Friday 19 April 2013

To Frog or Not To Frog?

That is the question that I have been pondering for some time now.  In August of 2010 I started this project as part of a CAL on Ravelry.  The motifs are gorgeous, but I wasn't happy with my choice of making a blanket with them.  The blanket just didn't feel solid enough, so I put it away for over two years!
 Yesterday I finally decided to do something about it!  My BF gifted this book to me for Christmas
 and I thought the colours of the Rowan Wool Cotton I had used for the flower blanket would work well for the Springtime Throw in Nicki Trench's book.  I tested the idea with one square
 and then frogged the entire project!  Unfortunately I fasten my ends in rather too well and some were impossible to undo.  Also I had blocked the work as I had gone along, so I was worried about the condition of the wool once I had frogged it.
 This is the first time I have frogged anything that has been made for a long time and many years ago I had heard about relaxing wool by wrapping it around a wire coat hanger and steaming it over a kettle, so I decided to try a similar method using my steam iron.
 I held the iron as close to the wool as possible without touching it and used the steam shot function on the iron.  I was amazed to see the yarn relaxing before my very eyes.  It wriggled on the ironing board like very colourful snakes. :)
 What a difference!
 I hung the wool over the end of the ironing board to dry
 and once dry wound it into balls, winding it over my fingers so that the yarn isn't stretched on the ball.
 Et voila!  Perfectly smooth wool
 to crochet into lots of little squares.
My finished blanket may not be as big as the one in the book, as I may not have enough of the yarn for it, but I will be happy with any size.  At the moment I am exploring the various colour combinations using the above colours.  I have decided not to use the darker plum, green and two of the blues at the moment, but to wait and see how the blanket looks with just five colours.
Frogging and relaxing wool!  What a strange world I live in! :)

4 comments:

Dawn said...

Your finished squares look lovely, how lucky you managed to save the wool.

thesnailgarden said...

Thank you Dawn. I am amazed that the wool straigtened so well. Best wishes, Pj x

Sue Pinner said...

Hi...that looks just like a day i had last week lol....permed yarn and a new project...love the new one by the way...love the flowers but sometimes a girl just need somethig more
good luck with it
hugs x

thesnailgarden said...

Thank you Sue. Good luck with your new project too. Best wishes, Pj x