Big Finish

The Lenore Tawney project (aka the reason I've been so absent from the blog) is finally finished, and I'm back again, hopefully with more frequent updates from here on out. I went in today to set it up in the gallery, unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me, but I did snap a picture as I was getting it ready to go.

Obviously the cardboard disk is just there to get things evenly spaced, it was removed after I secured all the strands to the pedestal. I had a difficult time with this project, I made a few miscalculalations early on in the project, and it just turned into a slog by the last third. It was also very difficult to tell what it was going to look like until I got it off the needles, blocked, and then hung up. So the morale was low, and I only jussssst managed to finish it on time. 

Still, it looks better on the pedestal, under tension than it does hear, and I'm okay with it. I'm certainly okay with it being finished. If I had a time machine, it would be half as big around and twice as long, and it was supposed to 'split' again, but time ran out. 

Now that it's done, some small, fast, fun projects are in order to get my enthusiasm back. First up is this pillow for Seamus's dad, only a little late for Christmas...oops. But a neat little patchwork/embroidery project. 

Separating and Sampling

So the Lenore Tawney project begins in earnest, I've separated a spool of dark green linen into 24 separate bobbins for my experimental cable knitting fiasco.  I tried to sketch my idea out but it just looked like a mess, so I'm hoping that keeping detailed measurements and notes will do the trick. Imagine a big, cabled tube of knitting separating out into multiple twists, then reconnecting, then fanning out again. I am hoping, with luck, it will recall Lenore Tawney's woven 'convergences' that appear in much of her work. 

Sample of two knit strands joining, cabling, then separating again. I do wish I had gotten something more suitable for this in my 'materials' grab bag though. The dark color means it's harder to see the cables, and it's linen, so there's no 'give,' which makes it harder to work with (especially for twisting the cables) But everything else I got was too fuzzy or thick to work. 

While waiting for my DPN to arrive to truly start the above project, I also whipped out some Dear Jane blocks. It's been a while since I focused on them, and it was a nice break. E-5 through E-9. And man, does E-9 (the gridded one) look crooked. Oh well, I'm not worrying about it too much. 

The Double pointed needles should arrive today, and then I'm banned from working on anything but the Lenore Tawney project and possibly an Xmas gift for Seamus's dad.