Blog Archives

Here and There -

6/25/2019

Yesterday, I mailed a tapestry to New Zealand.

Stitched to a piece of cardboard,
stamped and addressed,
it is now somewhere
between there and here,
hopefully having a swell time
with all the other mail.

Here and There is the name
of the exhibition for which I wove it --
an international tapestry post card exchange
organized by the American Tapestry Alliance.

Sue, my post card pal
(we were randomly paired)
lives in New Zealand
so my tapestry will live its life
on the other side of the globe
where upside down is right side up,
and there is here with a t.
Or here is there, without one.

After months of immersion
in the sartorial and cellulosic,
it was delightfully familiar
to wind a wool warp
onto a tapestry loom--
(or four selvedge jig as per the photo below).

Indeed, weaving a little tapestry
proved to be its own sort of vacation--
a great way to recover from recent actual travel!

And wool is such a sweet friend.

Friendly and forgiving,
it is comfy under my butt
(the blue and yellow tuffet two photos up
is stuffed with fleece I didn't want to spin),
and my hands know just how to keep the tension even
as I wind and space and lash things into position.

Weaving this post card
using the Four Selvedge technique
was not even a question--
--in part because four selvedge is my fave
-- in part because of the clean edge finish.

My hands also relished
the ease of tapping yummy strands
of wool weft into place
and weaving in the ends.

Weaving in the ends
is incredibly satisfying to me--
both as I do it
and after it is done.
It also makes for a smooth back,
so the tapestry nestles flush against the cardboard
and the whole thing is smooth and even.

Sometimes it is actually hard
to tell the front from the back.
Other times, it turns out
that the back actually is the front,
rendering irrelevent,
some of our tapestry angst
about which way to work.

NOTE: This end-weaving-in thing
is a personal preference
and I have no wish to imposed it on anyone else
(I may be teensy bit obsessed with the subject),
but if you want to know more,
check out post linked above,
or type 'weaving in the ends'
into to the search box at the top of the page.

At any rate,
after releasing the tapestry from the loom
I stitched the side walls of the houses
and the edges of many of the letters.
Zooming across the world
in a box full of mail,
is not a thing I have experienced in this life,
but I worried a bit about
its fellow travelers
getting caught in open slits.

Then came a hot soapy bath
(what's not to love about that),

a good press with a steamy iron,
and the final stitching onto the cardboard
as per the instructions on the ATA website .

Stamp
air mail sticker,
an address,
and a brief message
came last of all.

Then we biked to the Post Office
made our last farewells.
and off it went.

Lucky tapestry
going to New Zealand.

Lucky me,
staying home.

on noticing--

6/18/2019

Flinging my body through the sky
from one side of this continent
to the other,
is not a thing I enjoy.

Along with despair at its environmental aggression,
air travel induces in me
a kind of foggy spiritual disconnect--
as though, while my sleep deprived body
is slurping Dunkin Donuts coffee in Boston,
my self is scrambling across eastern Montana
crying, "WAIT FOR MEEEEEEE,"
only to begin the long trudge back to Idaho
(without even catching a glimpse of the Dakotas),
when my disconnected carcass
is suddenly
dumped back home.

As a weird wort of compensation however,
or perhaps a way to place myself,
travel does induce a kind of intent noticing
that can help remind me
that I once was whole --
and will be again.

The richness of my mother's
chair-side table for instance,
is a source of such joy,
with its books, computer,
seed and course catalogues,
pencils, pads, newspaper articles
and (because I was there and she's a supportive Mum),
her evolving Somewhat Slanted Sweater.

It was also a delight to feel
the sense of comfort and belonging
induced (at least in my heart and hands)
by tiny, yarn-filled rooms,
and the welcoming enthusiasm of Lily,
at Norwich Knits,
the new yarn shop in Norwich, Vermont
where we bought my mother's yarn.

Nor, indeed, could I fail to notice
the beatific inner glow
induced by a blissed out tour
of the Green Mountain Spinnery
in Putney, Vermont,
where I got to watch (and hear)
some of their venerable machinery in action.

The walls of yarn were fabulous too.
And oh....
the smell...
of lanolin and sheep
and yarn in the raw.

I also noticed (with surprise),
how the wool/organic cotton
skeins grabbed my attention.
It's not a blend I am likely to create or spin myself,
but I hadn't yet knit a Somewhat Slanted
in this weight yarn, and I look forward to wearing it.
So far, I know that it is really nice to knit,
the drape of the first square is fantastic
and that there is enough wool in the blend
to easily spit-splice when joining skeins
or knitting stripes.
(Hard, later, not to be aware that my minimalist travel bag
was significantly more difficult to buckle up).

Noticing these morels
was an unexpected
and delicious treat.

Somewhat less beguiling
was noticing the ticks sneaking up my legs
after the woodsy walk wherein the morels appeared,
though I was able to note--
with something approaching pleasure--
that my white hemp pants
made the little blood suckers
easy to spot.

The pants are a simple drawstring structure
gleaned from the tattered remains of a gauzy linen pair I wore almost to shreds many years ago.
I did hesitate before including them
(the white pants),
in my scant luggage for this trip
but the the ease of wearing, washing and tick spotting proved their worth as one of my three 'bottom' garments.

Also, all the things I chose to bring with me
were blue, grey, brown or white,
so mixed and matched very well.
They are also all extremely comfortable,
perfectly practical (white hemp aside),
sources of psychological well being.
and almost entirely hand made.

The photos above include:
the aforementioned hemp pants,
my recently made linen shirt,
(which I tried not to wear every single day),
and an old favorite ankle-length blue cotton skirt,
that my friend Lodi once gave me
after she'd cut out the pattern pieces,
but before sewing.

The blue sweater ( knit last summer
and dunked in indigo a few days before my trip),
and the indigo Sarah-Dippity
had all the comfort, stretch, practicality
and general travel clothing perfection
I could have desired.
I also love how the indigo in both my garments connects
with the blue on the pocket of my sister Lyn's
patched and embroidered jacket
as we try to remember a long-ago clapping pattern
before I catch the bus to Boston.

Noticing Mount Rainier
was a nice reminder
that I was about to land in Seattle,
though I fervently hope my
long term views

closer to the ground:
a steady supply of
linsey-woolsey on the loom,
patched pants,

and tapestry --
wool, flax, coptic, and/or four selvedge --
will be just fine.

In the meantime,
the mug of mint/lemon balm tea
is quietly cooling
and the fog beginning to clear.

Somewhat Slanted —with coffee filters

6/11/2019

So i’m in new Hampshire,
knitting with coffee filters.

You know how it goes.
A gal is visiting family
and the conversations turns
to making yarn out of trash--
as it does--

and your enthusiastic mother
jumps up to fish a couple of
used filters from the compost bin,
rinses them off and sets them to dry
so that when you return from visiting a beloved cousin,
you can do a little spinning
and she--your lovely mum--
can take photos of the process.

These large round Chemex (sp?) filters
were new to me,
so of course
it was extra interesting.

(I’ve written blog posts about spinning coffee filters but for some reason I can’t specifically link them while writing this on the road and in the weebly app so alas, you’ll have search a little to find them if interseted).

Then it turned out that a few
of the many wonderful people
who have started Somewhat Slanted
weren’t familiar with beginning a row
with a YO (Yarn Over),
so yesterday I plied the yarn
and took some photos on the back steps
to (hopefully), make it more clear.

(Please forgive all out of focus moments
as I was using my big toe to click the button
while my hands were occupied).

So here goes:
Yarn Over Increase starting from a single stitch:

1. make a slip knot and put it on the left needle.

2. Bring the Yarn Over the right needle
(or, as my mother says, bring the Needle Under the yarn)

3. Insert needle into the slip knot/ loop as usual

4. Wrap yarn

5. Complete Stitch
— you now have two stitches

6. Switch hands and repeat steps 2 - 5:

-Yarn Over
-insert needle
-wrap yarn
-complete stitch

Continue as per the
Somewhat Slanted Guide
until it is time to decrease,
by which time the YO thing
should be easy as pie.

The other issue that has come up with Somewhat Slanted
has to do with making color changes with the stripes.
This is not, alas, a thing I can do with coffee filter yarn
(surprisingly pleasant though it is to knit with),
as I only have one color just now.
Also, coffee filter yarn doesn’t felt,
and I used a Spit Splice (aka Felted Join)
which requires wool or a wool blend (not superwash).
I may eventually do some drawings about the splice
but hopefully the Interweave link above will work for you.
Or just Google Spit Splice
and you’ll find all kinds of info.

Though I haven’t yet done stripes with cotton,
I imagine it would work
to tie the two colors together at the edge leaving long tails,
knit along as though they were spliced
then later untie the knots and weave in the ends to
form the YO loops.

But that is just theory right now.
Anyone tried it? Be great to know.

Also — has anyone knit more than a little square
with the coffee filter yarn?
It’s weirdly nice.
I might mess around with this little square
and see how it holds up.
Who knows?
Who EVER knows?

a sweater--somewhat slanted

6/4/2019

A few months ago
my aunt had her hip replaced.
Happily, all went well
and she is once again
meandering in the woods with her dog.

Harrisville Hydro Turbine Yarn; Size 11 needles

Also happily, I was able to help with a few things
like hospital transport
and by being a second pair of ears
with nurses, doctors etc.
Mostly, though, I was just on call.
Because she is both relation and dear friend,
the whole thing was fascinating
and pretty easy for me
(lots of spinning and knitting time in waiting rooms).
It was not, however, so easy for her,
at least at the time,
and afterward she thanked me
with a gift certificate to our local LYS,
The Yarn Underground.

Sarah-Dippity; Harrisville Flywheel

Though totally surprised
(I'm kind of weird about gifts),
I was nonetheless thrilled
and knew exactly
what I was going to do.
The wall devoted to
Harrisville Hydro Turbine
had caught my eye last winter
when I bought the yarn
for the Long Sarah-Dippity,
and for all my hand spinning ways,
I know yummy yarn when I see it.

Somewhat Slanted Summer Six Pack Sweater; hand spun yarn; natural dyes

No matter that bulky yarn season
should have been ending right around then --
these round and airy skeins
seemed destined to become a heftier version
of the Summer Six Pack Sweater--
a comfortable and versatile favorite for the last three years.

How fluffy Turbine yarn
would behave within the bias structure
remained to be seen--
certainly it would be quite different
than the collection of hand spun odds and ends
that made up the earlier striped garment.
And the not knowing made it extra compelling.

The tiny green sweater is knit from remnants of Blackberry Ridge fingering ...

Luckily this sweater does not need
a gauge swatch before starting,
so I could cast on for the actual sweater
the moment I got home from the yarn store,
and start finding out.

When I first blogged about The Six Pack Sweater
several people asked for a pattern
(or at least some kind of guide
beyond the vague thing I wrote on the post),
but somehow it didn't happen--
at least back then.
This spring, however,
the versatility of the idea,
gave me the extra impetus to start drawing.

Alas, it is one thing knit
and design as you go,
and quite another to write a helpful guide
that other people can use
to knit a garment they love,
in the size of their choice,
with yarn they have, or want to try,
at whatever gauge makes both yarn and knitter happy.

So it has taken me longer than I thought.

Plus ... ah...
I have been spinning
the odd yard of flax.

Today, however,
I am now thrilled to announce that
A Sweater -- Somewhat Slanted
is now available in the store
as a PDF download.

Like my other zines and PDFs
this is a guide booklet
for creating your own adventure
(not a pre-calculated set of instructions).
This means that
some straightforward math
(formulas provided),
is part of the thrill.
Aren't you excited?

Somehow, I kind of think you actually are.
There is just so much pleasure
in making decisions--
even hard ones--
when it mean we will end up
with a personal and magical garment
we will actually wear and use.
(And somehow, I don't think armhole depth
will be the biggest decision you'll ever make).

If you give it a try,
will you let me know how it goes?

Here and There -

on noticing--

Somewhat Slanted —with coffee filters

a sweater--somewhat slanted

Sarah C Swett
tells stories
with
and about
hand spun yarn.

Categories

Archives

Here and There -

on noticing--

Somewhat Slanted —with coffee filters

a sweater--somewhat slanted

​Sarah C Swett tells storieswith​ and about hand spun yarn.

Categories

Archives

Sarah C Swett
tells stories
with
and about
hand spun yarn.