Swatching matters

When the local spinning guild visited Wabash Woollen Works (which I have yet to blog about), my SO acted as my chauffeur (and earned props as the only man brave enough to do such a "girly" thing). While there, I told him to pick out some yarn for a new scarf. He chose a skein of alpaca in hand dyed "Marigold" and a skein of merino/alpaca in what I will call "Loden". Before starting the scarf, I created some samples to see what he might like.

I was concerned about the alpaca stretching (it doesn't snap back), so I first tried holding both yarns together and knitting some garter. Then I tried mistake rib with both strands, which proved to be too bulky. Then I tried some striping in mistake rib. And just for fun, wove a tiny sample.

Despite the diameter of the alpaca being smaller than the blend, the marigold overwhelmed the loden in the weaving. My SO did not want stripes and wanted less drape than one of his current scarves, so he picked the plain garter. I am slipping the first stitch knitwise to give the fabric more stability.

Knitting: The new scarf is now 7.5" long. I feel like I am in the homestretch with the Habitation throw, but each row is over 250 stitches now, so it is slow going.
Weaving: On the inkle loom, I wove about six inches of the Krokbragd sheep, then unwove about six inches, as I found I wasn't picking up one thread. I was tempted to just give up and cut the warp off the loom, but I knew I would feel better about it today. (I do.) This isn't the first mistake I have made on this warp, so I will soldier on and make more mistakes while I practice.

When I had my windows replaced recently, I took down the bathroom curtain I knit a while back. The inner side looks fine, but the outer one is surprisingly faded. I used Dem-N-Nit Pure Indigo Cotton yarn, so I guess I should have expected it to fade, just like denim does.

This past week was busy. One happy surprise was being able to attend my granddaughter's dance recital. Other than her piano recital last spring, I have not been able to see her in action up on a stage for a l-o-n-g time. This county is in the red zone now re Covid, so I don't know if "they" will try to shut down such events again. At least everyone, dancers and audience alike, was masked and there were enough performances that people could spread out in the high school auditorium. Unless things change, this will be our new normal going forward.