Day Seven (Sunday 17th May): Your Time, Your Place

Where and how do you take time out to knit and/or crochet? Maybe you don’t take time out at all and instead have your needles twirling as you try to juggle a multitude of other tasks with no ‘spare’ time to think of. Maybe you enjoy nothing more than to crochet whilst  winding down from a yoga session, chatting with some friends in a nearby cafe.

Whether social or solitary, tell readers about your crafting time and space, and where you either most enjoy (or can simply find a few snatched moments) to turn yarn into something even more beautiful.

I knit on the way from school in the mornings as I'm walking home, only a few rows but that's how we build a sock anyway.  I knit while waiting at the doctors office, waiting for youngest to get out of class, just before bed and sometimes while watching a movie at home.  I always have a pair of plainish socks on the needles for the walking and the waiting.  The world is my crafting space; nowhere is out of bounds so far, in social situations knitting is what keeps me calm and stops me from running away.
I keep something more complex for the evening and daytime knitting when at home, but at the moment I'm concentrating on one pair of socks as I'm getting low on socks for me

Day Six (Saturday 16th May): Polls Apart.

Blog Survey

Today's post is simply a small survey (3 questions) asking what type of content you prefer to read, I'd love to find out!

Day Five (Friday 15th May): Something A Bit Different - Worldless

Day Four (Thursday 14th May): Bags Of Fun.

Time to delve into that most treasured collection of tools, notions and oddments as you are asked to spill the contents of your knitting or crochet bag, caddy or other method of organisation and put your crafting unmentionables on display.

You may wish to talk about your bag of crocheting tools as a whole, or delve deep into the contents of your knitting caddy and talk about the contents each in turn. Good, clear photography can help readers familiarise with your tools, and you might just help someone find a new item for their wish-list if they are awe-struck by your pom-pom maker.

 Ok, I'm pushing the envelope a bit on this one, I'm not going with a collection of tools etc, I'm going to show you the one tool I would hate to be without.

 This is my Nancy's Knit Knacks ballwinder and it'll wind up to 1lb (approx 500g); I've not wound that much as 200g is usually my max but it does a really good job on everything I've thrown at it so far.  It's not cheap, but sometimes it's worth paying the extra for a really well made tool like this.

There are other tools I love, my Clover Chiba darning needles, my Chiao Goo knitting needles (both fixed and interchangeable) and my Clover row counters but in most cases I could make do with other things, but the ball winder is the result of making do with things that didn't measure up and now that I have it I will never ever go back!

Day Three (Wednesday 13th May): Experimental Photography And Image Handling For Bloggers.

Today is about changing things a bit for project photography.    Like most people I normally take a shot of my finished yarn/project from above or the side in decent lighting with my cellphone camera or occasionally the real camera.   It'll often be on the carpet or the bed or if fine outside on a particular rock or half tree trunk that we use for a seat.

Today I popped outside with my latest finished yarn and tried a few outdoor props I haven't played with before.   Some didn't work that well like the ladder and the car door.   The letterbox wasn't too bad, but the almond tree was my favourite (not the yarn's favourite, the yarn was not happy due to rough catchy bits)

438m of 3-ply merino.   There is some more to come, this was a full plying bobbin; I'm expecting to get to 600m total.   This still needs washing as well.   I'd say it's a heavy fingering weight now, washing will probably make it bloom into a DK

It's All About You

Day Two (Tuesday 12th May): It’s All About You.
Cast your hooks and needles aside!

This year you are challenged with one of those tasks that some bloggers can find quite daunting: but there’s never a better time then when we’re all in it together, so let’s shift the focus and turn the attention from the things we make to the things that make us.

The important thing here is to remember that you don’t have to go into great personal detail and certainly do not have to reveal anything too personal. You can be as candid or as private as you like, but you can also give your readers a feel for those things that you like to do outside of your crafting.

• Do you like to walk or keep fit
• Do you read or enjoy movies – are there any personal favourite books or films that you would recommend?
• What is your dream holiday destination, job, dinner party guest list?

This post can be about your reality, your aspirations, past, present or future. Enjoy talking about you. If you really don’t want to write about yourself, though, use your creative license and invent yourself an alternative persona, whether you are a spy, deep-sea diver or astronaut (who just happens to love yarn).

So, that's what we're looking at today.  Anyone who follows me already knows some of this stuff as I've always kept things pretty real on here.   You already know my house is often a bomb-site and that my crafting is my sanity choice so I cope with the challenges of parenting two special children.
You also know I'm currently attempting to clean up my food choices (we won't mention the macaroons currently sitting across from me), you also know I have very little willpower but am also working on that!

I've just taken a short break from plying yarn to do this and have lunch, today I think might be vege soup (from a packet unfortunately).  This afternoon I'll be working, I get paid to handsew collars and zip facings on merino/possum knitwear, it's a small help to the budget.   That's another thing I'm working on, reducing my unnecessary spending (yarn, fibre etc); I've already made some progress on this but have a way to go, remember the willpower?

Films - luckily I like kids movies, youngest is currently full bore into How to Train Your Dragon movies so I'm watching a lot of that, currently watching Wall-E but my tastes are fairly wide ranging.  I love zombie and vampire movies, but I also love things like Pitch Perfect and The 13th Warrior.
I'm interested in historical costuming and I sew for my family as well.
I love reading, currently re-doing all the Terry Pratchett Discworld books and I read a lot of Anne McCaffrey and Diana Gabaldon, a bit like my movie choices my book choices also range over a fairly broad area.

My dream job would be something to do with my fibre crafts, teaching or producing, but I think teaching would suit me best, I'm fairly good at it on an off the cuff basis and people do seem to enjoy when I do my wee bits of information imparting.  Dream holiday would involve visiting fabric and yarn places all over the world including Germany, New York and the Shetland Isles.

Now I'm going to stop dreaming and get lunch before going back to plying my yarn; it's a true 3-ply (300g total) so is going to take some time, and I have to make sure I get started on work as soon as I'm back from the school run so am going as fast as I can.   I hate stopping partway through a plying session.

If You Were Yarn

I'm taking part in the 6th Annual Knitting And Crochet Blog Week over at Eskimimi Knits and the first day's topic is "If you were yarn".    Obviously the expectation is that you would choose an appropriate commercial or indie dyed yarn, but in my case I'm thinking I'm handspun.

Probably a 2-ply with the odd weak spot in the singles which is strengthened by the other single each time.   Merino for bounce and silk for strength and the pretty, probably like this one

You've seen this beauty recently, it's a dark merino/silk with sheen and bounce and recovery and strength, just like me when I have my family behind me.   My family is the strength behind the weakened spot.   This yarn is also versatile, just like me and machine washable if you have a front loader.

Healthy Dinner

No photo I'm afraid, it got eaten before I thought about it.   It's only George and I home tonight as Ian and his dad are at school camp, so I asked George to cook dinner.   The original idea was scrambled eggs, but we decided to raid the garden and fridge to find additional ingredients.

Some oldish mushrooms from the fridge and some very nice kale from the garden were added to what was now a omelet.   Free-range eggs and lots of yummy green; very nice indeed and a good start to our new way of eating.  

I've been thinking about this for a while due to my health issues (IBS, Perimenopause), I think I've posted about it before, but it got brought forward due to last night's hideous IBS event. So we'll continue as usual with meat (NZ meat is pretty good, no feed-lot animals here) and lots of homegrown veges when available, even if it does mean extra protein since I don't spray.   I know I found all the caterpillars, but the aphids are harder.   They are organic though!

I may have to purchase more spices and herbs though, I love casseroles like chicken chausseur and lamb ragout but of course the premixes won't be an option for future purchase, will have to pull out the recipe books and I'll have to take all over more of the cooking too which is not my favourite thing.   However if it works I'll have more energy which means getting more stuff done the rest of the time and hopefully also working more quickly on the paying job too.

Ug is probably the right word

Since my last post not a lot has happened.   I've done a little spinning and some knitting and some sewing, but not a lot of any of those things as I've been under the weather.

Before the school holidays I got a cold, as I was recovering from that I started feeling dizzy and off balance and that has continued ever since to some degree or other.   My chiropractor has had a good go, but as it hasn't helped that I don't think it's part of the issue.   My doctor and I both think I probably have a viral inner ear thing going on and we just have to wait it out, it's either that or related to my perimenopause.   I'm kind of hoping for the inner ear thing, at least that has a probable time frame of just another couple of weeks; the other could go on for years!   I'm also being sent in for an iron test though due to the other issues PM is causing for me which I don't need to go into here.

Financially we're feeling a smidge better, so I've bought some yarn to replace the stuff I had to sell, not all of it, but there are a few to come aside from these and I'm investing more in DK than fingering for a change as I still have tonnes of fingering

This will be a Pixelated for me using grey and dark purple as the other two colours

This will be socks for me for wearing in boots probably

and this is going with a single red skein I have to make striped socks

The other skeins coming are some plain undyed DK from Vintage Purls, some in a black/teal DK and one skein of plain salmon pink in fingering weight.  

I've got 2 pairs of socks on the go at the moment, not counting the 2 that are on hold.  

Plain vanilla socks, almost finished the gusset in the second one

This is for the GOT KAL at Wandering Cat Yarns, I'm using the pattern Riverrun and the very pretty yarn was also dyed by them.

I haven't started weaving yet, but I need to very soon as I won the New Weaver's Award for this year!    I had planned on spending it all on Texsolv heddles and a Warping Mill, but it looks like I might not have to spend it all as guild members have offered me a mill second hand and also some heddles.   I may well still need to get more heddles, but it should save me a bit so I might be able to afford another reed or some linen yarn!   The whole thing is very exciting and as soon as I'm feeling better I'm going to warp up some brushed mohair and get weaving on my current set up.
The reason I want the mill and the heddles?   The mill would enable me to warp up much longer warps and the heddles should give me a clear shed without warp threads being at different heights, the current string heddles can be a bit all over the place which means more paying attention and less rhythm.

On the sewing front I've got the bodice done for my 1810's dress, I need to trim and pin the pleats for the top of the skirt, but need the lounge floor to be free of children and my head to be clear to finish that.

This is the back, sleeves are handsewn in place

I also had to sidetrack on the sewing and do some singlets for eldest.   I got the fabric ages ago for very cheap as it smells a bit like it was in a smokey room, it's not too bad and I'm pretty sure will improve with time in the wash and air.   I think it cost me around $30 total and I got 4 of them made.  Bought wool singlets in size 12 cost about $29 each so I've saved around $90 which is pretty good

This is Kwik Sew 2464 which appears for some unknown reason to be out of print.  It is an excellent basic underwear pattern for boys aged 2 till 16.

I've got one more to do, had to make some changes as my fabric was in a tube, but it was fairly easy to do.   Next thing is the dress and then the mending and ironing pile, ick.

hemming, ironing and repair work in this pile.

And finally, I spun up a braid of fibre in the #MEGASAL in the colourway "Quoth the Raven"

It's darker IRL, my carpet is charcoal to give you some idea of how much the cellphone camera washed out.

A quick detour

I had planned on working on the dress this week, but got detoured by a need for long johns.

Merino for Thomas and George

The pricing for these came in under $20 each, no way I'd find merino long johns for that price in the shop.   Wool is necessary as they're going through Cave Stream where they'll get cold and wet (assuming the weather allows).

I've also been working on some more spinning, this is more like my usual spinning though

about 60g of merino; I have another 240 to go

I'm either doing this as a true 3-ply or 3 lots of Navajo; I'm thinking true 3-ply would be nice though.   I won't get it finished before I start my next project though.   I'm waiting on some fibre for the Discworld SAL.    Once that arrives and it's 1st April I'll get onto that.    Sock yarn first hopefully.

I shouldn't have bought the fibre for the challenge, we've been hit with a bunch of bills of late.   We'll have to pay for the double glazing soon, had to get a door fixed and don't know how much that is yet.  The car needed some work after a replacement part caused some issues, my engagement ring needs work, T's motorbike needed it's registration and a repair which was a hideous amount and the car also needs new tyres.   I've been selling more yarn to help pay for it all.

Mostly Spinning

Another beginner video, this one is my second ever corespun yarn.   I discovered that the camera has a time limit on video's too; about 12 minutes, or 4 gig.

The finished yarn is quite pretty and I will be doing more; I want to get better at it.

merino and silk corespun onto unknown 3-ply

I also did some thick'n'thin plied with probably rayon from stash

Heavenly Wools batt of merino and sparkles

and I did the rest of the first skein of long draw alpaca

You've already seen the one on the left, the one on the right is the alpaca

I've finished the first travel sock, but no pic sorry.   I've got the bodice of my 1810's gown ready to insert the sleeves and I got sidetracked by a flooded bathroom and the double glazing.
And I've got my shawl to the end of chart 2

There's a long way to go; next row doubles my stitches; then a lifeline and another 71 extra long rows before the border.

I've decided I will be casting on something new, maybe 2 somethings.  I want to make a garter cowl with the thick'n'thin  I showed you earlier and I have the yarn for a Strokkur and the need for another warm woolly jersey before winter hits.

18th century cap?

I ran this up in 10 minutes this morning from stash to go over my somewhat messy 18th century hairstyle for Armageddon Christchurch 2015.

The Challenge:  3 - Stashbusting

Fabric:  
Silk organza, linen lace

Stashed for?: 
The organza was bought in 2014 for underlining, the linen lace was bought in 2013 from a destash sale from the Embroiderers Guild if I remember correctly



Pattern:
None, I just cut out a circle, added the lace and then applied a drawing thread with zig zag.

Year:
1775 simply because the rest of the outfit is

Notions:
various threads

How historically accurate is it?
probably not at all, but I needed something to go on my hair for Armageddon to hide some of the first ever attempt at 18th century hair.

Hours to complete:
10 minutes

First worn:
today at Armageddon

Total cost:
Maybe $8?

I feel like it finished off the outfit nicely, although I have a calash I made last year it wasn't really suitable for an indoor event.  I think technically it was too small, but it was so cute I don't care!    I got stopped and asked for photo's by several people so I was pretty happy about that.

I should have taken a photo when I first put it on while I was still wearing the dress, but forgot as I was in too much of a rush.

I made a video!

It's not perfect, I'm still learning the video function on my camera but it turned out better than I expected.   It did bring to the fore just how much weight I've put on, apparently a camera is much better at telling the truth than the mirror is.  At least I know now, and I know how to deal with it!

I also got some sewing on the dress done, but no photo's or video of that.

Back to the video, it's all about how to spin on the Majacraft Stylus; there's a bit of waffle about other things but I stuck fairly closely to my intentions.   I'd love to know what you all think and if there's anything in particular you'd like to see me do in the future.

Enjoy!

Updates

My blue dress is now cut out and ready to go; hoping to get sewing tomorrow

I'm currently spinning long draw on my stylus and at the same time attempting to do a video of the process; I've had 3 goes so far and keep cutting my head off and misjudging where the camera is pointing when showing my fibre length.   I'll try again tomorrow when the boys are at school.  If I can get it sorted I might try doing the odd Vlog.

I'm up to row 42 on my Evenstar shawl, it's feeling a bit like a slog, but it'll be worth it in the end.  Only problem is the end looks like it's a very long way away!

Almost finished my current travel sock and have just wound the ball for the second one.

I'm decreasing for the toe now, this is my dye effort and I'm loving how it's turning out.

Have finished the fibre and knitting for my advanced spinning group, and I've even sent it off to the North Island for festival.  The remnants will be used with some yellow commercial yarn to make boot socks; I need some thicker socks to go in my Caterpillar boots.

3 ply East Fresian and silk.   Flick carded the wool and the silk caps were spun with swearing.

The mini-sock sample

I've also made myself a pair of Fehr Trade workout pants.   I think I need a smaller size in the legs, alternatively I need to lose more of the tummy so everything fits better!   There's no more sugary stuff in the house now so that should help.

Ignore the red, that's the pair I was wearing when I tried these on, I was lazy and left them on.

I love the peacock, pity I muffed the one on the other side.

And finally I spun some superwash merino, this has been Navajo plied and come out Aran weight.

It's beautifully soft.

Stays!

This was originally meant to be my January Historical Sew Monthly Challenge; it's late and I put yarn in instead, but I'm still going to go with the same information for it

The Challenge:  Foundations

Fabric:  Lining is cotton duck for strength and the outer is a very fine silk twill which still has excellent body

Pattern:  Red Threaded's Regency Stays pattern, bought off Etsy.com

Year:  1810

Notions:  Thread (polyester), German plastic boning (when I ran out of the spiral boning), spiral steel bones, sprung steel bones, silk bias binding (made by me), cotton cording laces, polyester ribbon and black steel grommets.  There will be a wood busk, but I have to make that yet

How historically accurate is it?  Probably about 70%, some of the materials aren't quite right like the cotton laces, some of the boning for obvious reasons and some machine sewing.    A lot of it was hand sewn though and I'm pretty sure the silk was close to accurate.   The grommets aren't but I wasn't about to put my RSI through that many eyelets by handsewing, unfortunately I only had black.

Hours to complete:  No clue whatsoever, but they're done now so I can now start working on the dress and shift and bodiced petticoat.

First worn:  For the photo's, managed to get them on by myself, was worried they weren't going to fit, but with the laces snugged in they fit well.

Total cost:  Hard to know, many of the supplies I bought some time ago, but probably around $100

 

See, they fit!  The shoulder straps could be slightly longer, mainly cos I'm slung a little lower than ideal for these styles, indeed too low for modern styles too.  I have to do pattern adjustments for modern clothes too.

Need to work on my lacing being more even, but considering I had no help this is pretty good.

hand sewn gussets

and all the annoying black grommets

 I wasn't only working on the stays today, this is the East Fresian all plied and waiting to come off the bobbin.

And now I'm going to take a break and kill some zombies.   I might get the dress cut out in a few days.

Some very good advice

Today I took a break from tidying out my corner cupboard and perused Facebook and I found a link to a blog I think is really valuable it's about pricing handmade items.   Now at the moment I don't sell what I make, but I am considering selling my hand-spun yarn at some point and when I get good enough my weaving.   I know a bit about pricing, but the main thing I know is that most people who sell their hand-made items undercharge "because it's just a hobby".
When I do start selling stuff I will be charging enough to cover my materials and a reasonable amount for my labour. 

In the meantime though I'm still working on my stays, at the moment there's the top to bind and the eyelets to add which I'm hoping to finish this weekend

1st week of school

I thought I'd get heaps of time in the sewing room, and in some ways I have, but not sewing.   Mostly pulling out yarn I've sold, addressing bags and putting it all out for shipping.    Not quite what I had in mind, but as a result I'll be making a big dent in the HP for my macro lens.   I am thinking about spending a wee bit of it on a Fitbit as well though.
I think I'd managed to forget the first week of school back is busy.   Monday was full of phone calls, making appointments.   I've now had my eyes checked and all is well there.   Heard from ACC, no sign of injury in the MRI (I had to ring them to find out), so not covered from here for the pain in my arms.   Will have to go back to the doctor for that, but it'll have to wait as I am going to the chiropractor first and I can't afford both in the same pay.   I've also made a mole check appointment, there is a family history on my mother's side of skin cancer so I decided it was time to check on that.  And, also had the plumber back to check the outside tap he replaced as it was leaking a bit; turned out to be brass filings inside it and now it's fixed.
Tomorrow is also busy, probably more yarn to pack, at least I hope so!   Then just Thursday left of the first week back at school, wonder if I'll get some sewing done then?   I need to finish my stays so I can start on the dress.   Plus I need new jeans and I think I'll have to make them both to save money and to reduce stash.

So far the boys are enjoying being back at school too, they're even getting ready relatively quickly; I hope that lasts.

Historical Sew Fortnightly Foundations Challenge - A Change of Direction

Originally the plan was to make the stays, but they're not finished and I've been feeling off colour yesterday and still a bit today so they've not moved.   I am still going to finish them, I have to in order to make the blue dress.  However since I did finish an item that could be considered a foundation on the 14th of this month I'm going to count that for this challenge and the stays will simply be in addition to it. 

What the item is:  746m of sport weight 2-ply handspun yarn (Perendale)

The Challenge:  Foundations

Fabric:  It was originally some perendale roving, it will become 18th century hand knit stockings

Pattern:   None

Year:  1775

Notions:  I used my Majacraft spinning wheel, which is totally not accurate, a spindle would have been more appropriate but the wheel is the tool I'm best with

How historically accurate is it?  Overall probably about 90%, I may have used a modern wheel, but the spinning itself is the same no matter what tool.  The 10% is the prep as I sent it off to the local mill to be carded and washed.  It's slightly overspun and overplied to make improve its wear characteristics.

Hours to complete:  A lot, I'm calling the fibre the neverending grey to give you some idea.

First worn:  Not worn yet, but patted quite a few times, does that count?
Total cost:   Probably about $30.

Progress

The Regency stays are now cut out and I've started sewing them.  The boning channels are in the main pieces, and I've got the gussets partially done, the lining still needs to be attached to them but the fashion fabric is all sewn to them, and I did that by hand.
The inner fabric is cotton duck and the outer or fashion fabric is the most gorgeous silk twill which is tightly woven, no real sheen but is perfect for what I'm doing.

Hip gusset, there is another hip gusset but it goes between the front and side pieces so it comes later.

This is the front of the stays with the bust gussets, the lining isn't in this yet, next I need to put the busk pocket in and then I can attach the lining.

I will get onto the machine sewing tomorrow hopefully, after the groceries and I suspect I'll have to get another curtain track too as Ian broke his second one tonight.

I got a little more done on the shawl, still a very long way to go but it's looking more like it'll be lovely now

Ok, it looks like a wet dishrag, but a little imagination is handy here.

I got some knitting done on the travel socks last night at the guild meeting, loving how this is looking, especially as I dyed it up myself.

I've started destashing yarn as well, I'm finding that the huge amount I have is a little overwhelming and I think having so much is also attracting more that I don't need.  I don't even want it that badly, it just seems to happen.   So I'm thinking if I get it down to manageable proportions I'll feel better and there'll be more working space in the studio.   I've also reduced my queue on Ravelry down from 9 pages to 4 and that feels better too.    I think I need to do the same with my fabric, but for now I have a destash page on Ravelry which is slowly growing and once it's all sorted I'll be listing them all on Facebook.  Getting some money won't hurt either as I'm not getting a lot of work right now.   That's a two sided thing, lovely having more time, not so good having less money; it's something that's out of my control though so I'll make the best out of it.