Month: August 2022

A tale of two shirts

On By CarynIn Craft

I have a printed shirt that I like the neckline and bodice, but am not fond of the cap sleeves. I have a black shirt that I love for the sleeves, but the body is lack luster. Time to combine!

Black shirt with great sleeves (left), and printed shirt with great neckline (right)

I took a seam ripper and removed the cap sleeves, then used fabric from the body of the black shirt to trim out the black sleeves using a backstitch (yes, by hand). A hand sewn backstitch has some flex and stretch, unlike a machine straight stitch. I used a whip stitch to put the new sleeves on, leaving a gap at the shoulder since I also like the “cold shoulder” style shirts.

Finished recombined shirt

Now I’m eyeballing the rest of my shirts to see what I can improve.

Orifice hook

On By CarynIn Craft

The hooked bit of wire use to pull fiber through the flyer assembly on a spinning wheel is called an orifice hook. On my vintage Befra Willy wheel there was no hook. I was using a small crochet hook from my Mom’s stash instead. Then I saw a hole in the back of the tension knob on the wheel. It looked like it used to hold a wire hook!

Hole in the back of the tension knob, and the coated wire I used to create a new hook

I had some sturdy coated wire in my supplies, so made a new hook. The coating made it a little bigger than the hole, so I stripped the end of the plastic off. Then it was a snug fit!

Orifice hook in place

My cat really likes her basket, too.

Update on Grandma’s blanket

On By CarynIn Craft
Current progress on Grandma’s blanket

I have four borders and most of the center field done of Grandma’s blanket. The side borders are not finished because the plan is to maximize the length of the blanket with the yarn I have remaining. The pattern calls for tassels, but I don’t like tassels (because they become a tangled mess), so I’m going to use the tassel intended yarn to make the blanket longer (we have tall people in our family). The yarn remaining is laid out on the center portion. I will use one skein to make the length, and the other skein for the join technique I want to use. I consider this a calculated risk, not yarn roulette.

Magic update

On By CarynIn chickens

Just wanted to let you know that Magic is still kicking. Well, not really kicking as her bum leg is in its acting up cycle. I’ve lost count how many times she has gone through the heal/hurt series, but I feel there is a pattern. When she hurts her leg, her food intake decreases and she rests more. Her weight goes down. Her leg heals. She is able to get around and eat all the things, gains weight until she rivals or surpasses the others, then hurts her leg again. Repeat. Always the same right leg. At this point I don’t do much special except make sure she is on and off the roost at the appropriate times, pick the shavings of her belly that she can’t reach, and give her derrière an occasional rinse to keep her clean. She can usually get around some, and it gradually gets better. Tough bird.

Magic in the waxing part of her leg cycle (no, she doesn’t wax her legs, she is just getting better from her re-injury)

Tracking rows

On By CarynIn Craft

I’m still plugging away at finishing Grandma’s blanket. I have a renewed fervor for finishing, since I now have five projects in queue. I’m currently working on the border pieces, which are mostly a five row repeat. At this point I have the five rows memorized, but to keep track of where I am, I made a simple chart. Since I have to make two, I make the first leg of the X for one side, and the second for the other. Then they should come out the same length.