Wear and Tear

Today, I'm going to look back at old projects to see how time has treated them.

But first, an update on the sweater.

The sweater is progressing. It's been a long time since I made a sweater (I've only ever made three), and it makes me remember why I prefer short projects. The time between the planning and the payoff is loooong, and there is a lot of time just doing simple stitching. Since I'm not a student anymore, and I don't do many conference calls, I don't have a lot of time when I want to be doing simple stitches. When I'm knitting on my commute I want to be entertained!

Sweater currently: no sleeves, no collar, no bottom. But top and middle are finished.

All that said, I'm pretty pleased with how it is coming out. The only thing I am worried about is that the yarn is pretty loosely plied. I knit English-style, which tends to loosen plies even further. It looks fine now, but who knows how it will wear - it's a pretty soft yarn. It's a lot of work for a sweater if it  will look awful in a year.

I've had some problems with soft yarns in the past. Here is my (award-winning) merino brioche hat when it was new in 2015:

Brioche hat in 2015

And now:

Brioche hat in 2019

 The merino wool is very soft, but it doesn't hold up to heavy wear. I've worn it for several winters, and it is pilling, stretching, and shedding. But it is still warm, and still pretty. So I'm going to keep wearing it.

This inspired me to look around to see what else I could find around the house. A couple looked pretty good, but they had stretched a bit.

My first pussy hat, made with acrylic eyelash yarn, made in 2017 and hardly worn

A slouchy beret in blue and purple, made in 2008.

One had shrunk, so that I don't really wear it anymore:

Red and blue reversible hat, newly made in January 2012.

Reversible hat in 2019: smaller (it no longer covers the tops of my ears), and pilling.

Other items were just looking worn - pilling, shedding, woven-in-ends pulling out:

Lap blanket made in 2005. You can barely see the stitches from all of the yarn halo. I have also had to resew the panels together several times.

Astronomy hat finished in early 2016.  My husband wears this a lot, so it is already pilling.

Baby blanket finished November 2017. It's not that old, but the yarn was loosely spun and slippery, so it is already showing a prominent halo of shed yarn. Woven ends are coming out too, because it is so slippery.

One scarf is made of rougher wool (coopworth) so it is not shedding or pilling. But... I made it using a slipped stitches pattern. It has curled a lot, and I don't bother trying to straighten it.

Scarf made from my first real handspun in 2014. Nice and blocked (though the yarn is uneven).

Same scarf in 2019. No pilling, but it has curled up into a tube.

Of course, all of these are survivors. We all have a tendency to lose things, even hand-knitted things (especially my husband). So, here's to a hat that has gone into the void of lost items: all we have is the picture. I hope it is keeping someone's ears warm, somewhere.

Reversible hat, finished in December 2011. Residing somewhere else in 2019.

Reversible hat, other side.

It is a nice reminder that the life of our projects is only beginning when we take them off the needles. A "finished" project is anything but.

Baby Mittens!

The joys of first time parenthood.

Our daycare provider tells my husband (who usually does pick-up) that our baby's hands are cold when they go outside to play. Last winter he was immobile enough to just put a blanket over him. This winter, I guess we will need mittens.

Of course, we'd have to trek to a specialty store to get anything in his size. And I want to attach a cord so that he doesn't lose them when he inevitably hates them and takes them off (as he does to his socks). Online options look overpriced... I guess I'll make him a pair.

Luckily(?) I have a sick day that involves lots of trips to the bathroom but not actually feeling that sick. So, I cast on a pair of mittens to occupy myself, and manage to finish by the end of the day.

Well, I won't leave you in suspense, they come out looking like this:

Pair of red mittens with cord. Quarter next to them for size.

I made them out of a ball of mystery yarn that I have had in my stash forever. I found it under a bed in a hotel room in Israel in 2005. Burn test shows it to be wool, and it is a pleasing barber pole of reds, browns, oranges, and a bit of blue. I found it in a ball, so I actually don't know the full extent of the color changes - for all I know, it's green in the middle!

Mystery barber pole yarn

I used a popular free pattern on Ravelry: Toddler Mittens on a String.

Pattern notes: It might look a bit better if I used a smaller set of needles for the initial ribbing. I did a longer ribbing than the pattern called for, which will hopefully keep the mittens on NEB's hands longer. And I liked the instructions for the i-cord: simple and to the point.

I haven't made mittens in awhile, but I had quite a glove kick my freshman year of college. I only found pictures of 3 pairs, but I'm pretty sure there were a few more than that.

Blue mittens with white stripe made for charity, made in 2005 or 2006

Self-striping sock yarn gloves in crazy colors. Made for my cousin in 2006.

Sparkly black fingerless gloves. Also made in 2006.

Gloves are a great project for people who really like socks but want to do more fiddly bits. Even the mittens can get a bit fiddly with all of the needles and stitches on holders. I would not recommend magic loop as an alternative to double pointed needles if you are making gloves - there are just too few stitches on each finger.

Almost finished with the main part of the baby mittens.
Stitches on three double-pointed needles, thumb gusset on a stitch holder.

Anyhow, I finished up the mittens in one day and NEB has been wearing them. Not sure why I bothered to put thumbs on them though, since he hasn't figured out how to use that part of the mitten.

What is the Value of Handmade?

What is the value of handmade?

People often assume that it is cheaper. Sometimes it is, especially if you start from very basic elements. If you grow the vegetables yourself, the salad is pretty cheap. But most of the time, if you added up the cost of all of the materials (yarn or wool) and tools (needles, spindles), the handmade item is more expensive than a basic version you could buy in a store - even excluding the cost of your time.

So, what is the value?

Customizability is certainly one value. When all you start with is some wool and a dye pot, your imagination is the limit. And, when you are talking about clothing, being able to tailor the clothes to your own unique body shape means a lot - especially those of us that the fashion houses rarely cater to.

Limits can be good in art - some people have made amazing things when they limit themselves to just a pen and paper- but so can free expression. And the more basic a material you start with, the more free the expression. If I quilt with factory-made fabric, I am limited to the prints I can find in the store or in my closet. If I crochet an afghan with millspun yarn, I am limited to the colors that I find on the shelf.

Speaking of crocheting afghans:

My mother, repairing a multi-colored granny-square afghan

I always knew that my mother crocheted. But she had basically stopped by the time I was born. I remember once, I got a (non)Barbie doll, and I didn't have clothes for her. My mother quickly crocheted a little pair of pants. But that is the only time I ever remember my mother crafting.

But then I was visiting for Thanksgiving this year and she had pulled an enormous afghan out of the attic guest room. I had seen it growing up, but I don't think I had ever realized that it was made by her. She had pulled it down out of the guest room because it was disintegrating - wool moths and neglect. It was mostly acrylic, so much of it was intact, but apparently the yarn used to crochet the squares together was wool. So, although it needed a good amount of repair, the essence was still there.

So, for the first time ever, me and my mother sat and crafted side-by-side. I worked on my sweater, and she got out her crochet hook. She told me the story of the afghan. How they had moved into an apartment and found a bunch of granny squares in the closet. How she had started making more squares out of whatever yarn she could find in the bargain bins. How she realized that she had made far too many, but was determined to crochet them all together. How she liked how it had turned out, but it was enormous and heavy - almost a king-size bedspread. How disappointed she was that it had been neglected.

Which brings us back around to the value of handmade things. Handmade things have stories. Handmade things are connections to people. Even when they are not customized for you.

Baby sweater we received from the family for NEB.
The label inside has the name of my mother's youngest cousin - who got married when I was 10 or so.

With modern manufacturing, we certainly have more stuff than people did in the past. But we rarely treasure our stuff.  I like using our bread machine that we got as a wedding gift. But it is breaking, and, while I'm annoyed that we have a disposable society, where things are not usually made to be repaired, we are just replacing it. Now, obviously, we can afford that because we are fortunate to have good jobs. But I feel like even people who cannot afford to just replace things don't have a sentimental attachment to the items, just worry that they will have to do without.

But handmade items are different. Time went into them. Thought went into them. They are worth passing on as more than just stuff.

We are blessed to have many crafters on both sides of the family. And, as the oldest cousin on my mother's side (and the first to have a child) we got many heirloom sweaters. My husband is the second oldest cousin in his family, but, since his brother lives overseas, we got many sweaters from that side as well. We can't remember who made most of them (though a few have labels), but I wanted to post pictures of a just a few to honor them. There are many, many more.

Made by my MIL. Still too big for NEB, but he will grow into it.

The sweaters are in many styles and abilities. Some were made for my husband or his brother. Others were made for the previous generation. My last post was on gifts that were hand made just for NEB. These are the gifts that are being passed down.

Babies grow fast, so clothes are worn only a few times before they're outgrown. This is true whether or not the maker spent many hours on the gift.

Blue and white sweater of unknown provenance. There is a matching hat.

And, of course, sweaters can only really be worn at certain times of year, and in certain climates. My brother-in-law was born and spent the first few years of his life in Los Angeles. Not many cold days there. NEB didn't ever wear some of the ones we received, as he was the right size only in the heat of summer.

Very small, cute pullover. It has matching pants, but they are two or three sizes larger.

Still, it means something special to us that NEB can wear his family history. And we will be sure to take care of them so we can pass them on when it's time.

NEB wearing a brown sweater. It has a label with name of my mother's brother.

Gifts for Our Little Boy

We happily have an abundance of talented crafters in our family. Today, rather than talk about my current projects, I thought I would share some of the homemade gifts that were made just for NEB, our little boy.

Before I get into specifics, I'd like to wax a bit sentimental. There is just something so special about homemade gifts. With a store-bought gift, you have the gifter's thoughtfulness of their choice and the use of the item. If it is a really perfect fit to your personality or it is bought on vacation, you know that they were thinking of you in particular when they could have been thinking about something else.  I have nothing against store-bought gifts.

But a homemade gift is a different level. Someone has given you the gift of time. The gift of effort. They have spent hours and hours (and hours) thinking about you and putting their intention (dare I say love?) into the item.

NEB was loved by many even before he was NEB.

So, the gifts, starting with one from me and my husband. I have talked in detail about it before, but I haven't ever published pics of the finished piece, except on Ravelry. G picked out yarn and I made a blanket; NEB is sleeping under it right now. Not much else to say except that I mostly like how it came out. I think I cast on too many stitches though, so the shape is a bit weirdly wide.

NEB under blanket last spring. ETA: hat made by grandma.

I hope that he appreciates the love I put into it when he is older. The nice thing about baby blankets is, unlike baby sweaters, they you can't really completely outgrow them. I had a baby blanket on my bed to keep my feet warm until college.

Speaking of baby blankets, we got a lot of them as gifts. Most were store-bought or hand-me-downs, but two others were made just for NEB. The first, from my aunt, was a large sewn quilt. NEB spent a lot of time on it doing pushups before he could crawl. It had a lot of interesting fabrics for him to stare at.

NEB on quilt from Aunt R in February

The second blanket was from the grandmother who taught me how to knit. It is a turquoise cotton lace blanket. I didn't use it much, because we were using the one that I made, but it should make a great lap blanket in years to come. It has a nice, heavy drape, and a lovely feather-and-fan pattern.

Lace blanket from grandma, draped over the babygate

Speaking of gifts from grandma, she also made a sweater and matching hat. I already posted a picture of NEB wearing those, though.

Another of my aunts made NEB a whole set of hats, in different sizes.

Some, not all, of the hats from Aunt C.

He has worn many of them, some he is still too small for, and a few he never wore, since they only fit him during the summer months. It is a great pattern though, and the hats are adorable. The next child to use them might be a summer baby, and will use the ones that NEB didn't.

And the last homemade gift (that I can think of at the moment) was a bunting from my mother-in-law.

Warm outfit for NEB from my mother-in-law

It's gorgeous (like all of her work), and warm. It has a hood and even a pocket to fit a car seat buckle through. And... it confused us, so NEB hardly wore it. G, who usually does the dressing, didn't even realize that the bottom was closed up. So he thought it was designed for a much larger child. My mother-in-law says that she dressed him in it a few times to take him out on walks while she was watching him, but that's really it.

Well, that is the downside of making gifts for infants. They grow so fast that sometimes they only can wear it a few times - or never. But there are always more infants, and the items get passed on to be worn by someone new. As the first great-grandchild on one side, and the first one in awhile on another, NEB probably got more than his fair share of new items.

He also got a bunch of homemade hand-me-downs. But I'll save them for another day.

Three Projects in Three Stages

This month I am going to talk about three projects that I have been working on recently: one just finished, one that I am right in the middle of, and one just starting.

Each part of a project has its charms. When you are just starting, there is the excitement of trying new things, planning (I do it sometimes, I swear) and dreaming, and puzzling out how it is all going to work. In the middle, you are getting the hang of it. You often can just let your fingers remember the pattern and relax. At the end of the project, you start seeing how it will finally look. You get to get out of the rut you have been in for the middle part and do some finishing to make it look just right.

We'll start with the end.

Finished shawl, delivered to recipient

A few months ago, I told you about a lace shawl I was working on with handspun and commercial yarns. Well, I finally finished! I always forget that triangle shawls knit up fast at the beginning and get slower and slower as they go along. So when I think I am three-quarters done, I am actually only half done (or less).

That's the first thing about finishing - it can seem to take much longer than it should. What do they say, the last 10% takes 90% of the time? Not so true in knitting, but it can feel like it!

Once the shawl was actually cast off, I still had to weave in ends and block it.

Pre-blocking, post ends-weaving:

Shawl, pre-blocking

In this case, I wanted to block it in such a way that it would preserve those beautiful waves on two edges. So I could only use my blocking wires on one edge, and just t-pins on the others.

Mid-blocking:

Blocking on the blocking mat

And finally I had to get it to the recipient: a friend who has a fondness for pink and purple.

Completed:

Wearing the shawl

Ok, now for the middle.

Since May I have been working on a spinoodling project. (Like noodling, but spinning. Get it?) I needed something that was portable, and wasn't ready to start something big, so I took out some yummy fiber and my Ashford spindle and figured I would let it speak to me. Again, I didn't really plan out where I was going with this project.

Not so Solid Solids from Little Barn

The wool is not a specified breed, but it is mill-prepared, combed top, with a nice variety of shading. I spun it for awhile and I tried to do it less fine than my previous spinning project. I have half a pound of the fiber, and I don't want to be spinning it forever!

But I guess I've reached that stage in every spinner's life when I have to relearn how to make thick singles. my hands just don't want to do it. And, of course, it's easier to thin a thick part of the yarn (untwist and tug) than to thick a thin part.

So after I had been spinning awhile, I decided that only a quarter of the wool would be used to make a single this thin. I would try making a fluffy, thick single to ply it with. Well, a couple weeks ago I wound my thin single onto my spindle bobbin (reusable straw) and started my thick single.

Thick single on spindle, thin spindle on straw

It's hard! My hands keep wanting it to make it thinner! After a bit of spinning, I started spinning the top from the fold. Thinking about it, I really wanted a nice fluffy yarn from my second ply, to really contrast with the first ply. It's definitely good practice to retrain my hands though. Hopefully, I'll be able to post beautiful pictures of a lovely art yarn when I finish, and it won't vary too much from start to finish (unlike my first major yarn - oy!).

Two mismatched ends of the same scarf. Made from my very first major spinning project.

And finally, we get to the beginning - of a new sweater, that is. This has been many years in the works. Way back at the 2014 Maryland Sheep & Wool festival I got three large skeins of an alpaca/wool blend to make my husband a sweater with.

Surrey, from Brooks Farm - Color #1

Surrey, from Brooks Farm - Color #2

Surrey, from Brooks Farm - Color #3

As usual, I miscalculated the colors I should buy. I always want to buy sets of three colors. Two that match and a third to tie it all together. But so few patterns are written for three colors! So I usually have to find a two-color pattern and modify it. As I am planning on doing here.

My husband always cold, so a nice alpaca sweater will be much appreciated. And the wool in the blend will hopefully keep it from growing too much during wear. I'm a bit worried a how loosely plied the yarn is - I can only hope that it wears well and doesn't pill. From my notes, it appears that I was planning on doing fair isle. But, I don't feel like it (so there). I picked a mosaic pattern: Shulz by Mary Kate Long.

It is top-down, so I am having fun right now with complicated short rows and picked up stitched for the shoulders. It doesn't look like much yet, but I can see the possibilities...

Until next time, happy crafting!

Decorative Arts

Man, who knew a baby would take up so much time? Definitely not updating this space as much as I would like. But between taking care of NEB, being sick, and helping campaign for the midterms (if you live in the US, you should make sure you are registered to vote, ASAP), I haven't found the time.

In fact, I've only been doing a bit of crafting here and there. I am almost finished with my lace shawl. No, I did not get it in for judging at the state fair. In fact, I have three more rows to go before I can start weaving in ends and blocking. But it is going to be beautiful, and I hope the intended recipient loves it!

Speaking of the state fair, I didn't do as well this year as in previous years. I think that is because more people are submitting - so I don't have any complaints! My entrelac scarf didn't place (lots of competition in the "scarf" category), and my lace prayer shawl got third for the category of handspun shawls. It also got a presidential ribbon though, so someone liked how it looked.

Other than the lace shawl, I've worked on a couple of quick projects in the last month or two. Both of them would fall into the category of "decorations," I guess, which is not something I usually dabble in.

The first project was for the Jewish holiday of sukkot. Most of the details of the holiday don't matter, except that we build a hut (sukkah), usually with cloth walls, and branches for the roof. It's traditional to decorate the sukkah, either by hanging harvest products from the ceiling, or making garlands.

Last year I attempted to make popcorn strings. They were... ok. But they were dried out by the end of the holiday, and they didn't look too good after getting rained on. This year I thought I would put my fiber arts skills to good use and make garlands out of yarn.

I used a technique called finger knitting. Basically, you treat your fingers as a knitting jenny/knitting loom. There isn't much variety in the stitching, but you can make a long chain in whatever color suits your fancy. And it is quick, and doesn't require any tools except the yarn itself. When I taught knitting at a day camp, they would send me bunks of campers who would have 45 minutes to learn how to do something with yarn. And I would usually teach them finger knitting. Their finished products, depending on how long they were, could be bracelets, necklaces, belts, or jump ropes.

Me, hand knitting a garland for the sukkah

Anyhow, I wanted nice long chains that I could hang up in my 8 foot cube of a sukkah. It was a great way to use up yarn that I wasn't too fond of, particularly stuff that I thought was too loud. Nothing is too loud when hung from the ceiling outside.

I ended up with three long chains. The first was a pale yellow yarn paired with a fall-colored variegated yarn that was supposedly one of the color pallets from World of Warcraft (I don't play, so I can't attest either way).

WoW yarn used in garland #1

 The other two were other loud, bulky yarns that have been sitting in my stash forever. I'm pretty sure I have posted about them before, in my post on ugly yarns. The pink yarn was paired up with a black sparkly yarn that is nice, but a bit scratchy for clothing.

Unknown ugly pink/blue/orange yarn

Black sparkles yarn

Any how, all three garlands looked great hanging up, and I should be able to reuse them next year. My husband suggests that I add one more each year. We'll see how long that works out. It is a great way to use up yarn.

Garlands hanging from the roof of the sukkah (view looking up from below)

Garland at entrance

The second decorative art project is for little NEB's Halloween costume. He is going as an acorn, and I wanted some oak leaves as accessories. Ravelry is amazing. I just typed in a search for oak leaf patterns and a few came up. I ended up making a pattern by Frankie Brown that was pretty perfect.

Knitted oak leaves for costume, in brown and red

I made them on size-9 needles, with two yarns held together, so they came out bigger than the pattern (which is on size 6). The larger one is red and light brown, and the smaller one is dark brown and the same light brown. The plan is to tie them on as an arm band.

That's all for now. Maybe I'll write again before 2019.

Lace Shawl

Sigh. Started another project without much thought or advance planning. Then I (rather foolishly) told the Maryland State Fair that I would be submitting it for judging. So now I have a bit less than three weeks to finish it.

All that said, it is coming along beautifully. It is a lace shawl, and I am actually following a pattern (no really, the only change is to the yarn. Well, and the needle size. But, the rest, I swear, is following the pattern). The pattern is Ilo, by Heidi Alander. It is a two-color, triangle lace shawl using something akin to the feather and fan stitch.

For my main color, I used some rough handspun. I spun from the lock, and I mixed mostly white lincoln wool with colored mohair locks in pink, purple and blue. It came out quite pastel. You can read more about it here, here, and here.

Mohair locks

Lincoln locks

Singles yarn on the spindle

Pastel yarn in the skein

For my contrasting color, I used a gray yarn that has been sitting in my stash for awhile. It is either laceweight or cobweb weight, and I once made a lace shirt out of it.

Fine gray yarn

It is a mystery yarn, since I bought and balled it before I documented every purchase on Ravelry. I think I bought it in college though, and I know that I got it from a vendor at the science fiction convention Arisia. It feels like wool. It is VERY fine, and quite delicate. I am doubling it for this project, to more closely match the weight of the other yarn.

Yarn across my hand, for scale

So, the project started out well.

Beginnings of the shawl, with balled yarn

I was a little worried that because the shawl is a triangle, the blocks of color would look odd: early on, the blocks would be large, but later they would be narrow. So far though, that hasn't happened. It looks fine, I think.

Current state of the shawl, as of Aug 5th

What has happened is that I have discovered that one of the balls of the gray yarn has gotten damaged. I don't know what caused it, but there are many breaks in the yarn. This means that I have to splice a new thread every row or two. An unpleasant surprise, to be sure, but not insurmountable.

Well, since I have some baby-free time today, I should be knitting, not blogging! Off I go.