Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Waiting for Sleep

Here I am watching cop movies on Netflix, carding mohair, and waiting to be smacked upside the head by the sleep train.  You see, it goes like this....

It started two weeks ago with a bug bite.  Then the bug bite got infected (or so I thought).  Then the infected bug bite turned out to really be a symptom of Lyme disease.  Then I started on Doxycycline, the antibiotic of choice for Lyme disease.  Then, I got hives.  Red, itchy, spreading hives.  Did I say itchy?  I meant ITCHY.  All over.

So back to the doc, who doesn't want to take me off the Doxycycline because it really is the best thing for Lyme.  Then came Benadryl, and shortly after Benadryl comes Must. Sleep. So, I'm isolating myself even more than usual, which is too easy for me, and trying not to scratch.

So where does the mohair come in, you ask?

I want to make this Swedish Heartwarmer Shawl.  I've been lusting after it for over a year now.  It doesn't matter that I can't remember how to knit, or that I have no idea how to knit with different colors, or that I'm going to MAKE the yarn instead of buy it.  None of that matters.  I'm going to make this beautiful thing.




I'm going to make it 50% merino, 25% mohair and 25% tussah silk.  I've got the merino and the silk fiber already, but here's what the mohair looks like:  I traded a friend for it 2 years ago.  Her angora goats are all grown up now, but they were babies when this stuff was cut.  So soft!



I figure I'll need about 2 pounds of yarn.  So, roughly, the steps are: card the mohair, card all three fibers together, split it up into about 10 different chunks, dye each chunk a different color, mix colors back together in a pleasing way and spin 4 different yarn colors.  I think I'll need 500-600 yards of each color.  The yarn they used is 4-ply, but I don't think I can do 4-ply.  In fact, I've never done 3-ply.  If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll try 3-ply, but if not, I'll stick with the good ole 2-ply that I already know how to do.

This is totally a time vs money tradeoff.  This time I'm going to choose time.  And enjoy every minute of the loong time it's going to take to make this.  Or not.  I could just buy the yarn for $200 and I almost did.  But that's not the point of this project.  The point of this project is not to run as fast as possible to the destination, but enjoy the journey a little more than I generally do.  A long journey this will be.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, Jordan, good to know you're still alive and kickin'!

    So sorry to hear of the Lyme's disease diagnosis. (Well, if you HAVE it I suppose it's better to KNOW it.) Hoping all your yucky, uncomfortable symptoms disappear soon.

    Keep us updated on the gorgeous yarn/knitting project. It will be fun to follow.

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  2. I tried to comment yesterday, but my computer at work won't let me comment as myself.

    That shawl is close to the ultimate process-before-product exercise! IMO, 500-600 yards per color should be about right, as it takes 900-1200 yards total for a sweater, and that looks like maybe a sweater and a half of yarn.

    FWIW - I attended a talk a few months ago at work on the prevention of Lyme Disease, and the single most effective thing for it is... Taking a shower after you've been outside. The tucking the pants thing, the sprays, none of it as effective at taking your clothing off and getting a look at yourself to make sure there were no ticks on you.

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