27 September 2020

Time, past time, to post.

I’ve been doing a lot of deep cleaning lately to cope with anxiety and inability to listen to the news. Nevertheless, I’ve gotten a few things done fiber wise.

A while back I had sprinkle dyed some of Wobyn’s fleece. I decided to flick it and spin it lock by lock to preserve the color variation.

I wanted to ply this beautiful singles with a fine white or cream fiber. I spun up a little of bombyx silk and some lovely creamy alpaca to sample. Once plied and washed, I knitted up a little sample to help me decide.

I decided that I liked the feel of the alpaca fabric the best, soft and compatible with the fine wool. The silk felt a little wirey.

Next I did some sewing, first I’ve done besides 400+ masks since March. It felt great. I made a tunic in a sueded cotton print. Besides putting the buttonholes on the wrong side of the cuffs and having to redo them, and besides overconfidently and inappropriately shortening the sleeves which I’ll have to live with, I really like this tunic and would make the pattern again.

Next I downloaded and printed off Daryl Lancaster designs Bias Top pattern. These pdf patterns have to be printed and carefully assembled first, then you trace off the desired size from the master. Works great if you are careful and exacting.

I made up the first version from an old maternity dress that I had which was made of gorgeous fine cotton shirting material. Bias pattern pieces take a lot of fabric, but this dress was so full that I had no problem fitting it on the fabric.

Top is a little long in the upper chest but I will shorten the next version. The next one I make will be from handwoven fabric. My fabric is too narrow for the pattern pieces, so I butted the selvedges together and sewed them invisibly.

I am nearly finished knitting my linen shell, just a bit more length, a little ribbing, and a neck finishing.

I have also just finished spinning a skein of 100% fawn angora, beautiful prime plucked fiber.

I have to admit though I love this linen knitted fabric and this luscious angora, I miss wool, so I will be spinning and knitting wool next.

In my enthusiasm for projects, I notice I have strayed away from my original intent to finish UFO’s so I will identify one of these again and get going. Lord knows, there are plenty left.

Must try to blog weekly, maybe on Sundays…