Hello. Caroline, your hand-knitting correspondent here. This week I have been playing with wool. Knitting with our own yarns is a great pleasure.
When you first get your hands on a new yarn it often inspires ideas, not just because of the excitement of combining colours, but also because of the texture and the feel of the real wool between your fingers.
I remember that when I first began knitting I was too impatient to try things out with a swatch before diving in. These days I cherish my time spent yarn-exploring. After just a few rows I take my funny little wool square and wet block it (just fancy knit-speak for giving it a soak in tepid water for 20 minutes to overnight), give it a spin in my salad-spinner, then pop it on a windowsill to dry.
Then I often pop it in my pocket so that I can feel it during the day as I go about my business. It's amazing how the stitches bloom and plump up after their bath.
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