A Break from Fiber

Tonight I made the sign to accompany the knitting guild's display at Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival this weekend.

I can't scan it until it is dry, but here are the steps I used to make it.

1. trace the clewe (ball of yarn) in pencil from the Pennsic Traceable Art Project
2. fought with my fountain pen to get the permanent black ink to flow through the calligraphy nib
3. wrote the name of the group with the largest calligraphy nib I have for the fountain pen
4. fought with the fountain pen to get the permanent black ink to flow through the non-calligraphy nib
5. wrote the description of the group with the non-calligraphy nib
6. traced the clewe with a marker brush
7. painted the clewe with undiluted cobalt-colored acrylic paint
8. painted a second coat of blue on the clewe
9. set in a safe place

After it dries, I will re-ink the lines on the clewe, covering them with black acrylic if I have to. Then I'll scan the final result.

Moorish Stockings for Summer

See that blue thing on my leg? That's a Moorish stocking used to produce the look recorded in Weiditz's Trachtenbuch.

They're just a long tube of blue wool. Rather warm, which is great at this time of year, but not so spiffy in the hot of an Atlantia summer.

Here are the details of the new stockings.

Yarn: 4 (?) skeins elann.com Camila. 50% cotton, 50% linen, 113m/50g
Needles: 3.25 mm
Gauge: 24 sts/36 rows = 4"

Cast-on 100 stitches. Knit stockinette stitch in the round. Bind off loosely.

Make 2.

Works in Progress

Here is my WIP list so that I can figure out how much longer before I can start the crazy idea that a friend of mine put in my head today.

• shoes - currently just a taped up foot, might toss and start over
  
• grey wool legwarmers - need to find
  
• greyish cotton legwarmers - rip and start over wider
  
• disco kitty - needs to be sewn and stuffed
  
• Shimmer - needs to be blocked
  
• Jeannette - I think I'm going to rip this one and re-do it narrower
  
• velvet veil - needs to attach balls
  
• red fingerless gloves - first glove, thumb gusset part-way done
  
• book - decide whether or not to re-sew it, if not, sand and attach boards
  
• chemises - find out how many and if any of them are likely to fit
  
• tablecloth - hem and embroider
  
• napkins - embroider and hem
• Roman socks - working on heel
  

Later, I'll annotate the list with what they are, how much is left to do and maybe even pictures

Shimmer Progress - Part 2

Finished the knitting tonight. I had to re-do the ribbing because I picked up too few stitches the first time and it didn't lie flat. I also had to rip out the first few stitches of the bind-off row because they weren't stretchy enough. I re-did them with a bigger needle.

Tried it on (can't find camera) and the fit is much better with the new ribbing. I probably should block it, but it looks damn good as it is.

Now to weave in the ends, graft together the armpits, and wait for the weather to cool off a bit because I was sweltering when I tried it on over my tank top.