Patchwork
Posted by Lanea on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
In footwork news: I taught a very informal clogging class for some friends Sunday, and it was an absolute hoot. It felt great to be encouraging other folks to stomp about. I think percussive dance is particularly appealing to folks with some strong tendencies towards rambunctiousness, and most of my friends could be described that way. In fact, we had so much fun that we decided it’s going to turn into a biweekly thing, complete with live music and potluck.
Now for the handwork. Two giant potholders, each about 10″ square. They’re both made up entirely of scraps from other projects, which always makes me very happy. The Crazy patched one is actually greener than it looks–winter morning light is very blue near us, for some reason. Both are entirely machine-stitched, which is still making me sort of twitchy. But they’re a quick use of leftovers, and making these will force me to get much better at quilt binding, my least favorite activity these days. I’m not sure what I’ll do with this pair once the second one is finished, but I may go make a few million if they continue to be so fun.
In all its rumpled loveliness–my lace cardigan.
I finished that first sleeve last night, and am a couple of inches into the second one. This is going to be one warm sweater. I’m so glad it’s lace. I think it would be nigh unwearable otherwise.
And some felt patchwork experimentation is underway. I’ve been playing with feltable wool scraps for a while now, looking for a good way to use recycled sweaters without stockpiling dozens of thrifted bits and bobs. I think I have a plan now.
I cut a few felted pieces into squares, and then joined them by stitching them to little scraps of twill. The twill should give the finished item a fair amount of stability.
Filed in dance,knitting,sewing | 5 responses so far
kon 05 Mar 2008 at 12:41 am 1I love the top one – it looks like a dragon’s eye.
I’m sure now that I need to get back into sewing. I realized I haven’t sewn anything for three years now, not even a patch on a pair of blue jeans. This is a bad thing.
Janeon 05 Mar 2008 at 8:26 am 2What will the felted patchwork become? I like it.
kon 05 Mar 2008 at 10:56 am 3Is stomp dancing – er, clogging, painful? do you have to get used to it?
I have a boatload of sweatshirts that my neighbor gave me. I’ve been thinking about piecing them together and being all rustic and leaving the cut edges on the right side, and then giving the whole thing back to her. They were her sister’s sweatshirts, you see.
Involves cleaning off the dining room table. Hmm.
Lellaon 06 Mar 2008 at 8:00 pm 4you’ve reminded me that I need to make some new potholders. Mine are ancient! Yours are beautiful. BTW, I just saw something in Nancy’s Notions catalog where they cover the whole surface of a sweatshirt with strips. It looked pretty cool, too. I love your idea.
Rachelon 07 Mar 2008 at 10:14 am 5Once again, losing my mind. I could swear I commented on this post yesterday. Maybe I’m leaving he page before typing the little verification code…..Anyway, I love the potholders, and find the little pile of sweater most intriguing.