Sounds rather naughty, doesn’t it? Have no fear, there’s only knitting content here.
My original Danica is going to a new home soon; last year, a friend of mine commented on how much she loved it, and she floated the idea of stealing it from me. I protested, held onto it and said I’d make her one someday. That day never came, and since then, I’ve become unable to wear Patons SWS at all. I can use it for felted things, or for my French press cosy, but wearing it? Prickle prickle prickle scream tear cry. So my friend will finally get her scarf, all wrapped up inside the felted bag - an Amanda’s Squatty Sidekick - that I knit up in two days earlier this week. More on that story later.
In preparation for Danica’s change of owner, I decided to give it a haircut - you know how SWS can be. The sweater stone was a complete waste of time with this yarn - if you’ve a battery-powered defuzzing gadget, that’s the way to go, no question. As I shaved away at good old Danica, square after square after triangle, the fuzz piling up on my desk every time I emptied my gadget’s fuzz holder, I realised something incredibly fab. Even though this Danica was knit about a year and a half ago, it looked nearly brand new. With the pilling gone, the stitches were again easy to see and the yarn still had that wonderful SWS sheen to it. Exciting stuff. Here, have a look; the haircut side is on the left:
And here’s the pile of fuzz after I’d finished, with a skein of SWS for size reference:
Yeesh.
I’m so chuffed about all this. I was slightly worried about giving Danica away, as I don’t usually give away old things that I make (invariably, I was a rubbish knitter ‘back then’), but my friend had continually admired it over the winter months, so I don’t feel too badly - especially now that it is once again gorgeous.
The moral of this story? Don’t give up on your SWS even though it pills more than a pharmacy. Give it a haircut and maybe a Eucalan/Soak bath and enjoy it all over again. (I should, however, in the interests of full disclosure, say that Danica’s haircut took over an hour. For the front.)
Oh, and that Squatty Sidekick? Also SWS, and also given a haircut. I don’t want to put up photos of it until it changes hands, but it is beautiful as well - Natural Russet is one hell of a colourway. Next for my SWS stash (now down to four skeins)? Another felted bag, this time for me!
PS: We’ve all seen this, right? Sounds exciting!
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