My plan was to do a knitted i-cord seam to connect the border to the center field of Grandma’s blanket. Before delving in, I made a swatch of stockinette stitch and tried out the seam method by joining the sides of the test fabric. I’m glad I tried it on scrap yarn first. I don’t like it at all. The seam ends up thick and bulky and not very elastic.
So I guess I will sew the seams. I don’t mind sewing, so it isn’t a hardship, but matching up everything can be quite daunting.
I know Grandma’s blanket isn’t done yet, but I had to scratch a brain itch. I have an idea for a brioche knit using vertical stripes of color, and I just had to start a prototype. This is scrap cotton yarn (yup, when I’ve done my experiments, it will go in the washcloth bin).
That the colors match my knitting bag is complete serendipity.
I am calling the center field of Grandma’s blanket done. Now to knit a bit more length on the long side borders.
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!
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.
Now I’m eyeballing the rest of my shirts to see what I can improve.
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!
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!
My cat really likes her basket, too.
Critters and Craft 