FO: A bit of jeans mending

I feel like I'm batting a hundred today. 

Here's a sashiko patch in a "woven bamboo" pattern.

And some blackwork just above the patch where the fabric is getting thin. The thread matches pretty closely to the color of the jeans, so it should be mostly invisible. I'll know it's there, though.

Honestly, I'm not sure these are done-done or if they ever will be done. There are some weak spots near the pockets and belt loops that will need attention soon, but they're done enough to go back into the rotation.

Month of Mending: Sashiko patches

Blackwork is really great for reinforcing fabric, but not so great for repairing holes. One of my favorite ways of doing that is with sashiko, a Japanese mending technique that's alternately referred to as embroidery and quilting. Unlike blackwork, sashiko was an art of impoverished people, developed from necessity. A poor farmer or fisherman's wife would recycle old clothes that had been worn to rags by cutting patches from the least worn parts and stitching them to worn parts of newer clothes. This was slow fashion before slow fashion was cool. In the Edo Period, sashiko was used to make protective coats for firemen and on Sado Island during WWII, some pretty hardcore ladies made sashiko coats to protect them as they carried logs down mountains on their backs¹.

Sashiko means "little stabs" and is usually done with light thread on dark fabric, generally indigo dyed cotton-- you know, like your jeans.

It really looks complicated, but it's only running stitch. There are a few rules about turning corners², but the mechanics of sashiko are really not at all difficult.

For these patches, I've used a fabric with a square pattern woven in so that I could "cheat" and make my lines and stitches even and on patterns that I've seen, each stitch is charted out for you. Honestly, I don't have time for all that and, I'd wager, neither did the mothers and wives in Japan. Neater stitches are, of course, more desirable, but that comes with practice.

Here's a pair of little Bu jeans that was torn after a fall on concrete. She had a scraped knee and some tears, but was otherwise fine. Her jeans were not so fine. The hole is about two inches wide and about an inch tall. The fabric on the other knee was week, so I decided to do matching knee patches.

She picked Spider-Man fabric for the patches, so I fussy-cut a couple of patches and found patterns that I thought would work well: Amime (net) and Higaki (cypress fence)³.

Designs were transferred to the patches, then pinned over the holes.

The knee with the hole got a smaller design and the knee with only weak fabric got the larger design, the rule of thumb being that more stitches means more reinforcement. I did my best to follow the rules for tidy corners and since the wrong side wouldn't be seen, I didn't worry about carrying the thread across the back. I worked from the middle to the edge as best as I could.

Instead of turning the edges under as I did with the jeans above, I decided to blanket stitch around the raw edge to keep it from raveling. I don't know how it's usually done, so this is experimental.


I used some bright blue DMC stranded cotton out of my stash and a regular embroidery needle. Sashiko needles are a thing, as is sashiko thread, but in the interest of economy (with a nod to those thrifty Japanese ladies), I used what I had.

The result seems sturdy so far, but we'll see how it holds up after some small person action and a wash or two. If my jeans are any indication, I think they'll be fine.

The best part of this repair was when Bu gasped and said, "You fixed them! Thanks, mom!" The whole operation was the work of two days (not constantly) and a happy girl made every minute worthwhile.

Next week will be darning and I've discovered some super fancy techniques that I haven't tried yet.

1. A little history on sashiko here
2. How to turn neat corners
3. A short tutorial and some patterns

Happy Everything!

Happy October!
I'm having a busy month already and it's only the first. In fact, I'm a little late in posting today because I've been busy doing important parenting things, important household things, and important things that are not blogging. It's the start of Aegletia, and if you've never heard of it, no one will blame you. Apollo is going on vacation at the end of the month and there are a few of us who send him off over nine days with a candle-lighting ritual. We've only been calling it Aegletia since last year and I'm strongly considering some small, appropriate gifts and/or special Aegletia foods that may or may not include underwear and/or eggplant, respectively.

This is close on the heels of the Fall Equinox Annual Perennial Exchange Party (Happy Fall!), which was low-key and delightful. The darling eldest made some labels for the seed bar, which was kinda fun, and we traded flower bulbs, too. Some time when it's not raining, there's going to be a great planting of things and I may or may not plant the crocuses in random spots around the yard.

There have also been computer-related shenanigans and my nerd-based confidence was boosted this week when I took a useless paperweight of a netbook and turned it into a learning machine that both children want to use. It's still a little slow, but it's actually functional and has lots of great programs for anyone of any age who might want to learn things. Bu even learned how to use a track pad.
I may or may not be a little proud. maybe a little

There's also been a great deal of spinning going on. I finished all the singles for the fiber Koren gave me to spin up for her as one of her stashdown prizes and I've been working on it when I can during Cubs games.
It seems to help. I'll have to be sure to have the wheel out when they play the Pirates for the wildcard spot.

The plying on the copper is done now, so it just needs to be washed, measured, weighed, and given the stern pinky.

Two pairs of jeans need patches, too, so that and a couple rounds of sweater sleeve also got worked on today. The sleeve is less interesting. It looks like a sleeve.

Anyhow, the sashiko patches are holding up well. They seem to do better than other kinds of patching techniques I've tried.

This was going to be a nice photo of the nice things to eat at the Fall Annual Perennial, but some goofball photobombed. We had noshes. It was yummy.

It's the Month of Cosplay, so I hope to have some costumes in progress very very soon. Happy Cosplay Month!

Fall seems to be creeping in

Sometimes, the FOs are tasty. This is about eight jars of peach nutmeg jelly that I put up this weekend. It's even husband-approved.

I have a mind to do some apple cinnamon jelly as well, but I want to get some apple pie filling done first so that I can have the peels and cores.

Jelly is kind of magical in that I feel like I'm getting something from practically nothing.

The spinning queue is moving along, too. Most of the time, I try to spin while listening to the Cubs play. At this point, I'm 3/4 of the way through the silk. I've got one more not-for-me spinning project to do, then it's on to spinning my own stash again.

I've also been working on some mending this week. When you have a pair of jeans you like, it's really hard to let them go. I'm liking the different sashiko stitch patterns and I feel like I get a sturdier patch this way, since no fabric is lost by cutting away the old fabric for the new. 

With other kinds of mending, the patch tends to pull on the old fabric in such a way that often results in even more holes, so you get caught in an endless spiral of patching or you just give up on the garment altogether. Because sashiko patches are quilted to the old fabric, there's no significant pulling at stress points like corners. The whole patch moves with the rest of the fabric. 

Next up is some embroidery for some of the smaller/more difficult holes on the side seam.

I've been wearing my plaid shirt this week, especially in the cooler early hours of the morning and, as Bu has also observed, it is so comfy. This is a sewing win.

And I did manage to get a picture of Iris in her natural habitat. The other pictures are a bit more flaily, but I thought this one was nice (garbage can notwithstanding).

The Finishing Has Begun!

First, I have a couple FOs to report:

 This is the younger, more attractive brother to the first blue silk hanky: 100% silk, upcycled from a skirt, with hand-rolled hems and hand embroidered sashiko style in circular Gallifreyan that reads "Bad Wolf." More about this little gem when I talk about this week's technique.

I believe my French knots turned out better on this one than on the first one and I like the outer circle rather better in the running stitch than in chain stitch. I have yet more of this fabric and I may do a little bag or something out of the scraps that are the wrong shape and size for hankies. How fancy would a little blue silk bag be?

These have been sitting around, waiting for me to learn about afterthought heels. I absolutely love how they look, but I'm not a hundred percent happy with the fit of this particular heel. I want to try some different ones before I give them up, but I have learned that this one isn't my favorite.

These are Maryvillian Blue Heelers in Studio Avenue Six Self Striping Yarn (discontinued), colorways Just for Jess (she dyed it for me!) and 2 Lt. Blue, 2 Dk. Blue. The pattern is a modified Chevron out of Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

Other than the afterthought heel shenanigans, I loved this pattern and it was perfect for this yarn. It's really too bad that the yarn is discontinued because my other socks, OSU socks, have worn really well in the time I've had them with little to no felting in the heels and no fading through many washings.

I haven't picked up Ms. Summer's hanky this week, but I did make significant progress on my proto-neice's sweater. It needs sleeves, a button band, and a collar, which should all go pretty quickly, barring any knitting disasters. It's such a quick, satisfying knit. I love everything about it. I've started the sleeves, so it should be done by next week.


I've also been working on the privet dyeing experiment with the SoUP batts. They're out of the dye bath and currently drying in my bedroom. I'm not really convinced about the color, though. I'll have to see it in daylight when it's dry, but from what I can tell, the color is very subtle and in shades of blue to green to yellow.

They're still wet here and have since been washed. 

This has been a really good learning experience, if nothing else. Dyeing batts is a pain in the rear end and I'm still a little worried I've felted it, so I'm going to be dyeing either fiber still in locks or already spun into yarn. I've also learned that I could really use bigger pots and more than one pot. Stainless steel should be non-reactive and I should be able to pick a couple big ones up for not very much at a place like Big Lots. More plans for dyeing are in the works and it's going to be a lot of fun playing with colors. I was daydreaming about lichens and oak galls the other day and thinking about planting a dyer's garden.

Most of my other daydreams lately have been about garage doors, more gardening, and what life would be like if I lived on Sesame Street.

This week's Technique is:

Sashiko.

The link will take you to a very good tutorial on how to do traditional sashiko. Because it is my way, I only sort of followed some of the instructions and ended up not really doing what you might call traditional sashiko on the silk hanky at the top of the page. It's sashiko-ish. Instead of the fat thread usually used, I used a single strand of regular embroidery cotton. Rather than a geometric all-over design, I did something in circular Gallifreyan. I did pay close attention to how the threads met at corners and sharp turns, however, because I wanted it to look tidy and professional. Over all, I'm very pleased with how the second hanky came out and I may do more sashiko in the future.

And in honor of February is for Finishing, the Airing of the WIPs (a few days late):

1. Fork in the Garbage Disposal socks: One sock knit to just past the heel
2. Baby Ruth's Classy Sweater: See above
3. Louise, a seamless saddle shoulder pullover: Part of the body knit. Still love the Dickens out of it.
4. Besties 4-eva: One link "done," but really needs a couple more repeats, at least. 
5. Meditations on the Holy Mother: A "process" knit rather than a "product" knit. I'm not overly worried about finishing this one in February. 
6. Mr. Rippley, my coffee friend: Actually pretty close to finishing this one. Maybe a couple stripes of each color to go.

I won't finish everything this February, but it's nice that all the projects are things I love working on and I'm sure I'll finish quite a bit before it's all said and done. Nothing got frogged or flung this year. It's a nice knitting place to be, but I think it might be nicer if I lived on Sesame Street.