Sewing

I'm almost done with a dress for my almost eight year old. It's pinned and ready to be hemmed. The skirt is for me...

I don't sew much for myself. My children get odds and ends sewn for them--I love resizing t-shirts for them, shorts and pj's are easy--but I haven't ever done much for myself. I have a pretty piece of drapey fabric that I want to use for a skirt, but I was so uncomfortable sewing for myself that I had to make a "muslin" skirt first. So, the tan/golden brown skirt is for me. The drapey fabric one will be different, but making this one boosted my confidence!


This dress was sewn by my mother for my baptism when I was eight years old. Mom got it out to show to my daughter while we were visiting, and it turned out to be the right size, so she is going to wear it when she gets baptized in July.

There is a lot of emotion tied up in textiles--my son was blessed in the clothes his father was blessed in; I wore my mom's wedding dress... They're just clothes: fiber woven into cloth, sewn into shapes...but somehow, in all that, is something that makes it special... And I think the connections are neat!

Better LateThan Never

I've had this roving dyed for over a month now! It's been sitting in my roving box waiting for me to take some pictures and post it in my etsy store. It's been a very patient roving! :)


100% Romney wool
4.25 oz.

Ready to spin or felt.

Check out my etsy shop and give it a happy home!

Finishing

I'm in the process of finishing the second shawl for the Afghans for Afghanistan shawl project. The trick with finishing this one is that I didn't leave enough yardage to turn a hem.

Good thing I took Joan Sheridan-Hoover's finishing class at the Michigan Fiber Festival in 2007! This is a neat combination of an overhand knot, with the tail woven back into the main fabric. The edge is more stiff than the rest of the fabric (due to the extra yarn being woven in there!), but it makes a nice finished edge for these fringe-less shawls!


Here's a close-up view of the finished bobbles on the edge. I have been alternating sides as I weave the tails in so the bobbles (technically the overhand knots) lean to both sides.

Happy Birthday to Me...

Look at some of my wonderful birthday gifts! Knitting book by the Yarn Harlot (my in-laws saw her in person!), gardening, my newest copy of Spin-Off (wasn't it nice of them and the postal service to deliver it on my birthday!), and a homemade card and "quilt square" from my almost eight year old! She cut out and sewed each of those flowers onto the blue background just for me!

Thank you, all, for making this a memorable birthday!

This and That

I've warped the Macomber and am weaving away on my second shawl for the Afghans for Afghanistan rectangle shawl project. The yarn is 100% alpaca from Syne Mitchell at WeaveCast.

The alpaca yarn is so soft...but it's a bear to work with at this sett (18 epi) as the yarn is starting to pill and the pills catch on the adjacent yarns and require extra work to separate the threads for a good shed.

I'm almost halfway done with the shawl, so I'm not going to unweave it (oh. I'm using a fine 2-ply wool as the weft), but when I'm done I think I'll put on a narrow piece and make two samples--one with the 18 epi sett and one with a 12 epi sett. (I do wish I'd learn to do this before I get into a project!!!!).


Here's a close-up so you can see the black weft.
















And this is the oddball part of this post: my garden is growing!!! These are just two of my painted daisies. I had enough blooming that I cut these and brought them inside for the house! Hooray for beautiful flowers!