Ep 72: Swatching and Washing Linen


Planning and swatching for linen sweaters, a round-up of Tour de Fleece spinning, and our listener appreciation drawing winners are the main topics of this episode.

Kelly's Projects

Kelly's Tour de Fleece was successful and she will be entering a skein of Santa Cruz Island yarn in the Monterey County Wool Show.
Santa Cruz Island 3-ply fingering weight

She also made progress on two different weights of California Variegated Mutant yarn and now has a sweater quantity (or close) of each.

Her other finished projects for this episode are bears for the Mother Bear Project.  She has crocheted 4 bears and knitted 1 bear.
Flamenco Bear

Marsha's Projects

Marsha has made good progress on her Summer Cardigan and her goal is to finish it by next episode.

Summer Cardigan
She continues progress on her Twice Born Shawl and is enjoying the knitting.

Twice Born Shawl

As part of the Tour de Fleece Marsha tried to spin every day. She didn't finish spinning the Targhee roving but made good progress.

Marsha swatched the Done Roving Yarns DK Sweater Pack with #4, #5, #6 needles. Marsha wanted to make the cardigan called Cloud Cover, but thinks the yarn may too springy for the cardigan that needs a yarn that drapes. More planning is necessary!

Done Roving Yarns DK


Linen Sweater Swatching

The Two Ewes are both swatching for linen sweaters.  Marsha is using Fibra Natura Flax yarn in Tarragon.  Kelly is using a couple of truly golden skeins of Sincere Sheep Linen lace weight yarn that is no longer available.
Golden Skeins


While swatching, both found that the linen stitches don't make a very nice fabric.  Once washed, the stitches relax and are nicely shaped, even at the larger gauge.  The fabric also feels much better after being machine washed and dried.  The swatches originally had the feel of a kitchen scrubby! Kelly also found shrinkage with her swatch so will expect her sweater to appear too large during the knitting process.  These swatches will be an important reminder during the sweater knitting process.

Fibra Natura Flax Unwashed

Fibra Natura Flax Washed
Left is unwashed, right is washed. 

Upcoming Events

Want to see some wool judging?  Mark your calendar for Saturday, August 12.  The Monterey County Wool Show judging will be held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds starting at 9 am.  If you are attending and want more information, contact us at twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com

If you see a fleece you want to buy, the wool auction will be held during the fair on September 4, 2017. 

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Comments

  1. hi ladies! i listen to your podcast frequently and never thought to hunt your blog down for some strange reason. It's so nice to put pictures to the lovely fibers you were talking about in this episode. listening to you speak about linen fibers has made me very keep to find some for myself and have a play, and Kelly's handspun is just gorgeous!
    Now I'm going to have to go back through all the past episodes and find all the other pictures.
    Glad to have found your blog and keep up the good work
    Louise

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Louise! I'm so glad you found our shownotes blog! Thanks for the compliment, I'm so glad you enjoy listening. Keep us posted about any adventures with linen!

      Delete

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