Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Nether garments

My latest project is knitting some nether garments from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac using Rygja wool I bought at a thrift store.


Following the "Washing" instructions on this Recycling Yarn page, I soaked the hanks of wool in hot water and shampoo.


When the water cooled off, I rinsed the hanks in Eucalan Woolwash and hung them out to dry and, hopefully, lose some of the rancid lanolin smell.


Then I wound one of the hanks into a ball and started knitting to find out the gauge. I'm getting 5 stitches to the inch on size 5 U.S. (3.75mm).

And I've started knitting. Here's the first ankle. I'm not worrying too much about the irregularities of my knitting as these are long underwear. (I probably won't wear them under a housedress with boots, EZ style!) The wool is quite rough, and I'm hoping blocking will help even out the stitches somewhat.


I've started increasing up the back seam for the calf and knee shaping. It's tricky trying to increase the way EZ recommends. But I should figure it out before I finish.


This is my knitting project for a two-day train ride. Hopefully, I'll have nether garments well on their way to being completed by the time I reach Seattle!

P.S. There is an EZ knit-along, Zimmermania, that is currently quite active.

1 comment:

Janice Bakke said...

Thanks, Julia! I'm hoping that the captivity of the train ride and a destination in the Cascade Mountains will be incentive to finish them.