Blocking the Rocky Pi Shawl

I've just given the shawl a soak in a mild soap and rinsed, pressed dry rolled in a towel.

  You can see that I have started to thread the mono-filament through the shawl's points.

This is a close up of how the mono-filament threads through your lace edging points.

If you use the kind for a weed whacker and it has sharp edges, you can do as I did and sand it down which softens the sharp edges.

After the shawl is theaded, I place a large pin in the center of the shawl and measure out to the radius I want. Mine was 28". Then I place pins along the edge of the mono-filament to keep it stretched in the circle shape.

It's a good idea to calculate what circumference you want for the final blocking to make sure you have enough mono-filament before you start to thread. I always run out :).

In circles the circumference is 3.14 (p) times the Diameter. Always give yourself a few extra feet over this measurement.

Now it sits to dry. It's warm here today so I figure it will dry out by tomorrow.

Rocky Pi Completed

Well, here she is, finished. I haven't blocked it yet, I sort of enjoy the bit of ruffling the shawl gives when it's unblocked.  This was one of the nicest knitting experiences. The fiber is a millspun from Brookfarm Alpaca, but this particular batch is a Blue Ribbon winning blanket fleece in a natural fawn color. It is so incredibly soft.

I'm planning on entering this gal in the Sonoma Couty Faire in July, so I will block it for that. I'll do comparison photos :). Ain't she a treat?

Spinning that Romney

Pleased with the way the singles are comig out. I'm planning a 3 ply for this fiber for a sweater that I have in mind. In this first picture you can see the roving balled up on the left, the wheel bobbin full of spun singles, and the 3 weavers bobbins I've used to store the singles onto. I'm putting them up in 3's like this so that I can rotate all the bobbins as I spin the final yarn. This distributes the variations throughout the entire yardage. Hopefully that helps with a more even yarn without taking away from the "homespunnyness" of the yarn.

I'm getting 30 wpi (wraps per inch) on the singles which should make a pretty nice worsted weight range 3 ply yarn. The singles are being spun in a semi-woolen manner from roving that I pulled from carded batts.