Saturday, February 20, 2010

A LITTLE KNITTING


Here is a picture of my latest completed project, Wonderful wrist warmers that double as cuffs. I love, love, love them. The pattern is from a book by Annemor Sudbo called Invisible Threads. Quick and easy to knit and I love the way they feel and look. It continues to snow here, I can not remember a day with out it. These are perfect. I think the yarn is a Shetland Lace weight but that is anyones guess. More from the mysterious stash stuff. I usually just take a peek at what is there and perhaps burn a small sample to check fibers. I am sure you all know about the burn test but just in case you do not. It is an old way to check out natural versus synthetic fibers. You take a small piece and put a match to it. If the ash is soft you have a natural fiber, if you get a hard bead what you have is some sort of man made fiber. Now what man made would be anyones guess. Interesting enough when I was in college over 50+ years ago studying textiles, fibers and such things this was what we used as a test, still today it is the first test fiber folks use when they are wondering about the fiber content. Way back then we had few synthetic fibers now the world abounds with them. I found it interesting a few years ago when I had the honor of viewing textiles at the Vesterheim.info@vesterheim.org museum in Iowa and we were wondering about fiber content. The first test Laurann Gilbertson the textile curator used when we were curious about a pair of mittens fiber was the good old burn test. Naturally after that there are many others but what a great way to start the investigation.
Knit a pair for a little gift and enjoy.

2 comments:

Emily said...

Nice blend of embellishment and function! There just aren't enough lace cuffs and collars in the world.

PS I'm going to knit Ellie some bracelets/cuffs. She's put on a couple of the tiny animal sweaters around like bracelets so I think she is trying to tell me something.

Pam said...

I always love to see the fascinating projects that come off your needles. You are probably ten steps ahead of me, but there was a book published recently about the knitting items at the Vesterheim Museum -- Norwegian Handknits : Heirloom Designs from Vesterheim Museum. I snatched it up when I saw it and am glad I did!