Tag: project

Potholders in the Morning

My favorite potholders are finally getting just too beat up to do much good. They are simple cotton pads, about 8 inches square, filled with some kind of batting, and quilted. I have silicon ones, mitts, and so on, and when my cotton potholders are in the wash, I prefer my Ove Gloves. This morning is dedicated to sewing some new, padded, old-time potholders.

It’s is time to see if I can make something to replace my dying heroes . . . .

As always, YouTube provided some good videos, and this was my favorite. I made the first two. Hers look great, mine look pretty sad, but if they do their job – to protect my hands – then my sad potholders are a success.

My machine is my old workhorse, my mid-1950s Singer 15-91. Straight stitch, forward and back. It’s a great machine, but not as up-to-date as some of my other machines. No walking foot. No automatically adjusting pressure as the material goes from two layers of fabric to two layers of fabric, cotton batting, and “Insul-Bright” batting for heat reduction on the hands. I had to watch what I was doing because I have never sewn a potholder in my life.

Here is a close-up of the fabric. I didn’t pre-wash the material, which is a quilting cotton. I put each potholder together, batting, fabric, and quilted it before throwing them into the washing machine. I like to do this whenever I have made anything quilted because the cotton shrinks and the quilting becomes more prominent.

A few things about the potholders. I used 100% cotton fabric and thread, one layer of 100% cotton batting, and one layer of the “Insul-Bright”. I avoided polyester in any form as it is plastic and melts – no polyester thread, no polyester in the fabric. Interestingly, the “Insul-Bright” is polyester with something embedded within it, so we shall se there – but these are not going into the microwave!

When I quilted, I worked diagonally across the fabric. I think this made the fabric stretch and pull out. It got rather annoying. Next set of potholders – yes, there will be more – will be quilted along the warp and weft as much as possible.

These were not particularly difficult to make – a bit of a challenge as they are a new project. I have some ideas about how to do things differently. Let’s see how it goes.

Clean Out Stash, (Re)Start a Sweater

This weekend was a very busy one as we cleaned out things, such as old computers (taken to an e-waste recycling place), sold a bunch of books, and finally hit the stash of yarn and spinning fleece in the garage.  From 45 boxes, I am down to 22 with yarn and fleece.  Some things were thrown out – such as a bag with a big, black spider, most likely a black widow.  Other things were boxed up so my MIL could come and take what she wanted.  The rest is going to be delivered to a local senior center where they use donated yarn for charity work, or they can just take yarn home for fun – not everyone has a big income, and yarn can be a luxury.

Oddly enough, going through everything didn’t take that long.  I think I spent about 6 hours at the most.  It was easy to choose, too.  Nearly anything that was unfinished was cut off the ball of yarn, discarded, and the yarn ball put into the “to be donated” bin(s).  Tacky or sticky or scratchy fleece was discarded as not worthwhile.  All balls of handspun yarn were saved, regardless as to length, unless they didn’t feel good to touch.

And in the middle of this, I have a sweater that has been sitting in the knitting pile for some time.  It is a cardigan, but I decided to try steeking with it.  Well, that fell by the wayside.  I ripped out the entire sweater, re-balled the yarn, and started over.  Much happier, even though purling is not my favorite knitting stitch.

I restarted the sweater, an Icelandic pattern, and have done a few inches.  I think this will be my night knitting, when we are watching TV.  The lower edge, as with most Icelandic sweaters, is a patterned border, but the main body a plain color.  Instead of using Icelandic wool roving, which pills and is too itchy for me, I am using an acrylic yarn with a bit of halo.  Yeah, not the most sophisticated of yarn choices in a “natural” world, but for me, right now, it is perfect.  I need a cardigan – and one with as little sewing as possible!  I hate sewing things together, and never finish anything that requires too much of it.

It feels good to have a knitting project on hand again.

Some Yarn at Last, or, Asta Sollilja

Asta Sollilja

Beginning mid-December, I started this sweater, designed by Kate Davies, and available in her book Yokes.   Asta Sollilja is a sweater derived from traditional Icelandic sweaters, but with waist-shaping (not that I have much of one!) and short rows to make a distinctive front and back. Traditional Icelandic sweaters have neither, but are wearable in any direction, although with regular wear, take on, perhaps, more of the owner’s body shape.

I used Cascade 220 and changed the colorway a bit, cutting down on one color and using navy blue for the dark brownish color as well as the navy.

I just finished this sweater and was soooo excited, I just had to take pictures of it! I used Jeny’s Stretchy Bind Off, which is fantastic in that it is tidy, and stretchy, and can be done quite nicely with 2×2 ribbing at the neckline.  You can see the video here.

I still have ends to weave in and armholes to graft before the final wash and blocking – but this is the first Finished Object of the season – my New Year’s resolution – the BIG ONE – is to finish up my plethora of UFOs.