Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Blocked Holden Shawlette

Finally finished the Holden Shawlette!  For my first triangular shawl, it went pretty well.

 I used some vintage Indiecita Alpaca that is labeled as  "approximately 50 Grams", no yardage given, and though it says it is 3 ply sports weight, it acts more like fingering weight. The shawlette took 2 balls and a bit extra, since I ran out of the second ball of yarn about 5 inches short of picot bind-off. Thank goodness I had extras. After finishing the shawl, there are still 8 balls of this yarn to go, and I have no idea what I'll make with them... maybe a really big yarneating shawl, since it was nice to work with.

It's interesting to me how labels have changed, back them it didn't seem that necessary to add as much information as they do now. Note where it says Natural Color, Not Dyed, and right next to it Dyed Color, and no yardage information. 



Although it came off the needles a while back, I wasn't ready to block it. I have nudged other knit projects in the past, the last time it was a woodland scarf that I pinned on a towel on the living room rug. Although it stayed there overnight, I removed it the next day while it was not completely dry and it didn't stretch out as much as I wanted, or perhaps it just shrunk back. So with that in mind, I was a bit apprehensive about the process, but braved it anyway.

I did notice that this yarn bleeds a bit. I put it in water to wash it and the water was bright pink! It reminded me of a visit to Bolivia, when we first saw cochineal bugs, and discovered that's where carmine color came from. To keep it from crazy bleeding over other clothing once it's worn, I added white vinegar to the water and hope it helps. In any case, this happens to be a shawl for my sister, who I always kid about her love of these dark reds that bleed in the wash. 

I don't have blocking wires or a dedicated surface for blocking, so for the shawl I decided to block it over the afternoon on the bed. I laid an extra sheet over the end and started pinning starting at the corner of the bed with the triangle's 90° angle.  Halfway through the drying process I wove in some  cotton yarn through the long edge to straighten it up, after realizing I didn't have enough pins to make sure I didn't get scallops.

Here is the finished shawlette, measuring 62 x 24 inches, just perfect for wrapping around the neck and shoulders.



The color is a lot redder in person.  I shall package this and send it off to my sister, in thanks for some sewing patterns she bought for me and mailed!





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