Finishing some projects

I've been trying to get a few projects off my plate before the busy autumn months. I finally finished a project to nalbind mittens for a friend. She wanted them to be very warm. Here they are:

They are made from hand spun Jacob wool, with hand spun BFL for the fringe. The stitch is Balsta which picks up 5 loops from the back of the thumb. It is not a difficult stitch, but it uses up a lot of yarn. They are definitely very warm.

I also spun some Polworth. I love the color - it's called "cider house" - and I wanted to make sure I used it all. Here are the socks I knit:

This was a real learning experience for me. First, I had to learn to make a sock from the toe up - I used a short row technique. Then I had to learn how to nicely increase my lace pattern so that I could increase the width of the sock at the calf. I've also finally gotten the hang of negative ease. I invented the pattern as I went along, and these are the first socks I've knit that fit me perfectly. I'm looking forward to colder weather so I can wear them.

My third project is gloves. These are made from hand spun Romney. I spun the wool while my Dad was in the hospital over the summer (I needed to play with a cheery color). Once again, I didn't have a pattern, but I've made many mittens, so I figured out the fingers as I went along.

They were fun to make and I'm looking forward to seeing them peeking out of the sleeves of my black coat this winter. I think the next gloves I try will be done with nalbinding.

With these last two projects I feel that I have gained a better understanding of the knitting process. I've gotten used to knitting with small needles by making the socks (and two other pairs), and it has made me confident enough with my skill to think about trying something based on an historical project.

Natural Dyes

Over Labor Day weekend, a group of us got together and experimented with natural dyes. Our first experiment was using indigo. I had spun some South Down lamb wool, Shetland, and Finn. I wanted to know if the breed made a difference for how much color was accepted. There was not much difference between the Shetland and Finn, but here is a picture of the South Down (on top) and the Finn (below):

Both hanks were in the dye bath at the same time, for the same amount of time (about 5 minutes). The lamb's wool took more color. I had not expected this. The first shearing vs later shearing made more of a difference than the breed (or at least the breeds I used).

Our second experiment was using lily of the valley leaves from my garden. We used alum as the mordant. We chopped and then simmered the leaves for about an hour. We kept the mordant separate, soaking the fibers in the mordant bath and then placing the wool in the dye bath. I had only Finn left to dye, but a friend had some lamb's wool. Once again, the lamb's wool accepted more color. Her wool came out a pale golden yellow (you'll have to trust me, I don't have a photo). Here is a picture of my wool:

The roving is undyed. As you can see, there is very little difference between that and the spun wool. It is barely off-white, even though it was left in the dye bath for a very long time. I don't feel like it was worth the effort. But it certainly brought home the point that lamb's wool is the easiest to dye.

Egyptian textiles

My friend and I have been continuing the work of analyzing the textile artifacts found under the mummy at the Albany Institute of History and Art, in anticipation of the new exhibit which opens on September 21. We've made several exciting discoveries. The visiting Egyptologist, Peter Lacavara, has tentatively dated the garment remnant to approximately 900 BC, and identified it as a kalasiris - a long sleeveless robe (this one is approximately 60 inches long, including the fringe). According to Dr. Lacavara, this is very rare; he has seen paintings of them, but never an actual textile. While it is woven as a simple tabby (as are all the textiles we examined), it has beautiful decorative stitching around the armhole.

The garment will be in the exhibit, so if you are in the Albany area this year, it is definitely worth a visit. While this textile has a thread count of 48/26 threads per inch, the finest textile we were able to examine has a count of 140/60 threads per inch! The only way we could count that was with the help of a microscope. While there will be several textiles in the show, here is a photo of a piece we examined which will not be on display:

I'm fascinated by the pattern of bundled threads. This artifact is too small to know what its original use was. This textile has a thread count of 40/50 threads per inch.