Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Unspun Icelandic



Unspun Icelandic wool
, waiting to be knit up into one of EZ's perelines. The bottom wheel is a rich chocolate brown. A fourth color, a darker grey, should be arriving soon from Schoolhouse Press.

6 comments:

Carola said...

Oh, "yarn cakes". You'll definitely have fun with them. Have you knitted with this kind of wool before?
And I'm a bit curious. What is a "pereline"? Something like a cape? (I only know "pelerine" in German, meaning an overcoat for rainy weather, "tippet" in English?) If so it would explain your choice of wool. Weatherproof like a sheep ;-)

Carola said...

Hi Jen. Thanks for visiting my blog! I still haven't seen a picture now of EZ perelines but have an idea. And I will see yours one day ;-)
On knitting with the unspun wool from the cakes I can only tell you, how I'm doing. Bear in mind though that I am kind of an unorthodox knitter. I just take a strand from the canter of the cake and one from its border and twist them three, four times. In this way, a double strand emerges that is somewhat strong enough to knit with, but keeps the unspun character of the yarn. I simply knit out of the cakes, but you might want to make yarn balls. (I don't have a ball winder.) You cannot knit with one strand! They tend to tear apart v-e-r-y easily. Sounds clear? Maybe it would be an idea to put up information on my blog? Why not save other people the trial and error process..
Anyway, have fun and don't hesitate to ask me, I'll try to help if I can. And greetings to the ex-temporary Reykjavikian.

Carola said...

Hi Jen. Looks, like they export the good quality and we get the sh.. rest. ;-) I agree, the single strand is strong, but unfortunately (in my cakes) its gauge is far from being even and sometimes going down to literally single "hairs". Meaning that I have to break it and attach a new strand here and then. Not that it is too bad with this wool, the connect so easily, almost like felting, that it is not a big hassle, However, you do sound pretty confident, so I think you will manage! I'm very curious to see how it works, therefore and anyway good look with your sockapal-2-za socks!

Anonymous said...

Hey secret sock pal! The day to be revealed is coming soon. I had great fun knitting your socks...and I will miss them when they are gone (they have been sitting by my knitting chair for months for me to admire).

Hope you like them as much as I do...and all my SnB group did, and as much as the artist who dyed the yarn (she even put them on her shop's website) and my BIL, who wants a pair in the same colorway, and....

Hey, but no pressure. They are for you!

Anonymous said...

what is a "double stranded yarn cake"? thanjks

Jen Hurley said...

The Icelandic unspun comes in "buns" of "cakes"--a cake is a segment of unspun (think segments of chocolate in a Toblerone chocolate bar; here, the cakes are separate entities). Double-stranded could refer to using both ends of a cake (pulling from the center and the outside simultaneously) or it could mean using two strands from two different cakes.