Fascinating

I've been trying to get to the handpaintedyarns laceweight for a while, but couldn't be bothered hanging the skein over the back of the chair and winding it into pull balls, I had a quick word with Donni who hooked me up with a swift in a jiffy, and now we are in business!

This is a shibori sample, I used 1 end of the laceweight at tension 6, 80 sts over 400 rows, the yarn knits beautifully through the machine, I was a bit scared that it would break, but I had no problems at all. I then placed glass pebbles at various intervals and held them in place with rubber bands, tied off the ends with rubber bands, and pleated in places which I held with bulldog clips, then placed it all in a pillowcase and threw it in a hotwash with some soap, and left it for a full wash cycle...
I could have left it for a little less time, it is a bit more felted than I wanted! After washing and felting I placed it in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover, (previously mixed with a sachet of Kool Aid in watermelon/raspberry) brought
to the boil, placed the lid on, removed from the heat and left overnight. This morning all of the colour was gone from the water...perfect! I rinsed and left the scarf to dry, then removed the rubber bands and clips, this is the result, the dye had not entered the areas that were held, and where the glass pebbles and clips had been had not felted, I like the results and have loads of ideas for future neck fascinators.

On an entirely different note, I bit the bullet and requested to work 4 days a week instead of 5, I had asked for fridays, as that works in best with Flash's work/entertaining commitments but I already knew that would be pushing things, so it has been agreed that I will have thursday off...which I will have to manage carefully to avoid going back to a drama every friday, but it is so much better than a poke in the eye! I can't wait, I had yesterday off, but had the car so ran loads of errands, went to Spotlight and Tapestry Craft for more sock dpns, and Dymocks to buy "Loop-de-loop" (couldn't hold out any longer), and scoped the book that I am going back for next thursday (will show-and-tell then) took Maria back to the burns clinic at Concord for a check up, she burnt herself in cooking, splashed hot butter on her neck, in a big sunburst pattern, it took the school and hour to call Flash, who then called me ( I work 5 minutes down the road, and the school are always supposed to call me first) I raced up there, and found her sitting in the sick bay dapping at the burns with a tissue, I soaked a towel and covered her neck and waited for Flash to arrive, by the time we got her to the GP 1 1/2 hrs had elapsed, most of that with no treatment, the GP replaced the towel with some more wet compresses and sent us to the Burns clinic, the long and short of it was that she is fine, she needs too scrub at the burns a couple of times a day to get rid of the damaged skin, and apply emollient cream a number of times a day, not to go to work for 2 weeks, and no sun for 4 months (poor thing, she loves the beach) because of the increased risk of hyper pigmentation and skin cancer, Flash has written a letter to the school board, outlining what happened, as their reaction to her burns was not good enough, they have her GPs details, and she is just down the street from the school, they could have asked us to meet them there.
On the plus side, she will be fine, and doesn't have to go back to the clinic.

It is Saturday, Flash made yummy lattes, and I got to read the papers in bed, now I will go and finish the baby cardi, then it is SSK, and Flash is off to the Motor Show, have a great weekend folks.