a quick teaser

I had something arrive for me in the mail today, as a part of my experimental design. As you may remember, I am doing nude bodysuits and one has a roving oversize-knit "body sock" over the top (I posted the drawings in a post further down). The critique is December 2nd, so I will be sewing like crazy pretty soon! But the pressure is off; I was worried the roving wouldn't get here in time because I need to dye all of it first. Now, however, I'm just excited!

The first photo is the neoprin - a very thick, double-knit material used for scuba diving. Neoprin is a little thinner and stretchier than neoprene, used for wetsuits. In the next photo, look at how big that box is! That is 7 pounds of natural merino roving, which you can see better at bottom left. It is ridiculously soft and even thicker than what I used to knit my swatch sample, bottom right, with my specially-ordered size 42 knitting needles (I couldn't find these in a store anywhere). I am excited at how lofty the roving is - means my stitches will be just slightly bigger. I am so excited to start knitting this!

I will document the dyeing process, since it is sort of interesting to see how it is done. I will be doing it in the bathtub while I am home for Thanksgiving break - not putting my perfect wool in my college house bathtub here, no way. Just thought I'd give you a sneak peak of the materials! For our critique, we will have a professional photographer, so expect some "photoshoot" type things in about two weeks.