Malabar farms and an 18th century shift

Spent Memorial Day weekend in Ohio with some friends. We took in some local sites, had some good food, and enjoyed each other's company. 

I also finally finished this 18th century shift, which I may or may not have started during the pandemic, and also made the mistake of not recording the measurements of before I sewed the pieces together. The last one I made was a complete disaster - I was following the instructions from a reputable tutorial. Despite my measurements being the same as the person leading the tutorial, it did not fit. At all. This one, which a friend helped me measure out, actually fits my body appropriately. 

Visible mending

I had no intentions of joining the visible mending club... until I bought a superfine merino wool sweater at Goodwill, and took it out of the delicate cycle with what seemed like a million holes. 

 
L'aine St. Pierre darning wool from Brooklyn Haberdashery, and the offending sweater

Oddly, the holes are just on the front of the sweater, and the sleeves. I'm not sure if you're supposed to use an embroidery hoop when darning like this, but it seemed the best choice for such a fine knit, and helped me see what I was doing. This isn't quite like darning a sock where you put something rounded under the hole. I used a mixture of techniques including an embroidery star stich, weaving, and mix of Scottish and Finnish darning. It took me a while poking on the internet to figure out how to darn, as the people currently teaching it aren't in my country and are charging for their expertise as teachers. I get it, I've paid for my share of classes when I want to learn something new, but I'm also the person who will try to figure it out for herself. 

I  had to special order the darning wool from Brooklyn Haberdashery in New York - the LYS doesn't carry darning wool, and the Amish general store doesn't have such bold colors. The sweater also presented the challenge of being super fine weight - great for spring, but not so great as the weight matches nothing in my yarn stash. The L'aine St. Pierre is more like a cotton darning thread, which is not plied into one yarn or string but wound onto the card or spool as 4 separate threads together - perfect for this project as I was able to split the strands apart like embroidery floss to more closely match the yarn gauge of the sweater.  The fiber content of the L'aine St. Pierre is similar to Regia darning wool, except Regia is a 2 ply thread. I used the Regia to darn fine gauge wool socks when I didn't have sock yarn. 

Saturday afternoon quilts

 

These were done together on the same piece of backing and batting. The one of the top was left over fabric from an I Spy quilt, and the one on the bottom I can't remember what I was thinking when I bought that fabric, except that the prints mostly went together an I liked them.  

This is the quilt I tore the border off of and started fresh with. I like it so much better now with the olive green and navy blue than the teal I had on there. The quilting thread is sort of a mauve/ plum purple, and the back is a shot cotton. I wanted wool batting for it, but there wasn't any to be had at the studio. When I said I had bamboo in it originally, the owner suggested a bamboo blend (Quilter's Dream Orient I think). This one easily has the best drape of any quilt I've done on a machine. Now I just need to bind it!

ObliGATOry cat and quilt photos

biscornu

I had grand plans last year to hand make a bunch of Christmas presents, and like most other years it just didn't happen. So I'm trying to get a jump on it this year, focusing on a craft that will also help develop my needlework skills. 

Why biscornu? I have no idea. They just sort of popped up in my Pinterest feed and I was enamored, though I can honestly say after having stitched the top of one I'm not sure if I want to cross stitch twelve of them. I have a yard of white linen and no idea what I'm doing trying to cross stitch on it.

This one is small, about 3" square when I started, and I'm looking at it now wondering if it wouldn't make a great pattern weight if I put some washers in it as well. 

 

I did end up purchasing some crushed walnut shells and lavender buds to fill it with. 

Leclerc Saxony Wheel

I came home from work yesterday to this cryptic text that wasn't on my phone by my mother's - would I like a spinning wheel?

YES.

It took a little investigating to figure out whom the text was from, and it turns out this same person had already gifted me with a demonstration kit consisting of a drop spindle, carding combs, and small amounts of wool fleece in various stages from raw to ready to spin. Saturday morning I ran over to her place and picked up the wheel, eager to play with my new toy. In the before times, I probably would have left immediately for the yarn shop, but with the social distancing and occupancy regulations, I had to call the shop first and make an appointment. 

My dad really hasn't left the house since this whole quarantine thing started, but he had reached his limit for sitting around the house so we went on a mini adventure - he stayed in the car while I bought fleece to spin, and I stayed in the car while he bought and traded some coins at the coin shop, and we both sat in the car and ate fast food in the restaurant parking lot because COVID (these are some seriously strange times we're living in; I'm sure anyone who has lived through something historically significant was also shaking their head, to say the least). 

I should have bought more fleece to spin, but I didn't think I was going to be this taken with it. If you don't know anything about spinning, the wool fiber has a bunch of different names depending on what shape and state it's in; I'm going to refer to this a roving. It had to be drafted, or pulled apart out of the hank, before it could be spun.

Nothing comes out perfect on the first go - I need more practice to get a consistent twist in the fiber as well as yarn size. 

Smee is entranced by the wheel. He won't leave it alone when I've got it out. 

Update: Some finished product! On the left is a double ply (1 single ply plus 1 single ply = 2 ply) of the first bits of spun roving and a hank of Lamb's Pride Worsted in Brown Patina (apparently it's wool and mohair, I had no idea until I looked at the label for the color name). On the left is a chain ply, which creates a 3 ply yarn. If you're not already confused, plying this together on the wheel looks a bit like a combination of spinning and crochet.  

the 2021 project finish list

Last year I pulled together a list of 10 projects I wanted to complete, and this list is the 2021 edition

The first three projects are left over from last year's project list and include

1. worsted wool gown - Finish the 18th-century worsted wool gown
2. Finish hand quilting a utility quilt - the orange marmalade one 
3. Bind two matching green quilts - the binding is at least cut. 

The remaining 7 projects are 

4. Garter Yoke sweater - saw a picture of a finished one, but the pattern was outrageously expensive, so I'm kind of making it up as I go. One of the sleeves is done. It has both sleeves, and part of the body. Right now it's hibernating.

5. An 18th century silk gown - there's no post for this, but it was started

6. Quilt a panel quilt - I ripped the old border off and put on a new one  3/13/2021
This project was completed (except for the border)  along with two others I didn't intend to work on but was able to get done. I used a bamboo blend for the batting and it has the best drape of any of the quilts I have done on a machine. 

7. Quilt an Americana quilt - its in one piece now

8. finish knitting a wool cowl with handspun yarn 2/13/2021
This was gifted to someone, and I forgot to take a picture

9. Complete a wool capelet - I don't think I need the wool for this, but I may need silk...

10. (I don't actually have a 10th project!)

 

yoke cardigan

 

 

I've never tried a cardigan before, let alone a top down yoke style, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm sort of following a pattern, sort of 'making this up as I go', since what I wanted was to feature the colored yarn without any Fair isle, lace, or stranded color work.  

 

The yoke of the sweater is the left overs from the mitered square project, the colored section of the sweater beginning with the full size skein of yarn I created out of the bits of malabrigo's sample nuggets of Rasta (a single stranded yarn for those of you not in the know), purchased from Jimmy Bean's wool, and then moving onto the less fuzzy, multi-stranded (plied) yarns from malabrigo (Rios?), Wonderland yarns, Patton's, and others I don't know the brand for. I'm still actually collecting bits and pieces for that blanket project, so this sweater may be stalled for a bit, or at least until I get the yoke to the correct size. The body of the sweater is going to be a Patton's worsted wool in navy blue, and it's possible I might include little bands of color around the bottom edge of the cuffs and hem, depending. Depending on a lot of things.

My last adult sized sweater was a disaster, and I can't say the baby pullover I made was much better. Baby cardigans are the way to go, people.

2/14/2021

This project has actually been less onerous than the last sweater I made. The problem I have run into has nothing to do with the sweater, rather the yarn. I bought several balls of the navy blue on sale and thought I had enough for the project until I got to the last ball of yarn and realized I was going to have a cropped sweater. I wasn't concerned initially because I knew I had another ball of navy yarn; it was a different brand but surely this wouldn't be a problem. 

It's a problem. They're not actually the same color. I wouldn't even call brand B navy, I'd call it 18th century French Marine, as it isn't dark enough to be what I've always thought of as navy. When I thought I would solve the problem by ordering another ball of the original Brand A yarn I have been using on line... turns out that is a problem, too. Brand A has changed the packaging as well as the dye lot; their new navy isn't as dark as the original either. The color shift shown is from the combination of the original yarn and Brand B, and is difficult to notice unless viewed in bright lighting. It is enough of a change that I'm not sure how I want to proceed at this point. Kool-aid dying might be in my future. 

The Larkin and Smith English gown(s)

 I started these bad boys back in 2018 when I was nannying for a friend, who still has an amazing fabric stash for projects. (I'm more the person who says, ooo, I want that fabric for this specific project. She, on the other hand, just buys the fabric, and worries about the project later). 

Part of my remuneration for watching her kids was yardage and yardage and yardage of a beautiful yellow and mauve linen stripe and a mauve worsted wool. I never knew wool could feel like this. It's not scratchy. It's wonderfully smooth. I've been watching Burnley and Trowbridge for another worsted, and I think I may need to purchase the Aurora lightweight stuffs - it's like the color of peach skin.  

Anyway. I've been bungling my way through these gowns for the last two years. I got busy with work, with grad school, and then COVID happened, and suddenly I found myself with a lot more time on my hands than I anticipated. It didn't hurt that I was able to meet up with friends for a sewing weekend and ask questions about construction that frankly, I couldn't figure out from reading the instructions. 

They're mixed parts of hand and machine sewn - I did blind hems on the linen gown and petticoat so I could have one of the gowns for sure ready for the coming weekend. 

 

Update: It's the end of January, and I'm almost done sewing the wool worsted! It looks like I made a mistake with the sleeves, which I have to go back and fix, but it's not a big deal. What is unfortunate is that I have these two finished gowns and no events to wear them to, thanks to COVID!

March 27 - I was a fool and didn't line the sleeves, and am having a devil of a time finishing off the sleeve hems. I don't want to have to take the sleeves off and construct them in the period manner and put them back on, but it's looking like that's the best solution. Why didn't I in the first place? I was on a weekend sewing retreat when I cut the sleeves, pressed for time, it was Sunday, there wasn't linen to make linings... I could go on. I should have waited. 

I did actually get to wear the linen gown during Read Across America week, it was "Different Decade Thursday" so I freaked the kids out and went with a different century entirely. A few of the parents thought I was Amish. 

Weather at work

 I started a new job on Monday and we had this storm roll through on August 27th. This shelf cloud was incredible to watch forming!

 

Some sights from Quarantine

These are some photographs, in reverse order, of some of the sights of the COVID quarantine of 2020 in Northwest Pennsylvania. 

October 10, 2020 Day 215

More funny sign at the local bagel place

October 1, 2020 Day 206

The local voldemart is back to allowing people in both doors instead of one entrance and one exit. You still can't get a lot of cleaning supplies.