It was fun to shop for my house for a while. In doing things like inventorying all of the mismatched sheets, I've been buying the sheets needed to make complete sets. I got Zac some beautiful cloth napkins, so we wouldn't keep throwing paper napkins away. Of course, I've been buying food and I've been buying books (not necessarily in that order). I even got myself a winter coat while they were on sale! So to buy one more thing... I'm not into it. But we do need bathmats. All three of them are at least 15 years old and they all have holes. At first I was going to patch them! Then I thought, but wait.
I have, in this flurry of stay-at-homeness, been working my way through my mending pile (clothes, books, toys). I've been staying up late at night sewing: patching clothing, hemming sheets, and embellishing patchwork quilts with fun extra details.
I've also started a new plant dyeing project called 30 Days of Dyeing. I've done avocado and black tea so far... my goal is to try a new plant dye every other day and to keep track of all of the colors I get by keeping the little yarn ties for each hank when I untie them and wrap them into balls.
from Tuesday Stitches
I can't believe THAT hadn't occurred to me before! I always just put those little pieces in the baskets of yarn scraps for weaving. But if I label each sample with the dyestuff I used, I should have a pretty good idea of how to replicate a desirable color.
I even got all kinds of weights and brands and fibers of pure white yarn to see how they each take the dyes. Angora, alpaca, wool, bamboo, cotton, and silk. So fun!
Before COVID, I had been thinking that when I had enough time to have a hobby, I wanted to become a historical reenactor. I would love to do the camping and the demonstrations of long-ago crafts! And how aweseomely educational that would be for Zac too. Now, of course, that isn't possible, so I have to pick a new hobby. Dyeing natural fibers with natural dyes.
Now that I have this pie in the sky idea of only ever buying white yarn in the future and having my students dye the color they want to knit with, I have lots of colorful yarn to use up. I mean, I won't ever use it all up... but I can try to make a dent in it. Tapestries are one way. We have the Nine Norse Worlds tapestry going in the living room right now. I can also knit myself a new bath mat or two instead of buying them!
Like with a washcloth, this is a project that calls for 100% cotton yarn. All other fibers get stinky.
(In fact, I also need to make my Diamond Washcloths for my Applied Arts Project homework. That is a sweet and simple pattern for a child to knit, and leads beautifully into teaching crochet. So, a second or third grade project.)
- 2nd or 3rd grade diamond washcloth
use white or off-white worsted weight cotton yarn
this pattern is specifically to practice increasing by knitting into the front and back, creating a nice design on the border (it is easy to crochet into if you'd like to introduce crochet)
k1
knit in front and back (making two stitches out of one)
for the first stitch in every row knit in front and back
continue until it is is wide as you would like it to be, then k2tog at the start of each row until you get back to one stitch
optional: crochet a border around your washcloth
In searching I've found three fun knitting patterns for bath mats that I would like to try.
- Knitted Bath Mat - Bamboo Stitch
from Crafts by Amanda
Knitted Bath Mat - Seed Stitch
from The Painted Hinge
Knitted Bath Mat - Loop Stitch
from Purl Soho
If you know of another one, pass it along! And if I manage to make one, I'll be sure to share a picture. They aren't that different size-wise from making a baby blanket. It's just a question of playing around with some new sitches.
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