Regional Mills versus Hand Production

      For over a decade I have been a fan of the non-profit Fibershed and its affiliates, mostly because the handmade, regionally-sourced wardrobe of the founder Rebecca Burgess caught my imagination.  I thoroughly enjoyed the YouTube video about it posted by Kirsten Dirksen, 150-mile wardrobe: local fiber, real color, P2P economy.  I read Burgess' dye book.  I had been meaning for ages to get to the nearest library that had her Fibershed book at a local community college but hadn't ever gotten around to it.  Then I found the audiobook version was available to borrow from my public library, and so I got to listen to it.

     Near the end of the book, Burgess asks us to imagine that we sourced our food the way we source our textiles, from afar, without an ingredients list, and with no processing or work done in the country, region, or home.  I hope I have transcribed this correctly:

Imagine living in a community where no one had a kitchen and the closest refrigerator, stove, oven, and cooking pots and pans were all located overseas.  There might be one person who still knew the art of cooking and had a few tools to make rustic meals but it was never enough to feed everyone. Almost everyone would order their food and it would arrive from overseas in boxes with no ingredients list.  In the case of fiber, mill systems are the kitchens within the system, and the one person who still knows how to cook can be compared to a handspinner, weaver, or expert knitter.  We'd never accept a food system with this level of infrastructure dysfunction and yet we are all too willing to accept this level of archaic and unskilled design with our fiber system.

     Burgess goes on to talk about the functional failings of her handmade wardrobe and how regional, commercial milling is the solution.

     I'd just like to say that the tools for home textile production may be archaic in that their designs are very old but they are still usable.  Skills are good to have.  So is control over the means of production, however small the scope.  Some handspun is fine gauge and suitable for wearing next to the skin.

The Tail End of 2024

     I reordered two indigo t-shirts from Industry of All Nations in my size.  I haven't worn them yet.  I need to wash them, as they smell strongly of indigo.  I don't mind the smell but other people might.  The tees need to go in the wash on their own, as they will probably bleed.  The weather has been cold for our area, too cold for me to want to wear short sleeve tees.  This is why I haven't gotten around to taking the trouble to wash and wear them.  I would order a long sleeve tee but they are out of stock in the style and shade I like.

     As I write this, it's the end of December.  Back in January, I had planned to have a resolution to make things strictly for myself.  However, this stressed me out.  I wound up just making what made me happy, which was a lot of easy garter stitch dish cloths that I knitted to give away.  I also knitted a couple of tiny sweater ornaments to give away.

     I find that garter dish cloths are well-suited to knitting in public and I did knit a number of them in public this year.  A couple of people remarked on how quickly I knitted one dish cloth after another.

     In February I started knitting a beret using yarn left over from the sweater I knitted last year.  I worked on the brim at a handspinners guild meeting and then put the beret away because I'd gotten to the part that required concentration and it wasn't suitable for working on while carrying on conversations.  Plus I just wasn't that into the project.

     I keep a tab open on my browser showing my Ravelry projects that are in progress and hibernating.  Recently I was bothered by the beret's hibernating status and pulled the thing out to work on it.  Unfortunately while it sat all those months, the needles pulled on the yarn.  After I knitted another two or three inches, I noticed a distinct line in the brim where the stitches were uneven.  I wound up ripping everything out, reskeining the yarn, and washing it to get the kinks out.  I deleted the project from Ravelry.  I think the yarn would be much better knitted into a Jacques Cousteau hat, and I've set up the pattern in my Ravelry queue accordingly with the stash yarn linked to it.  I feel relief after taking decisive action, and wish I'd done it sooner.

     As I said, the weather has been cold for our area.  To keep warm while out for walks, I've been wearing a handknit hat, cowl, and fingerless mitts with my hands jammed into my pockets.  These items don't go together in terms of yarn or pattern and the hat does not cut the wind as well as I'd like.  I bought some yarn and plan to use it to make a couple of coordinating sets.

     I've been adding to my queue on Ravelry and rearranging it.  I find this fun.  The queue is somewhat longer now.  The start of the queue has the coordinating patterns meant for me.  After that come a couple of gifts I want to knit for a relative's birthday.  After that come patterns that are mostly for gifts or charity.  These are linked to stash yarns in an order that will hopefully let me use up and get rid of one box of stashed yarns after another.  My boxes are sorted by the kind of yarn.  At the end of the queue are patterns for which I do not have materials.  Most of these are sweaters I think would be cool to wear.  While I am pretty happy wearing commercial sweaters, there are times like holiday parties where I feel bad for not having a handknit sweater.

Indigo Tees

     The indigo t-shirts I ordered were okay but unfortunately I got the wrong size so they went back.

     On the up side, I did manage to find a pair of linen pants from my favourite clothing company.

Holiday

      I got to go on holiday back to Vancouver Island and while I was there, I spent an hour at a handspinners group meeting.  Someone who remembered me from previous visits asked me to teach a new member how to spin using a drop spindle.  So I did.  It was fun.

     Other than that, I've pretty much been doing mindless knitting of garter dish cloths for family and for charity.

     While on holiday I dropped into a yarn store to look at the Fleece Artist roving for sale but unfortunately it was all merino and I'd really rather have BFL for the demi-lustre.  And truly, what I want is naturally-dyed BFL or naturally dark BFL, both of which are hard to find.  Probably I should consider hauling out the BFL/silk I dyed a light shade of indigo a number of years ago and spinning that.  Or breaking into the small amount of naturally dark BFL that I have and think is too precious to use.

     I could really use a new pair of linen or hemp pants, preferably undyed, to beat the Virginia heat.  My normal source is out of stock.  I searched online for undyed ready-made clothing and came up with the site for a small chain of stores called Industry of All Nations (IOAN).  Didn't see any pants I wanted but I've ordered a couple of indigo-dyed t-shirts from them and I am excited to see what the t-shirts are like.

Finished the Pink Pullover

      I have finished knitting the pink pullover.  I had a bit of trouble finding information on how to sew up the pieces.  I looked at Deborah Newton's book Finishing School and Knit Pick's YouTube video "Sweater Finishing Part 1: How to Set in Sleeves," and then I found some more information in the book that the sweater pattern came from, Amy Herzog's Knit Wear Love.  

     I am fairly happy with the result.  I regret adding four stitches to the front and decreasing them above the bust to give extra room in the chest because each decrease looks like a mistake in the stockinette.

     As I tried it on, I wondered if I would be happier with a sweater made from a different type of wool such as a down breed wool rather than the merino I used for this one.  At least the merino wool is not scratchy like the stuff I used for my first two sweaters.

Finding Ready-made Clothing with Fiber Arts Attributes

      Last week I got to hear Cindy Conner speak about her new book, Homegrown Flax and Cotton.  One of the questions she got from the audience was, can I buy garments from you.  The answer was no.  People have no idea how much time it takes to breed cotton for colour and good spinning qualities, grow flax and cotton, process it, spin it, weave it, and sew it into garments. 

     It got me thinking about places where you can buy ready-made garments or lengths of fabric that have one or more qualities that are like the qualities of homegrown, handspun, hand-dyed or naturally-coloured handwoven clothes. 

     As I post this, Maiwa in Vancouver carries some yardage that is handspun, naturally-dyed, and/or handwoven.  Some of their scarves are handwoven.  Their website lists some scarves and shawls in the clothing section and others in the fiber arts supplies section.  There is some clothing suitable to eco-print or dye.  Some of their regular clothing is handspun, naturally-dyed, naturally-coloured, un-dyed, and/or handwoven.  They carry linen and wild silk, along with cotton and wool.  I own an un-dyed, naturally grey woven wool scarf from Maiwa. 

     J.Crew had some items about five to eight years ago that were dyed with real indigo.  Sometimes you can find these in good second hand condition or new with tags on resale sites like eBay and Poshmark.

     Rawganique sells some un-dyed clothing.

     I recently found Poetry.  Haven't bought anything from them but as I write this, they have some clothes dyed with real indigo.  They are based in England and ship to other countries.  The website is showing the Summer collection, which has a lot of linen. 

     Some Etsy sellers sell yardage or clothing that is un-dyed, naturally-dyed, eco-printed, handwoven, or handknit.

     Of course, all of these clothes cost more than most people think of spending.  The styles are limited and are often made of woven fabric cut with a lot of ease in a boxy shape.  That is, there is a lot of extra fabric.  To my eye this makes the models look shapeless and larger than they are.  The colour selection is limited and tends to be mostly colours that flatter redheads.  Some of the sizes can be out of stock, which makes it tough to shop.  On the bright side, the items tend to have better pockets than most women's clothing does.

Bought a little yarn for a good cause

      One day this week out of nowhere after 141 days of my 2023 cold sheep resolution not to buy yarn, I felt like getting some sock dpns and 60 grams of sock yarn, to make some tiny sweater holiday ornaments that I promised to a charity craft sale, so I could knit on an upcoming trip.  And I did get them.
     I have sock needles but they are ridiculously expensive to replace now that the company that makes them is so popular.  I am thinking risk management.  I don't care so much if I lose new, inexpensive needles from another company while travelling. 
     I have yarn on hand earmarked for other projects that I could knit on my trip, and I even have some sock yarn scraps for tiny sweaters.  I could have stayed with the cold sheep slash stash reduction resolution and not bought yarn.  

     I decided to treat myself to new sock yarn anyway.  The colours, red and white, are more suitable to the holidays than the indigo, dark red, and black that I have.  The tiny sweater project is one of the only two projects in my WIPs or queue that have both a deadline and somebody expecting the finished object.  The other such project is the sweater I posted about last month.  If you are wondering how that's going, the sweater is in pieces with half the pieces blocked.
     I rarely let people know I'm working on a fiber arts gift for them or have a gift planned.  That way it's all inner expectations of my own to meet and not outer expectations from other people.
     Now, back to cold sheep.  While I was shopping some other balls of sock yarn called to me because the shop came out with new colours but I can resist for now.
     My cold sheep resolution this year was actually to go cold sheep except for some dish cloth cotton yarn for the charity craft sale.  It turned out that while they needed dish cloths for the Spring craft sale, they didn't need dish cloths for the holiday craft sale and that's why I offered to make tiny sweater ornaments instead.  I'm rationalizing that I'm substituting the sock yarn for half the cotton yarn I'd planned on.

Spinner's Chair, Curb-side

     I happened to pass a garage sale that was selling a spinner's chair, a wooden chair that has a very narrow back.  The design allows a person who is spinning yarn to move her arm freely as she draws the fiber back.  A while later I passed the same place.  They had packed up the sale and left the chair at the curb.  I resisted and did not bring it home.

Hello From Sleeve Island

      Today is Palm Sunday, a week before Easter.  I have just cast on for the second sleeve of a sweater I had originally hoped to finished knitting for Valentine's Day.  

     I suppose the main thing is to finish eventually. 

Using My Ravelry Queue

     The following is an excerpt from a couple of emails I sent a friend.  It's mostly about how I use my queue on Ravelry.  Thought you might like to read it. 

     My favourites on Ravelry have patterns or projects that I like, whether or not I'd actually wear them or make them.  If I can get a free pattern for a favourite, usually I download the pdf right after I favourite it and I add it to my library.  Then I decide whether I'm likely to make it in the foreseeable future.  I also think about whether I really want to be reminded that the pattern exists or if it's okay if it's buried in the library.  If I am really interested in it, I add the pattern to the queue.  Then I change the order of the queue if needed.

     I think of my queue as having two parts.  The patterns at the front of the queue have stash yarn assigned to them.  They are patterns that I am probably going to make.  The queue is not a firm commitment or firm plan.  Perhaps I would consider it a placeholder.  I make a firm commitment when I make a project page.  

     The patterns at the end of the queue don't have stash yarns assigned.  They are patterns that I'd like to make, possibly.  I might later reject them if I think they'd turn out to be too difficult technically or too expensive or too difficult for sourcing materials or too ill-suited to the recipient or not terribly functional or too way out there in looks or whatever.  Right now, this section includes a cluster of patterns for selfish crafting.  That is, crafting items for myself, not to give away.  Some patterns in the queue have notes on them about possible directions I could take the finished objects I envision.  I don't expect get to this section of the queue for a year.  I may not get to some of the patterns ever.  For a few of them, I don't even own the pattern yet.

     The order of my queue in the first section is subject to change, frequently.  Right now I am torn between making specific gifts versus using up all I have of one kind of yarn and thereby getting rid of a storage box. 

     The first section of my queue, the stuff assigned to stash yarn, is in an order that has patterns for gifts mixed with some patterns for myself.  I can tell which pattern is meant for a gift and which is meant for me because I have tagged each accordingly.  When I queue a pattern, I often write the intended recipient's name in the notes section as well as the regular field for recipient.  This is because the regular field entry doesn't show in the queue overview but the notes do. 

     One fun analytical thing you can do is go to your favourites or your queue or your library and then click on advanced search.  After that you can select only sweaters or only a certain weight of yarn or some other criteria.  Even if you don't drill down in search, just seeing the patterns in a different format can be helpful. 

     One way to increase your library is to search designers, select knitting, select a popular designer, do an advanced search on their patterns, and select "free."  

     Or search patterns, arrange the order by "hot right now" or "most popular," and select "free."  

     When searching patterns, it is possible to bring up a search field for the pattern notes.  This often turns up more results than a regular search for key words like Christmas or geeky.  This option is on the left at the bottom.  

     To have a pattern in the queue multiple times, I went to the queue page and selected "add to queue."  I filled in the field for the pattern name, clicked the link symbol, then selected the pattern from the search results.  I find it helps to know the designer in case multiple patterns with similar names turn up.  Then it's just a matter of filling in the rest of the form. 

     Sometimes I will type in something generic for the pattern name, like "cardigan," hit the link symbol, but choose "none of the above."  This creates a queue entry for a future project done with a pattern I make up or a project for which I haven't yet determined the exact pattern.

     I believe bundles are available for favourites only.  But you can temporarily bring up something kind of like a bundle in the queue with the search function.  On the queue page, you can search the queue for a particular tag.  This lets you see a subset of all patterns in the queue with that tag.  If you have a certain name for a bundle in favourites, you can carry that over to the queue by tagging patterns in your queue with the same name.  

     You can enter a search word on the queue page and use the pulldown menu beside it to search by pattern instead of tag.  This lets you see all cardigans, for example, or all hats. 

     Alternatively, you can do the advanced search on your queue and then filter it a number of ways.  For example, it is possible to do an advanced search on your queue and see if a friend has one or more of the patterns in her favourites.  You can search for lace by selecting the characteristic of lace or by typing lace into the project notes field.  This would not be as idiosyncratic as a bundle name but it could help you slice and dice.  You can see at a glance whether your queue is mostly accessories or not, for example.  You can also look at the difficulty rating and select only easy patterns. 

The Tail End of 2022

     A few weeks ago, which was early December, I came up with three possible fibre resolutions to choose from and do until New Year's Day.  Option 1 was to finish up or toss out old works-in-progress.  Option 2 was to start and finish as many easy projects from stashed yarn as possible.  Option 3 was to start and finish projects for myself.  

      What I wound up doing was some of Option 1 and some of Option 2.  I finally called an end to the two sweater projects that had been stalled for years.  I got rid of their yarn too as it was no longer my taste.  I also knitted a couple of hats for gifts using an old familiar pattern.  One of the hats was actually Option 4 because I bought yarn for it instead of using yarn on hand. 

     I ended the year having used as much yarn as I'd bought over the course of the year. 

Fashion Types and the Fiber Arts

     I read a book by Carol Tuttle called Dressing Your Truth: Discover Your Type of Beauty.  To get the author's specific recommendations for dressing according to my type, I went to her Living Your Truth website, took the DYT quiz, created an account, and went through the beginner guide.  I went through the beginner guides to all the types, not just mine, and took notes.  I wanted to know what she recommends for the other types so I could avoid those things.  

     I found the content helpful, and considered the ads that came with the content worth enduring.  I like thinking about things in categories.  I've used the Color Me Beautiful system for my clothes since I was a child, when my mother had a colour party.

     I also looked at content online by Molly Bingaman of Ladybird Styling, which is similar to DYT. 

     I understand now why I have barely worn the Lush cardigan I knitted for myself last year.  Its lace design details, unstructured circular yoke, somewhat thick (DK) yarn, negative ease (I did zero ease), and loosely knitted fabric are definitely for a type different than mine. 

     The sweater quantity of yarn that I bought recently was DK.  I returned it.  I have not decided what sweater project I will do this fall, if any, but I know any yarn I get in the future for sweaters should be thinner than DK.

     You can undo a handknit sweater and knit the yarn into something else.  I could do this with my Lush just to be thrifty even though the yarn is too thick.  

     I understand now why I like the look of wool roving dyed multiple colours but I lose interest after I spin it into barber-pole yarn with the colours all mixed together.  No wonder I once spun a repeating multicoloured braid by pulling the sections apart and spinning each colour on its own.  In light of my type, it makes sense that I like solid colours, sequential or symmetrical Fibonacci stripes, plain weave, and stockinette stitch.

     I expect the information will inform my fibre arts choices going forward.  I hope this will mean fewer regrets and more items that work in my wardrobe. 

Squirrelled Away Another Sweater Quantity

     I did wind up buying another sweater quantity of yarn, in a beautiful dark blue wool.  I've used the colour before for a hat for a gift.  The yarn was on sale and I'd been eyeing it all through last year's yarn diet.  I plan to knit up this yarn in September.  Buying it means the volume of my yarn stash has gone up and that makes me somewhat uneasy, but the prospect of a sweater is good.  

     Early in the year I bought four balls of Jamieson and Smith Shetland yarn to knit a Bousta beanie.  I got as far as the brim and then quailed at the thought of trying stranded colourwork for the first time.  The project has been hibernating ever since.  

     I bought 200 g of fingering weight wool yarn in tonal teal for myself, to make a set of mitts, ear warmer, and cowl.  I bought 100 g of multi-coloured Malabrigo fingering to make mittens for a relative. 

     The same relative gave me two skeins of Malbrigo worsted from her stash and picked out two skeins at a yarn shop with me.  I've knitted two cowls, which are on their way back to her, and I plan to knit two hats. 

     She and I got to go to the 100 mile fibre fair in Coombs, B.C.  I saw a woman there with some hats and a cowl made with the språng technique.  I was impressed because the woman had used Coptic colourwork, intertwining on a background of interlinking, as well as the Tegle pattern, a solid-colour pattern of triangles in S and Z interlinking. 

Twenty Percent Less Yarn

      Just checking in to say that my cold sheep resolution this year has resulted in a reduction in my stash of yarn by twenty percent.  If you don't count the two sweaters in progess that have been stalled for years. Which I don't. 

     I am fairly happy with that amount of progress.  

     I am considering rolling the resolution forward into 2022 and trying not to buy any yarn again, with the exception of a couple of sweater quantities.