Ply, Ply, Ply

Spinning still feels more like play than work. The natural colored merino that I bought with my spinning wheel is finally finished, and the plying process was even more fun than spinning. It doesn't take quite as much concentration and the result evens out my lumpy singles. After it was finished, the next fiber was 8 ounces of Crown Mountain Farms Superwash Merino, in the colorway Midnight Hour (purple, pink and natural).

Divided into two even lengths, one half showed a lot more of the natural color than the other.

Spun up into singles, the color differences weren’t quite as noticeable, though the bobbin only shows the top layer.

The final yarn, after plying and washing, air dried without any weight on it. It’s very soft, and I might venture a hat for myself, or perhaps fingerless mitts.

Work into Play

It seemed time for a new spring hat, and a cotton blend matched my optimism that the temperature would eventually start warming. It’s been colder than usual in Seattle, with more days of snow than I can ever remember (another 3” this morning, all gone by late afternoon). The yarn I fell in love with (online, not in person) didn’t seem to be available locally without an expedition, so I settled for my LYS’s Cascade Rio, mainly cotton (robin’s-egg blue) with some slubby rayon bits of color (pink and yellow). The slubs liked to split off, but I finished a simple beret in less than a week. It fits pretty well, covers my ears and doesn’t fall into my eyes constantly.

Some of my projects that felt more like chores are out of the way – finished the dust cover for the tile cutter (drawstring instead of elastic at base), made two more cloth bags for my frequent customer’s quilts, cut sashing and borders for the flower basket quilt, and stitched the binding to the top of the Christmas quilt. Finished a charity scarf using self-patterning sock yarn – doubled (strips came out soft, not too blenderized.) Made a charity baby/child hat from a frogged scarf. Also made a label for a crib quilt made long ago from Australian fabrics, for a gift to friends of my in-laws.

Play has been spinning again. I have two bundles of hand-dyed pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms purchased at least 1 ½ years ago, that has been waiting until my spinning skills are more consistent. Half of the colonial top that came with my wheel was still waiting to be my practice fiber. I spun half of the 8 oz. last weekend, and finished it up yesterday. I did my first plying with two full bobbins, and was pleased with the result. Plying was SO much fun I went digging for the top that I’d spun last fall, and was aghast at how different (arty? lumpy? ugly?) it looked than the most recent spinning. Still, it is nice wool, I’ll play with dyes sometime soon, and perhaps make some fingerless mitts since it is superwash. It may have to remain singles though, as the twist is very uneven.

I took pictures of the CMF purple/navy/white roving that I will spin this week, and will post the results, assuming I make more time to play.

Trying to organize my projects (and actually finish some of them) finds me grouping them into categories: short-term, long-term, simple and involved. Some of the simple projects are great when I am indecisive or tired, and don’t have the energy to think through multiple steps. Last weekend the 14 napkins were the right project – double hemming them took some time but not much thought, and I caught up on some longer podcasts without falling asleep.

One short-term project that is on the list now is not a simple one: designing a dust cover for a specific piece of shop equipment. It is an odd shape, and I’ve drawn the side pattern with the unusual silhouette, but the construction is giving me pause. It won’t be moved a lot, but the shape has a couple of strain points, and I am contemplating whether putting a seam at those points will strengthen them, or if just using some kind of reinforcement is better. A strip of twill tape might be enough, but it might work best inside, so it doesn’t become a ridge that collects dust. There is also a request to put elastic at the corners to help hold it in place, and that will either need to be sewn on the inside or placed inside the hem/casing, which would be tricky to keep flat when hemming. If my stash includes sew-through elastic, adding it after the hem would be easier.


Two long-term quilt projects are moving along little by little. A big part – the quilting – of one happened last week when my scheduled work was finished early. Yesterday the binding was pieced and pressed. The other quilt needs sashing and borders cut and sewn on, the backing pieced, and then it goes into the queue for the next available quilting slot.

I was able to get into an American Sewing Guild retreat at the end of March, and yesterday I spent an hour or so cutting out pillowcases for Ronald McDonald House, which is the ASG’s national project this year. The fabrics I chose were directional, and they had to be cut in two pieces rather than just WOF, so the prints would not be sideways on the pillowcases. I had a border print with bear cubs leftover from a block swap, and four yards of a cheerful country landscape with farmhouses and cows. I have a couple more projects in mind for the retreat, both simple and complicated.

Crochet Jinx Begone!

I’m finally over the crochet jinx. There were actually two early projects that were successful, and just one bad one. The project wasn’t that bad, but the size was way off and it was very embarassing.

When I decided it would be nice to crochet a scarf and matching beret for my new Mother-in-law, of course it was to be a surprise, so I didn’t ask her about it. She walked her dog several times a day, so it was a practical gift, soft and washable. When I grew up, lots of women had very oddly colored hair. I never suspected that she wore a wig, and that a snug-fitting beret would pull her wig off. She did use the scarf though.

After that, the only other project I attempted with crochet was to assemble some afghan strips that my Mother had done years before. She must have lost her momentum when she discovered that they weren’t the same size. The project involved removing the box from her closet (so full that she didn’t notice, but her cats did, as they had been “nesting” in it), washing all the fur off them, and then unraveling the strips to be the same width. Fortunately they had been crocheted with short rows, so this was easy to do. The strips were joined together with the unraveled yarn into a usable blanket. My Mother was astonished!

Another reason why crochet was set aside for a long time was the fact that my knitting was criticized by a fellow bus commuter. She was quite the craftswoman, had taught sewing and considered herself an expert on all things crafty. I knit continental style, and use the middle finger of my left hand to help place the working yarn, and it drove her nuts! I had also asked my sister for help with a technique around the same time, and since she knits English style, she could not grasp what I was doing at all. It drove my knitting underground for a long while. I kept at knitting by myself, on and off until I was able to join a group at a local yarn store that met weekly, working our way through The Knitter’s Handbook. That was my first exposure to knitting with others, and boosted my confidence a great deal. We learned some simple crochet stitches too, and that sent me to playing with some simple crochet patterns.

My current crochet project is a simple ripple afghan. I was sure it was way beyond my skills, even though I had been happily working on three inch sock yarn granny squares after watching a video from the library. I had a collection of yarns that had been started as two other knitted afghan projects that just weren’t working. Working on this little afghan is very satisfying—using up yarn that was unhappy twice, and learning that just going though a crochet pattern line by line is really very easy and fun.

In Black and White

The list of my sewing room projects has finally been updated, by listing all the UFO's, PIG's and PIM's. Sorting them by category helps keep things in perspective, since there are 45 total.

UFO's - Unfinished Objects, or projects in progress. Ten doesn't sound too bad, though this list is mainly sewing or quilting, and doesn't include knitting, crochet and weaving. Two quilt tops need borders added, and I'm fussing with colors and sizes. These are both quilts that I will most likely keep for myself, or if given as gifts only to a very special person. Three other quilt tops have pieces cut out, and one is a group of blocks from an exchange, where I need to make about 15 more blocks plus pieced border blocks. Napkins, burp cloths and a new studio apron are also cut out and need just a bit of dedicated sewing time.

PIG's - The largest group at 26. These are Projects in a Grocery Bag (usually plastic shoeboxes), with a pattern or sketch and some fabrics in mind. They range from a small embroidery to two bed-sized quilts (backing included). Two are not fabric-related: stitch markers for knitting, and beaded snowflakes.

PIM's - Scaled back to 9, but the group most likely to grow. Projects in Mind are usually just a pattern, purchased or marked in a magazine, or drawn in a sketchbook. Unless I've printed out a diagram, the many many quilt designs in my Electric Quilt 6 program aren't included.

The last two years I have worked with my UFO list to try and finish projects, or let them go. For example last year, two sets of blocks were given away to someone else, several projects were released, but quite a few were finished. I gave myself permission to just make tops for charity, quilting them if they were really special. This lets me try out ideas or use up fabrics that attach themselves to a design in my head.

The next step is to add my knitting, sewing, weaving and spinning ideas to the list, just to help keep things in perspective. Ravelry's "Stash" database has helped me face up to my yarn accumulation, and is a good reality check every time I fall in love with a new pattern. My favorite part of creating things is choosing a design and the materials. I do enjoy the process of creating things, but often need an external motivator (such as a deadline for a gift) to finish things.

First Finishes

Our Christmas Eve celebration was delayed twice -- once because of snow, and once due to illness. The bonus was seeing more family that had been out of town, and having more time to work on projects!

The Fingerless Mitts are from the pattern Notwoven.

The Gingerbread Men ornaments are from Urban Threads, an embroidery company with very fun designs.

Resolutions

Making New Year’s resolutions is not an easy thing for a procrastinator. I’ll think of a few things, maybe even jot down a note or two, but never get all the pieces together. I’m trying to approach my different craft interests in a more comprehensive way. I belong to an online quilting group called A Dozen Done, the original premise was that we would set a goal of finishing one quilt a month. I also belong to Ravelry, where I have projects in progress, as well as a listing of my yarn stash, and some of my books. My resolutions for my fiber crafts have a lot of overlap.

I like the Slow Stashing idea presented on Knitter’s Review. It describes how to take a careful look at your yarn stash for sorting and purging, but also how to be mindful and conscious of new purchases. It would help me a lot to at least write down why I purchase certain yarns, especially with online orders. I have done a better job in the past year with fabric purchases. The goal is to purchase fabrics to finish something in progress, or complete the parts of an idea quilt (usually sitting in a plastic box with perhaps a note about the intent).

My sewing studio wants to be usable, especially the large cutting table that ends up being a dumping ground for things to put away (new purchases, leftover project parts). I want to go in the studio and be inspired and encouraged to work on things, not depressed about how many things are waiting to be finished. I got a good start on New Year’s Day by putting projects into boxes and onto shelves. I made a list of what is in the two closed cupboards, and also what is sitting on open shelves in boxes, so when I do get inspired to work on something, it can be easily found.

I want to finish some knitting and crochet projects that are actually used. There is an afghan project that is now (as of last night) in its third incarnation, that I want to finish and use. The Daily Sweater is growing slowly, but it is progressing. Charity hat and scarf projects are ongoing too, using up smaller bits of yarn in complementary colors. I like them for meetings and travel, and have been trying different patterns to learn new skills.

And I want to set some goals for gift and donation projects. Nothing spurs me on like a deadline. I made a lovely lace scarf in two weeks for a Christmas gift in 2007. I would like a similar scarf for myself! Charities collect different things at specific times of year, and the projects can be started well ahead of time. Examples: Project Linus has twice-yearly project parties at a local store; school auctions are scheduled well in advance.