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

[Faroe]

Finished the knitting on my pair. Kitchner and ends weaving will get done tomorrow. I did run out of yarn, and switched to some home-spun from 2013 I had for the toe. That yarn was a good match for thickness, and well-spun, but seemed like it was still greasy. It dragged through my fingers and over the slick needles. Not fun. The socks fit and are well done, so I don't care about the off color at the one toe - I wasn't spending another $15 to get a third skein shipped. I'm still waiting on the yarn to finish BF's sock. Couldn't find it available anymore in the US, and had to order direct from the farmer in the UK - Expensive!...and she hasn't gotten back to me about it, she said earliest would be Wednesday. Maybe she is off sourcing hay.

Looking forward to the two-sock photos when you get a chance.

Tin can knits has a good basic shawl tutorial, and a "tab" start for the base of a top-down knit. I don't need to learn that for the next project, but I want to try out the mini practice shawls they show. Oberle has a Ravelry pattern I found today that is a Faroese with a simple eyelet pattern on spaced out rows. Not sure that counts as lace, but the shawl is pretty, and I may choose that one for a first attempt instead. Plenty of time; this was an expensive month, so it will be a while before I purchase the yarn for a full size project. In the meantime, there is plenty of greasy home-spun to use up on practice swatches.

 

[Melodi]

The very simple shawl pattern I started out with (and then learned to expand on) was from Knitting in the Nordic Tradition - it comes in two versions and is one of the "Old Classroom" patterns from Norway; there is also an Island version (I forget which one) that I like even better because it gives you a central placket - it is also nearly mindless unless you want to add some lace (like I did later) in the middle or on the edges.

I'll see if I can look it up, but pretty much you start with three stitches on a large round needle (whatever you gage you want - this is GREAT for homespun yarn).

To get the placket version, instead of one stitch in the middle you use between about five to ten (depending on the size placket you want - it won't change) and put markers on either side just to remind you where it is (especially if you want to put a pattern down the placket).

In either version, you just add a stitch in whatever method you like (if you want to fringe later use a method that produces a hole intentionally) on EITHER SIDE of shawl one stitch in from the last stitch on the needle - do this forever or until you have a giant triangle or if you want a double triangle (my preferred version) add FOUR stitches every OTHER row (always the same row) on both the edges and either side of the MARKED middle stitch or placket stitches.

Again this all sounds harder to explain than to do - my first one was a single triangle which is nice but tends to slip off, the Double triangle is fantastic and the double triangle with middle placket is my favorite.

The book gives alternative instructions (with historical photos) of young women extending the edges out (it shows you how to do this) to allow a person to TIE the shawl to your waist to carry a baby, firewood or other things on your back and/or just tie it on rather than pinning it (important in areas where people are too poor to afford pins, also it is a nice trick to pull off in high winds.

Here is a free versionhttp://abramsbooks.tumblr.com/post/143431375999/how-to-basic-top-down-double-triangle-shawl of a double triangle pattern, it is slightly different but looks nice and has some lace added; there are probably a lot more on line as these shawls probably go back to the later Middle Ages

http://abramsbooks.tumblr.com/post/143431375999/how-to-basic-top-down-double-triangle-shawl

And here is the photo of two socks on two long, circular needles with the "Dead Easy" K3 P1 row/Knit every other row pattern

 

[Melodi]

Here's another version of a free triangle shawl pattern http://tabithasheart.com/friday-freebie-easy-triangular-shawls/

To make the pretty holes you just use a yarn over for you increases, you can make the lines of holes by doing a yarn over (to make one) then knit 2 together in the next stitch that makes a fake "increase" - these are also great for the tops of socks or other items you might want to add a drawstring too (you can also knit 2 together on the following row but that gets harder to remember.

If you want a lace placket, or a mostly none garter stitch shawl you can pearl the wrong-side rows for that area of the design (or most of the inside of the shawl) personally I only do this knitting lace, otherwise I think part of the charm is the simple garter stitch that makes these shawls easy, the holes add a bit of decoration and they look fantastic for even starter spinning yarns.

They also look great in multi-color or as happened to me, starting with one cone of dark brown for the start (becomes middle) of the shawl and finished (outside) with a lighter brown wool when I ran out - a great case of "yeah, I meant to do that really, I did" (lol)

My "Cat's Paw" lace shawl made using the "Knitting in the Nordic Tradition pattern except I used a the Cat's Paw patterned (modeled by one of my former weaving students about 10 years ago.

 

[Melodi]

Finally (for now anyway lol) another shawl I knit around the same time, showing the "yarn/over" decorative technique - I am pretty sure this is the "pie Are Squared" shawl from one of Elizebeth Zimmerman's pattern books, it may have been her "simple shawl" I can't remember - I gave it to the young lady in question as it looked a lot better on her than that particular one looked on me (just the wrong color, wrong shape etc - I looked dead, she looked great).

 

[Faroe]

Those are lovely! I esp. like that simple eyelet pattern on the white shawl.

Well, it has been frustrating knitting, but it's looking up. Chose some fingering weight for samplers and practice, only problem was that the circs I had in narrow gauges had very dull tips. I'm really not a fan of Addi Turbos, and this one had a damaged join. Anyway went with the same yarn on what is about a size six, and a circ. from maybe my mother's collection, but it has good points, and is anodized aluminum, or similar, so not too slick. Still, was ending up with ugly fabric, way too loopy, and slidey, and just a pain to deal with. Not a good use for otherwise very nice yarn (left-over skein from Upton Yarns). Fingering weight and large needles just don't work well, IMHO.

The only other yarn I had was WM's finest acrylic, in a worsted wt. (if acrylic can even be classified as such) and in a pretty shade of caramel. I actually managed to make a beginning "tab" (sort of ) as specified by the Tin Can ladies, and ended up with well defined stitches, and a perfectly clear set of double eyelets down the center back. This *easy* beginner shawl pattern is just a triangle that expands top down. So far, I really like it, and will just keep going. $4 bucks a big skein sure beats $8, $10, $20 a skein plus shipping. I can make a shawl out of good wool later, when I'm better at it.

 

[Melodi]

You should be fine with the acrylic for the starter shawl, I think the double triangles hang better than the single triangles but then I'm top heavy which is probably why they slip.

The basic holes on both shawls are just "K two together, followed by a yarn over" on the next row (wrong side) you pick up the yarn over and it forms the hole.

The Cat's Paw lace on the sides of the white shawl are a very simple lace pattern done in pretty much the same way with k 2 together and yarn over's but in a specific pattern that over several rows looks like a Cat's Paw Print (and since I'm the cat) well I used it instead of the round lace pattern in the book.

You can add the rows on the type of shawl you are knitting every 10, 20 or 30 rows for a nice effect and it keeps things (for me anyway) from getting boring.

The only thing about the acrylic shawl (and I knit a lace one for my sister) is they don't block well; NOT a problem for basic garter stitch but an issue for more complex lace patterns.

I'm sure your shawl will be lovely!

 

[Faroe]

A little break from knitting:

Was looking on some skirts-only sites, and ran across a couple of blogs to the effect of "Ditch the yoga pants, embrace the house dress'" and "Why I want to bring back the house dress." There is a book on the history of the house dress, and even Gertie (of vintage sewing fame) has a blog on the humble house dress, '50's -'60's.

Odd coincidence, since while BF and I were walking the dogs this morning, we came across one of our neighbors out watering the flowers in her front yard, and she was in a house dress - moo moo style. She looked fantastic in it.

I remember my grandmother wore that sort of semi-fitted princess seamed button up house dress. My mother was able to find these styles and buy them for her even into the late 1970's after my grandmother had become too frail to go out shopping. My grandfather had been buying her slacks - he thought they were practical, but she hated them.

These old patterns are now getting reprinted - a possible reference source for traditional wives who don't want to fall into the t-shirt and sweats habit. June Cleaver is now a style icon.

 

[Faroe]

Knit like the Latvians did: Color dominance, strand dominance, and multi-color knitting when there are more than two in one row.

Roxanne has a knitting podcast that I find enjoyable even when the subject isn't knitting (she talks a lot about genealogy). She just posted one about her Latvian mitten class and some side research, and a related Master's thesis on knitting that recently came out in English. Multicolor Knitting - What I didn't Know. 43 minutes run time. From April 13, this year.

I'll try to get the link later, no time right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORTtv5Vl6zg
Hope this link works.

 

[Melodi]

OK, I'm finally well enough to knit again (lol) and I've got one heal finished and working on the other - when I make the two socks at once, I've found the turning parts of the heals to be easier to do individually, everything else is easy at the same time but trying to turn to heals at once just takes more time.

I learned something about Color Dominance and/or knitting with sharply different colors in Northern Folk Knitting our First Winter here at the house when we had the first "100 year storm" (supposedly so bad you won't see another for 100 years, took us two years to see another one) anyway a tree fell on our pathway and took out the power.

Because of our remote location, the trucks didn't even get to us for three days and it wasn't until the fourth morning we got our power back.

Thankfully we had left over Yule ham, the solid fuel stove and I knew how to make lamps out of pudding dishes and olive oil when the lamp oil ran out (it was below freezing the entire time).

So while huddled in the kitchen reading each other ghost stories from the Firefox books or listening to the empty radio station reports the same recorded broadcast that failed to predict the storm over and over (they changed the law after that, by the next storm radio stations were required to have emergency real-time broadcasts even during holiday periods) but anyway I was busy knitting scarves I had already started for family members in the US.

I had selected to knit in lovely shades of aqua-green, and greenish-blue - yes they were lovely and yes they were different enough in normal daylight or electric lighting; they were impossible to tell apart under lantern light or even the dull, murky "daylight" during the storm or the severely overcast-aftermath.

I had just gotten a few books on Nordic and British Isles folk knitting and had noticed (but not paid much attention) the fact that almost all the color patterns from Ireland to Norway and beyond to Eastern Europe and Russia tended to be very contrasting colors like Black and White, Blue, and White, Red and White, Grey and White etc.

There were a few exceptions like Scottish "Faire Isle" knitting but even that has ONE MAIN color per area with variations of other colors (so you use maybe brown for 20 rows as your main color and if your a crafter you have a bunch of tiny bits of leftover colors you use as your second color; so you never have to "think" about the main color until you decide to change it).

Finding it really impossible to continue my "pattern" when I couldn't tell one color from the other in the dark, I was forced to do something similar - just do one row one color and the other color the next type stuff because the only way to tell them apart was to put them in different baskets on either side of me.

So like learning why tea coseys are a useful object in this climate (we ended up wrapping the teapot in towels and blankets to keep the tea from being stone cold in 15 minutes with just the turf fire) I learned WHY the longer your Winter, the shorter your days and the more time your knitting is likely to be by firelight or lamp light; the more likely your knitting is to be dominated by patterns that use either sharp color contrasts or the counting of rows as your pattern base.

The other option, seen in parts of Ireland and Canada are to "knit by texture" where a combination of markers, memorization and "feeling the stitches" can help create the cabled sweaters of Ireland or the Gansey's of the English Islands.

The idea is similar, except you feel your way around the design if you can't see it; also the lamp light helps "shadow" the larger designs if you get confused - these were often knit flat, so you could work on a fancy part during the day and a simpler design after dark (which in Sweden came at 2pm when we lived there, though Sweden folk knitting goes for color for the most part).

Anyway, just passing on some of the things you learn by doing and this is important for preppers who may someday knit by firelight or do so by choice if they live off the grid (at least during certain seasons of the year).

I'm hoping to get out the knitting machines by next week (I'm still not up to learning new tasks, this flu was a whipe out) but I'm enjoying getting towards the end of sock number 3 in the series of 5 pairs husband requested.

I suspect the "Dead Easy" pattern is going to be use for the next one; I've already selected the yarn for them.

 

[Martinhouse]

Melodi, I'm so glad you're feeling better!

Thank you again for all of the wonder pictures and descriptions. I find myself knitting socks in my head lately, as I go about my daily chores and projects.

Yesterday morning, I forgot for the first time ever, to take off my sleep slippers and change into socks. I wear very loose size-small men's house-shoes instead of regular shoes, because of skinny feet with gnarled swollen toe joints, so I didn't even realize until last night that I wore those slippers all day!

This experience has shown me a way to knit myself some very thick, quick and easy socks for cold weather that won't leave my ankles freezing. In fact, I woke at 3:30 AM this morning, and as I dozed, trying to get a couple more hours sleep, I remember that I was dreaming about how I was going to make those socks. I even "saw" how one thing I thought of would not work like I thought it would. Right now my memory of this "dream" is hazy, but it will come back when it's time to actually start knitting those socks. It's almost like my dream self is helping my world self to figure things out.

 

[Melodi]

Really Easy Bedsocks (I've seen this basic pattern a lot of places and my Mom remembers knitting them to sell during the Great Depression.

Yarn - works best with Worsted Weight and is warmer with a wool or wool blend.

Cast on about 50 stitches (56 is a good number because it divides well by four)

Needle size will vary but most people need somewhere between

a size 4 and a size 7

If you have them, start with one needle size smaller than you plan to use for the main sock

Cast on your stitches (from 48 to 56, depending on your foot size and needles)

Knit: K2 P2 for about 2 to 4 inches,

Switch to larger needles and knit about 6 more inches for the leg and the length of your foot (more or less)

There is NO HEAL

When you get to the end of however long you want the full sock, make a toe in your favorite manor

Repeat to make the second sock.

Variations are doing K2P2 all the way to the start of the foot

Use the "Spiral Pattern" after the K2 P2 (aka K3 P3 for 3 rows, then move over one and do P1, K2, P3 for three rows etc - lots of patterns online for this one easier to do than to try to write down).

You can "add a heal" if you like and that makes a good, heavy "oversock" for bed or for work boots but isn't as easy and takes more time to do.

You can vary the yarns and number of stitches - I've seen one pattern using doubled or tripled leftover yarns for as few as 26 stitches to versions with sock yarns that start at 88 and work down with leg shaping to the 72 we've been using as a basic pattern here.

One of my favorites uses 36 stitches on size 9 needles, with either chunky yarn or doubled worsted weight - it makes a really-really warm sock (really nice with homespun) - it also makes a really warm over-sock (even without the heal) in work boots and doesn't slip much when worn over other socks.

I don't know if those match your "plans" but they may help as a guide for them.

Please post pictures if you can once they are done!

Melodi

 

[Martinhouse]

Melodi, I can't post pictures, can't even take any pictures.

My slippers are a version of that old one that is basically a square but the front one-third is ribbed to hug the toe area. The center of the back end is drawn up and then either side of it is stitched together and you have the heel and the back of the slipper. The whole front end is gathered up tight and then the whole thing is stitched together on top from the toe to where the seam must stop for the ankle. This originally had a drawstring to tie like a shoelace, but in stead of that, I add a four inches high cuff, and I also make two knit ribs up the garter stitch body of the slipper to define the sole from the sides. I space them so they continue without a break into the ribbed front section of the square.

The last few years, I make these with two strands of regular four-ply yarn and #8 needles. They look nice with either contrasting colors or one solid color with matching variegated. The variegated yarns aren't quite as heavy as the solid colors, so it should be knitted a little more loosely or the slipper will end up somewhat smaller. Some older yarn is so much heavier I've had to use #9 needles and make a few less rows.

I make these for my brother and his wife and they just wear them out! Guess it's lots colder in Iowa than it is here in Arkansas! I've always had them bring them back to me and I have them mended by their next visit here. Recently I've started knitting patches with single strand of 4-ply and a #5 needle. I've sewed these on the entire sole either over a mend or on new slippers. Lots faster than either mending or making a whole new pair of slippers and wasting all that hard work and good yarn!

 

[Melodi]

OK, I think I know what pattern you're talking about there are several versions on Ravelry - the Bed Socks is more for sleeping in although my husband wears his all over the house like slippers.

 

[Martinhouse]

If you make some of these slippers with two strands of yarn and add the cuff, they are great as house slippers and very fast to make. They could save a lot of wear on those stockings you make. Those seem a lot harder to make than these common slippers. The cuff keep them from falling off so they are very good as bed socks.

I've found that stockinette stitch wears better than the garter stitch and I'll probably use it on the bottom section of any other slippers I make, at least up to the toe ribbing. It would also be a lot easier to whipstitch a patch onto the smoother material, too.

 

[Faroe]

The UK Hebridian yarn to finish BF's socks came in, so I'm finishing the last few inches of that. Next pair is already started. Fine fingering and 88 sts cast on 000 needles. These will be short ankle socks since, I only have one skein of this yarn, and Upton Yarns seems to be mostly sold out for the year.

Been working on the practice shawl with Hiya's steel fine point circs. Very smooth, and excellent points, yet circulars still drive me nuts - just hate 'em, but don't see how I can string life line in any but the interchangeables with the pre-drilled holes. Tempted to just live with the inevitable mistakes, and get some 14 inch straights, but that just isn't enough length to accommodate the cast on 421 sts of worsted. I'm assuming these big shawls must have traditionally been knitted on multiple dpn's like a sweater. That would be an option, too.

Anyway, summer is coming, and all my t-shirts are shredded. I have linen to make some simple blouses, and want to get started on one of those. A JP Ryan jacket pattern is on the way. 18th century servant style - I think it is quite pretty, and looks comfortable. Hope it works out better than the Larkin and Smith Manteau de Lit, which is a good pattern, but was not a great success on me.

Glad you are feeling better, Melodi.

 

[Melodi]

I'm trying to type with orange kitty help...

Anyway two things:

I have found that entirely homemade slippers are not strong enough on the bottom to protect my feet; in the US getting leather bits to add is easy, here it is doable but I haven't gotten around to it - easier to buy an endless round of Lidle's slippers (I wear the largest child's size or smaller ladies so they tend to be even cheaper) and wear my socks in them.

Husband is the problem, he simply refuses to wear any slippers (I made him several pairs of the lovely Russian slipper-boot pattern, I even bought it from the lady in Israel who designed it for different sizes) but he just wears the socks - which is why he has promised not to wear the dress socks I'm making except in shoes, often with his suits; I will make some more clunky "bedsock" type ones on large needles for him to wear around the house and wreck; the ones on 26 o4 36 stitches can be done in an evening, also I'm going to try the chunky knitting machine for those in the near future.

I myself always have sandals or slippers under the socks, that's why I'm starting to reinforce the heals of my socks to protect from the sandal straps.

On Shawls, several of my traditional shawl and knitting books have said that at least in Europe, shawls were usually knit in panels before the introduction of the circular needles.

Busy people (including men in areas where knitting was a profit-making activity) didn't have the time to fiddle with 400 plus stitches on straight needles (with a few exceptions like using giant double points for triangle shawls sometimes.

Instead, they would knit tiny triangles (for half-circle shawls) and attach them either while knitting (adding another panel on the side) or sew them together like modern grannie squares and/or they knit a central square, then put lace panels going around it and/or a central lace rectangle or even long central area, and then worked new "edges" around the outside.

Basically, you knit either a garter stitches or lace square, rectangle or even oval on single or double-pointed needles to a certain size; or even two of them, sew them together and then add "edge pannels" going around and around the outside (usually using double pointed needles) and then "finish" with a proper "edging panel."

A lot of Russian and Eastern European lace shawls are still made this way, I know that some of the "Folk Shawl's" pattern are done this way.

If you really hate knitting on circulars, this may be your best option; better to do something you enjoy than hate your project, I believe that Knitting in the Nordic Tradition has the pattern for the half circle multiple triangles on 2 needles; the pannel shawls can be done either on 2 needles or four/five double points (often large) especially if started from the center.

I love circular needles but would feel the same thing if nearly everything was on straights; also if you are ordering a lot from Scotland you should be able to get the large double pointed needles (very long) because they were THE way of knitting circular sweaters pre-cable needles; Faire Isle is nearly impossible to knit flat for very long but in Scotland (and parts of Scandinavia) they just made sweaters in tubes like giant socks; then slashed the tightly knit wool and inserted or knit on the sleeves.

These days using a seek or sewing a seam before cutting is a good idea; but with fine gauge Shetland wool yarns or tight Nordic wool knitting, that wasn't really needed.

 

[Martinhouse]

Melodi, because of having other things to do, it takes me at least a day to do one slipper, and usually I spend three days for a pair so my neck doesn't stiffen up.

If I had a knitting machine, I could make a square for the foot of the slipper and a rectangle for the cuff, and then gather up the heel and the toe and then whipstitch everything together. So the only difference would be that the cuff wouldn't be knitted onto to body of the slipper when starting to knit it.

Those sets of plastic looms one can buy seem sort of useless to me for knitting. I can't imagine getting up any speed with having to hold them in one hand and a crochet hook in the other.

I wonder if one could find a way to use the larger plastic looms to help make the rings from cut up old socks into rugs?

The only use I've ever found for any sort of knitting device is for making large cording with the little spool. I'm not talking about a regular knitting loom, but the plastic ones like at Walmart that have huge pegs and require really fat yarn.

It's a lot faster to make cording by twisting strands together and then doubling them back on themselves so that they twist together again.

 

[Melodi]

I don't think the round plastic knitting frames are very useful for most people unless they have a physical issue that makes holding needles difficult or they are looking at putting them away for prep items because they are an easy way for "non-knitters" and young kids to help make hats or tube socks.

I did see a video about a man in his 90's that makes hats for the homeless, he used to use knitting needles but when his hands shook to hard to use them, the nursing home got him a hat sized round plastic knitting spool and he's made several thousand more.

He can do this almost lying down, but he sits up enough that he feels like he's "up for the day" which I'm sure also helps him feel better.

I don't have any right now; the machines I've got are restored older machines one Passup 80 like Summertymes for fine yarn and a Brother I just picked up for worsted weight.

Unless you get them used, right now there is only one company making machines and they are very expensive and not very good.

As a prep item the used ones, especially if they are restored make a lot of sense; but I wasn't going to spend nearly 1,000 dollars for a new one with bad reviews (aka made in China).

This could be changing soon, but I can't talk about it (let us just say the potentials are being looked at).

 

[Martinhouse]

I got those plastic knitting frames for that very reason, so the youngsters and other beginners could contribute to the knitting effort. With a fine enough spool, the beginners could even make mittens and just leave open the space for someone with more experience to add in the thumb. Actually, the same would work for gloves. And the squares and rectangles required for the slippers I make could be made on any of those looms with a small enough gauge, just by working back and forth instead of going round and round. Also, if a tiny hand can't hold a spool and control the yarn tension at the same time, then put the yarn on the floor and let the tension be controlled with a foot.

Just some random ideas that might be of use to someone.

 

[Melodi]

I think they are good ideas, also with real wool you can knit (or in this case use the plastic knitting loom) to make a hat that is too large (use the largest hoop) and loosely knit, then felt it down with hot water to make a really lovely felted cap.

I've done this with knit caps that were accidentally too large and it is fun to make them on purpose - the caps made for the British Navy by the sexy young Knitter's Apprentices of the 16th century (who would walk into town, long steel needles stuck in the just the right places in their belts to impress the young ladies) were made this way.

They were warming then caps just knit the right size, I've always wanted to get the "right" young man to do the "sexy knitter's apprentice/sexy young man walk" in the SCA...lol

 

[Martinhouse]

I don't have a lot of wool yarn and probably won't be getting any, but the felting is a good thing to know. Thanks much!

I'll bet felting like that would make wonderfully warm sleeveless undervests, if one wasn't sensitive to having wool next to the skin.

 

[Faroe]

I don't have a lot of wool yarn and probably won't be getting any, but the felting is a good thing to know. Thanks much!

I'll bet felting like that would make wonderfully warm sleeveless undervests, if one wasn't sensitive to having wool next to the skin.

Any sheep near you? You might be able to get some inexpensive or even free wool. I had more wool than I could deal with back when I had a Shetland flock, and it wasn't really saleable (too many brambles on my property), but was still useful. I mulched the garden with it, but would have given it away if someone had wanted it.

Same with angora rabbits. People get them, but the English mat (Felt) so easily that they need clipping/plucking even if one isn't interested in using all the fiber. (We are downsizing the livestock holdings at the present time - BF really wants to travel and see the pyramids, etc., but I would love to have sheep and and angora bunnies (French angoras are easier to maintain) again at some point.)

 

[Martinhouse]

Faroe, no sheep anywhere near me. This part of the state only grows beef cattle and rocks.

 

[Faroe]

Faroe, no sheep anywhere near me. This part of the state only grows beef cattle and rocks.

Ok, but you might ask around at places like local yarn shops. The fiber people are a social bunch - you might get into an invite to a spinning/group. We had a good bunch of ladies in IA who got together on a weekly basis - and the network for sheep breeds branched out from there. I know what you are saying though - we have NOTHING...absolutely NOTHING here. Great weather, but socially, it is a dismal and dreary place to live. A few backyard rabbit and poultry breeders, but no shops, and only person I know of here has ever knitted anything.

 

[Martinhouse]

I don't mind socially dismal and dreary. I cannot handle air-conditioning any more at all (you should see how fast I can get my shopping done!) and I self-quarantine during flu season, so I am the most unsociable person I know.

My mom was my best friend and she's been gone nearly ten years now, and my social life s talking to one of my sisters and one of my daughters on the phone mainly, and email one brother. And this forum.

This, with my handwork, my books and my gardens, is plenty to keep me busy. And I am content and never bored.

 

[Faroe]

There is a British You Tuber called the Sockmatician who has an informative and entertaining chanel if anyone is interested.

Ok, back to the shawls. Size 8 on a cord was a pain, and I had ordered them in 4" which isn't comfortable for me. Excellent quality, but I just don't like them. Size 6 needles at 5" in length came in yesterday. (I still need to get a longer cord for a full size shawl, this one is 24"). Much better, went back to the easy tab started top-down pattern with just yarn overs on each side and down the center.I am concentrating on keeping the stitches looser so they aren't such a pain to get up over to the tip of the left needle. Also, I switched to what was left over of the Hebridian yarn. That last change is risky - it is knitting up into a VERY nice piece, and the wool slides over the needles easier than the acrylic. This was just supposed to be a bit of check-the-needles-out-and-see bit of practice knitting. I don't want to get attached; things could get expensive.

 

[Faroe]

Blouse is about 1/3 of the way done. It is loosely (very loosely) based on old shifts, but it is shorter, and I'll wear it out, not tucked in. It also has straight side panels rather than those PITA triangular gussets that flare out the side and never come together in a neat point at the underarm, and seem to require about as much sewing on their own as the rest of the shift. Hate 'em! The underarm will have a gusset that will simply be the pointed top extending from the side panel. The sleeves will end just past the elbow. They are fairly narrow, but the lower edges will each be gathered into a band. I may do a simple Dorset button closure here, we'll see. The neck will be as small as I can make it, and still easily get my head through. Both the bottom hem and the neck will be edged in bias cut from the same linen as the blouse. For some reason, I LOVE sewing bias tape. It's like molding clay on a wheel.

Hope it fits...it should. Honestly, I just basically wing these things. A brief check of the tape measure on me, and then on the fabric..."Oh, that looks about right," and then I pull threads and cut. Regardless of any later shaping, everything starts out as rectangles, and I tend to cut pieces as I sew them. I grew up using, altering, and eventually drafting my own sewing patterns. Odd, because now that approach confuses and intimidates me. Sometimes I wonder if my brain has deteriorated.

 

[Melodi]

Just about done with the toe on husband's socks, he's officially on extended (sadly perhaps permanent) leave from medical school for his own medical reasons (I'm not mentioning this on the main yet, things are on-going) but he said I could take a break from the grey/blue/black work knee socks (he's wearing a pair now to go to the doctor himself and he loves them) and knit some wilder ones for myself.

So I'm about to go through my stash of wilder colors that housemate brought back from Germany and/or I've collected, I'm not quite up to new experiences in knitting machines yet but hopefully I'll get to that by next week.

I kind of knocked myself back a few days doing housework on Monday, so I'm just doing easy things like laundry (easy for now while we have electric machines and the like, I love somethings about modern life lol) and doing easy projects - these socks are now easy since I've memorized a basic "template" pattern, but they do take about two weeks of knitting (and that's when I have time to knit a couple of hours a day, which isn't always the case).

I think I will look at trying to create a version of the pattern for the small gauge knitting machine when I understand it better, I can see already how an easy version with a hand knit heal or perhaps heal and toe would reasonable project for a newbie; not a first one, but fairly soon after I figure out how not to break the needles.

I've also got a number of old fleeces around here I need to go through and decide which ones are worth trying to salvage and which should go for barn cat sleeping fluff. I get given a lot of fleeces but most of the local sheep are meat breeds, the wool board doesn't pay for colored fleeces so the farmers are happy to give them away or sell cheap but they tend to be full of "stuff" and I haven't done much spinning since I broke my arm a few years ago and I would like to return to it.

Faroe, if you do end up needing for some reason to do the triangle gussets (popular in Norse and Clothing of the Middle Ages) I find it easier to just sew the tops on by hand, I don't even try to do them on the machine.

In fact, I found a lot of traditional patterns and techniques that are so difficult to do by a machine (that you wonder why anyone would make things that way) turn out to be much easier to sew by hand.

This includes things like the heavily pleated velvet hats (late Middle Ages/Tudor) and "Prarie" style bonnets (I used them for Norse, they are linked to Scandinavian folk dress), the triangular inserts and the tiny square inserts used in men's shirts and tunics.

But you can design your own clothing any way you want and what is comfortable for you, the blouse sounds wonderful.

 

[Melodi]

Side view of a "Little Cat on the Prarie" bonnet (as my beloved husband calls them lol)

The same bonnet from the front for effect, the hand woven trim stands up do to hand stitches on the top of the bonnet - the apron dress is machine sewn but I did the gathering mostly by hand (much easier).

 

[Faroe]

Love that apron dress!

The blouse is more than half finished, and does fit. I'll use the same measurements for the next one, but I'll want the sleeves a bit fuller. I only hand sew. Have a treadle, but never got a band to make it work - fiddling with mechanical stuff doesn't interest me much, and a line of hand set stitches is always more beautiful anyway. Used an older purchase of FabricStore.com's light weight linen, and that was perfect. Not too expensive either about $10 per yard for 60." This blouse takes two yards with bias tape. I don't like exposed raw edges on the inside, so neck and hem get edged in bias. The other edges get turned under completely, and sewn down with a running stitch. I do this to the sections before joining them with whip stitch - which of course, is how it was done historically, but I didn't know that way back when I started hand sewing my first "peasant" skirts.

Women's head-gear fascinates me. Personally, I like a covered head all day, and how to have that without an arrangement that slips, slides, and needs frequent re-arranging or tucking....
I settled on square kerchiefs (light weight cotton, or linen and just shy of a square yard in size), but enjoy studying the many shaped caps, esp. the ones with a lot of detail work. Even the Plain modern-day Anababtist groups seem to be very particular and exacting regarding their various distinctive caps. I remember reading an article by an Elizabethan era researcher who finally determined that the caps of that time were actually in two parts, and she has a pattern, and says it stayed firmly on her head even working all day out in the wind.

Sorry to hear your husband is out of classes again. I do hope he can get back to it later.

 

[Faroe]

I don't mind socially dismal and dreary. I cannot handle air-conditioning any more at all (you should see how fast I can get my shopping done!) and I self-quarantine during flu season, so I am the most unsociable person I know.

My mom was my best friend and she's been gone nearly ten years now, and my social life s talking to one of my sisters and one of my daughters on the phone mainly, and email one brother. And this forum.

This, with my handwork, my books and my gardens, is plenty to keep me busy. And I am content and never bored.

About the same here. I almost always prefer to be alone. I enjoy coffee, and sharing time for an hour or so with other women, but there is no one around here I have much in common with. This place is blessed with great weather, but I miss New England and Midwestern culture. Fortunately, we have the Internet, and yeah, I'm always busy.

 

[Melodi]

I think that is my favorite apron dress, I made it over a decade ago; and got a lot of "they didn't use pleats" nonsense and I said I based it on folk patterns of the 18th century and I figured that the Norse (like later villagers) each had their own style and in my village we use pleats (me and my cousin "Helga Cargo Ship Breasts" - a real bi name from the sagas, like them that way).

About five years ago they found parts of an apron dress with guess what, pleats....oh an in my village we also wear "silly hats" (since only a couple of examples have survived we have to go by some picture stones and folk styles, I refuse to wear nothing but the one "Dublin Cap" even if it was found here).

 

[Faroe]

I think that is my favorite apron dress, I made it over a decade ago; and got a lot of "they didn't use pleats" nonsense and I said I based it on folk patterns of the 18th century and I figured that the Norse (like later villagers) each had their own style and in my village we use pleats (me and my cousin "Helga Cargo Ship Breasts" - a real bi name from the sagas, like them that way).

About five years ago they found parts of an apron dress with guess what, pleats....oh an in my village we also wear "silly hats" (since only a couple of examples have survived we have to go by some picture stones and folk styles, I refuse to wear nothing but the one "Dublin Cap" even if it was found here).

Linen lends itself beautifully to pleats, and the highly skilled Vikings loved ornament. With that, the burden of proof should have been on the naysayers. I get the need for documentation, and CW era enthusiasts insist on it for reproductions, but the Civil War was much, MUCH better documented. Hope we find some more Viking burials with intact textiles.

That said, CW era has some related issues - grumbling about everyone showing up to events in the same Simplicity pattern dress. That particular pattern is well researched, and a good choice, but so overwhelmingly popular, it gets "over represented." I don't go to those events, but the chats on-line are informative.

 

[Melodi]

Yeah, I don't wear it for "pure" reenactment, not the sort where every item needs to be from a museum reproduction; except at the time I made it there were NO apron dresses (it is really about 15 years old plus) found; a few months later the first pieces of the first one were found.

I told my husband at the time "the good news is, they found part of an apron dress; the bad news is they found part of an apron dress and now everyone will be stuck wearing identical ones."

That one was tailored which shocked the heck out of a lot of "Professionals" but it wasn't until a few years ago when the found the top part of another pleated (and more pleats while taking a new look at the fabric under broaches in old finds) that it was possible to confirm what I was pretty sure from the picture stones; some people were using pleats.

I did point out once on the "pure" Norse reenactment list that if ladies only wore full outfits from current finds, they would be mostly naked.

That didn't go over well but it is true; making educated guesses is very different from looking at a fantasy novel cover and saying "I'll just make that."

A lot of my stuff is for SCA and/or religious use (often both) so it doesn't matter as much but it does get on my nerves.

By the way, the part of a dress that was found was a rag used as the "caulking" for a ship, the water and tar preserved it.

Graves only very seldom have intact textiles, we've know more about bog bodies from 500 years before because their clothing is usually intact.

 

[Faroe]

I was watching some videos of Viking museum vlogs, and one exhibit showed a burial recreation with the corpse almost entirely draped and bedded in fur. Yesterday, I was catching up with some Jackson Crawford (Old Norse translator) material, and he was re-telling some saga specifically describing the dress of a Viking goddess (?). She also wore a lot of fur (cat fur, acc. to the translation, sorry. ...) That is something I don't see on any of the how-to sites for making these clothes. Given lack of availability and the taboo, understandably so, but what surprised me is that I don't even remember mention of it. My previous mental image had been all woolens and linens.

Blouse is almost done. Just needs tape around the hem. I am sick of sewing for now, and the house looks like a train wreck, so might take a break from it for a day or two. Looks kinda Viking, actually. Ended up with a grease (?) stain already on the front. Don't know how it got there. If it doesn't come out, I may try a scour, and dipping it in an indigo vat. It is unbleached linen. I like sewing that because it is easy on they eyes for detail work, but I look better in dark colors, esp. blues, anyway.

 

[Melodi]

I just spent 25 minutes answering this and the internet ate it!

The short version is the Norse use all sorts of furs and cat fur was really popular, I think they thought of cats the way we think of rabbits.

Some are pets, some are working animals for grazing, some are used for fiber but others for furs and meat.

Also, you only needed one tom cat in your farmyard and you tend to get lots of kittens.

The Greenland Seeress is the lady in the Sagas wearing the catskin gloves and hat for a ritual where she is described as going into trance to prophesy about the coming harvest and answer questions.

I think the reason you don't hear much about this (and I just chatted with husband about this) is that most actual reenactors are performing for the public and you don't want little kids running and screaming "mommy she's wearing a kitty!"

Which was pretty much my reaction when my husband brought home an intact Lynx skin thinking I would want it for my own "Seeress" hat and glove, I started to cry and said, "but it was a kitty..."

And I'm an adult and I KNOW all the history etc behind it; for SCA and religious stuff, most people who want to look like they are wearing cat fur use dyed rabbit pelts unless they are from Scandinavia or Russia where wearing Lynx is pretty common.

Huge Cat Fur Farms have been found in Norse Areas, including one near Cork Ireland; where the skeletons of hundreds of 9-month-old male cats were found (and to this day friends tell me there are many long hair cats that look very much like Norwegian Forest Cats).

The Norse also wore a lot of other furs, and to this day furs are still really popular in Scandinavia, my husband has a real fur coat he never wears now (but was perfectly normal in Sweden) and I have a fur-trimmed leather poncho I designed when he wanted to buy me my own fur coat when we married but I look like a small, round wookie in a full fur coat, trim looks much better on me.

The Greenland Seeress reconstructed for a museum exhibit

 

[LC]

Faroe, I have recently had good luck removing grease from clothing with Dawn dish soap. Just wet the spot in cold water, add Dawn and wash as usual, generally in cold water, sometimes warm. Good luck.

 

[SusieSunshine]

I need to share. I am so very excited!

When we moved to Texas, I was unable to bring my sewing machine. There was not enough room to put it into the POD. It was an old furniture cabinet White machine, probably 50 years old,

Where we live, there is a neighborhood web site. Public announcements, yard sales, missing animals etc are posted. I put up a "sewing Machine Wanted". Within a couple hours, I had a response, then another! Woo Hoo! I picked up a like new Brother machine for $25. I already repaired some articles of clothing. It works great.

 

[Melodi]

Fantastic News Susie, I'm sure you and the machine will be friends for a long time - I find machines very useful for repairs and basic home sewing; I don't use them as much for reenactment as I used to, but I still do sometimes.

The "My Socks" done with my "Dead Easy Sock Pattern" are almost at the heal, I like the "hippie socks" colors mu Germany housemate picked out two years ago - the kind of weird combination of forest green, blues, purples, reds and teals actually works in daylight - even husband likes it (not enough to wear as socks thankfully but he agreed it would make a good sweater for me, if there was enough of it (there isn't).

I finally broke down and followed some Youtube advice and got a "food scale" and a ball winder); now I can easily separate the 100 gram balls into 2 50 gram balls; since it takes about 75 grams to make each knee sock for me, I can either combine with another color and/or know I have to make shorter socks with those balls.

I needed this set up to use on the Passup Knitting machine when I start get it going - you have to use either cones or center pull balls from a ball winder (most machines originally included ball winders in their kits years ago).

Flu is almost gone, so I'm not spending as much time knitting, but it is good in other ways especially because the husband has it now and I need to make sure he's doing OK.

I am hoping by next week to be caught up enough to review the youtube videos and start project knitting machines again, they don't replace hand knitting, they just allow for options; kind of like a sewing machine does.

 

[Faroe]

A sewing machine is a good thing to have. At one point, I think my mother owned four. Two were sergers, but she also liked sewing upholstery and drapes. She could have made those professionally, if she had wanted to.

We have a food scale for the goat milk. It only occurred to me a few weeks ago that you could weigh a finished object, like one sock, and weigh the remaining yarn, in order to determine if you had enough to finish the mate.

Put dish detergent on the grease stain, and it is almost invisible (thanks for the reminder about Dawn, LC). Ran out of yarn to knit, so spent the week mostly quilting. There is a LOT more to do, but finishing this thing now looks doable. Need to clean the house for BF's return on Saturday. He has another two week stint in TX, and then not much more. Likely retiring this fall. We'll see.

Looking forward to getting more yarn. Want to make the Faroese out of "Peaty brown" Hebridian Birlinn Yarn Co, sold in the US by The Woolly Thistle. Still haven't decided on a pattern. Am now leaning toward the general instructions in Vibeke Lind's Knitting in the Nordic Tradition. Read that section several times, and I *think* I understand it. Got rather far along in the left over sock yarn with the easy Tin Can Knits shawl pattern, and would like to finish that too. Anyway, if "Peaty brown" is all I buy in the month of May, I can probably swing it. One thing I noticed on Ravelry: some people knit shawls like the projects are no big deal at all. There was a thread over there re. Cheryl Oberle's book Folk Shawls asking if anyone had knit all the patterns in that book. IIRC, no one had knit ALL of them, but numerous people had knit the majority, inc. multiple copies of certain favorites. I've always put shawls in the same category as sweaters - a MAJOR undertaking. Hmmm...