So the final sock challenge socks are going to be…
Hedera from Knitty. I started them a few nights ago and I’m loving the pattern and the yarn. The lace is relatively easy to do – just a four row repeat – so I think I’ll be fine with it. When I tried them on I could tell they were going to be a little loose around the ankle, so I changed to 2mm needles.
A few days ago I also discovered that a Lindcraft store was opening within an hour’s walk or five minute drive from home! It’s not as wonderful as a great LYS opening around the corner, but it’s still pretty exciting.
Today, after a rather disappointing look around an antiques fair, the beau and I dropped into Wondoflex in Malvern. All I wanted was a price list on table looms, but somehow these leapt off the shelves into my arms:
Since making a Kureopatora’s Snake Scarf earlier this year out of pretty-but-knot-ridden-itchy-mohair-content Noro Silk Garden I’ve wanted to make another I can admire and wear out of Paton’s Shadow Tweed. And maybe a hat to match.
As I carried the big squishy balls, cradled like a cat, up to the counter I could see the sales clerk was trying not to laugh. I told her what I was really there for was a price for 4 shaft table loom, which I was thinking of buying instead of upgrading to a bigger knitters loom. She took me over to the demonstration knitters looms to show me a way of achieving a herringbone effect by slipping the long reed through the back. So I told her about the modifications I’d made to mine, and we had a great little chat.
So now I’m thinking I’ll experiment some more, because if I can use this method with the $275 wider knitters loom it’s a lot cheaper than a $765 table loom.
I have to say, I’ve never had a bad experience in Wondoflex, and today was extra nice.
Maybe I should give Wondoflex another go (well, not *now* of course, now there is the whole stash diet to consider).
Every time I think of it there is a vague, lurking sensation of ‘ooooo, huge, spooky’.
I’ll take it that Wondo is huge and spooky, not your stash diet 😉
If you do revisit post-diet I hope you have as much fun as I did.
Just thought you’d like to know that the handweavers and spinners guild in Carlton is having a Textiles Bazaar on Sat 24th November and there might very well be a loom for sale there, very cheaply. I sold a four shaft one there a while back for about $30. So there are definitely bargains to be had.
I should stop looking at your blog whenever I’m feeling vulnerable – the startitis kicks in and I start twitching towards my sock yarns!!! Hedera is looking very spicy in that sophisticated red – yum!
(am not going near looms, weaving or spinning – knitting with 3 kids, 2 dogs and sundry other commitments is more than I can fit in already)