Moebius sweater???

This was a very tough work week for me.....no need for elaboration, but a time when knitting therapy is in order.  Knitting is a form of meditation for me.  The repetitive movement, the tactile sense of the yarn as it slides though my fingers and the bamboo needles on my palms.  I feel tension slide away as the rows increase....I love the fibers.  This is a 75% viscose and 25% linen from Classic Elite Yarns called 'Firefly'  www.classiceliteyarns.com/.  

I took French in school and always thought that 'viscose' was the French word for 'rayon' so why does it say 'viscose and linen'?  So, I looked it up....

Apparently, viscose is the base material used to make rayon - (you can skip the next paragraph if the chemistry of it is unimportant to you;  with a background in science, I like this stuff!) From Wikipedia:


At first wood pulp is dissolved in caustic soda and after steeping it for a specified period of time it is shredded and allowed to age. Aging contributes to viscosity of viscose. The longer the ageing time the less viscosity it will have. The aged pulp is then treated with carbon disulfide to form a yellow-colored cellulose xanthate, which is dissolved in caustic soda again, but of a lower concentration. This is the starting stage of viscose formation. During the process an acetate dope is added to alkali cellulose which is necessary for the yarn lustre.


Anyway, as you probably know, linen is an ancient fiber make from flax plants.  Viscose is really rayon...maybe it sounds cooler to say 'viscose' rather than 'rayon'.  But it's a beautiful kind of DK weight yarn at 6 stitches/inch on a #5 needle.  I bought it at the  Knit 'n Knibble, my favorite LYS (local yarn store).   The owner, Caroline Kerr is very helpful and showed me this beautiful new yarn.  Yummy!!

Anyway, I realized in my furry to resolve my anxiety through yarn therapy that I broke the cardinal rule of knitting in the round;  I twisted my stitches!! AHHHHH!  But, not to worry....I'd gone quite a way when I realized it so I decided rather than frog it and start again, I'll steek it when I'm done!!  (if you knit you know steeking is cutting the fabric;  sounds horrible to a knitter and  I've never done it, but have read about it.  Good time to try it, eh?)   There are no mistakes in knitting!   Just another chance to learn something new!  I'd probably be best off to use that as a metaphor for life;  there are no mistakes - just more chances to learn.  (This is NOT a missive about good and evil...those forces DO exist)  Anyway, I digress...

So, I'll post the pic of this moebius sweater  when it's de-moebied.  But in the mean time, the meditation and the realization about life's lessons were profound in this sometimes nutty world.  Thank God for yarn and my grandmother, who taught me to knit!

Japanese Cotton Vest

 I bought this wonderful Japanese Cotton at Britex, one of my favorite fabric haunts in San Francisco.  The pattern fabric is a collage of different traditional Japanese patterns;  the navy sides and lining, are a high quality navy cotton, also from Britex.  It is so dense
that it wrinkles minimally.

I decided to showcase the fabric just in front and back panels - allover is a LOT of pattern.

I wanted to make something that was  highly wearable in our Florida heat.  This could conceivably be worn alone,
although I like a T-shirt underneath.

I used the 'Easy Silhouette Vest Pattern' (IJ730) from Indygo Junction.  It is fully lined with the navy cotton, except for the front facings which of course, are patterned since they show up as the lapels.

Although the pattern does not suggest it, my training told me to interface the front section and the collar using a light fusible interfacing.  I used two snaps for closure as I didn't think it needed any more detail from a button.

I made bias tape from the plain navy fabric to face the armholes.  I have a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker, which seems like 'just another sewing gadget' but is very handy for these kinds of projects (and particularly if you need to make yards of quilt binding).  By binding the armholes this way, also, I could put right sides together, sew all around the periphery, (except the shoulder seoams) and turn it right-side out and handsew the remaining seams.  I always have to think pretty hard about how to sew in lining like that;  I usually end up ripping out at least one seam when I can't completely turn it right-side out!

I've worn the vest several times and enjoy it.  I love unique fabrics, and I think this qualifies!

'Autumnal Mondiaan'

Stephen's Quilt

'Autumnal Mondriaan'

I made this quilt for my grown son.  I knew he wouldn't like something that looked 'cutesy' or 'country' or even 'traditional'.  He's more of an 'urban chic' kinda guy.  But I did want him to have a quilt I'd made...it's kind of like giving him a hug when he goes to bed each night.

I call it 'Autumnal Mondiaan' because it reminds me of the art work of Piet Mondriaan, the Dutch painter of the last century who created paintings featuring blocks of colors in white, red and yellow with black frames around them.  I used more subdued, masculine colors - the colors of autumn, you might say.  Stephen's art savvy so I knew he'd appreciate the name.

I used silk dupioni squares of varying sizes.  Now silk dupioni, like most fabric, comes in a variety of qualities;   some of the really cheap stuff online looks like cheap stuff - flimsy and very rough looking.  But I found some lovely remnants from good fabric stores which worked well since I was using varying sizes of squares.  I prepared the fabric by washing it in the machine...yes, you can wash silk dupioni and even dry it.  It changes the hand and is not as crisp but I used a polyester batting so I wanted it to be 'machine-washable'.  Just be sure to wash it before cutting it. 

I ironed the squares to the gridded fusible interfacing available in quilt stores.  Note, it takes high heat on your iron to get the interfacing to fuse, but this doesn't hurt the silk.  (Try it out on a sample first to be sure.)  It took a little planning but basically, I cut the squares as I went trying to vary the values, colors and sizes of adjacent pieces.  I used more of a 3/8" seam than 1/4", but using the grid, it's easy to sew the pieces together. 

I used plain dark brown dupioni on the back and the same for the binding.  I always attach the binding by machine and then hand sew to finish.

My son says he likes his quilt and it should look nice on a queen-sized bed.  I made it for more of a bedspread with the quilt top fitting the mattress top and plain sides.  I made the top long enough that he can tuck pillows underneath.  I hope it's something he'll treasure for many years. 

The American Museum of Natural History in NYC Textile treasure trove?

                   

This iconic Natural History museum located on Central Park West in Manhattan, boasts thousands of textiles in its collection.   My observation is that the collection is quite large and broad in scope, but their website (http://www.amnh.org/) somehow made me think, or I wanted to believe,  that textiles were a separate collection.  So, I was confused when the map of the museum showed no area labeled “textiles”.  I asked several museum employees and realized that textiles are scattered amongst different sub-collections.

The Museum is broken up into areas of animal science, human anthropology and earth science.  Textiles are amongst the anthropology sections broken up by areas of the globe with labels like: “African Peoples”, “Asian Peoples” and “Mexican and Central America” Each area contains artifacts and relics from those areas over history.   All of the anthropology areas house beautiful textiles amongst the other art, pottery and relics of those cultures.  I saw exhibits showing how textiles were used and worked into the daily, celebratory and ritualistic culture of various peoples over time.  Many textiles appear to be modern copies of what was used;  the fact that textiles often degrade over time means that these copies were probably made using cues from other art forms and looking backward using materials that were available and textile forms known to be extant in the culture of the time.

One museum employee told me that the bulk of the textile collection was in the South American and Mexican area.  She was right.  This was the only area where much was said about the textiles themselves.  Different sorts of weaving were discussed with diagrams explaining “plain weave”, “looping” and other weaving forms.  Burial clothes dating from were labeled and diagrams described what could be seen by experts as having  been woven into these largely decayed relics.  I would never have observed these images myself so the diagrams were quite helpful.  Costumes from all over Asia, including Armenia, India,  China and Tibet were seen throughout the exhibits.  Some were obviously originals – others appeared to be copies but none were labeled either way. 

The details of the textiles, fiber content, weave, derivation of raw materials and possible identity of the weaver,  were limited.  A few noted that they were cotton or wool – no mention was made of the origin of these fibers in that area, however.  The African collection boasted differences between different geographical areas of that continent;  for instance, it was noted that bast fibers or other native plants – like banana fronds or grasses were used in some areas and other locally found fibers used at other sites.  There were some examples of locally used looms and pictures of how weaving was done and by whom, by those were few. 

What did I like about the exhibit?  There is broad diversity about textiles here.  From African ceremonial dresses made of banana fronds to fine silks from Asia – from burial clothes found in ancient graves to more traditional cloth made by modern made by South American natives today.   AMNH shows textiles in the framework of the anthropology of cultures – not as a distinct area.  There is relatively little discussion of the derivation of fibers and weaves. 

If you want to view textiles within the framework of overall culture, this is an interesting collection.  However, if you want to compare and contrast the textiles of different peoples in different times, you must make these distinctions yourself.  As a fiber junkie, I would enjoy more detail and insight into the derivation and production of the textiles shown.  However, for a global view of textiles in their cultural context, the AMNH has a lot to offer.