Finished Object Dance

Not much to show recently, since I'm making demo swatches for a class I'm teaching in June on Deciphering Yarn Substitution. Last weekend I had enough ready to move on to the next step -- measuring pre-washing, washing and then blocking. All swatches are 100 stitches around, with a seed stitch border, and, since I'm a loose knitter, done on whatever size needle is the next down from the smallest recommended. I don't seem to be making their gauge pre-washing.

So far I've done Red Heart Classic and Kids, Wool Ease, Sockotta, Dream, Regia Bamboo, Lion Brand Microspun and Jaeger Matchmaker. Surprisingly enough, when I looked at the labels, all of them were machine washable, most saying 40 degrees C, with one 30 C. In they went with a load of shirts and underwear on warm/cold. Himself has no idea what temperature his washer runs at, so I figured "ordinary medium with everything else" would be good enough. It's what I wash my socks with.

I ran into trouble when things came out of the washer and it was time for drying. I found a fine selection of international laundry symbols here. Himself's dryer appears to be far less sophisticated than the variety of drying symbols allow -- i.e., either full on or not quite so much. All the samples were air-dried on a towel after all.

Next weekend I will have more swatches completed to give the treatment. Next steps are measuring post-washing gauge and starting to compare that to label expectations. The two Red Hearts were made with the same 100 stitches done on the same size needle, but they're quite different. Just shows how a larger swatch will show gauge better than a small one.

Then I need to start drafting what I'm going to say about them. Still need a whole Wool Ease label to replace the ripped remaining half.

My vertical swift will be here soon. Also coming is a $200 Palm to replace the several years old $200 Palm that I lost Friday evening. There's always a $200 Palm on the market, it just gets more and more features as time goes by.