Knitting Christmas Gifts

Last year for Christmas we tried to do only hand-made gifts. As happens every year, we don't stick to our rules. This year we are going for just stocking-stuffers. We'll see how that turns out! I still owe embroidered dish towels and knitted socks to my mother-in-law and embroidered dish towels to my parents from last Christmas. Though I am slowly working on those open ended gifts, I thought ahead this year and got sock yarn for my parents' socks. I need more yarn like I need a hole in my head but I once again couldn't resist Shibui Staccato Sock Yarn and this time I found in at Fiber, Nooks, and Crannys in Corvallis! Yes, I still have about seven skeins of 50s Kitchen sitting around. But I had to get something special for the holidays, right? The silk is what gets me. And not to mention the great color schemes. To simplify my crafting and to keep a yearly track of what I made, I decided to make the same sock pattern for everyone who's getting socks. I should be able to knit them in my sleep by the time I'm on the third pair!

While sitting in a hotel room in Seattle, I started knitting up my dad's socks, two at a time. I'm pretty sure I'm not doing the whole two pairs of socks on one needle thing right but it's working, sort of. No, I can't put a picture of the socks up until after the holidays. Don't want to ruin the surprise!

Happy Knitting,

Cerise : )

Visiting Fort Bragg

The next stop for our journey last week was to Fort Bragg for a family reunion. We had to stop at a store and pick up some pie. On the way into the store the word fabric caught my eye on a store sign near the market. I ditched the pie buying group and ran over to the little corner craft store. Fabric Indulgence carries fabrics by the bolt (some really nice ones too!), fat quarters, silk ribbons (they are so beautiful), paints, beads, patterns, and sumi-e supplies. Lucky me, Iwent in during their 20% off fabric sale. It did get me to buy two yards of wonderful fabric I was trying to stay away from. Some pretty little fat quarters made it home with me too!

There was a cute little yarn store on the other side of the market. The dog and I peeked into the window, but I still wasn't in a yarn mood. They will definitely be a stop next time I pass through.

There wasn't much down time at the family reunion with playing music, catching up with family, and throwing the dog off the paddle boat into the salty river. I did sneak out my fabric and thread and work on some little pumpkins toward the evening. My niece even wanted to sew with me. It was her first time sewing and she made half a pumpkin, sewed on a leaf, and put a silly patch on the side of her creation. It ended up going to a cousin who was very excited. The hotel was a better sewing environment that evening. It can't get much better than staying by the ocean with family and a stinky, salty dog and sewing pumpkins while watching the original Planet of the Apes!

Happy Crafty Travels,

Cerise : )

Yarn Yarn Yarn

When my grandpa died last summer I went into yarn thereapy mode and obsessed about Shibui's Staccato yarn in 50s Kitchen. Three skeins seemed enough to make a pair of socks. But after I started the knee-high button-up sock pattern (also from Shibui), there suddenly appeared to be a shortage of yarn in the yarn bag. So the wonderful ladies at Knit Purl in Portland let me buy it online and I'm off to pick it up this weekend. The socks are going to be amazing! Not only is this yarn divine and in a wonderful color scheme (wool and silk, so soft!), the stockings are going to be quite eye catching. They may be a bit too warm by the time they are done but I can knit like a maniac and the weather hasn't gotton much warmer here. The buttons will only go down a little ways on the thigh, which will hopefully help hold the stockings up. Unfortunately there looks to be some frogging in my future because the fit is very loose aroung the knee so far. Now that I know I won't be stuck with just three skiens I might fudge with the pattern a bit to get a nice legging fit. These are going to be so fun when they are done!!

Happy Knitting!

Cerise : )

More on Silk

Apparently domesticating silkworms, er, silkcaterpillars, is a lot like domesticating chicken and turkeys. The selection for big and the many generations of being raised in captivity has made the silkworm dependent on humans for all movements. The caterpillars never get out to feed. The little guys at the caterpillar stage no longer see and the wings of the adult moths are stunted and practically useless. Color is gone in the domesticated n attendants, who carry the worms to the feeding places and supply them with food. The Bombyx mori, the domestic silkworm, is white or cream-colored, whereas the wild varieties vary widely in color. Very exotic. You gotta wonder if we are a slave to the moth or it to us.
Theresa, OmMama

There is no such thing as a silk worm (it's a caterpillar, silly)

Another wonderful natural fiber, silk is a protein obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori. I always thought the cute little worms, err, caterpillars, were raised and somehow "milked" for their silk. It is a lot more ugly. Commercially reared silkworm pupae are killed by steaming, dipping in boiling water or freezing them before the adult moths emerge, allowing the whole cocoon to be unraveled as one continuous thread. I expect some of them are allowed to mature to make more eggs that turn into more pupae. If the pupae break through the cocoon then the continuous thread made for the cocoon is broken. So a lot of little guys get boiled before they get to be moths. More on the process later. But appreciate that soft nighty or warm scarf.

Dragon Tie Belt Picture!

After however long it's been...toooooo long...here is a picture of the dragon tie belt. All upcycled materials! Unfortunately the camera is thrown off by the shimmer of the gold dragons and can't manage a great picture, but hopefully you get the idea. I'll be holding down the blog fort while mum is in Denver. More to come soon...
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

Dragon Tie Belt

A while back my dad gave Dale all his cubicle-era ties he didn't want anymore. One of the ties that ended up in the bunch was my favorite tie from my childhood (next to the Yellow Submarine one of course). I decided to sneak that one off the tie rack and make a belt out of it using some vintage hook buckles I purchased off Gingham Girl's Etsy site. I don't like the belts made by just using the original shape. I wanted a belt that would go through my belt loops but still be noticeable as a tie. I ended up ripping the seam on the back of the tie and trimming the inside support down to the smallest width. Then I pinned it to the support and painfully sewed wiggle designs with my Brother sewing machine in gold metallic thread. This tool FOREVER and my thread broke every few minutes. I had to adjust my tension over and over again and that still didn't help. The thread bunched up really badly in many areas on the back side of the tie/belt. At least only the decorative gold wiggle stitching is visible, not the out of control bunches of thread. I attached the very long belt to the right dragon and began figuring out how to make the belt adjustable without buying more materials. I decided to use buttons. I have a wonderful vintage candy tin full of old buttons from Merry Sunshine on Etsy. I plucked out a card of gold buttons to match the dragon. I tried out the metallic thread for the button holes but threw out the idea on the first break of the thread and used yellow instead. My button holes came out great! I think it might even be the first time I've actually made real button holes for buttons. I sewed on the buttons and though they are evenly spaced, they do not match up with the button holes. I might resew them but two at a time will button in, enough to hold the belt on the needed size. I have three more vintage hook buckles and some thrift store ties for belts. There will definitely be some changes in the second belt but overall this was a really fun project and came out pretty neat. I can't wait to wear it!
Happy Crafting,
Cerise : )

More on Fabrics:Nylon, a brief introduction

As most people know, nylon is a synthetic, intended to replace silk, that became popular during WWII when silk was scarce. I often wondered if the soldiers wore silk undies but really it was for parachutes and I expect silk was really difficult to get. Of course women still had to wear their stockings, soon to be called nylons, later to be called panty hose. I never got the attraction of those things. Silk on my bare legs, nice. Plastic polymers, yuck. So I got all sidetracked looking at synthetic fabrics and plastics. Did you know that there is a "Plastics Hall of Fame?"