Just back after nearly three weeks away and I've not bothered to count up the digests waiting to be read..... Can anyone help me with a quick query?
I spent a couple of hours in Reykjavik, Iceland, during which time I located some wool for a colour match I'd searched the UK for and failed to find. Unfortunately the lopi wool turned out to be a discontinued dye and we couldn't find enough of it. Instead the shop manager offered me some unbanded "disks" of wool. "This is what we use" she said. Now her english was a million times better than my icelandic, but our conversation was rather broken and I'm not sure that I got the rest of what she said right. The disks consist of a single ply of wool that is untwisted, and the threads need to be plyed to obtain the weight I need (3ply). I thought she said it can be done as I knitted, with the three individual strands drawn through the centre of the three disks. But looking back on the conversation I seem to remember her pantomiming winding the wool round her hand. Now I've never seen such disks before (must have led a sheltered life!), they're about 1" deep and 5-6" across, but when I showed DH, he thought he remembered seeing his Mother with such things. She span, but passed away many years ago, and I can't think of anyone else among my acquaintance to ask. But I know there are spinners & knitters here.... so my question is... Should I ply the strands and wind into balls before knitting, or do I do it as I go? Many thanks for any advice and please reply to me personally since its not really lace related. Oh, and apologies to those who are offended by non-"strictly-lace" queries. Jane (Back in hot muggy Southampton after 2 weeks at sea - and Jaquie - I didn't touch any knitting, lace or otherwise, while away!) Ms Jane Read Southampton Oceanography Centre, Empress Dock, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, U.K. email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 02380-596432 - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
