I'm making crazy TsockTsarina socks....and I'm knitting a moebius cowl out of my own handspun, and I'm making new stays, and I'm trying to learn to spin more efficiently.

Pretty much all at once.

So, here are the mock up stays:

They have been cut out in their entirety, twice, then version 2 had a partial recut, then several tweaks, so it took 2.75 versions to get a pattern worthy of making up! So, now my fabrics are cut, new, heavy duty zipties purchased, and the next step is to make swatches to decide on the best channel width for these zip ties. The best boning, currently, seems to be hand pounded ash which is 1) expensive and 2) hard to get. SO, since we aren't sure that these stays will work well (we are hopeful, though) and aren't sure that I won't need new ones in a year, anyway (hopeful about that, too!), zip ties are a good, interim choice. Once I decide on a pattern likely to last 5 years, I will get the good stuff and make them completely by hand, channels and all. This pair, machine channels and everything else by hand.


The new, real, pair are cut out. I have heavy duty (thicker, wider, longer) zip ties that need testing, so I will stitch some sample channels, to find out the right channel width, and then I can start sewing my new stays!!!



Yes, they are going to be pink!

Yarn

More photos of this yarn before I start winding it...








It's amazing, to me, how much like yarn this yarn looks like! I mean, really, if I spun it, it shouldn't really be yarn, right? I'm just plain amazed that spinning really does produce yarn!!!

Spinning spinning spinning

We had a challenge, at the local spinning guild. One person had been dying (been to a dying workshop, maybe, I think). She brought in a whole bunch of bags, two color ways, one greens and earth tones, the other circus colors. She suggested that everyone each take a bag home, spin it up, and bring it back, and we can compare. I'm just a beginner spinner, but I wanted to play, too!

This pink is much closer than the top finished skein's color.

I took a bag of circus colors, I think it was about 4 oz of bright blue, brilliant yellow, and fuchia. After much debate, I decided to use Fractal Spinning. I divided each color in half, and one bobbin got all the blue, then all the yellow, then the pink. The other bobbin used the same sequence, but I divided each color into 4. Hindsight suggests that I should have taken the first bobbin's half and divided it in 4ths, and the second bobbin into 16. Next time!

Then I plied them together, starting with both pink ends. I plan on making a simple feather and fan, garter, or modified garter, moebius cowl. I think that the mirroring will show off the colors nicely.



I made yarn!

What? Proud, me?

Yeah, just a little....

Normal life is slowly resuming, post Bar Mitzvah. Getting everyone ready was a challenge, butmget ready we did, and Harry did great. He completely nailed his portion, the blessings, and Haltarah. His D'var Torah was terrific, too. The rabbi had never heard of a kid doing a D'var Torah quite like this, before! As my friend Sharon said, it may be the first, ever, D'var Torah that everyone listened to, not just the family!

The Bar Mitzvah boy, in his lovely tallit (I hesitate to say that, but everyone else did....so.....I'm still not satisfied with it, but it is reasonably pretty! I love the way guys will wear pretty tallitot!)
Here is the D'var Torah.
Va-Yelekh D’var Torah
by Harry
September 24, 2011
(Deuteronomy 32:28-30)

Good morning

I wrote my d’var torah in verse
But please don’t get upset and curse
I have trouble writing
So don’t start up fighting
It took me a long time to rehearse

There once was a prophet named Moses
He dreamed he had piglets for toeses
He was like a parent
The Jews were still errant
So they just ended up without roses

God said to Moses “you’ll die
Tell the people I’ve chosen, Don’t Lie!
Would you please just behave
And try to be brave”
So the Jews crossed the river to cry

When they were ready to have a new home
They wrote it all down in a tome
We call it the Torah
They all danced the Hora
And then entered the land plated chrome

When they were ready to start their new life
They were not riddled with strife
Just like graduation
It’s a new situation
Like normal people in modern-life

The Jews were like kids leaving school
Convinced that they’re really quite cool
They must be proficient
To be self-sufficient
And sometime their own land they might rule

Right now I would just like to thank
Mom and Dad for filling my tank
Beth, Wendy, and Teddy
Grandma but no Eddy
And then of course there is Frank

Thanking someone is not easy
Quite often it gets rather cheesy
Thank you all for coming
Rosalie for her strumming
Hey Michael and Joan are you queasy?

(Rosalie is the guitar playing cantor, Michael the Rabbi, and Joan, his teacher)

18CLife

There is a new 18th C reenacting list, 18CLife!

You can subscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/18cLife/

It's all about 18th Century Life....Mostly civilian, of course, as most life was civilian, but military stuff isn't forbidden, it's not really the focus, but it was part of life for some.

This is where I expect to be doing most of my colonial stuff posting, from now on.

Garter tab cast on for lace

People keep arguing about garter tab cast on..."Why?" "What is it for?" "Why bother?" "Is it hard?"

Here are my two samples. I messed up the lace, the same way, after the cast on, there are eyelets on the right, but not the left, but both pieces have exactly the same lace pattern.


This first one is after a plain, knitted on cast on, of 5 sts, two rows knit, increased by two, to 7 sts, and then the lace pattern.

See? It has a horizontal garter ridge, above a knitted on cast on, with garter ridges to either side. The cast on interupts the pattern of the garter ridge border. I had to pin down the cast on edge, in the middle, quite firmly, as it wants to curve inwards, quite dramatically. I don't expect that blocking will maintain the straight edge for long.



This second one has garter ridges going straight across. You can only tell where the cast on was by where the tail is.
It has a 2 st, prov cast on, 6 rows of knit, pick up 3 then 2 sts, giving 7 sts, then the same lace pattern. This edge is nice and straight, even not pinned out. It's absolutely flat, and since I used a provisional cast on, there are no lumps or ridges, expect for the actual garter stitches.


Here is what I expect them to look like after blocking.


Regular cast on....see the inward curve? That probably won't stay blocked out.


Garter tab....nice and straight!

These spots I showed are the center neck, the center of the long side of the triangle. The garter tab does a bit of magic, and allows the edge to be one, continuous strip of garter stitch, while the regular cast on has a small break in the center of that side. It's a minor detail, but as it takes about 3 minutes to work, as the regular cast on takes about 3 minutes to work, I think the (not extra) effort is worth it!

Concord town meeting

It's 11:18, pm. Concord Town Meeting I dragging on and on. We are all very tired, there are 2 more articles. At least all the articles I cared about tonight have passed....everything else I cared about, other than tonight and the school homophobic crazy article that got fixed, have failed. At least tonight is good! But I'm tired, and oops...I had to go and speak, pointing out that the proposed zoning change to allow a hotel on Baker Ave extension means more tourist traffic going the dangerous way through the most dangerous intersection in town. I won't mind a hotel in there, once Route 2 is rebuilt, once they fix the intersection, and once they fix the sewer limitations. But, as usual, the planning board isn't actually addressing the issues we've brought up.

So, I'm knitting lace! Psyche and Cupid, by Holiday Yarns.



I think we will have to count this vote!