Yarn Harlot post.  It's worked well so far on my hand-knitted socks (including a fuzzy pair of Angora house socks), and I got a little pack with three flavors, all of which are mild and pleasant smelling.  Thankfully, after the wash - even though no rinsing is needed - the garments smell more like wool than perfumed soap.  For me and mine, that's a VERY good thing.

As you can see, it made lots of nice little reassuring bubbles.  I say reassuring, because bubbles are not an indicator of "more cleaning action", but they do seem to reassure us that some kind of cleaning is being done, don't they?  Think of your shampoo...

I noticed while squeezing out the excess water that the dog had become particularly interested in my work.  He was trying to rub up onto the wet wool, but of course it was safely stacked on the counter top, so mostly he was rubbing his neck - quite enthusiastically - on my leg.  After squeezing the length of the blanket twice, I laid it out on a towel, rolled it up, stomped on it, and repeated with a fresh towel.  It was all Sirius could do to obey my "leave it" command and NOT roll around in the pile of wet, wooly goodness.  Does he look put-out or WHAT?

After the stomp-a-thon, I took the wet mass upstairs to pin out.  I use the guest bed (a double) for blocking, and was a bit concerned that it wouldn't be quite wide enough to accommodate the full diameter of the circular blanket.  I didn't have enough clean towels to put underneath, so I used the mattress pad, a cotton blanket, and a flannel sheet on top of that.  Since I had managed to squeeze and stomp out most of the excess water, it worked out okay.  Rob helped me pin it out:

here's the detail of the center:

After a day and a half of drying, it was done!  This, I believe, is testament to the overall lightness of the blanket.  The yarn, while thick, is not heavy.  So the finished product yields a VERY cozy warmth, without a lot of weight (which also means faster drying times).  Finished, this lovely blanket looks like this (I have it laid over the back of the sofa, for perspective):

Here's the detail (with a blue blanket under it for contrast):

Okay, I'll post about the socks later, and do an "official" write-up on the Hemlock Ring Blanket for my "FOs" side-bar list later.  For now, I'm going to sew up the hem of Rob's sweater, start work on a sleeve, and listen to KPLU "Mid-day Jazz" for as long as I can stand it.

I'm using my amazing powers of concentration to keep myself at home, and NOT at the Hilltop Yarn Black Friday sale.  I do not need more yarn.  I do not need more yarn.  I do not need more yarn.

Especially since I ordered this a few days ago.  Mwah ha ha ha ha ha.

Comments

[Duchess]

Wow, it's beautiful! Isn't Eco Wool great? I've knit a sweater in it and have plans for two more in it. I just love it.

[Daddy Shark]

Dang you're really good at that knitting stuff. The DW and I enjoyed meeting you last night. If you're as good at yoga as you are at yarnin' stuff you could be the Pretzel Queen. ttfn