Fiber Raven Soiree

Mom's the Word

Apropos of Nothing

Do you remember the first needlework project that you didn't finish? I do, and I also remember the remorse and feelings of lack of completion that bothered me for days. I was 10 years old. My mother would get these craft-of-the-month kits and sometimes she would let me do one. This particular one was a crewel picture of something-- all I really remember was that it had a lot of orange in it. I broke out in huge hives and we ended up associating the hives with the yarn and/or the kit, so it was abandoned.

Of course, back in those days, my mom would never let me get away with leaving something unfinished. I remember "designing" a dress when I was 14 based on a doll dress that I liked. The dress had a skirt to the floor which was composed of tiers of ruffles, from narrow ones toward the waist (what was I thinking?) to larger ones at the bottom. The fabric was small gingham cotton in pastels of pink, lavender and blue. I made it-- I had to, since my mom bought the fabric! The style was more fit for a doll than a human, I assure you. And I was no doll. I don't recall ever wearing it, and I have no idea what happened to it.

We did a lot of sewing, as money was never plentiful and in those days it was cheaper to make than to buy. My grandmother was very proud of having worked in "the factory" during WWII, some kind of apparel factory that must have made uniforms (but I don't think military uniforms). It was her only job outside the home all of her long life. She brought home lots of fabric miscuts and ends that were a medium blue twill. I grew to hate the sight of that fabric. We made dresses, pants, shirts, shorts, you name it-- all that same boring endless blue. It was torture to have to figure out how to align the pattern since there was no selvedge. I'll bet my mom still has some of it packed away somewhere. I don't want to know.

Apropos of Knitting

It was a long busy day at Two Swans yesterday, but exciting to see all the new yarn, much of it in its new put-up (yay! no more winding!). You know I couldn't resist "swatching" such a colorful thing as the Kaleidoscope 2 jacket, right? I like the colors much more in real life-- they don't look too over-bright, and they flow together beautifully.

For the Short Attention Span knitter, this type of design is perfect. You make several panels seperately, each of them 4.5 inches wide and made on the diagonal after some initial shaping. Then you put them together with applied I-cord. Sweet! The nice thing is that the size would be easily adjustable simply by making the panels narrower or wider.

Today is the last day of August... enjoy!

Posted by Sheila at August 31, 2004 08:35 AM | TrackBack