Testing, Testing....

 

I had to get the ladder out and climb up to the top of my sewing room shelves yesterday so I could get down the testing pieces for the last soap making adventure. 

When I cut the loaves there's always one skinny end left and I use those for testing. They've all been sitting there curing for two months now so it's time to get started. 

Sadly, the Practical Magic inspired black soap did just what I feared it might. It bled gray onto a white washcloth from the overload of charcoal. I've been using it to wash my hair so it hasn't been a problem for me but I won't be gifting it. I'm hoping to re-home all the other bars when the weather takes a turn for the better. Watch this space. 

A False Start

 

The Mister went off to play golf so I thought I'd use my free time to sandwich up the Zig Zag. Didn't happen.

I got everything moved out of the dining area and moved everything I needed into the dining area. Measured, cut and sat down to pin when......I decided I hated the backing. It was too yellow. It's brighter than it looks here and there are no other similar yellows in the quilt so I pulled it all apart and put it all away.

But not before ordering more material. I'm trying the same fabric but in apricot this time. I've said it before but I'll say it again-I'm the worst at figuring out backing. This is when I really miss Joann's. I would take the top with me and figure it out there. It's not the same trying to do it online. 

Figs on Friday

 

We found figs at the Farmer's Market this week.

I used to have a giant fig tree and Back to School time always meant making fig jam. 

I put Betty to work making lots of bread and bagels this week so that little pot of jam won't last long.

Betty has also made some banana bread, a pineapple upside down cake and a strawberry shortcake in the past few weeks. There seems to be no end of things to do with her leftovers.

Hemmed In

 

Whew.....back to where I started and it all looks like it's going to work out this time.

Here is the back of the loom where I spent a great deal of time over the past few weeks straightening out and then threading each of the 300 plus strands of cotton. 

There was one scary moment where it looked like I made another threading error but it was just a twist in the strand and it was an easy fix. I was beyond relieved when the hem was finished. 

The first bit of weaving is just to get everything situated. It's cut away from the towel. The towel starts at the hem and I use this very fine thread so I can turn it under without a lot of bulk. It's always a big moment of truth.

That's all my heart could manage in one sitting. Stressed out is an under statement. Now I can get to the fun part. I have to decide on the order of colors and start winding bobbins so I can start the pattern. This is going to be one crazy looking towel.

Wednesday WIPs: Premier Fruits

 

The day I discovered that my newly finished kid socks were too small for the Grand we went online yarn shopping. He wanted these. 

They don't seem like "snow" socks to me and...gasp-they are acrylic but the heart wants what the heart wants and he wants these so here they are. I have to admit they are cute. Notice there are two balls in front of one of the pair because.....knots. Ugh.

While we continue to wilt from this terrible heat, all my other wool projects are in slow motion but I do pick up the Hummingbird socks every morning. I can't think of the last time I could open a window around here or felt a cool breeze.

I'm starting to feel like Sam and Frodo on Mount Doom. I would love to open the door and not have a blast furnace in my face. 

TNT: Slowly but Surely

 

Kitty got a blanket this week. It doesn't look like much but it was a lot of stitching and I've still got a lot of that blanket to go.

I have three more colors to go on this block of the needlepoint project. 

I knocked out another block on the Patchwork quilt. I'll be working on this one this week. 

Even Dear Jane got some attention this week. Her borders are finished, Now I have to connect all those little pieces and figure out how to applique them down. 

 

The Reel Thing

 

In 2020 I was tempted to buy several of  the new Knit Picks limited edition sock reels. 

I thought it was great fun to knit right from the reel but the resulting socks were terrible looking and blocking didn't help at all. You can't achieve any sort of even tension with kinky yarn. 

I had the bug to cast on some travel socks since my travel bag was empty and I thought I might as well give this yarn another try.

This time I unraveled it first.

Will you look at this? It was awesome looking but who could knit with this?

Even after a good soak it was still kinky. I tried hanging it with a weight but it didn't make a bit of difference.

I went online and looked up what the folks do who recycle the yarn from old sweaters. They soak it and then wrap it tightly around a big soda bottle. I didn't have one so I used a plastic deli container that I weighted with a bag of lentils so it would hold its shape. 

After a few days, as it dried, I moved it to two containers for more air flow. 

By yesterday afternoon I had two reasonably well behaved balls of yarn cast on for my travel bag. It was a lot of work for what's going to be an ugly pair of socks. The Rugby Stripe colorway is very pretty in the reel but is pretty awful once it's knit up. There's a lot of gray and very little stripe but at least it's something to keep my hands busy on long car rides.