Here is another square done from the book Granny Square Flair by Shelley Husband.
How long did it take you to notice that the center circle is showing the wrong side? I didn’t notice until all four outer circles were stitched in and I had started the connecting stitches. Sigh. I’ll put it in an obscured spot in the final garment. Or call it a design choice.
On our five-day road trip I spent time in the car twining and nålbinding a small oval basket from the lotus fiber that I hackled before we left. Once I had an oval shape for the base by adding increases only to the curves, I stopped increasing to build the walls.
Even though I hackled the fiber and removed many of the shorter fibers, the lotus had more and there bits everywhere. The fibers are hair-like and itchy. Luckily I keep a lint roller in the car because I had to use it before every stop.
To finish the basket I wrapped the twine around the top rim twice to give the edge more strength.
The basket had a bias twist and was a little wonky, but sturdier than I expected.
When we got home, I gave the basket a plain water soak and the twist relaxed, making quite a nice little container once it was dry.
This project took me roughly 18 hours, but it was very satisfying to twine for a while then stitch for a while. I was originally thinking to make this into a base for a project bag, but since it holds shape, I think I will keep it as a small basket.
In April of 2018 we took over Sophie the dilute calico’s veterinary care and took her to get spade. To keep her from licking the incision and taking out stitches, I made her a body suit from an old t-shirt, cutting out leg holes and leaving strips on the back so it could be tied shut. She was remarkably tolerant of us.
The lotus fiber I purchased had not been hackled. I do not have a hackle, but I do have wool combs, and one comb clamped to the table made a serviceable way to separate the long fibers in the bundles.
Combing out the fiber went well once I had the rhythm of it. I would comb out one side starting at the end, then flip the bundle around and comb out the other side.
There were extremely long fibers, over five feet, and many, many shorter fibers. The shortest formed tangled knots in the comb. I was able to comb out a second round measuring up to about two feet, down to six inches.
The tow, or the pieces combed out shorter than six inches, I put in a bag. Maybe I can use it as stuffing. The lotus fiber feels more like jute, heavy and prickly.
The pocket on the back of the wheelchair can only hold a pamphlet, anything thicker pokes the rider in the back. So I made a separate organizer type for long zoo trips where we need spaces for water bottles. My youngest requested space fabric, so we selected a print-on-demand pattern from Spoonflower on cotton denim fabric. I made three pouches by sewing a sleeve so none of the white backing shows.
I put three sleeves on the backing fabric, and sewed down the center to make six pouches. I then made loops for the top corners to go over the handles and straps for the bottom to attach to the wheelchair frame. All of this sandwiched between another rectangle of denim. My Singer model 66 treadle handled the denim up to six layers, but eight was a struggle (a little extra oomph with the handwheel sometimes works, but you risk a bent needle). When I turned the entire assembly right side out I had to move the edge stitches in so I wasn’t sewing through 12 layers of denim (this organizer is hefty!)
I’m pleased with the flat construction, it doesn’t interfere knees when pushing and it folds up with the chair well.
I’m also trying to track my time on projects. This one took me 2.5 hours of active time.
Critters and Craft 