Mending and Making

I just read about a great idea in Sweden to boost reuse.  The article is about offering tax breaks for those who seek repairs on clothes rather than just discarding them.  It's not called Make Do and Mend but it should be!  Meanwhile, I have not even paid anyone for doing my mending.  I started with hand-stitched patches to deal with the normal knee rips that every pair of little kid jeans gets.

Then I had a good reminder about how much time I spent on it---and a suggestion to get iron-on patches.  $20 later, I had what seemed like a life time supply of boring matching colors and fun kid-friendly decals.  I am going through a surprising number of these (I put a boring patch on the wrong side and a fun one on the right side) and now wish I got that tax break on the iron-on patches instead!  I've patched three pairs of pants today...and it's the second time I've done it in the last week or so.  Twins=twice the number of jeans...

Things are well underway over at the Red River Exhibition for the 4th annual Manitoba Fibre Festival.  While I've been at home, corralling twins* and preparing for my classes,  I've heard that the festival was on TV this morning and everything!!  I'm going to be teaching two classes: One on knitting styles--Explore our Diversity and a second "Spinners' Tasting: It's NOT Wool!"  I am slowly transporting loads of supplies out to my car so I will be ready.  (Office is on third floor.  Car is on ground floor.  I am getting in my exercise.)
  

I also still have a few stray copies of Fiber Gathering and Knit Green available if anyone wants a signed copy....so I am shlepping those out to the car, too. :)  No special signing table or anything, but if you are at the festival, track me down before or after my 9-10:30 class or my 1-3pm one.  I'll be happy to sign it for you.

As part of my preparations (and fruitless search for one tiny tahkli spindle....) I have tidied up a bit.  It was a reminder that this (like all years) is a good one to mend more and make more from scratch!  I sure have the materials on hand.

  If, like me, you are about to celebrate 5777, Happy New Year!  May it be a sweet, happy, healthy, productive year for you.  L'Shanah Tovah!

*This week, the Professor has been off in the US doing fieldwork and attending a conference.  It's been all me, twin five year olds and two dogs.  Thank goodness for kindergarten so I get some breaks!  We've just about made it through (He should be flying home today) but I am really looking forward to a day off (even though I am teaching, it's like a special holiday for me...) at the festival!

the day after

There are no photos for this post. Remarkably, it turns out that when I drive to Indianapolis for a photoshoot (4 hours of driving each way in about 28 hours), I don't have time to take a single photo! My conclusions:

1) It was awesome to listen to the inauguration events on the radio during the drive. Better than being out in the cold in DC, and for me, better than watching TV. I like imagining it all, although I did look to see the inaugural outfits online later. (fashion junkie, can't help myself!) Also, I tend to cry over these huge events, so it was good I was driving. I kept myself pulled together...no sniffling and tearing up! It's unsafe! I am so excited by all the potential for change with our historic, intelligent, new president!

2) I got to see two sunrises--one in Kentucky on my way to Indiana, and I saw the tail end of a sunrise while leaving Indiana. The big expanse of the midwestern sky in winter is a beautiful thing.

3) It turns out that the only differences between doing a photoshoot with the professor and with the lovely professionals at my publisher's are small ones...
a) the professionals all have a good style sense, so I am not stuck styling each shot on my own
b) the publisher employs a lot of gorgeous and smart people to use as models
c) it's a social event, with food, hot drinks, and even jokes
d) there wasn't one argument, which I thought came along with the photoshoots?! (only with one's life partner, apparently...)
e)The best part was how reassuring it all was. Complete strangers complimented me on these projects I've been designing in isolation for months. That was a surprise. I didn't expect that, but it was worth the drive to hear. Folks in Indianapolis are just nice. Thanks for saying nice things about the knitting!

While in the car, I realized I hadn't answered several questions that commenters have asked on the blog.

Mary G, my professor bought me the silk birthday yarn as a gift, but after doing a bit of research, I understand that it comes from "rustyseller1" on ebay. His ebay shop is Silk Yarn Collection.

In the darning post I did, I had a lot of comments. Who knew folks felt so strongly about darning? I don't own a darning "egg" or "mushroom". I've never needed one, although I think they're very cool! If you use a darning egg, do you darn with one hand? Please explain?

Deb mentioned that she wears out the heels of her socks. The best solution for this is to rip out the old heel (carefully) and reknit the heel. This is called a peasant or after-thought heel. I learned about this from Anna Zilboorg's fabulous paperback book,Simply Socks, which I think is a reprint of the hard cover Fancy Feet. Since both of these books are out of print, I'd recommend checking out online sources for "peasant heel" or "afterthought heel." It's a bit tricky the first time, but after you've mastered it, you can make yourself brand new heels in no time!

On my drive, I saw a lot of trucks. Our country is so dependent on fossil fuels to supply us with everything in our stores...from caskets (I saw a coffin truck!) to milk. It seems to me that one (very small) step towards sustainability, responsibility, and even, well, sacrifice...might be darning socks instead of buying new? What else is a step in the right direction, in your opinion?

Psst: Jodi, if you're reading this, leave a comment! It turns out I have a lot of secret readers out there. Say hey, ok?

fixing a hole/we are one

Well, I apparently hit a hot topic with darning. In discussion with a writer friend, I realized the best illustration for darning I could find is in Therese de Dilmont's book, Encyclopedia of Needlework. I own a reprint of this oldie but goodie, but if you follow the link, you'll go directly to the section on mending knitting. It's no longer covered by copyright, so it's freely available on the web. Scroll down to the illustrations...you don't even need the text to see how to darn. The drawings are that good.

I spent most of the day working hard on a sample for book #2--knitting. On Tuesday, I will be driving up to Indianapolis for a photo shoot for this book; I'd like to finish this first. I was inspired by We are One, the inaugural concert...which I listened to on National Public Radio. I hear that if you have HBO, they will replay it again tonight on that TV channel. If you've got nothing else on, check out the concert! (I used my imagination, since I grew up in Northern Virginia, near DC. I know what the Lincoln Memorial looks like, and that helped while listening to the radio!)

I love the message of Martin Luther King Day, which we celebrate on Monday. When I was growing up in Virginia, we celebrated Lee-Jackson-King Day--a terrible contradiction that has since been fixed...but my family always emphasized why the combination seemed impossible. I loved teaching King's words when I taught high school in DC...they always captivated even the most uninterested teenager. In honor of King's words, in which we will one day all join hands, I found a few contemporary essays that display our diversity and complexity:

Just Like Pastrami

and our empathy and tolerance:

Mysterious Connections that Link us Together

and finally, that we must act on that tolerance to make the world a better place:

We Are Each Other's Business

So, if you have a chance to reflect, enjoy these fine examples of how we can all work together, in our complexity, empathy, tolerance, and actions. I am so excited by the next few days and the hope it ushers in for the United States. Meanwhile...as I listen to the radio...I'll be knitting over here.

Please leave me a comment if you've got thoughts on these essays or on anything in this post; I'd love to hear what you think!

fixing a hole

A while ago, I proposed a class called: "Holey Sock, Batman!" The premise? Students get a chance to learn to darn their handknit socks. I didn't get accepted as an instructor for that event, which worked out ok in the end. However, I think darning is a lost art. It needs to be re-taught...and not just because "Darn IT!" can then be a real curse again! Darning enables us to keep our clothes instead of throwing them away. This is important. It wastes a lot of energy to make clothes and throwing away clothing is wasteful and fills up landfills. (If you donate your clothes to charity without darning them, you're just expecting folks without money to darn when you don't know how! Is that fair?) Lots can be done with clothes to old to wear, but before they become old in my book, they get darned once or twice.

I've been pondering this. A friend invited us to dinner and gifted me with a 100% alpaca sweater. It's black, with 3/4 quarter sleeves, and a bright floral pattern. I didn't think it was my style, but surprisingly, it looked SO good on me that I had to rethink and graciously accept the offer. It's a great addition to my sweater collection, since alpaca is very warm. (more on this in a bit.)

My friend took out another beloved alpaca sweater to show me, and horror of horrors, there were HOLES in it. Moth panic erupted for all of about 30 seconds. Then my husband the professor (the one who studies butterflies and MOTHS, remember?) stepped in and examined it. These weren't moth holes, these holes happened because of actual wear. Yes, weak threads/yarns can break down over time, especially in an intarsia knit. Moths will leave evidence, such as casings and other insect detritus, of which there was none. It's so nice to be married to a PhD who's an expert in the topic!

I volunteered to mend the holes, and my friend was relieved, because while she can darn, she worried she'd do a messy job. I took photos of it, the darning came out just fine, I had hand-dyed sock yarn that matched perfectly...but gosh, the photos are terrible. (use your imagination!)

Then, we heard that the temperature in Winnipeg this week reached -40. Yup, that's the same temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. DARN COLD! Since we hope to be living in Winnipeg next year in this time, I'm rethinking my winter clothing. In very cold weather, it's not embarrassing to double and triple up on hats/mittens...even coats. A regular hat with one layer isn't warm enough even when it's 5F/-15C. (We've dealt with those temperatures with frequency when we lived in upstate NY.) So, I dragged out this thin knit cap that I've had for years...and holey HAT, Batman! Perhaps 10-15 years old...I based it on a Rowan pattern, it's Rowan yarns, and I made it before I was married. Maybe even when I was in college in upstate NY in the first place? I found a hole in the cap along the seam...it was knit flat and then sewn up.
Another darning chore. Darn it! Yet, it's nice to maintain this link to my long ago knitting past...and don't really mind darning, especially if I'll get more use out of this hat. So, I've been wondering...

Do you darn your clothes/knitted items? Do you wish you knew how to darn and mend things? Are you completely opposed to darning? Inquiring minds want to know!