Off for the holidays....

A Study in Textiles is "on vacation" this week.

Between a massive project at work and the approach of Christmas, I won't be blog posting this week.

Have a great week everyone.

Meantime, here is a lovely photo of one of our cats, being decorative.

Thursday status.

Another good crafty week since last Thursday.  The shirt and silk tunic for my husband were finished (enough) by the event on Saturday and holiday projects are nearing their ends.

So here's this week's status of projects in progress and "on deck."  

Current project list/status (SCA/Historic):

• Project X for C&L -- the "Convent Stitch" piece.  Threads have been determined and purchased and I'm down to two possibilities for the ground fabric.  Need to do a few test stitches to decide.   Happily, this project can get attention again soon. 
• Couched cord piece for C&L -- Complete change in plan.  This will now be covered by some work I'll be doing for the current King and Queen of the East for an event in January. Good productive meeting with a friend for design and material discussion. A design change request on Saturday has this one a bit in the air, but I think it can be brought back in line time-wise.
• Applique piece for C&L -- Did a little preliminary research, but have otherwise put this aside for other things -- as permitted by its place in my current project timeline.
• Shirt for my husband - - Hemmed and worn.  I will be going back and finishing the seams I hadn't finished before, but it fits and he's happy with it.  
• Silk tunic for my husband -- ditto.  Will probably add some more embroidery too. 
• Class for March.  I've just been asked to do a class at an embroidery event in March which will be a "more in-depth" than the usual SCA class.  Topic will be German Brick Stitch. Deadline is early January to have concept piece done and photos and write up to the coordinator.  My plan is to write most of the class while I make the concept piece so I can do my usual photos in progress method (without having to do the piece twice!).  Designs have been chosen and materials purchased. This weekend will see this firmly on its way.
• Motifs for coronation cloaks (different coronation) -- The embroidery on the two remaining tygers is on hold pending decisions by other people..
• Marshall Hanging -- the very large Bayeux inspired piece that I've been working on (on and  off) for just about forever.  Deadline, June some time summer 2016.  
• Hem stitched square -- Now 3 sides are done and the fourth one started.  I think this one has officially gone to "in stasis," though I did do some on Saturday at the event.  There's about 1/2 of the last side to do. 

• Other garb waiting in the wings... Also in planning are a couple more coifs -- and shifts and shirts.  

Current project list/status (Modern)

• Bay of Fundy Scarf.  The slightly over half done scarf is patiently waiting for its time to return, after the gift knitting....   
• Gift knitting.  I don't take on a lot of knitting for gifts, especially with my usual policy of only having one knitting project in progress at a time, but I found some lovely yarn at Rhinebeck for a scarf for a friend for an EOYHOYC* gift so that will enter rotation.  This is moving quickly.  I'm pretty happy with it so far. At this point I think it's about 2/3 done.
• Annual cross stitch.  A few years ago I started a project for the adopted daughter of friends -- I bought a lovely cross stitch chart that is made up of a number of motifs (similar to Quaker samplers).  There are just enough motifs for me to do a different one for an ornament each year for her until she reaches 21.  Motif was chosen and started.  The main motif is done and I'll be finishing this up in time for shipping on Monday.  Yeah, I'm always a bit behind on shipping things out.  
• Skirts for work.  One skirt that had been languishing in my studio has had some work done, and now just needs a hem (that's the one I pinned up). This hem is on my list for this weekend.  I also have some lovely blue and white fabric waiting to be the next skirt. Yes, you're right, no change here. (Really, what is so hard about getting around to sewing up the hem, which is the *last thing* on the black and white one). 
• Studio project. A number of things have migrated back to the studio (where, admittedly, they belong), and a few things in the studio need to come out.  I need to determine a day each month for specifically concentrating on getting everything back to where it belongs, which should help keep this room organized. 

Blog notes:

• Still working on a three day a week pattern -- Monday for SCA/Medieval/Renaissance related; Tuesday for post 1600 to modern related and Thursdays for status updates.
• I've begun building the "DONE" pages, and moved links around a bit.  The "main categories" are to the right now -- that's the main labels.  Click on one and see all the posts with that label.  Down below are *all* the labels I've used.  
• I'm also considering a couple other pages -- one for links to museums and other excellent web resources, and one for a bibliography (with appropriate links).  

So, that's it for my plans for the coming weeks.  

*EOYHOYC - End of Year Holiday of Your Choice; a once tongue-in-cheek, but now heart felt wish for everyone to enjoy whatever celebration November to mid January brings to them. 

That time that knitting "took"

I've been playing with string for a very long time.  I'm not sure if embroidery or my first go at knitting was first, but it was certainly as long ago as elementary school age (and that was quite a number of years ago now).  In any case, knitting was certainly one of the early tries.  My mother's cousin was an avid knitter.  My mother used to tell the story of "Cuz" knitting argyle socks during movies.  At some point, very early on, Cuz taught me to knit -- with the usual results of a rectangle with uneven sides as stitches were added and dropped willy nilly as I went.  It was quickly put aside for other activities

A few years later (Middle School age) I discovered crochet -- teaching myself from instructions in a magazine (I still have the pages of that article somewhere....).  One session of help from a very patient yarn shop lady and I was off and running.  The first poncho I made was still in my mother's closet 7 years ago.  It was not long after that that I discovered thread crochet, which was much more in evidence then than it is now (at one point I think there were at least three magazines devoted to thread or lace crochet).  By the time I left for college I was crocheting with very fine thread, using steel hooks inherited from my great grandmother.  During all that time, I kept trying to go back to knitting.  I got better at it, but it never really "took" as something I enjoyed.  Compared to crochet it always seemed to take too long.  (There were embroidery and sewing also to take my time, but this is a post about knitting....)

I continued to crochet and embroider (the sewing machine took a long nap) through college, still occasionally picking up knitting without success.

Then, a few years ago, I went to Plymouth with friends to work on the Plymouth Jacket.  For some reason I will never really understand, I picked up knitting again just before that trip, working on a scarf (that was never finished) on the drive up.  While we were at Plymouth the costume department was working on a project they had launched for knitters to volunteer to make stockings for the Plantation.  I enjoyed the time there so much that I found myself coming home with yarn with which to make a pair.

They took a while, but I kept plugging at it, and finished the stockings.  Somewhere along the way, knitting "took" and I got *really excited* about it.

I looked for and found information about historical knitting.  I made modern socks, hats, and scarves.

Then, less than a year after I had finished those first stockings, I decided to make a silk bag.  Because once I dive in, I dive in.


I've often wondered why it finally "took" some 35-40 years after those days of Cuz sitting with me on the loveseat in our family room.  I think it's the history.  It was when I connected knitting to history that it blossomed for me.  Not everything I knit is historically based (in fact, most of my knitting is modern), but that connection seems to have been the spark that made it sing to me.

The moral of the story?  Never give up?  Find the spark?  Maybe it's just "create."