Category: Blog

Many (almost 20?) years ago, I made a handspun saddle shoulder sweater that was a complete fiasco.

I can’t seem to locate a picture of of the intact item back in the day, but as of 2008, I already knew it was a lost cause and was recycling the colorwork bands from the sleeves into other items: http://fullyfleeced.com/2008/12/29/bits-and-pieces/

This past week, I finally took the step of unknitting/reclaiming large parts of that ill-fated project-

And here is some of it re-washed and caked up-

Can’t remember the source of the wool for this yarn, but it’s a beautiful dark brown with bleached tips. It’s really too heavy for a sweater, but I think it will make good blanket warp! The sweater had a colorwork pattern around the chest, and I decided that I could re-use that to make a nice plump cushion for my weaving chair-

Should have taken a few in-progress shots, but basically I grafted together the bottom edges of the front and back colorwork, snipped out the neckline and grafted the other side together, stuffed it with misc felted fleece, and mattress-stitched the short sides. Here’s the underside

I’d been using a couple of towels to give me a little more height at the loom, so this will be a nice cushy upgrade! Hope to get the other bits on the loom sometime soon.

Hope y’all are having a wonderful holiday season. Weather has gone from very wet to quite chilly here, and with some time off from work, I’ve gotten quite a bit of woolwork done! So first, some show and tell.

Blanket #2 off the loom and stitched together-

and after washing/fulling-

I didn’t get quite as much shrinkage on this one width-wise, but it did fuzz quite nicely. It’s a lighter weight than the first one. Will use it as is for now, but perhaps try to felt it a bit more later on.

And with the weaving project wrapped, I was able to make some significant progress on my argyle vest

and the back-

and the texture shot-

It’s exciting to see the pattern come together. And the fabric feels really nice. The yarns I chose for this are very different, both in texture and density, but they seem to be working well together. The natural Daphne brown/black two-ply is lofty and fuzzy, and the indigo dyed Esther three-ply is smoother and denser. A bit of an unorthodox combo, but I kind of love it.

The white diagonals are one strand of light fingering weight Felix/Frank held with a strand of Suri silk laceweight (from the Artful Ewe in Port Gamble, WA)- Really gorgeous stuff, and if gives a fabulous bit of halo- adding visual weight without bulk.

As we close out this year, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have these crazy sheepy friends. Their variously colored and textured fleeces are the source of endless crafting inspiration and satisfaction.

So, a shout out to Daphne, Fiona and Dottie for all their work in the wool-producing department. Great bunch of gals.

Wishing everyone all a bright and happy new year!

I made some progress on my Pluviae vest this week. Was hoping to finish the back so I could steam block it and take some nice photos for y’all, but didn’t quite make it

I think I have about three inches left. Going pretty well so far, and getting lots of practice with my right handed knitting. So that’s a bonus.

I’ve also found that since I’ve been working on this, I’m noticing argyle in movies we’ve been watching. At least three argyle vests in Purple Rose of Cairo, and argyle socks in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Someone really ought to keep a movie knitwear database. 🙂

In other fiber news, I got the loom rewarped and am working on another blanket!

Some of the same colors here- plus a nice strong gold from walnut leaf/dahlia dye at the dye day this past summer, and also some misc blended greens from the stash to round it out. Colors only in the warp this time so that all the stripes will be vertical, and repeated three times in the finished blanket. Weft is going to be all white (Rosie, from Linda Smuzer’s donated stash). Really lovely stuff! It’s lighter weight (in both warp and weft) than the first blanket, so I did 8 ends per inch, and expect that it will be quite a bit lighter, though hopefully still nice and fuzzy once fulled.

Been mighty wet here the last week or so, but we’ve done fine, with no standing water anywhere on the property. Sheeps and chickens have been enjoying the shelter of the shed, and I’m very glad to have the greenhouse plastic panels installed for the winter. It makes a huge difference in being able to keep their bedding dry- and blocking wind.

Wishing everyone a happy Solstice. Longer days ahead!

I finished up weaving the last panel for the blanket on Monday, and promptly removed it from the loom to examine the panels.

They varied a little bit in length from side to side, but I was able to arrange them to account for any differences, and pinned then together with stitch markers in preparation for seaming.

I then sewed them together using mattress stitch, picking up a warp thread from each edge and drawing the pieces together without overlap. Once the pieces were assembled, I washed it quite vigorously in our deep sink, spun out the water in our washing machine, and popped it in the dryer on the low heat “cool tumble” setting. After fulling I just had to separate and tidy up the fringe a bit, and voila! Comfy Coziness!

The blanket was 60″ x 60″ before wash/drying.

And here is afterwards, all fluffy and fuzzy (with a Momo partial photobomb, to boot!)

The final dimensions are 48″x48″ plus fringe, so I got about 20% shrinkage both vertically and horizontally. Perfect size for cuddling up with on the couch 🙂

I’ve already started getting another warp together. Might have more on that next week. For now, I must refocus my energies on the argyle.

Have a good week, folks-