Menokreatikkul; Saturday Stitches

What the......!!!!!!

gggggaaaakkkk.... the stuff of nightmares....

It's the stuff of nightmares! A new WIP, which I'm making up as I go along, trying to bust as much of the cotton stash as possible, has been testing me. I'll write more about it when I show that project itself. Suffice to say for now about this, that the mercerised cotton I found tucked at the bottom of mum's old collection - in hanks - needed to be wound for ease of use. It's as slippery as all get out and a moment's inattention while watching the snooker and...

Did I get it sorted? To be determined as at time of posting...

You're sniggering, aren't you? You are, I can hear you. No, wait... that's me, cackling. The sanity might be slipping a bit.

On a brighter note...

FO... the Use It Don't Lose It project of working up all the little tiddly bits of Mum's homespun is finished. It will be improved by blocking, when I have the time and a decent drying day, but you can see how it drapes from this photo.

Hard to tell from this, but it's about 1.25 metres in length and 40cm wide. The very, very dark brown (almost black) yarn was raised from a merino sheep she and I helped shear on a working holiday farm in West Australia, nearly 30 years back! The chocolate brown beside it was from a Hebridean fleece. The particularly white of the creamy yarns is all Oz Merino. That darker, pearlised cream on the left panel was from Texel. Above that, you see the natural greys from Herdwick fleeces, followed by a much softer grey, which is a little bit that was separate from the Shetland batch that I am keeping for 'extra special'. 

The orange and tawny colours are Mum's natural-dyeing samples; the first is from onion skins, and I think the second is from rhubarb leaves, though I may have misremembered. I would mention here that Mum was a dye chemist for the wool mills in Galashiels before she got married!

Coming down the right side, you will see a patch that is almost mother-of-pearl... that was from a Blue Leicester fleece that she twisted with some silk. I don't think any dye was applied to this, but it certainly sparkles!

The simply linked chain arch pattern was perfect for showing off these swatches, and despite its filigree nature, this stole is very warm to wear. I have it over my shoulders as I type... Thanks, Mum.