Monday, February 23, 2009

Shrugging around

I've been busy focusing on shrugs for the spring shows coming up in April and May. Etsy itself continues to be very slow for me right now, but I've rebuilt my inventory and I've started working with fusing plastic bags, sewing, and other experiments. I'm also playing with some new yarns, like this Alpaca Lace. It's a very fine soft alpaca without the bulk you usually see in this fiber. I'm very happy with the way the green shrug turned out and I'm working on a cream version. I'm planning to try longer sleeves. We'll see. Despite it's thinness, the fiber seems pretty easy to work with and loops up beautifully. I had trouble with the green tangling and making terrible knots. I had to cut it twice before I started pulling from the outside instead of the inside. Maybe it just can't take ANY friction? Usually a shrug takes an entire skein of yarn, but with this yarn, I could easily make at least two. Or, as I plan to, try to alter the garment into something more - perhaps adding tapered three quarter length sleeves or a longer back? We'll see.