Blast from the past

Just before Christmas my sister-in-law called me to say that she had put on her mittens and her little finger had gone right through! Could I fix them? I said sure.

I made these mittens somewhere around 1996, two moves ago for both of us. I'm almost certain they're made of jumper-weight Shetland, and I think they've held up remarkably well. Kathy says she wears them all winter long. I couldn't find matches for the yarn in my Shetland box, so I mended them with some white Shetland that isn't quite the right color and some gray handspun that is exactly the right color but much harsher. I don't think it will matter, though.

Even though they're looking pretty good for their age, these mittens are reaching the end of their useful life. I mended three fingertip holes (both little fingers, one forefinger), an incipient hole on the outside of each thumb where the yarn had broken but the hole had not yet spread, and a break in the cast-on on one side. I could see lots of other thin spots that could break at any time.

So I promised Kathy another pair for next winter. She wants almost exactly the same thing -- a low-contrast Norwegian style mitten -- although she said the colors could be slightly different. This time I think I'll make them just a tiny bit longer so that the fingertips don't wear out as quickly. Also, a little longer hand would frame the top motif better.

But what yarn shall I use? Last time I picked Shetland because I had lots and lots on hand. I still have lots of that Shetland around (abandoned that sweater plan) but no natural colors. I could spin the yarn (there are five or six or maybe seven Shetland fleeces in the garage) but I'm not sure it would be even enough. Or I could buy something that would be more durable than the Shetland. Ten years is a good run -- but it still was a shock to see all those thin spots. Maybe a Norwegian yarn?

I guess this is the first on the list of 2007 projects. I need to make sure they get finished, too!

More needlefelting

Pretty cool, huh? I'm not sure I can make the dozen or so that I originally planned, though. He took two full evenings to make.

But you know what I need now, right?




More colors!

My dye setup (two big canning kettles) lets me do 14 jars at once. I was too impatient to mix up new dye, so I used what dye stock I had on hand. I also decided to wing it on the weight of the wool & therefore on how much dye & auxiliaries to use -- very seat of the pants. But I'll weigh the amount of wool that fits in one jar so that I can be more accurate in the future. (Based on the amount of rinsing that I am doing this morning, I'm pretty sure that 40 grams of wool per quart jar was a wild over-estimate.)

So I dyed three jars each of turquoise, blue, cherry red and fuschia (white Shetland, white Columbia, gray Corriedale/Churro), two jars of yellow (the two white wools), and one jar of black (the gray wool). I plan on blending lots of colors from these primaries. I'll probably dye some more colors, but not until after Thanksgiving.

Not so Dala, but darling.

Yesterday afternoon Gloria Galasso of Tres Hermanas came to my house to teach a class on needlefelting. It was fun & I think I learned a lot.

Here's the little guy I started in the class. I intended to make a Dala horse; I think I've made a Mexican donkey.

It was 20 years ago today ....

What's happening here? Why, it looks like someone is finishing off the ends of a sweater ... and indeed that is what is happening.

But the sweater was finished 20 years ago. Back then I was in too much of a hurry to wear it to bother to finish the ends, except for the ones that hung out of the sleeves or the bottom of the sweater.

For years I've been meaning to do it -- you know, when I could get around to it. Really the ends didn't cause much trouble, except when the long ones came out of the neck when I put it on. But I could just tuck them back in. It was a little annoying, but that was no reason to actually sit down and *fix* it ....




Here's a closer look. Many of the tails had felted themselves, although a scary few look just like they did 20 years ago. I assume those are synthetic blends. This was my third or fourth sweater, and the first one I designed myself, and I wasn't very picky about the accent yarns I used. The main yarn is Lopi Light, and it has held everything in place very nicely.



And here's what it looks like on the outside. I've been generally happy with it except for two things. The sleeves are too long (see folded cuffs), and the round yoke is a little too small. Fortunately the sweater as a whole is very roomy so the yoke isn't constricting, but I've never used this style of construction again.

So there you have it. I should have done this years ago, and I'm glad I did it today.