It's the end of the world as we know it, but I feel fine

At least for the moment, aside from high stress levels of course, but there won't be many people out there without stress issues right now.
I am still having health issues, but things are slowly improving, my cubital tunnel issues aren't improving for some reason but I'm also low on estrogen which might be affecting healing and inflammation.  I'm seeing a physio, though next week it's a different physio as mine came into contact with someone with Covid-19 so he's stuck at home for 2 weeks; assuming he doesn't get it.  It's possible I may be referred for further investigation, but who knows how that'll work with the current situation.

I'm still knitting of course, but this year I only tried to get in as a cheerleader for Sock Madness rather than a team; a team would have caused greater injury, so not worth it.   I've also been sewing, but the dress I made is now awaiting next summer to get finished, it's a touch snug right now but I don't want to make adjustments just yet.

1st Sock Madness sock, size L with 7 repeats of the pattern on the foot; so much larger than required, but it fits youngest.

My next projects will be more workout gear for me as well as casual trousers for Dh and sweat pants for eldest in a merino sweatshirting to keep him warm at school.  He's now in Yr 13 so doesn't have to wear uniform any more; he just has to look tidy.
I'm also going to do more work on the chair, a friend at guild has some cotton wadding her father bought 45 years ago and she's giving it to me to help out; if I bought some it'd be way too expensive so she's a lifesaver.  I have one horsetail, but can't get any more, the business I got it from (our cat food shop) is closing down so instead I'll be carding it with wool and keeping my fingers crossed it works.

I'm still cycling, but have taken a few days off after getting a cold, no one else in the family has it but me.  It's relatively mild but blocked a tear duct, haven't had that happen for a while, don't want it to happen again.  I've been massaging it and using colloidal silver to help clear things up and it has improved.  Looking forward to getting back on the bike.

On the Covid-19 front things aren't too bad here in NZ yet, our borders are pretty much closed, people who've come in from overseas are self-isolating (mostly, there have been a small number of tourists who were a bit cavalier in their attitudes and got caught out by that) and as far as we know there's no community transmission; we're all hoping it stays that way but of course there's a fair chance it won't.  Supermarkets have been hit with the stupid panic buyers.  I was lucky enough to be able to get everything we needed for the fortnight by going to 3 different places yesterday and got a wee bit extra to see us through a touch longer if needed.  I didn't go overboard though, got one bag of flour, not 2, the usual amount of bread etc.  Gatherings over 100 people indoors are now prohibited, guild is still meeting tomorrow, but I suspect that may go on hiatus for a bit shortly.  My husband's Judo club has closed down for the moment; not a sport that can do social distance easily, plus they have kids classes and don't want to spread it that way either.

One thing, the yarn community and also now some of the sewing community have been offering patterns free to help people stay sane while they're stuck at home; I thought that was a wonderful idea so I also put my one and only pay for pattern up free till the end of the month; hopefully it will help someone else stay sane through this.
Lace Chain Baby Socks the code to get it free is "AsWeKnowIt" without the quotes.

Pathfinder Vest in Boiled Wool

I've finished my Pathfinder Vest by Twig + Tale using the gifted boiled wool and cotton elastane from For Fabric Sake and I'm in love! The pattern is wonderful with great instructions and the fabric is perfect for it. Boiled wool is lovely to work with, because it's a stretch knit it's very forgiving and being wool adds extra forgiveness, it doesn't need prewashing and won't fray either. Only thing to be aware of is when pressing be sure to use a press cloth or else it will go shiny; this is normal for wool, however that's a small price to pay when you consider how well it reacts to pressing in the first place; unlike polyester it plays very nicely with heat.

Pixie hood!  And embroidery :)

It's beautifully warm and it's going to be a staple in my wardrobe this year. The colour in the worn photos is more accurate.

You can get an idea of the lining here; unfortunately my phone didn't want to focus properly for some reason

I do love how the hood sits when it's down

See, embroidery!

And the lining is peeking, so pretty.

I made a couple of adjustments to the pattern, the main one was dropping the bust point due to Mother Nature attatching my breasts a little lower than pattern companies design for and I also graded between sizes since I'm best described as non-standard.  I have to do these adjustments with almost every pattern I use.  I top stitched around the hem and fronts so that the lining can't roll around; it wasn't actually trying to, as I said wool takes pressing very well but I don't like to take chances and I love how topstitching looks so...


In the interests of full disclosure I was given the fabric for this project by For Fabric Sake, I bought the pattern a while ago. Although I was gifted the fabric my opinions are not swayed by that in any way. If making the same outfit yourself I'd probably go with a slightly heavier weight lining or else use a woven fabric as a lightweight knit can be a little tricky unless you're used to them, but in this case the print went so well with the wool that I'm glad I put the effort in.

Sewing and knitting

I've got stuff cut out, but the weather has now turned cold and it's all summer stuff; it'll now be put on hold till next spring in the hopes that I'll be feeling healthier and that the fit will be better too due to my new diet I've lost a little weight.

I have done some sewing though and some knitting, I've finished 2 pairs of socks for Sock Madness and cast on a 3rd, and I've made Dh some undies.  Unfortunately the pattern doesn't suit him well, the cuffs are too tight (tree trunk legs from judo) and the top band isn't firm enough and rolls down.  This was the SUAT Mens Boxerwear pattern, I'm going to try a Jalie one next.  Much as I love SUAT's women's undies, my shape is rather different from DH's and not all pattern companies work for all body types.

Excuse the wrinkles, they'd been stuffed in a drawer; he won't be photographed in them so this is the best I could do.

On the knitting front here's the socks so far.

Smock Madness for Ian's enormous feet.

Demogorgon's Lair (fraternal socks for me)

Echoes with help from Ray

The Monthly Stitch - Anything But Clothes

I've still not heard if I can use this pattern, but considering today's the last day I had to get it done anyway.  The pattern is this one.  I've made it before with some changes; this one's too small for knitting so I made it larger; probably should have remembered to also increase the length of the ribbons, sigh.  It still works, but not as well as it should.  In the photos the ribbons aren't inserted properly so they look ok there.

The main fabric is one I've been hoarding for some time now, Cicely Mary Barker's flower fairies; I love the books and had to have the fabric when I saw it.  The pixelated roses came with a bulk lot of quilting fabrics and the lining is plain old calico which gives it some body.

I thought about adding a pocket, but this will be a sock knitting bag and I've not usually found any need for one in those; I will make another one later with it though.

Now I need to get knitting, I've done none today despite being home all day.  I'm now on antibiotics and probiotics and hoping to see an improvement shortly healthwise.  I hate taking antibiotics but my immune system just isn't strong enough to kick this bug.

An Anna Dress finished

Though I'm not 100% happy with it.  I had to do a bunch of adjustments, the bodice was way too short; seriously, is anyone really that short in the torso?  It was too long for empire, too short for waist length but was obviously meant to be waist length with the pleats.  I ended up dropping the bust 3cm and didn't take that cm off further down as I would with a big 4 pattern.  I also graded out from a size 12 US bust to a size 14 US waist and hip.

The front isn't too bad fit wise, but the back is way too wide; I've not had this problem to this extent with any other pattern brand so not sure what's going on here.  I think I'm going to have to put neck darts in to make it fit better which I shouldn't have to do.

The fabric is from deep stash, it's an organic cotton in cotton candy pink; not really my colour but it doesn't make me look ill and is a nice bright colour so I'll still wear it.

The pattern is from By Hand London and the internet seems to be full of people raving over it, but I'm not joining the chorus; I won't be making it again.

Hard to see the fit issues in this one, but they were the first thing my husband noticed which means they're incredibly obvious!

Keeping it real, this is after all what I'll be doing in it.

Beauty shot, I think the pleats are a little too long and as you can see the bodice isn't sitting correctly even with the changes I made.  Imagine what it'd be like without them though, eek!

I've been doing a lot!

Still having health issues, back pain and sciatic induced foot numbness have been added; plus a recent probable reaction to coconut in my diet was not pleasant.  I'm certainly hoping it was coconut since it's been going on for 2 weeks now and if it's not that then who knows what it is or when it'll stop.  I'll know in a few days if it's gone or not though; fingers crossed!

In the meantime I've been sewing, knitting, weaving, tidying and cleaning and travelling for a day.

I've finished my coat, got one area where the lining isn't quite long enough under one arm, but I'll tack it down at the top which should fix it.  Also the pocket lining keeps peeking; that's a design flaw.

I found the perfect buttons in my stash.  Pattern is an OOP Burda one.

I've almost finished Ian's socks, they should be finished by the end of this week, just 1.5 toes to go and I've made sure there's a little space in the end so he won't outgrow them too quickly.

Yarn from Vintage Purls, pattern is my own and I may publish it later.

The weaving which is now off the loom, still needs wet finishing but I'm going to check what people at guild recommend before I do that.  I'm in love with this.  There's enough for 2 scarves; one with a sewn hem and the other with fringes.  I'll keep fringe scarf and the hemmed one will go to the lady I bought the loom off.
Warp is hand dyed merino/possum/silk by Agnes Hauptli and the weft is black alpaca also from Agnes.

I'll do a separate post in a couple of days about our trip to Wellington, see you then!

I got some sewing done!

Not the coat yet, but I'm blaming my son for this delay.  He bought Far Cry 5 for me on the Xbox so I've been running round the wilds of Montana shooting Peggies instead of sewing.  It's been fun though!

I have however managed to get my loom heddles threaded with the next project and I've sewn 2 things in the last few days.

This is the early 18th century vest I've made for Dh

 It's silk brocade on the fronts from very deep stash and the back is a silk/wool blend fabric I bought at The Fabric Store here in Christchurch. 15 buttons and buttonholes.  There is a small amount of non HA fabric lining the back as the silk/wool was a bit too stiff to use as lining as well as the outer; there is one layer of that lining the front and another narrow piece behind the button areas since I refused to fully interface the front pieces.

and this is my gorgeous muff.  The inner is separate and made from slightly felted wool coating (a remnant) and stuffed with mohair roving from the stash.  The outer is a goat fur and will look amazing with the dress when I make it as that is a slightly pinky red shade of silk.

Add caption

And now back to the studio to do some more sewing and maybe read the book on my warping up the loom as well.

Despite it all I finished a top!

Despite the sinus thing I've done some sewing and I finished a t-shirt I really love.  The main fabric is merino from The Fabric Shop which I got for $10 per metre.  I had to cut around a couple of holes, but it was worth it, the colour is gorgeous!

Tunic length (horrible lighting).  It keeps raining here so all photos are indoors with no decent lighting

And close up of the neckline (and the birdie) with equally horrible lighting.

On the health front I was worse yesterday and ended up at after hours again (to those from overseas this is like a walk-in clinic I think).  New antibiotics and another nasal spray with an antihistamine and the hopes that this works.  Yesterday was horrible!  Today I'm feeling a bit more human so have hopes for the future and am about to get 2 singlets sewn for youngest.  He's not so young now, 13 this month and we had his birthday party today which went off well despite having to cancel the visit to Willowbank (a local zoo) as it was raining quite hard.  He invited two friends from his old school who now go to the new school as well and they watched Fantastic Beasts and decorated pillowcases.   I'm now all out of decent cotton pillowcases so will have to come up with something new next year.

On the knitting front I'm up to the first heel on Dh's new socks, have just started a new shawl and got youngest to choose one skein of yarn from Vintage Purls to order for a new pair of socks.  I was expecting he'd choose green, but he chose lilac instead.  Looking forward to knitting those, just have to decide on a pattern.

Dh's Barrel Rider Socks

and my Aisling shawl which is being done in a merino/silk/yak singles yarn.

Whoops, forgot about the blog!

I've been busy dealing with Scout fundraising, exercising, trying to get my diet under control (was doing well till a week ago when I fell off the wagon), dealing with a crook back and doing some sewing and knitting.

On the weaving front I've got the 8-shaft ready to do the final tie up, just have to get a warp on her.  The warp is ready to go, my back isn't.   The back issue is I think due to cutting out fabric and possibly my adhesion issues as well.
I'm doing my exercises to help it and seeing a Bowen therapist as well as planning on going to a myofacial release massage therapist (not the physio I'd been seeing) and probably an accupuncturist as well, but not all at once, have to do what I can afford.

On the sewing side of things I have cut out 2 pairs of waterproof trousers (both for Dh, but one was too small, so they're mine now), 1 pair of culottes for me, a shirt for me, sweatshirt for Dh, a zip up sweatshirt for G and jeans for me.  I've finished the 2 pairs of waterproof pants and started the sweatshirt for Dh.

The multi ones are Dh's, the black are now mine.

I've also got plans to make a 1745 outfit based on the Simplicity Outlander pattern.  I've not got a plaid as I couldn't find any I liked this winter, but I do have a pinstripe wool for the skirt (don't know if it's HA or not, but it looks good) and I'm going to use the green velvet I was gifted for the jacket and the stomacher.

On the knitting front I've finished a jersey, a pair of socks, cast on a hat, planned for a cardigan and won enough yarn to make a jersey in some alpaca/finn blend which is coming from the US, can't wait for that to arrive.  It was part of a KAL called the Fall Sweater Challenge.
The colours are naturals and it should look wonderful when finished, I'll either make another Strokkur or this pattern:

this one depends on whether I can get gauge.  If I can the main colour will be a dark brown and the contrasts will be cream and a lovely oatmeal.

I finished these socks for Dh, Ribby Socks

Wound 970g of yarn into two enormous cakes for a future project

Chose the yarn and pattern for the Fall Sweater Challenge, this was chosen before I won the yarn and will get started first, as soon as I finish the hat

And this is the hat which I'm knitting in the leftover yarn from the next project

This is my wonderful (and now well worn)  Eased jersey.   All in handspun on different bases (merino and Haunui from Heavenly Wools)

My other project is this lot.  I'm going to grow some sprouts for my summer sandwiches and I've got pea and sweet pea seeds to plant as well as a mesclun mix.

I might also have spent more time than ideal on the Xbox, but I enjoy it and I offer no apologies for this, except possibly to my knitting.

Tour de Fleece and FO's

Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow and I'm starting with some fibre I was gifted from Heavenly Wools as part of the 6 month ambassador role I've been offered.  I'm going to spin it as a fractal gradient.  I've already prepped one bump.

My planned spin pile, all Heavenly Wools

and this is my ambassador fibre, it's the colourway Daniels on Dark Grey Haunui.  I can't wait to get started on this!

I've also finished some weaving, my tea towels are off the loom and all hemmed and washed.

cotton, not perfect but I'm pretty happy.

I've also finished a pair of jeans and a sewn cardigan, but there will be no photos of that until I've taken them and posted them on the Monthly Stitch blog which I can't do for almost a fortnight.  There's a dress too, but it's been too cold to take photos of that, it's more of an autumn or spring weight.  I will try to get photos this weekend of that.

I've also got a lot done on my handspun jersey, down on the ribbing hem at the moment which then leaves the sleeves and the collar to go.  I'll take photo's of that once the ointment on my hands has properly sunk in, the chilblains are not a happy thing right now.

They're actually worse now, this was yesterday, now they're properly red and like little sausages stuffed too firmly.  Hate the itch so much!

Sewing a Wrap

This is the Olivia Wrap Dress

I really like it, though I would have been happier if I'd finished it while there was still light outside

• Since this is the New to You Challenge I decided to go with one of the patterns from the Chill Out Capsule and since it’s winter here the Olivia Wrap Dress by Named  appealed.  I don’t have a wrap dress at the moment and I had the perfect fabric in my stash, so that was another point in its favour.
• The fabric was some merino/nylon from Levana Textiles bought off Trademe and in a perfect colour for me, I might have had to buy a little more as I'd used some for another dress and only had 2.4m left.
• The pattern was mostly good, the fit is good for me with no adjustments but I would do the pockets differently in future.  They are inset after the side seams are sewn, normally I put them in before that and the result would have been much smoother that way.  I stuffed up a little and cut the fronts out with the wrong side of the fabric so had to change which side the dress fastens to fix that as I didn’t have enough fabric to recut.  I also changed how the elastic in the waist was sewn in and just sewed it over the seam and through the dress rather than attaching it to the seam allowance; what can I say, I’m lazy and I figured it’ll be covered by the ties anyway.  Finally I made the opening for the ties smaller after seeing comments about that being too large on Pattern Review.
• I’m actually surprised at just how much I like this now that I’ve finished it and I think it’s going to be a staple in my winter wardrobe.  It fits well and is flattering too.  I want to wear it with my Caterpillar boots for some reason, and if it gets super cold I’ll wear a shawl to fill in the neckline.
• Overall this was a fairly straightforward make, but did have some tricky bits and the instructions while fairly good didn't always choose the best way to do things in my opinion.
  
  Next up for me is another dress, a pattern I've made in the past for a fit and flare style dress using some cotton knit that's been in my stash for aeons, plus finishing warping up the loom (almost done).

  I've also installed a new waste disposer as our one died and cast on a jersey in handspun; no photo yet as it's not far enough along but there should be one later this week all going well.

Finally I'm now waiting on a referral to a neurologist, my MRI has some areas of demylenation on it, MS was mentioned as a possibility.  I'm not worrying too much yet but am still working towards clean eating and adding some extra supplements after my next GP appointment.  Despite that news I've actually been feeling pretty good over the last week aside from the side pain which wont' go away; it's improved a little, but still there.  I'll take the little improvements I think.

Challenge #4: Under It All

What the item is: 1770's linen shift

The Challenge: #4; Under it All

Fabric: Handkerchief line from Fabrics-store.com

Pattern: Used the diagram from Costume Close Up and some information from http://www.marquise.de/en/1700/howto/frauen/18chemise.shtml

Year: 1776

Notions: Linen thread, beeswax

How historically accurate is it? Pretty good really. The fabric is pretty accurate. All seams are handsewn and flat felled. Lots of running stitch and some whipstitching on the hems.

Hours to complete: I don't know, but it was a lot; so many seams with little stitches took forever!

First worn: Not worn yet, but made to go under my 1776 outfit once finished. I did have a nineteenth century shift, but the sleeves were wrong and so was the neckline for this period.

Total cost: $45US for the fabric and shipping, plus about $8 for the thread I think.

I was talking to my photographer when this was taken

 I should also show off my Red Hot Shawl on Bonnie

I think I should have blocked it harder

But it still looks good on Bonnie and it's lovely and warm too!

My Calash

The Challenge: #2 Innovation

The Innovation:  The Calash was designed to overcome the problems of protecting a large hairdo; the idea is to protect the hair from wind and rain and it even had a ribbon to hold onto to prevent it from flying backwards in a gust of wind.   Good girls didn't snap their ribbons, but those who weren't quite so good were known to snap them to attract the attention of the opposite sex (scandalous!).   

Fabric:  Dupioni Silk (not period accurate) and linen (accurate); the silk was from old stash, the linen recent stash.

Pattern:  None, got some ideas from a tutorial, but it was lacking seriously in the detail I needed so in the end I winged it from photo's.   The outer supports are garden irrigation tubing and the inner bits are done with cotton cord pulled taught to give the wagon cover look.

Year: 1776

Notions:  Polyester thread, cotton cord, garden irrigation tube and a little ribbon.

How historically accurate is it?  Design wise I think it's pretty good, my fabric is halfway there so I'd say about 65% total.   There was some machine sewing for the channels cos I was feeling lazy.

Hours to complete:  7

First worn:  for the photoshoot

Total cost:   $8 for the linen, everything else was from old stash so no longer has a value.

It came out a little lower than I'd hoped for, but I won't ever be doing the huge hair to the extent that I'd need  a high one anyway and I'd happily wear this as it is.   I'd go so far as to say I love this thing!

Finally the stays are completed!

And they're done early enough that I don't have to put them in the post due on Sunday for the wool blog hop which I'm pleased about.

Not 100% happy with the placement of the shoulder straps

Flat front, this is historically correct I think.

Back lacing more even than last time; I think it'll look better when I lose a little pudge.

The Challenge:  Wood Metal and Bone

Fabric:  3 layers.   Lining is quilting cotton, then there's a layer of something unknown for strength and the top layer is cotton canvas.   I've also used 2 chamois cloths for the binding and polyester ribbon for the lacing.   The boning is all plastic zip ties and I have a wood busk (thanks to Mitre 10 for the wood paint stick).   I'm still working on the lacing I'll use in the end, but that's from linen thread being made into a cord on a lucet.

Pattern: Ralph Pink pattern, upsized.

Year: 1770

Notions: Polyester thread, cotton thread.

How historically accurate is it?  Fairly accurate I think.   The pattern is from an extant garment, though the body in it is definitely modern (need to cut out the sugar), many of the fabrics are fairly similar to what was used originally.   I'd guess at about 80%

Hours to complete:  Many, a lot of handsewing with all those little eyelets and the binding.

First worn:  Just now, been wearing it for close to an hour and my back is much happier in this than it was in the commercial corset I've got.


Total cost:  Probably around $20

In knitting news I've finished the first sock from my pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks

The yarn is from HappyGoKnitty; her shop is not stocked at the moment as she's just moved, but I'm sure she'll be stocking soon.   This yarn is merino/silk.   It was a little cheaper than normal due to some white spots in the yarn, but that didn't particularly bother me; I just love the colour changes!