Raglan prep - stuff to be made for others

The first item has come off my list, allowing that two weeks before the event is a little early to be making the baked good bribery items.

Last year seemed to be a blanket year for the bumps of my acquaintance, while this year cardigan patterns have caught my eye. I've one more pattern I'd like to make up, but alas, I have a shortage of bumps. This one though, will be given to a mini someone at Raglan, and is sized for wear-ability over the winter.

The pattern is Baby Sophisticate, and is made primarily with Drops fabel. I actually ran short of yarn for the collar, and made up the difference with a Lidl purchased solid colour, which I'm actually delighted I did; the different colour really makes the collar pop.


The second item I needed to complete was a piece of Viking wire weave jewellery for a barter exchange.

This is made in a double weave with 0.4mm silver plated wire, which my fingers greatly objected to at first. It's a wonder I try any delicate work at all sometimes, so determined are my hands to refuse to work with it.

The necklace is shortish, being made to sit just below the gap in the clavicular notches when worn.




And because this is very worth mentioning, this is the first time I've managed to successfully manufacture my own end caps! Ok, sure, they're not absolutely perfect, but they look solid, rather than the gap-y monstrosities of my previous attempts. It's almost like I had a class in this stuff coming up or something... 

Raglan Prep - first post of...many

Raglan preparation this year breaks down into three categories:

• Stuff to be made for other people
• Stuff to be prepared for classes
• Stuff for myself

Though that last one tends to be endless and is subject to heavy prioritisation. Things... are not going well, not least because leaving component parts in other peoples houses does not lead to progress. But there's time yet!*

So far I've been cutting out multiple hat patterns so I can have several "and here's one I made earlier" stages available for construction demonstration at my class.The trick with these will be to assemble them with as little handling as possible, so the fabrics don't disintegrate along the edges in the time between now and the event.




On the knitting front, the first of the gift items has been delivered, a little socky purse that I actually developed the pattern for myself.




They were made from the same yarn (malabrigo, my favourite) and to go to the same recipient of the Aragorn socks I made earlier this year, and which even came to a Professor Elemental show with me.

* Famous last words

Essential kit

Trying to buy a new car and get all the paperwork lined up so I don't miss out on a holiday with friends is a rather stressful experience. How and ever, it's all sorted out now, and while I melt with relief, I've had a chance to catch up on a few things.

Firstly, to go with the long awaited red dress (which no, isn't quite finished yet), I needed a new apron! My current apron, being cut from the same red linen, simply wouldn't do.

So I came across some green fabric, I believe a linen-cotton mix, and decided to use that to make up my new apron. I had the pictures taken wearing the new over the old, so I could compare for length. The green was actually cut from an unfinished project, and I had concerns that it would be too short, but it actually comes out just nicely. It's desperately in need of an iron though, those crease you can see in the front are from the old darts that were sewn into it. The hems are sewn with cotton thread, and I used the same thread to make up a couple of fingerloops braids for the closure.

You see, this apron has a little more history than my other projects. The unfinished project that donated the fabric was a dress I made for my mother, that was so close to being finished that when I first came across it a couple of years ago, after she'd passed, I was racked with guilt over how little I had left to do. But when I found it again recently, I thought it would be much better for the fabric to be used in a way to honour her.

The apron in Italian renaissance garb is an essential piece of equipment. Even in the portraits of noble ladies, a piece of embroidered and lace worked heirloom hangs from their waists, alongside the jewels and other accessories. And for the working woman, I don't think I've seen a picture yet where an apron was absent. So with the red apron for the black dress and the green for the very-soon-to-be-finished red dress, it'll be an item that comes with me to every event. So even though she's not around any more, she'll be with me at each occasion.