Rumpelstiltskin

Heute back ich, morgen brau ich,
Übermorgen hol ich mir der Königin ihr Kind;
Ach, wie gut, dass niemand weiß,
dass ich Rumpelstilzchen heiß

Today I brew, tomorrow I bake;
And then the Prince child I will take;
For no one knows my little game
That Rumpelstiltskin is my name!
(English version)

Spinning straw into gold – now wouldn’t that be something? That’s like the philosopher’s stone where you turn lead into gold. But let’s take a closer look at the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale: Why did the girl – future queen – have to say that she could spin gold? She just got herself into trouble all on her own. And I never got why she’d only have to spin gold for three days. Why wouldn’t you have her spin gold every day? And why did the Rumpelstiltskin want the baby as payment – was he going to turn the baby into another imp?

Sometimes you come across a yarn that just fascinates you. I was looking at the shelves of a new-to-me yarn store when I came across this little pile of Handmaiden Seasilk. The yarn had a lovely sheen and was so soft. I was curious about the base, and was told that it was a combination of silk and seacell. The seacell is made from seaweed and is apparently also used to treat burn victims, and it’s good against skin problems like eczema. The skein I homed in on was in the colorway Straw and it looked just like gold. Spun gold. I’m sure Rumpelstiltskin would have approved.

I had already admired a project on Ravelry that used the same base in Amethyst that ended up in a gorgeous purple summer scarf. Since I really liked how that pattern showed off the yarn, I decided to make my own golden version. The pattern I used is the Montego Bay scarf pattern. It’s a lacy pattern, knit on a bias – an easy, knit-on-the-run pattern. I used metal needles, but I’d recommend wooden needles for this pattern since the yarn is quite slippery. Oh, and I’d also measure the amount of yarn you want to use for the fringe ahead of time, that way you can use up every last bit of yarn. And the best part is that you don’t have to weave in any of your yarn tails, since they’ll just be part of the fringe. The finished scarf feels great against your skin.

Doesn’t it look like spun gold?

Dear mother, please do not felt the knitting

You know, sometimes it’s just not a good idea to be overzealous when trying to keep your knitting clean. Sigh. I mean, really, Mom. I know you mean well. It’s just that you might want to stick to the instructions when washing your knitting. You might also ask what kind of fiber it is, is it superwash or not, and so on. I know that some washing machines have a wool washing cycle but if you want to go the extra mile, you could just handwash it in cold water. That also applies when blocking – is this material that can be wetblocked, can you steamblock it, or would it all be in vain…

But yeah, my Mom felted a project. A gift I knit for her that she really loved. It’s a Herringbone Cowl – a pretty and dense cowl. She prefers cowls that aren’t too ‘airy’ so they can protect her neck against the wind. It really is a great design although I wouldn’t recommend using a highly variegated yarn – you’ll lose the herringbone effect. But the pattern will really show off more subtle yarn shifts. The yarn I used was Malabrigo Silky Merino in the colorway Amoroso. Very luscious yarn, and a combination of silk and merino. Yes, there’s enough merino in there to felt the yarn.

You can see the subtle colorshifts from red to pink and back

I unfortunately didn’t catch Mom before she stuck the cowls in the washing machine. Yes. She felted another cowl while she was at it. You should have seen my expression when I saw the shrunken cowls.

Pre-felting…

The yarn is TLS silky merino worsted by Pigeonroof Studios. Beautiful yarn, soft and yummy, a mix of merino and silk. Once again, another yarn with 50% merino, 50% silk. Krista from Pigeonroof Studios dyes lovely yarns, and beautiful roving.

Well, the cowls shrunk after washing, as felted items do. Yup, Mom couldn’t fit them over her head, despite all of her attempts. They now linger in her cold weather accessories basket. Hmm, I have to see if the cowls fit over my goddaughters’ heads. That way they’ll be useful once again. And now Mom knows to ask me before washing handknit items.

Mom, I love you. I really really really love you (I even made a stop motion video for you). But please don’t felt handknit things again, ok?

Felted necklace by Vacide Erda Zimic, can be found here. You’ll find amazing items there, and all of them are focused on sustainability as well.

A Wednesday wip

A wip* a day, keeps the doctor away. No?

I’ve tried to keep to avoid alliteration blog posts, like Wednesday wips etc. Not that I don’t like them – a lot of my favorite blogs use these kinds of posts. It’s just that I would fail – badly – at putting up certain types of posts on certain days. I tend to blog whenever I think I have something interesting to say (I hope!), and I’d unfailingly forget to up a post on topic, and then I’d start running behind and so on and on. (Even though it would give me some blogging discipline).

Of course I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself doing exactly that down the road…

/rambling

Anyway, Ginny from Small Things runs a Yarn Along on Wednesdays, where you reflect on your current knitting and/or reading. So, this is a good opportunity to take a look as to what I’m currently working on. Especially since I’m trying to reduce my number of wips.

First wip is this one:

“Pleated” is a lovely squishy scarf knitting in Madeline Tosh Pashmina. This merino-cashmere-silk blend is so soft and gorgeous. The pattern is Olga Buraya-Kefelian’s Issey scarf, a pattern that’s inspired by Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please collection. And the scarf really is pleated – you can stretch it out and becomes quite a bit wider, but when released, it bounces back into the pleats shape. It really and truly is gorgeous, and my Dad will love it. Although he’ll probably only wear it come fall – it’s just too warm now. Oops. (More information on the project page, and in the blog post about the finished project).

And then there’s this wip:

This one is a mystery KAL, so no pattern page or project link for now. This is a gorgeous project. I can’t wait to see what the finished project will look like. The bottom edge has the same tortoise-shellish pattern as the top edge – the garter stitch makes the edge roll up, but I promise you it’s still there. I’ve finished clue#3, and clue#4 just arrived, and I think there are a total of 5 clues, so I’m nearing the end. The mystery KAL really is a lot of fun – I forgot how much fun it can be. My last mystery KAL attempt was the Westknits Earth & Sky KAL. That one was a fail for me – I never even managed to cast on for that one (yup, I STILL haven’t cast on).

I’m hoping to finish up clue #4 by tomorrow, and then I’ll finish the pleated scarf – only 3 more inches plus tip are left, and then I can try and work on projects. I’ll probably start to cast on for a Wollmeise project to fulfill my 12 Wollmeise in 2012 goal, and then I’ll turn my attention to another wip – my “Better than pea soup” wedding blanket project. That one will take up quite some time…

So, that’s it for me. Are you interested in participating in the Yarn Along? Here‘s more info on the Yarn Along, and here you can see Ginny’s past Yarn Along posts. And here’s a link to Ginny’s current Yarn Along post.

Have fun looking at all those knitting and reading posts, and I’ll be back soon, probably with a post on food. I made these amazing cookies that really deserve a post of their own.

*For you non-knitters, a wip is a work-in-progress