oh so busy...

in which our plucky heroine accomplishes much...

For weeks now, I've been working on making a set of 16th century German clothing for my friend Maeva; she was attending Perfectly Period Feast North this last weekend, and I completed her linen-lined wool supportive undergown and her wool long sleeved overgown. In addition, I made multiple accessory items, including a gollar (shoulder capelet), a three layered headdress, and a hand-smocked, entirely hand-stitched linen apron. This sewing was quite the stretch, as it combined a small amount of machine stitching with a lot of hand stitching, and a number of techniques that were new to me. While I myself do historic re-creation as a hobby, my primary interest is in the Viking Age, and the clothing styles of centuries later than that are very different and much more complex in construction. I learned a lot and enjoyed the challenge.

Maeve, wearing the 16th German clothing I sewed for her, put on an impromptu fashion show Sunday afternoon when we stopped by Bolt Fabrics. The sales associates there had been following my progress with great interest, and it was a treat to be able to show them the results "as worn". Here I am helping her get all the layers properly in place. I hope to have better photos soon!

※※※

Mindy came down this last weekend, and the biggest thing we tackled was removing all the horrid irregular red plastic "privacy slats" from the chain link fence in the backyard. They didn't ever actually block the view of the neighbors, or the alley, but being all different lengths, turned the never-very-attractive chain fencing into a real eyesore. Now it is a lot less visually cluttered, and the offending plastic bits were tied in bundles and donated to the Rebuilding Center for re-use. We also put away the air conditioner til next summer; being able to close the window all the way means that the kitchen is a wee bit less drafty.

Saturday night we sorted through and re-folded all my wool fabrics, so the resource center shelves are now about a quarter dealt with. Not sure but that in time I may donate some of the wool, as there is definitely SABLE* happening in that category! There is only so much melton cloth our plucky heroine can use... That said, I found a piece of nice thin finely-woven grey herringbone wool, and even better a very special piece of what is probably cashmere in a deep chocolate brown! (soooo silky-soft) After trying on the gollar I made for Maeva, which seems the ideal garment for warmth in my Very Chilly Cottage, my plan is to make one for myself as well

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In the interest of using up some of my assorted precious indigo fabric scrap (as opposed to the simply ordinary scrap, which gets discarded in various ways) and inspired by the current "Freewheeling Single Girl Sewalong" I've started piecing arcs of indigo, with the idea of a quilted bed throw... While at Bolt yesterday, took advantage of their anniversary sale to acquirea few yards of Kona cotton chocolate brown fabric for the background to said indigo rings. While I won't be finishing a quilt in six weeks, most of which I spent on the aforementioned 16th century clothing, my hope is to turn at least some of the fabric stored here into  wintertime warmth and comfort. Aside from the brown cotton, all else needed for the project was already in the resource center!

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	6 jars grape syrup	moar apple pruning	grapes harvested
2	Maeva undergown	wool fabric sorted	yard waste bin
3	Maeva overdress	AC put to bed	yard waste bin
4	Maeva wool gollar	x	red fence slats
5	Maeva wusthalbe	x	-
6	Maeva steuchlein	x	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - my "emporium" aka "resource center" formerly known as stash, is a highly curated (if not yet well organised) source of materials for Useful Projects, and I am continually grateful for that

* SABLE = Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

a tiny distraction...

in which our plucky heroine is surprised by the recent past...

back before everything went south, I ordered some yarn from Knit Picks, as a minor treat for myself in support of projects planned for autumn and winter. Had rather forgotten all about it, when it arrived on my doorstep this morning!

These mini skeins of fingering yarn, lying on the linen gauze, are destined to become tassels on the cowl scarf I mentioned in my post yesterday...

These balls of DK/worsted weight wool are destined to become stripey sleeves on a winter cardigan. I'll probably combine them with some of the random balls of yarn in my "textile resource center" and have very polychrome sleeves in my favorite colors. I picked these for adding in some of my newly beloved turquoise/teal into the mixture of grey/indigo/black/brown that I have aplenty. I'm thinking about using the diamond twill handwoven fabric, with its subtle variageted color, for the body of a cardigan jacket, and some more exciting sleeves handknit. Is just a vague concept so far, (inspired by this bolero), but I can certainly begin on the sleeves, which could always end up as part of a knit cardigan instead. I just want to start turning some of the beautiful fabrics I have into wearable garments instead of shelf decorations.

weaving Wednesday

...in which our plucky heroine completes a project long on the loom...

Last night, finished the Laurel trim, tablet-woven from wool using irregular turning sequence; my second wool tablet weaving (and the final project in the "making things" category of my 2014 Rising 60 SMART goal challenge )

Here is the whole length of the weaving, just about 52 inches long...

... and a closer view of the leafy Laurel motif; am quite happy with how using lighter and darker green for the leaves gives a slight dimensionality to the design.

edit: Oh my, I just actually looked at my selvedges here, and wondered WTF? for most of the weaving I did the selvedges just turning all in one direction, not back and forth at all, and those are the nice ones seen in the back rows... the selvedge in the front, the ones that look so messy, those I did by NOT turning all in one direction, but by turning along with the rest of the tablets in pattern. Fortunately it is less than a foot of the total band, and will be mostly hidden in the stitching when it is applied. Chalk it up to a learning experience, a good case of compare and contrast, and a reminder to read the gorram weaving draft!

In the most recent bundle of fabric from my friend Claire was a dresslength of wool her mother wove!, in stripes of two shades of green, which will make a warm and pretty Viking Age apron-dress, this trim will hopefully be a suitable embellishment as well as a subtle form of regalia. Am considering hand sewing the dress, as a way to honor the handwoven character of the fabric ... but that is a project for 2015.

The next two weeks, in addition to both regular work and holiday preparations, not to mention the upcoming "start your sewing machines" beginning of SWAP 2015 on Boxing Day, I need to find eight, at least six, more "fix all the things" projects that can realistically be done with the time and resources currently available. I REALLY want to complete all three categories of my year-long challenge.

:::

December SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red-dyed wool, from pokeberries	hem and new pockets on Stacey dress	*
2	grey slip-dress	*	*
3	two kitty face needlebooks	*	*
4	acorn ornament	*	----------
5	four more kitty needlebooks	*	----------
6	sekrit santa gift	*	----------
7	looper potholder	*	----------
8	wool Laurel cardweaving	*	----------
9	----------	*	----------

:::

it's to dye for...

...in which our plucky heroine sees red...

Back in October, the Great Pokeberry Experiment began. Berries were gathered, and steeped in vinegar for a month. Then vinegar-mordanted wool was added to the cold solution and steeped for a week.

This is what my yarn looked like after soaking in the pokeberry-and-vinegar cold dye bath for a week... it isn't pink, or the purple I expected, but a deep "red wine" sort of color. The color of the wool is quite changeable, looks one way (deep crimson) in the sunlight, another (dark red wine) in shadow, and different (dark brown/red) yet under artificial lighting; in the sunlight, the poke-dyed wool turns out to be a deep crimson red color, slightly darker and warmer than this photo... pretty chuffed about this project I am !!

:::

December SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red-dyed wool, from pokeberries	*	*
2	*	*	*
3	*	*	*
4	*	*	----------
5	*	*	----------
6	*	*	----------
7	*	*	----------
8	*	*	----------
9	----------	*	----------

:::

oh darn!

...in which our plucky heroine makes needful repairs...

Am entirely baffled as to what caused these huge holes in the cuffs of my fingerless gloves. But since the change in the weather requires the warmth of wool, I am trying a new-to-me method of darning repair, instead of my usual simply weave a patch over the damaged area. Instead, this has each row use a separate length of yarn, that is knit in place in pattern, and then well anchored on each edge. Start by picking up a row of stitches beyond the damaged portion...

The result is a patch that has the same characteristics as the initial fabric, in this case the ribbing is still almost as stretchy as the undamaged portion, and aside from the loose yarn ends still visible where it was anchored in place, you can barely tell it has been mended... The yarn ends will be tucked to the inside and trimmed off. This method is slower than simply weaving a patch, but the results for this sort of use seem to be superior...

:::

November SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Norse collar embroidery	3 bubblepack windows	broken cot
2	Mindy cuffs embroidery	fingerless gloves mended	bag to Goodwill
3	Quince syrup - 5 jars	*	bag to Goodwill
4	Quincemeat - 7 jars	*	recycle bin full
5	Mindy yoke embroidery	*	----------
6	candied peel	*	----------
7	Quincemeat - 7 jars	----------	----------
8	Mindy undergown	----------	----------
9	*	----------	----------
10	*	----------	----------
11	*	----------	----------

:::

Heading into the last month of the year, and this is what remains for me to meet my rising 60 SMART goal challenge. With attention and effort it should be entirely possible. Has been surprising to me that getting some help from friends has had such an effect on the things discarded and the things repaired categories, and makes me wonder what a difference it would make if most of my everyday work also took place, at least occasionally, in the company of others, remembering how much more productive it seemed back in my school days, or in the years I shared a studio...food for thought anyway...

December SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	*	*	*
2	*	*	*
3	*	*	*
4	*	*	----------
5	*	*	----------
6	*	*	----------
7	*	*	----------
8	*	*	----------
9	----------	*	----------

:::

wishful Wednesday - pokeweed

in which our plucky heroine contemplates massive pokeweed, taller than my head, covered in pokeberries...

Definitely a Do-Not-Eat (poison), but theoretically the berries make a vivid red dyestuff. From what I have read it works best on wool, and needs mordanted with vinegar. This blog has information about a cold dye process that gave a vivid purple, as well as some data about how fast the dye is.

I am quite tempted to gather some of the berries to try out this process. There are enough large glass jars sitting unused in the lower pantry that one could be reserved for non-food use, and white vinegar is cheap. Some red/purple wool for cardweaving, that uses locally grown dyestuff, would be fun, even though poke is not SCA-period appropriate...



note: There are plenty of things that are used in natural dyeing that are not edible and can be quite toxic. That is why having separate pans and implements is important, as is using good safe protocol. There are plenty of things commonly grown in gardens around here that are just as toxic to humans. (This is by far not the most toxic locally common weed either; Poison Hemlock is very common here)

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine is very very naughty...

I ordered these yarns from KnitPicks; they will become Fox Paws, a way to bribe myself to do less desirable activities, like chores and the ongoing decluttering, with the promise of treats...

In addition, there has been much thinking about wardrobe planning, about how much is enough, and about making clothing as replacement pieces for the garments that wear out. (will admit that 'tis difficult to decide "this is too worn to wear any more" when it is a beloved but well worn dress, hence the dreadful wardrobe malfunctions) Given the desired eightfold wardrobe concept, have been thinking a lot about how long it takes for something to get from brand new to that state, and here is where my starting to record sewing projects online has been a real help...

Sunday snippets...

...in which our plucky heroine is awake at 3AM, due to thoughtlessly consuming something tasty that probably had tomato product in it*; and since awake, it is the PERFECT time to turn on All The Box Fans! Current outdoor temperature is 62 and will likely fall a degree or two before turning around, and since today is forecast to be over 90F getting some cooler air into the house seems like a good idea...

:::

In the last few days have been cogitating about how best to reconfigure the sewing/guest room. Lots of input from my online friends over at Stitchers Guild and it is fascinating to me the very various ways to accomodate sewing into a smaller space folks have come up with. I am also grateful to have been offered a folding table designed for sewing machines by one friend (similar to this), as well as a sturdy heavy wooden gate leg table with drawers which will probably be a better workroom table than the current one; at this rate will be well on the way to my goal of a refurbished living space that supports my chosen activities.

:::

One of my two current embroidery projects in process... (wool yarn and floss on wool fabric) I have been using some of the natural dyed wool for the pony bodies, and the Bayeaux tapestry stitch; the outlines are couching. Below is a closer look at the embroidery technique... showing some finished areas, and some with fill-in partially complete. The leg will get at least one other pass of fill-in satin stitches before the tying down stitches are added.

:::

Friday was not only my regular acupuncture visit, but I had a chance to help my dear friend sort out her introductory tablet weaving project. I am not that much further along with tablet weaving, just enough to be able to figure out what parts were being cranky for her, and to help with getting the warp and cards set up on her loom. Later that evening, my plan was to head out to Beaverton for DragonsMist Revels, but ended up following the directions on their website, which sent me to the wrong site! I should have been suspicious when the streets were blocked off, there were cheerful but numerous police officers directing traffic detours, and the big park across from the Library and community center was filled with families, and a huge inflatable movie screen for the local movies in the park night... some phone calls led me to the correct site, though, and it was a worthwhile excursion as it was possible to talk to several folks about the coronet bid...

We submitted a bid early this year and had not heard anything specific back, despite multiple emails, so now I know what the various combinations of options were most desirable and can revise the drawings and prices to reflect that (combine heraldic enamel with engraved dragons, combine dragon head joining plates with raised pearls, add a border with stitching holes for padding, etc) The other reason we have not heard from them is that since they are a new Barony, their coffers are not that full, so they are doing fundraising to pay for new coronets... not a bad thing, as artisans like to be paid for their work!

Turned out almost fated that I ended up needing to ride home on Tri-Met, though I loathe doing that after dark... my embroidery caused conversation with the two older lady tourists sitting next to me, which led to finding out that they were, in fact, on the WRONG train! I was able to show them where to wait for the correct train out to the airport, so that they did not end up somewhere in outer Gresham in the middle of the night...

:::

Saturday night was a good party at Marrakesh, with tasty Moroccan food, and an assortment of rarely seen friends, as well as the birthday girl herself, my pal Aelflaed. Not the best setting for conversation, as the ambient noise was pretty high, and louder when the belly dancer arrived... but it was fun to see various folks be enticed up to dance with her... who knew that T had such an ability to shimmy his hips!! Went back home and fell asleep in a sort of food and social coma, then woke up at 3AM most internally unhappy; I suspect that the tasty soup with veggies and chickpeas had a base of tomato product of some kind, didn't even think of it at the time...

:::

Today being even more hot and sunny than yesterday, the original plan to destroy the paper wasp nest in front of the garden shed was put on hold, as my pal Jess, who arrived mid-morning with various protective clothing including a motorcycle jacket and boots, decided on examination that the little buggers were way too active already, as the sun had been up for hours. The new plan is to attempt extermination after sunset later this week, as her arriving here before daybreak is not a real possiblity. If I was not so allergic, I would deal with them myself. So instead, she and I had a nice chance to chat, drink tea, and eat some cold cantaloupe... The rest of the afternoon will be spent playing House Tetris, as there will be five people arriving to spend the weekend, and there needs to be places for all of them to sleep...

:::

*any commercial food product that includes manufactured citric acid (which means pretty much anything with canned tomatoes, as well as assorted other processed foods) is not a happy thing for my internal equilibrium. I mostly eat homemade food, and usually remember to be thoughtful about the few times I eat in restaurants...

other small old details

so our plucky heroine went on holiday to ATWW for the better part of a week, managed not to get horridly sunburnt, escaped the intense city heat for a little while, saw old friends and made some new ones, learned a bit more about cardweaving from in a class taught by the Queen of Caid, and tried her best not to permanently lose equanimity.

When all else fails, playing with string is both soothing and pleasurable, and can be done in public without shame...

I recently acquired "Applesies and Foxnoses - Finnish Tabletwoven Bands"; this is pattern number 14. Perhaps foolishly did not begin in the easy section, but in the middle "difficult" section (did avoid the third "challenging" section) It has taken me quite a bit of time to get to the point where I can make it all the way through one pattern repeat without either having to unweave rows, or without simply giving up and letting the design lines go all psychedelic/wonky until I get to a stopping place where I can pick up the pattern again. There was rather a lot of bad words spoken this past week, and dear Maeva actually told me at one point to just "step away from the string"... Of course, the actual design itself is one that has a very long repeat(83? rows), with the cards moving in both directions in each row, and with almost no rows the same. None of the boring "four forward four back" for this gal! The photo shows approximately one repeat of the design, the second one I was able to successfully weave all the way through with no errors. 'Tis not yet a technique that I can both weave and hold a conversation at the same time.

In addition, this was my first attempt at doing cardweaving with wool yarn instead of crochet or pearl cotton. Was quite happy to find that the Naturespun fingering wool worked for this technique, since it is available locally, comparatively inexpensive, and comes in a wide range of colors. This project also included a bit of the yarn that I dyed earlier this summer at Egils as part of the border design; the pale blue-green threads (that alternate with the orange) were dyed with weld/indigo.

:::

Someone over in the Historic Tablet Weaving group commented on my shuttle, which is just barely visible alongside the loom...

This is one end of my "fancy" cardweaving shuttle: oak, carved with two horse heads, eyes inlaid with amber. I carved it about twenty years ago, during a time when I was fairly new in the SCA, and learning about card weaving. The decoration is pure fantasy, the shuttle itself works really well

The actual shuttle shape is a fairly standard "belt shuttle"...

I carved runes into the top edge of the shuttle: SKIT:GOTHAN:KIARI:ALISOLIN, which means "Alison made a good shuttle"... I had a friend who knows Old Norse translate it for me, and the inspiration came from a Viking comb case found in Lincoln and currently in the British Museum.

it's like a rainbow

in which our plucky heroine shares her intention to add more color to her life and that of her beloved pals...

Marya and Seamus(sp?) were running a natural dyeing demo in the Artisan Village at Egil's, and colorful yarn came home with me this weekend... from left to right: brazilwood/madder/redsandalwood, cochineal, indigo overdyed with logwood, cochineal overdyed with indigo, indigo, dock overdyed with indigo, dock... My hope is that the yarn will be strong enough to use for card weaving, but if not, will be used for decorative embroidery, and either way will end up embellishing SCA clothing and gear

oh look, a yarnbow!

...it has been a productive weekend here at Acorn Cottage, with masses of general tidying happening before Crafternoon on Saturday. Freydis and Lawrence came over with their sewing projects and it was really a treat to have company all afternoon. Mr Dawson came by briefly for a while as well, and we went over the changes needed for the kingdom regalia bids. There was a tasty dinner of coleslaw, roasted cauliflower and baked hake fillets, and for dessert, the newly sampled homemade nocino liqueur, which has been sitting forgotten aging in the back of the pantry for several years, was particularly tasty drizzled over cardamon ice cream...

:::

My friend Freydis been experimenting with natural dyestuffs on wool, thinking about what sort of colors would be available in the 7th century, Vendel period Sweden, her chosen time period. She brought her samples to Crafternoon yesterday, (and is keeping a notebook on the data of various variables like time/temperature/pH) Seeing actual colors in daylight, as opposed to the colors in books or online, in invaluable for choosing suitable fabric colors for historic re-creation

Many different colors from madder...

Weld yellows, indigo blues, the two combined for greens, and assorted logwood colors. She reminded me that the purple colors would have been from lichen dyestuff in Viking times, but logwood is more available currently (and was used more recently in history)

:::

Our plucky heroine started a new SCA underdress today, in basic rectangular construction. Most of my SCA clothes are at least ten years old, and showing the hard useage they get while camping. A few less threadbare garments will be useful this summer. The primary fabric is a fine linen herringbone in a very plausible indigo blue shot with pale yellow/cream, with the two sides very different in hue. I plan on taking advantage of the color difference.

While I had initially planned on using some beautiful ikat fabric in narrow bands as trim, it just didn't look right somehow... instead, this jaquard woven scrap in a very similar grey/green, which when cut into very narrow strips, reminds me rather of the Persian samite that was used as trim on some Norse clothing.

Cut and folded the jaquard woven fabric in narrow strips about 1cm wide to decorate the cuffs of the new gown, basted in place preparatory to stitching

Tuesday treats both large and small

Despite, or rather perhaps as a consequence of, coming rather unstuck in the sleep/wake cycle, our plucky heroine does seem to be finally escaping from the headache zone, with resulting improvement in functionality...

on awakening this morning, found on my doorstep a mysterious parcel... which when turned over and opened, contained this most gorgeous of yarns (Blue Moon Twisted in Haida colorway) last seen in analog life almost three years ago!

Like a child with a favorite softy, I am hugging it right now! Eight ounces of subtle darks and blues, in merino, but plied, which tempers softness with durability; now comes the fun of deciding just what project will be right to show off the beautiful coloring... thank you so very much Southward Jen for your kindhearted and warming generosity!

≈:::≈

It is my hope that my cardinals, sent out to the ornament exchange cohort, will be received with some echo of that delight... The bird ornaments are not that difficult to make, being a variant on the felted knit birds I have made in previous years, so I thought to share a few details of construction, should anyone be inspired to make some of their own... First off is heading for the internet, or a good field guide, to look at pictures of your chosen quarry.

A simple sketched silhouette can make a pattern, and the various parts cut up from different colors of felt. I used wool felt, and first washed and dried the rectangle to thicken and full it a bit more, before cutting out the bird components

 

The smaller pieces are stitched in place, then the wings, and finally the body is sewn together and a loop for hanging is attached...

Tuesday tidbits

ManyHands Marketplace - Saturday November 30th - here at Acorn Cottage

Just in case you were wondering what all those eyes yesterday would become...stay tuned, there will be more catfaces yet to come in the days ahead. This partially finished Siamese catface needlebook, still needs to be stitched together all round the edges. Am really happy with the way the two colors of felt define the face, less happy with how the lighting washes out the eyes. (Next year I want to build a little photo booth for my trinkets and treasures)...

Our plucky heroine has been feeling rather under the weather today, so mostly stuck close to home and my beloved electric teakettle... made one really quick field trip over to Bolt for more wool felt, and a stop at New Seasons for lemons... hot lemon and honey can have all sorts of different things added for healing goodness, and I suspect that there will be a wee drop of whiskey for a hot toddy tonight, since coughing all last night made today run rather slowly. Girl is not at all fond of alcohol, so bottles last a long time here at Acorn Cottage; it really is for medicinal use only. Sometimes it seems like I never grew up, since the things that grownups like to drink are completely unappealing to me.

The forecast is for COLD weather coming... will be below freezing tomorrow night. Wish I'd finished up my fingerless gloves, but will make do with my Voodoo Wristwarmers for now. I knitted them back in 2010, from a thrifted and unraveled merino sweater, and they have held up really well and are a boon companion all winter. Wool is my friend. It would have been clever to pick up a pound of flaxseeds whilst at the grocery today, and make up another flax bag for warmth... a few minutes in the microwave makes them hot enough to keep the bed warm for hours, and it is eversomuch nicer to curl up under the covers when there is a warm places for feet and back to relax into, and the flax bags seem to hold heat longer than the hot water bottle does.

Yesterday my pal Countess E reminded me of yet another Maddy Prior delight, perhaps more specific to this time of year, when the leaves all blow through the windy streets, and we curl inwards towards what warmth can be found...

a few Friday fragments

ManyHands Marketplace - Saturday November 30th - here at Acorn Cottage

One of the things that will be for sale at the ManyHands Marketplace, the holiday season gift sale some of my crafty pals and I will be having here at Acorn Cottage - wool felt cardinal ornaments, currently being watched over my catface needlebook. I can sew the birds whilst riding on the bus, but their little glass bead eyes need to be stitched in a more stable environment. There will be needlebooks for sale also, cat faces, and owls, and pug faces too oh my...

Our plucky heroine is considering the possibility of custom catfaced needlebooks, wondering if the intersection of those who like to sew, and those who love their cats might be a good place to offer commission possibilities - a special treat for the recipient, and profitable for me?

:::

On an entirely different topic, this fabric is astonishingly hard to photograph well... it was handwoven for me by Britta Hall, and is a wool birdseye twill with a navy warp and a russet brown weft... the fabric is dense but flexible, and is delightfully soft. Once I steam ironed it and smoothed it out, the final dimensions are 3 yards at 23 inches wide... some of it is intended for a warm wintertime hood (it is not scratchy at all, so will not need to be lined!), shall need to think about what the remainder will become.

a few Friday fragments

Completed a few new ornaments for the sale that is happening here this Sunday (day after tomorrow). I thought that these owls were a nice balance between retro and current. They are really quite large, maybe four inches across, and made from a combination of new felt and recycled felted wool. The ear tufts make me smile, and their vintage button eyes have been in the button box since I was a child, waiting for the perfect use.

≈:::≈

I so enjoy doing these kinds of simple handwork projects; more than most anything else they are soothing and relaxing, taking just enough mental concentration to keep the mind from dwelling in less felicitous places. Moderately complicated knitting does the same thing, and I need to remember that I can knit again without pain, after not being able to for so long.

Maybe after the winter holidays I will gather up all the worsted weight yarn and start on a sweater. While an all one color cardigan would be more my style, it will be an interesting challenge to create something from all the myriad random single skeins. I'm thinking Philosophers Wool / Kaffe Fassett style patterning, as a very simple cardigan. Maybe see about running some of the patterning from side to side, which would give me more vertical lines rather than horizontal... Hmmm is pleasant to think about, which beats the alternative.

≈:::≈

My remaining two hens are doing okay, and there has been no sign of the return of the Monstrous Marsupial.

≈:::≈

Have not started any sewing clothing for me yet, am still gathering Useful Fabrics together. This afternoon when talking to my mother, she mentioned clearing away extra sheets from her linen closet... "I can give them a good home", says I, immediately envisioning being able to create fitting muslins for some of the altered patterns I am hoping to use for SWAP this year.

≈:::≈

I know this is really an advert, but it is terribly cute nonetheless

and should you want more info, here is the "making-of" video

≈:::≈


/^-.-^\___}}
dog is on watch

a snakes-hand: micro-winter-whimsy

...well, lets not talk about how hard it was to get to sleep last night, or just perzactly what kind of dreamnightmareland I visited... Truth is I did wake again, to this world where so many friends-n-family love me, with the tasks ahead of me still to do, the hoops still there, and the blessing of actually having a modicum of medical care...

just a a wee bit of counterweight, here are some pictures of one of the current projects... We are planning on a holiday gift sale on December 11th, and I have done little to prepare for it. Indeed, have done little studio work at all in the last few weeks. My way of easing back in touch with my thingmaker self is often felt or stitchy-craft, and the idea for these pincushions was sparked by the lovely "TinyWorlds" that Mimi Kirchner makes. She even sells a pattern so folks can make their own, and teaches workshops at her home studio in Arlington MA. Her pincushions are incredibly detailed, and she uses all sorts of vintage teacups as a base...

Well, the only two vintage teacups here are well loved gifts from dear friends, but I did have a set of pretty egg cups, which are never used, since soft-boiled eggses are sooo not Fjorlief-food. They just seemed to ask to be made into little winter-worlds, and have turned out just the right kind of whimsical thing to sit on a sewing table, to be convenient. I've not yet finished sewing on the snowy "caps" to all the trees yet, and was amused by the progression from no snow, to all snow-covered...

with permission, I shall be offering these for sale next month

M3 - day 11

blue and black floral T-shirt dark blue corduroy jumper grey wool vest with striped binding braided T-shirt necklace green wool cloth socks

Wearing the same clothes two days in a row is not commonly done, though I had a friend in elementary school who wore the same dress all week long, hewing to an older method of dress. Yesterday the blue jumper wasn't quite finished, but I wore it anyway; now with patch pockets added, it is ready for anything. My "necklace" is made by braiding strips of cotton jersey cut from a T-shirt, following instructions found on IS•LY.

I'm really liking how the patchy hem edge is echoed by the stripey border on the vest; which was a project made at one of the Church of Craft meetings (back when there was an active group here in Portland) Several thin soft wool sweaters were cut apart and recombined, the sleeves became front lapels, edge binding cut from a striped scrap, and an embroidered applique added to the center back, and everything hand stitched together with thin wool yarn. There are several of these re-fashioned vests on the wool closet shelf, and they get worn almost as often as the shoulder shawls, and for similar reason. It is much faster to recombine already knit yardage than to knit a new vest, and it is a way to use clothing too small, or too worn to make something fun and funky...

bird applique in running stitch

≈ : ♥ : ≈

That was odd, it is only May, and only sixty degrees out, but an ice cream truck just drove down the street... I'm sorry, but if it is cool enough to be wearing extra layers, 'tis too cold for ice cream.

circled squares

I’m calling this done, my pattern-testing knit project… I love the shape, (a lovely round-bellied urn), and the color choices that I made worked out well. The pattern was clearly written and easy to follow, and the knitting was intriguing without being frustrating. I am quite happily surprised at the nice large size that the bag turned out to be, at about 12” x 13” it will make a nice purse or knitting project bag. The base of the bag is particularly well designed, and the Lanaloft that I used for that part made a very sturdy felt.

A side view of the base of the bag,
clearly showing the triangles of unfelted knitting (bronzy-green salvaged single-ply),
and the great shaping of the "foot" created by the knitted-in tuck

The only difficulty I had was that not all the yarn felted evenly, and (despite my best efforts) neither the washing machine or hand felting, or boiling! in soapy water was able to get the Noro or the salvaged single-ply yarn to felt, while the other yarns felted very quickly, and my attempts to get the recalcitrant yarn to cooperate made the already felted parts rather too solid.

I learned two new techniques while making this bag. The foot of the bag has added shaping by a kind of knitted tuck, which seems like an excellent addition to any future knit and felted bag projects. Also the instructions for making the twisted cord used for the bag handles are so much easier than the way I did such things before.

the bag from the top down, with a glimpse of the twisted cord drawstring-handles

I'll most probably make this bag again; I can envision it in a number of different colorways, and it'd be fun to try it in a sport or fingering yarn, for a smaller "bag of holding" I used eight different colors of yarn, all worsted weight, and my recommendation for the future is to be certain that the chosen yarns are ones that felt at the same rate more or less.

Here is what the bag looked like before felting:

before felting, about 16" x 16"

machine felting dilemma

For my test knitting felted bag project, I used several different all wool yarn “leftovers” from my stash. I wove all the ends in while I was riding the bus home from work yesterday. Last night I put the bag in the washer to start the felting process…

The different yarns are felting at very different rates: the Taos and the Lanaloft are really quick, already looking quite solid, but the Noro is barely felted; the checkerboard sections are much more felted than the garter stitch rows. I didn’t think to do a set of preliminary swatches to see if they would all felt the same, since they were all 100% non-superwash wool. I’m going to run it through the washer again today after work, and hopefully that will help. If it doesn't, I can always either line the bag, or add on some kind of felty decoration over the unfelted areas.

The bag already has a great shape, and I will certainly knit a second one (probably using all the same brand of yarn, rather than stash scraps) The technique of knitting in a welt before knitting the bottom of the bag really helps define the shape.

brought to you by the letter "W"

W is for Wool... as in Wow! today I Won the Wooly jackpot!!

My prize arrived from the Kenleighs Fiber Studio Felting Challenge - an assortment of Jacob sheep wool in shades of medium and light grey. This will be a lot of fun to make into needlefelted artifacts, possibly some tiny sculptural jewelry components...

~ : ♥ : ~

but wait...it gets even better...
my package from the Wee Warm Wishes swap arrived at the same time; it traveled a long journey to get here, all the way from Langley, British Columbia! Inside I found all kinds of nifty goodies both useful and beautiful...

A little tin, full of an assortment of stitch markers, and a nice big yarn needle ('cos I keep losing mine), and a shiny pebble and a shell - my swap pal know that I cherish the tiny bits of the natural world that find their way to Acorn Cottage from faraway places. And two handspun skeins of the most subtly colored wool, like the forest and ocean seen through mist; these will wait for me to pick a project that will show off their beauty.

The most astonishing thing, though, is this hand-knit Daybreak shoulder shawl, in a soft medium grey and a pale greenish grey!!! When I saw it posted on Ravelry, I admired it greatly, but didn't dream that it was intended to come here to me... Imagine if you will, me opening the package, then small happy sounds of "oooo ooo I can't believe it"...I've been walking around with a very happy goofy grin all day, and my shoulders are warm... A mighty thank you to my special sekrit swap pal, who I now know to be Elizabeth Braidwood, OP. I am both honored and delighted to have this Wonderful addition to my wardrobe!

~ : ♥ : ~