Done

I didn't think I could get this scarf finished yesterday, but I surprised myself. It's done and in the mail. I made a few decisions about simplifying things I'd hoped to add to it; wove in the loose ends; filled in the paperwork and drove to the Post Office.I have leftover ideas in my head and lots more of this delicious merino fleece, so I expect there is more spinning and making of related scarves in my future. I'm glad I actually got it finished. I decided that participating was more important to me than making just the scarf I had in mind. Maybe next year I'll manage to do both.

Not Quite

I've been working on a scarf which I had intended for the Scarf Festival. Unfortunately I've tried to fit too many things in this week and I don't see how it's going to be ready on time. I would need to have it in the mail today to get to Geelong tomorrow. I have classes tomorrow, so I can't do a last minute dash. I'm enjoying the making and I will finish it regardless, but it will have to be my own private little festival. Here's the starting point:
I went off from this central bit in both directions and have had some fun. It's rather 3-dimensional and will be hard to photograph, but hopefully I can show you a completed pic sometime soon.

In Process

The merino is in process. Here's some of what is on my needles:There's another batch waiting to be spun up; a little stack of washed fleece on the table and about the same quantity on the drying rack. I'm deliberately working in small quantities and making decisions about the design as I go along. This is a piece for this year's Scarf Festival. The theme this year is "The Rhythm of Life". I figure life is unpredictable and you have to go with the flow, so that's how I'm working with the scarf.

Weaving Puzzle

Here's a puzzle from the Scarf Festival.

I love this textured scarf: I tried to imagine how it was made and looked for more information on the swing tag: The only technique I can think of that would produce that sort of puckering involves using different yarns in the weft. If one yarn shrinks significantly when washed--or fulled--and the other doesn't, then the areas that don't shrink would be gathered in. The swing tag only tells me "superfine merino wool". That leaves me with a few possibilities to puzzle over:

• was the same wool spun in different ways in the different strips of weft?
• is there another fibre involved that hasn't been listed?
• or is there a technique that fulls and shrinks some areas while leaving othere areas untouched?

It's not quite keeping me awake at night, but I am intrigued. Suggestions please!

Geelong

My friend S and I drove out to Geelong yesterday afternoon for the Scarf Festival. I've taken a few pictures of scarves that intrigued me which I'll post in coming days. The pleasant surprise for the afternoon, though, was the waterfront at dusk. As for spinning, I got through 100g of one of the First Editions merino blends. I stripped the tops down to keep the colours as distinct as I could, and this morning I've navaho plied it. Right now the yarn is soaking in a bucket of warm water to set the twist. It was a case of wanting to do a bit of spinning just for the joy of it after a fairly intense session on Saturday working with Angora, Cashmere and Camel fibre.

Water Wall

I love the Water Wall at the National Gallery of Victoria. I was there last weekend with a friend and got this shot: It's a crazy thing, but I can't get away from the idea of a "water wall" scarf or shawl of some kind. I've been playing with the idea in my head for a couple of years now. The theme for this year's Scarf Festival at the Geelong Wool Museum is "Transformation". I don't know for sure, but maybe the time has come to transform my idea into some kind of reality.