Clothing The New Textile Thread (or What to Wear and How to make it when TSHTF)

[Faroe]

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/make-your-own-pocket/

Here is a link from the V&A Museum, with a brief tutorial, and a bit of historical background. You can find tutorials on several blogs - Tea in a Teacup has one, and Red Shoes Red Wine has one. You don't need a pattern. What you do want to do is experiment with some scrap fabric, so you can make up a quick one - wear it for a bit, and see what measurements are most comfortable for you. I like these deep and long with a generously sized slit for the hand, and I cut the slit more to the rear edge rather than down the middle - seems more ergonomic that way. If you don't want to deal with a bias tape binding, you can just turn the edges under.

Supposedly, the use of these ended when late 18th Century ladies gave up their practical gathered skirts for the fashion abomoination of the Napoloiac era, and those narrowly cut light gauzy (see through?! ) gowns that start around 1805 (?), and are worn with the very short Spencer jacket. You can see these in some Jane Austin BBC type productions, but I suspect women in the laboring classes just worked in the older styles. However, I ran into a very short video with a modern lady working at a museum wearing historical dress for CW era (I'll try to find it, and link), and she has slits in her practical farm dress to accommodate pockets.

They can be made in pairs, or as a single pocket. I wear a single pocket on my left hand side. While these were sometimes elaborately embroidered, mine is just plain linen, bound with bias from the same fabric, and tied with a linen tape. WalMart's fabric section should have a good choice for the "tape" - just find a sturdy narrow ribbon that suits you. Traditional skirts from the past were made with slits at the sides, and the pocket was worn under the outermost skirt, with access to it via the side slits. I just wear mine over the skirt, and under my apron. I wear a plain apron over my skirt everywhere, but this area isn't the city, so I don't get odd looks from people (unless I'm in WM, about 2X per year, and that place is a freak show anyway).

Numerous elaborately embroidered pockets have survived, if you want some inspiration for embellishment. Google images will give you dozens of examples.

Couldn't find the video with the lady mentioned, but here is a video I like very much showing basic 18 century dress, with pockets. 10 minutes. Claude Moore Colonial Farm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_OOjFR5A4A

 

[Martinhouse]

Thanks, Faroe. I rarely click on links because my computer seem to pick up problems so easily (some failure on my part, no doubt) but just what you describe has given me a few ideas. I like the idea of making something useful that I can embroider on. I love embroidery, but refuse to make any more stuff that just takes up space for no reason except to look at it.

I have considered just making slits in the sides of my sweatpants and setting pockets in that way, but I have to wear the pants very loose and anything of weight might just drag the sweatpants right off of my bony old hips!l

 

[Faroe]

Got it. Was wondering why you didn't just Google it.

My pocket measures about ten inches long, eight inches at the base, and five 1/2 inches across the top. The bottom corners are rounded. I have a five inch vertical slit off-centered, a bit towards the back, straight up and down. The top of the slit starts about 1 3/4 inches down from the top, but many pockets are made with the slit starting from the very top. Mine is just two layers of sturdy linen, with the slit and edges bound in the same fabric bias tape. If you embroider the front, you will want a third layer to line that from the inside. Sew a long length of ribbon across the top, so you can tie at the waist.

Let me know if anything isn't clear.
If your local library has internet, you could check up on links there. There are SO many good tutorials available!

 

[Seeker22]

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/make-your-own-pocket/

Here is a link from the V&A Museum, with a brief tutorial, and a bit of historical background. You can find tutorials on several blogs - Tea in a Teacup has one, and Red Shoes Red Wine has one. You don't need a pattern. What you do want to do is experiment with some scrap fabric, so you can make up a quick one - wear it for a bit, and see what measurements are most comfortable for you. I like these deep and long with a generously sized slit for the hand, and I cut the slit more to the rear edge rather than down the middle - seems more ergonomic that way. If you don't want to deal with a bias tape binding, you can just turn the edges under.

Supposedly, the use of these ended when late 18th Century ladies gave up their practical gathered skirts for the fashion abomoination of the Napoloiac era, and those narrowly cut light gauzy (see through?! ) gowns that start around 1805 (?), and are worn with the very short Spencer jacket. You can see these in some Jane Austin BBC type productions, but I suspect women in the laboring classes just worked in the older styles. However, I ran into a very short video with a modern lady working at a museum wearing historical dress for CW era (I'll try to find it, and link), and she has slits in her practical farm dress to accommodate pockets.

They can be made in pairs, or as a single pocket. I wear a single pocket on my left hand side. While these were sometimes elaborately embroidered, mine is just plain linen, bound with bias from the same fabric, and tied with a linen tape. WalMart's fabric section should have a good choice for the "tape" - just find a sturdy narrow ribbon that suits you. Traditional skirts from the past were made with slits at the sides, and the pocket was worn under the outermost skirt, with access to it via the side slits. I just wear mine over the skirt, and under my apron. I wear a plain apron over my skirt everywhere, but this area isn't the city, so I don't get odd looks from people (unless I'm in WM, about 2X per year, and that place is a freak show anyway).

Numerous elaborately embroidered pockets have survived, if you want some inspiration for embellishment. Google images will give you dozens of examples.

Couldn't find the video with the lady mentioned, but here is a video I like very much showing basic 18 century dress, with pockets. 10 minutes. Claude Moore Colonial Farm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_OOjFR5A4A

That video makes me very glad that all I have to put on is a pair of sloppy garden shoes, shorts, and a sleeveless Tee. It's hot!! out there. Yes, it's garden picking day. Once the Litle Ice Age gets here, dressing the old way will be comfy.

 

[Martinhouse]

Faroe, thanks for that description! I think I would make the type of pocket opening that has an arc cut out of it. The opening would be at the top rear corner of the pocket. And I can't have things tied around my waist, but I could put some sort of stiffener across the top of the whole thing and use a diagonal shoulder strap that wouldn't fall off. Any waist tie would have to be very loose, just enough that the pocket wouldn't dangle and drag on the ground when I lean over.

One of the types of apron I made a few years back was the one that covered both back and front of a person's torso to about mid-thigh and was a sort of rectangle with a big neck hole. It had a little bit of elastic at the center back waistline, and tied at both sides at the waist. The bottom front of it had an extra piece of fabric across it, with a vertical seam in the middle that made two huge front pockets. I wore that one when I was using my huge back garden and the pockets could hold a few things I might find that needed picking before I was planning to go picking with a pail.

I used to get remnant cuts of fabric and even tablecloths at the thrift stores and flea markets. Found a lot of neat fabrics that way, but I can't drive all over and wander the stores like I used to. However, I have plenty stored away to make anything I want, if I ever get inspired again.

Thanks for the inspiration!!!!!!

I like the idea of making a pocket that I could embroider on! I'd have to have at least two of them, of course!

 

[Melodi]

During the bitterly cold Winter here of 2010; we had a Middle Ages (SCA)event here at the house and people showed up in both full Elizabethan (with all the layers) as well as full Migration Age or Norse Winter clothing (all the layers) and it was amazing how they kept people warm enough to function outside at least as long as they were moving about doing archery or other sports.

Even sitting inside the drafty "hall" (with a small modern heater) was more comfortable in that clothing than the "modified" versions even most of us wear, most of the time because it is simply "too much" to have them all on all the time.

I also hand-woven a heavy Norse Apron dress a few years before that and had a heavily pleated linen underdress beneath it; I wore it during a snowy and freezing event in the UK one Winter and was amazed to find that even sleeveless, the apron dress wool kept me toasty warm and the heavy linen held in the heat without overheating my arms; more interesting it was also very comfortable in the modern heated hall.

Which was pretty close to what a Norse Lady would have experienced during the Winter as she went back and forth with farm tasks (or walking to the below ground/outdoor weaving shed) and back into the warm hall (with a long fireplace all down the middle of it) during the day and the evening.

I mean you would want a cloak and mittens to be out in the cold for a long period of time, but walking about a farm inside both heated and unheated buildings the outfit was nearly perfect.

People in the past knew how to dress for their climates when they could afford it and also how to work for their designated tasks in life from farmer's wife to high born lady in a drafty castle.

 

[Faroe]

Agree. That is one of the main attractions to me for constructing and wearing historically inspired dress. I like comfort.

Our house doesn't have central heating - just a couple of noisy gas heaters, and a smoky wood stove in the kitchen. As we get acclimated to winter temps, an indoor temp in the high 50's F isn't a particularly compelling reason to bother with a fire in that stove. Those clothes are warm in winter, and protect from sun and bugs in the summer. They are airy in the summer. They don't feel hot to me at all. The quality of linen does make a difference - the coarse scratchy stuff Jonanne's used to sell (maybe still) is NOT comfortable. FabricStore.com is the best I've found at reasonable prices. I also like Wm. Booth Draper, and Burnley & Towbridge (probably mis-spelled). The small history oriented vendors are also good about answering e-mail questions for weights and suitability.

Old peasant styles also allow for much more mobility. Legs aren't bound by tight denim, and arms and shoulders have full freedom of motion. No damp clammy t-shirt pits, no plumber's butt, no worries about cleavage, no wind snarled hair when it's in a kerchief, no unsightly bare muffin top, no wasted time over what to wear in the morning because it is all pretty much interchangeable.

 

[Faroe]

Faroe, thanks for that description! I think I would make the type of pocket opening that has an arc cut out of it. The opening would be at the top rear corner of the pocket. And I can't have things tied around my waist, but I could put some sort of stiffener across the top of the whole thing and use a diagonal shoulder strap that wouldn't fall off. Any waist tie would have to be very loose, just enough that the pocket wouldn't dangle and drag on the ground when I lean over.

One of the types of apron I made a few years back was the one that covered both back and front of a person's torso to about mid-thigh and was a sort of rectangle with a big neck hole. It had a little bit of elastic at the center back waistline, and tied at both sides at the waist. The bottom front of it had an extra piece of fabric across it, with a vertical seam in the middle that made two huge front pockets. I wore that one when I was using my huge back garden and the pockets could hold a few things I might find that needed picking before I was planning to go picking with a pail.

I used to get remnant cuts of fabric and even tablecloths at the thrift stores and flea markets. Found a lot of neat fabrics that way, but I can't drive all over and wander the stores like I used to. However, I have plenty stored away to make anything I want, if I ever get inspired again.

Thanks for the inspiration!!!!!!

I like the idea of making a pocket that I could embroider on! I'd have to have at least two of them, of course!

You are welcome. Just start sewing and experimenting. After a couple of trial pieces, you will figure out exactly what works, and then you have your own *pattern.*

 

[Faroe]

Started and nearly finished a new pocket this afternoon. They are easy quick projects, if kept plain of embellishment. I slightly altered the previous pattern, making this one a bit a-symmetrical at the bottom, which should hang better when weighted with the usual tiny pen knife, cash, spare change, etc.

It occurred to me that the pockets might be a good product to sell on Etsy. No fit issues, light weight and easy to mail, inexpensive materials, and I could probably cut the production time down to a couple hours or less, for each plain one. Antique style embroidered pockets would be priced quite a bit higher.

Not really needing to make money (nothing against that, either) - mostly motivated by the problem of how pitifully tech illiterate I've become. The World has moved ahead about three decades, and about all I know how to do with a computer is post on a forum.

Anyway, I would have finished the pocket this evening, but wanted to go for a run. After months of dragging along, and feeling lousey - like 49 going on 79, I just wanted (needed to) get out the door! Ha! I still have it.

 

[Melodi]

I have decided to go ahead and knit the back of my new sweater/jacket first; I had originally wanted to do the front but then realized why most flat knitting patterns start with the back; so you can more easily fit the front pieces on to it.

I'm still not exactly sure how to do the "mirror" flat knitting for the front (since I want a cardigan) but I think I've sorted it - I have a big problem thinking in three dimensions; I can LEARN to do things (like the percentage system) but doing a vertical sweater has me really in uncharted waters, and I'm not very used to knitting flat.

But still, I don't really need another pull over certainly not one this long, so I'm going to do my best to keep going.

Thankfully I'm happy with "folk garment/creative" look; I have studied the patterns via the lady who wrote (and continues to create) patterns for the Anarchist Knitter, she is mostly doing vertical sweaters now but they are more complicated than I'm trying to do (I suspect being mostly a religious hermit gives one a lot of time to meditate and knit).

I am also trying to come up with something that will transfer well to the knitting machines when I get them up and can practice some; that isn't the main point of this exercise but it would be fun to be able to do if I like the results.

Knitting has slowed down to the house repairs and all the food that needs putting up for Winter, but I'm getting there; also lost a week because I cut my finger processing apples but it is fine now.

Good thing I'm getting back to knitting, it was 37 degrees here this morning...

 

[Melodi]

Jacket so far - toggles are not attached just lying their next to the safety pins, I will be putting them on and adding idiot cord, hopefully over the next couple of days (I have clients this afternoon)

 

[Faroe]

Congrats! All I'm seeing is a thumbnail on my screen, but it looks pretty.

Am about 80% done with a black linen 18th century style skirt. Would have finished sooner, but changed the pleats around some - the first basting of them had the waist much too big. I'll be using a hook-and-eye set of closures on this, not the historically accurate ties. I find the ties are a bit of a pain to wrap and tie. The hooks require a more precise fit, but are easier to secure, and look better. I'm using inch wide cotton twill to bind the waist, and on the underside of the hem. I've noticed with other linen skirts that the first areas where the fabric wears out are at the waist and the hem. Makes sense - linen abrades easily, and doesn't wear well when subject to friction.

I have a yard-plus of fabric left over, and will probably make another apron with that.

 

[Melodi]

Not sure why the previous photo was so small, let's try again - not finished yet but maybe in a day or two - it was 37 this morning! So useful to have and I do mean 37-degrees Farinheight.

 

[Faroe]

Pretty pattern. Looks like it will be comfy and warm.

I'm getting some new Brittany needles in today. 14" long. IIRC, a size US 4.
Recently more interested in flat and seamed knitting.

Someone dumped a HEAP of wool, acrylic, cotton, etc. yarn in mostly very large cones at the thrift store this week. The cones are $1 each. I'm thinking someone was a weaver (no loom or assoc. tools in sight, however). I didn't have time today, but I might look through it more closely later. Unfortunately, mostly bright colors, but there should be some useful cones in there if I dig some more.

 

[Melodi]

Glad you get some sewing and knitting done, the thrift store finds sounds useful if you can pick some up - it probably was a weaver but the loom got sold off elsewhere.

Now my old housemate in Denver scored an entire 40-inch loom a couple of mornings before she came to visit but that is very rare and she bought it right then at 8:05 am.

My own loom I bought used in Denver in the 1980's (Baby Wolf) but I got it via an advertisement in Hand Woven magazine.

I am hopeful to get it moved indoors into the new textile room next week or the week after; I'm just too old to keep going to an outdoor "weaving shed" in the Winter though we sill still use it for yarn, tool and stash storage.

 

[Faroe]

That should be fun once you get it all set up.

Didn't finish any sewing today - sick goat. We are also getting two more does on Saturday, so while I was long term setting up for them, I put the sad one in there since she seemed to want to be by herself.

Not sure what is wrong. She is old, not pregnant. I was hoping on a long shot she might give birth, but no bagging up, no ligament change, no tail-set change, she isn't big, and I can't feel anything in her belly. Now, she looks dehydrated. Anyway, I've got her as comfortable as I can make things for her.

Not looking forward to digging a hole for her. Already had to put down a rooster this evening. I liked him - he was beautiful, had a lovely crow, and he was perfectly tame. Unfortunately, even by rooster standards, he was not kind to the hens. I finally got tired of watching the girls trying to run from him. We are down to one tiny banty roo who has much better manners.

 

[Melodi]

Finally DONE! And I solved the neck problem and it now fits perfectly - though I might have made it just a touch longer otherwise it fits just fine.

By making the neck and front bands wider and then using the idiot cord for the toggles and around the neck, I turned the square neckline which just hung "wrong" on me to a square neck morphing into a rounded one which looks great (and fits, isn't too big).

I look like I'm about to attack a posse of raiders (or hunt dust bunnies under the bed with an axe) in these pictures but the sweater looks pretty good, I think lol.

 

[Faroe]

Back to knitting:

Been looking at the old shale (old shell?) Scottish "happs." I want one, but am intimidated. Big square, small needles, etc. I've worked on a few things I haven't finished because of either lack of yarn, no full game plan, or too much of a change from the pattern.

Anyway, I need a Success. Chose Oberle's pattern on p.65, have the recomm. needles, and purchased ALL the recommend yarn (plus extra) in Leti Lopi from Wooly Thistle. Pattern looks straightforward, at least for now. I'll check eratta, and see if the Rav. forum for her fans can coach me through it if necessary. The Feather & Fan Triangle shawl is rather happ-like, and with what looks like the same lace pattern, and as a triangle, is half the size. Also, I really like shoulder shaping, and this pattern is supposed to have that.

As a yarn snob...unspun lopi??? Well, I might hate it. I'm all about multi ply, fingering yarns, but the shawl specifies Icelandic on size 8 needles (16 sts and 24 rows to 4", stockinette), and I don't want to get stuck in a tiny stitch/tiny needle rut on a bigger project. I also don't like the way thin yarns look when knit to a bigger gage. I'm hoping I just find it fun to do, with soft, cosy results. (my two other knit shawls are gorgeous, but just a *tad* scratchy.)

 

[Faroe]

I LOVE THE SWEATER!

The neck is perfect. Always better when you can make an alteration that makes it *yours,* and also improves things.
Your kitchen looks about like our kitchen.

 

[Melodi]

Yeah, I didn't realize what a wreck the area was until hubby took the picture but since he has the flu I didn't want to bug him to take another one lol

I like working with Icelandic Lopi but the real stuff from Iceland really is a pencil roving; what they sell in the US (except for places like School House Press) tends to be slightly spun but the real stuff is just roving.

I made one sweater with it, that was the one I had to throw away when I found it during the clean up because the husband had just thrown it somewhere and there wasn't enough left of it from the moths to even save for a pillow or anything.

It was fun to work with but "different" the results are amazing though; so probably a good project though I haven't tried it for a shawl only sweaters, hats and a few heavy socks.

And, honestly; the neck turning around on the sweater was a surprise but a good one, I had tried to keep the shaping but it just sort of fades into the neck but I like it much better than the original.

I also think the toggles "soften" the blocky look, I noticed the only versions of this sweater that looked good on ladies with "shape" tended to be those with only buttons/clasps or pins at the top.

Buttons all the way down just gap, but since toggles are supposed to gap; I figured they would do what they are doing which is making it a "design feature" rather than "I stuffed myself into this sweater."

If I make another one (and I probably will, I love it now that I've figured out the neckline) I will either do more toggles/clasps or do the pullover (which has two buttons or toggles at the top).

Now I think I can recommend this pattern to others, even if they don't fit a "blocky" pattern.

 

[Melodi]

Almost forgot, there were several lovely; almost elegant versions of this sweater done by older ladies on Ravelry in only one color; that seems to be another way to "soften" the block effect.

Do one color and then close it with a clasp or pin and it looks fine to wear to the opera; I wanted a more "craftsy" effect so I did the multi-colors like I did for the children's version I made - fits my personality but not to everyone's taste.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Your sweater looks great Melodi! Square necklines are not my thing either.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Almost forgot, there were several lovely; almost elegant versions of this sweater done by older ladies on Ravelry in only one color; that seems to be another way to "soften" the block effect.

Do one color and then close it with a clasp or pin and it looks fine to wear to the opera; I wanted a more "craftsy" effect so I did the multi-colors like I did for the children's version I made - fits my personality but not to everyone's taste.

I like it, reminds me of sweaters I saw back in the 80's, so looks like your back on trend!

 

[Melodi]

Thanks, Packy, it is a dead easy pattern and very warm since it is all in garter stitch; I had made baby versions before and on smalls it looks wonderful and wacky if you use a lot of different colored blocks and is a fun project to carry around.

 

[Melodi]

I like it, reminds me of sweaters I saw back in the 80's, so looks like your back on trend!

I believe the pattern may be from the late 1980's or early 1990's; I've had it nearly 20 years or so.

I love Cottage Creations because their sweaters are timeless; though this one the Creator got the idea from a sweater she saw in a craft store; bought the design from the designer and then modified it from machine knitting to hand knitting.

Personally, I think it needs just a tich more modifying (and I did some) you can see about 200 more versions on Ravelry mostly for babies but some for older adult women.

Very few made for men, or teens (but hey maybe it will come back in style?)

I always love things going into style since if I like them I know I can get them on sale when they go out of style lol; especially tartan cloth and flannels.

Ravelry Link https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rambling-rows-jacket/people

 

[Martinhouse]

Melodi, your sweater is really neat. I would like one like that better if it were longer, as you said, and I'd definitely need some sort of front pockets. Possibly I'd modify the top front squares to gradually narrow instead of the sharp right angle that makes the neck hole. Your extra wide band seems to have made the whole garment a lot more attractive than it would have been otherwise.

Is "idiot cord" something you make by crocheting or doing a candle wick type twist? Or maybe spool weaving? I'd sure like to know what it is.

YOur color combination is pleasing too...it's interesting without being cheap and gaudy looking.

 

[Melodi]

"Idiot Cord" is knitting and was invented by Elizabeth Zimmerman and is called that because it is so easy you "feel like an idiot" while making it; the results are basically like spool knitting only it is easy to attach directly to the garment.

I keep thinking of adding pockets and my hands keep reaching for them (I love the Cottage Creations Wonderful Wallaby because it has a pouch pocket for them).

The problem with making the sweater longer is that it is based on constructed squares; to make it longer you need either another entire square (making it pretty darn long) or to add several bands around the bottom (or tiny squares but I'm not math oriented enough to figure that one out).

Narrowing the neck has the same issue (with the constructed squares) you could do that if you just made regular knit squares rather than the constructed one but then it wouldn't look the same.

I love the colors (now discontinued) for the Wendy Traditional Aran yarns, I wouldn't have tried different colored sleeves and the like for an adult sweater if they were not so harmonious together.

There is a pattern in how I applied the colors too, they look random but they are not; I am mostly a color artist through working with geometric shapes is unusual for me.

My current attempt at sweater design is vertical and I am shaping the neck, we shall see how it turns out.

I haven't watched this video but it is listed as teaching idiot cord and there are several others up on youtube, I learned it from the book Knitting Without Tears a book every prepper should have in their library.

 

[Faroe]

Well, a rant.

Couldn't figure out why when researching traditional "hap" shawls, a Gundrun Johnson video would pop up, but I couldn't make it work. Turns out, it is a Craftsy class, and is also on sale now. Johnson is the designer for the hap pattern I ultimately want to knit - has that distilled classic spripey border hap look to it, and not too complicated. As far as I can tell, she avoids the traditional grafting and avoids knitting the borders first. (I like the Miller book, but am very intimidated - too much I'm simply not clear on when I try to make sense of it. Otherwise, I would knit Miller's "Morag" shawl - lovely, and classic look.)

I signed up immediately - very excited! $14.99, Total! Uhmm, no. After putting it all through PayPal, they add tax... after. They need to tell me BEFORE running a charge through PayPal what the REAL "total" will be. While a dollar is not a big deal, I HATE getting jerked around like that.

Sent them a curt e-mail with my disappointment in their business practices, and a request for cancellation and immediate refund.

Well, so much for Craftsy classes, they have a lot intriguing offerings too.

It is a beautiful morning here in NM, so I'll just finish this mug of coffee, check on the new goats, get the dogs out for their walk, and put that little grudge behind me.

 

[Melodi]

I hate it when companies pull things like that! I haven't taken any of their classes that I know of, I may have watched a couple of freebies (they have those from time to time) but in general, there are enough free (if often rather amateur) videos out there that I get by; I have joined a couple of cooking/preserving/gardening classes but that's a bit different.

I think it just depends on exactly what you need to know and how you need to know it; I do better with "show me" rather than "readme" though once I get the hang of something they learn by reading gets a lot easier.

I know what you mean about the shawls; I've thought about knitting a few again but honestly I find I don't wear them all that much and the cats destroy anything complicated; on the other hand I love the simple double-triangle shawls so I might make another one this Winter - simple lace borders like Cat's Paw are OK but complex designs just turn into cat snags around here.

 

[Faroe]

I just love wearing shawls, and I also take them to bed - they make nice squishy pillows.
Anyway, Craftsy is refunding my money w/o any issues. I do wish they would change that practice, however. I would still like to take that class.
The yarn came in. A nice rich brown, a lovely driftwood/oatmeal shade, and a cream. Definitely thicker than I'm used to, but nice. Have made a good start start on the shawl.

Dang! I am so scattered today!!! I had found a listing for a bird I've wanted for years on Craig's list, and contacted the seller a few days ago, but just didn't expect anything...
She is sitting on my kitchen counter in a temporary crate. Most gorgeous little thing I've ever seen. White ringneck dove. Tentatively named Luna. She will spend nights in the bird room with the budgies and canary, but I've got an empty outdoor day time aviary waiting for her after she settles in for a bit.

 

[Melodi]

You should call your new shawl - Luna's shawl so you will always know you got two things you love at the same time; I'm sure she is a very lucky little birdie and the yarn should keep you busy.

I like to wear shawls in bed too; which is why I tend to make simple ones again the little kitty claws just take apart anything really fancy but it is nice to snuggle into something warm and soft for me and the kitties.

 

[Faroe]

You should call your new shawl - Luna's shawl so you will always know you got two things you love at the same time; I'm sure she is a very lucky little birdie and the yarn should keep you busy.

I like to wear shawls in bed too; which is why I tend to make simple ones again the little kitty claws just take apart anything really fancy but it is nice to snuggle into something warm and soft for me and the kitties.

It is also Luna's shawl because I've been in there knitting while sitting on the floor next to her cage, so she will get used to me. (neither the budgies nor the canary are tame, and I don't much care - they are fun to watch, and I like the chatter, but doves are supposed to be easy to tame, and if possible, I would like her to be more of a companion bird.) I'll probably set up a mat in there - since it is the back storage room I *might* get disturbed less when BF is at home. I hardly got anything done of any kind while he was home the last three weeks. If I can't focus for large blocks of time, it is not worth trying to even read a book. Absolutely HATE being interrupted, and 95% it is some stupid BS anyway.

He would like me to knit him a gansey. I would very much like to knit him gansey, but we are going to have to come to some firm agreements if that project gets started. I'm not going to be putting my needles down every three minutes while trying to keep cables going correctly on something that will probably have 400 sts in the round.

Lopi sure knits up fast. I haven't even worked on it all that much - have an endless list of things that need to get done this week, and so far, none of it is going smoothly.
(Will try to be in a bit less of a bitchy mood next time I post.)

 

[LC]

Don't worry about itchiness here. Sometimes it just HAS to come out and this is a "safe place", lol. We've all been there so don't worry.

 

[Melodi]

Don't worry about itchiness here. Sometimes it just HAS to come out and this is a "safe place", lol. We've all been there so don't worry.

You should have heard me when I found the remains of the Iceland Lopi Sweater after husband lost in a dark corner for several years! We've all been there.

If your hubby is like my hubby and you don't really like knitting all those cables then make him a modified one to destroy by wearing it changing the oil under car or feeding horses (all horror stories other husbands or even mine have done to extremely difficult to knit sweaters).

I make husband the yoke/"art" sweaters because for me knitting colorwork with two hands is very easy; also these days I grab them off him and hid them in secure plastic boxes at the end of the Winter and I only leave the simple ones (either my own or bought at the charity shop) out for him to use at the forge, tending to animals etc.

 

[Faroe]

I do like cables, but they require concentration. I am probably a bit dyslexic - left and right has always been an issue for me, so I have to check and re-check.

Opposite, actually. BF will never actually WEAR the sweater I make him. It will be treated like a museum object, and carefully packed away....never to be seen again. Several pairs of socks, a couple of hats, a scarf, and some inkle woven belts have been similarly preserved for posterity. I'm fine with that. He grew up in this tiny house with nine other siblings, and nobody ever had anything "good."

I still want to make him one. I managed to knit most of one for myself about fifteen years ago, and had a HARD time of it! Was less experienced as a knitter, and needed glasses (but didn't know it, so was always squinting at knit and pearl stitches - struggled with endless ripping out and corrections). I had Beth Brown-Reinsel's (spell?) older book, and chose a pattern out of that. That book doesn't have much for men - I might check reviews for her new book, but am leaning toward a UK site that sells traditional patterns sized for body measurements (based as far as I can tell on Gladys Thompson's patterns), has the steel needles, and the yarn on cones. Anyway, sourcing for that project is at least a month out.

 

[Melodi]

Just got my newsletter from School House Press (the one they've been doing for 60 years) and they have a lovely shawl pattern that I realized is pretty much my double-triangle shawl with pretty holes in it (K2T, YO) but done with more planning, intentional rather than "oh my goodness I ran out of that brown" color changes and a lacey border.

I really like it but if I make another one I think I will do the basic pattern from Knitting the Nordic Tradition which is where I got the pattern for the first one.

But I'm sure this one will be available as a pattern (probably digital) in a few weeks and it looks like something Faroe might like; it also has a modified neckline - again I kind of like the slightly indented but not overshaped one for me, but this one is pretty and might be a fun but fairly easy project for a lace knitter because it is mostly garter stitch except at the edges and the extra shaping.

I've gotten no knitting done the last few days but hope to get back to it today - too much food to process and other things to get done.

 

[Martinhouse]

I haven't been knitting, but getting my greenhouse in shape for the winter. But the potatoes that I bought a couple weeks ago started going bad, big time bad, so I had to put everything else on hold and I've been cleaning, peeling, dicing and cooking 120# of red potatoes. I had hoped to can lots of mashed potato soup in October when the heat would help me warm the kitchen, but this had to be done immediately. I'm freezing the cooked potatoes mashed into one-cup containers and will thaw them when it gets cold out and do my canning then. I have two more days to go and I'm pretty sure both of my hands will fall off by the time I'm done with this project. (I don't take any kind of pills, but I believe I've used nearly a half tube of Aspercreme already!)

Can't wait to get back to my greenhouse...I love working out there among the flowers and the greens!

 

[Faroe]

Soon, winter will be here, and there won't much to do BUT knit.

Luna's shawl coming along well, directions are good. My book seems to have all the corrections updated.
She is a feisty little thing, and so far refusing to be tamed.

Today, is a cleaning day for me, so no knitting util maybe evening.

 

[Melodi]

OK the Bug bit me, I needless a mindless project for an SCA event tomorrow since I could only find a little fleece to spin (hey tomorrow is International Spin in Public Day) so I took some of the brown/green yarn left over from the Rambling Rows Jacket and some of the green and have started a double-triangle shaw from Knitting in the Nordic Tradition.

I realized I hadn't made one in about 17 years (the baby I made the nursing shaw for is about to turn 17) I know because I broke a needle when the second Tower went down on 9/11 and she was born the following January.

I still have some of my old ones but they are not in the best shape and I want something I didn't hand spin or otherwise do anything really special with that I can throw around my shoulders if we have another nasty Winter but not worry if Cats sit on me (which they will).

Anyway, it is a distraction from trying to design the cardigan.

 

[Faroe]

I had no idea about International Public Spinning Day. I'll make some time to do some tomorrow...at home.
Not the kind of thing that would go over well in this town, and I'm sure people here already think I'm weird.