The second body piece of Forest Weave is done! I finished knitting it last night, then decided to wash and dry both pieces. The yarn is plain linen, so it is a little stiff and crumpled right off the needle. The next part is sewing the shoulder seams, and then the sleeves get picked up along the sides and knitted flat. Because the sleeve stitches get picked up and knit, I think it will be better if the fabric of the body pieces are a bit more relaxed.
Here are both pieces relaxing a bit after going in the dryer.
One thing that surprised me was the apocalyptic amount of fluff that came off the pieces in the dryer. I had no idea linen has any fluff to it, let alone this much!
Closer look at the pattern – some of the dropped stitches need to be unraveled still.
Next stop – sleeve island!
How are your projects going? Any last minute Christmas knitting going?
Quite A Yarn 
I’m amazed you are brave enough to pop a knitted item in your dryer! Dish cloths are the only think I’ve trusted in my dryer and they all shrunk. I’m surprised how soft that fluff looks from linen. When I blocked my linen cardigan it took about 4 days in the house, still not brave enough to try the dryer next time it’s washed.
I’m wondering if I can knit a whole hat for Allistar in the hours he’s at work on Christmas Eve! I’ve finally chosen a pattern for him and I’m on the toe decreases of my socks so they should be done for Christmas so no excuses not to try to do a hat. Have a very Merry Christmas xx
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I keep reading, how you’re supposed to treat linen pretty roughly to get it to soften up, so I just went for it. And it seemed to work OK – it is much softer and also shinier, which was a surprise. The fluff was a real shock. It is very soft! You can definitely knit him a hat in a day!
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Nice shade of green. At last my Christmas projects are finished and now I’ve cast on something new for myself!
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Yay!
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It’s looking so good! I cast on my Toujours Shawl yesterday and I am going to try to be monogamous with it until Jan 1.
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Can’t wait to see it!
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Yup, I am still needing two hats! But one needs to be shipped so there’s no hurry on it. One would be nice to gift on Christmas Eve, but that might not happen. Good luck on the island!!
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There’s still time – hats are quick, as you know. Bulky yarn!
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Whoa that is a lot of fluff!! The pieces look great. The linen will soften and be lovely:)
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It make take a few washes, but I think it will be softer eventually 🙂
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