I'm impressed by the amount of detail in the sock pattern poem. Many patterns of that era seem to give more of a description of the process rather than stitch-by-stitch and row-by-row instructions. Well done!
Phew, I have been looking after a little child today and he went home about 30 minutes ago so I thought Roxanne has a blog because I heard it but he pushed a button to loose it for me, so obviously I found it, after a while. I really enjoyed the video about sowing to sewing. We had an old Linen Mill at the end of our road when I was growing up and now I know what they did in there, you are a wealth of knowledge, Thank you for that. I hope that you enjoy your time at the Tour de fleece, its a pretty harmless hobby. Anyway I have had a pretty full day with endless talking and questions being asked so I think I might have to rest my brain and have an early night. Thank you for your visit. Catch up next time.
Very interesting. It was just a few months ago that I was researching Husiffs because I made three for the growing young men in my family as gifts to fly the nest. All three nephews got one made from the material of body armor carriers from work. The pattern is very traditional and easily altered. I got one when I was a very young man and my father was issued one upon entry into the Marine Corps generations ago. EVERY MAN should know how to sew and care for his own stuff!
Last week you got me motivated to scour a fleece I have had for two years. I got intimidated by it and hardly even opened it up to look at it.😳 But I got all excited and washed it up and it’s beautiful! I have flicked part of it and will spin it from the flicked locks, but that’s a slow process, so for the Tour I’m going to spin one of the hand-dyed braids of fiber that I’ve had forever and also been intimidated by. Thanks for the nudge, Roxanne🥰
The tuck stitches are very interesting. This is essentially the same technique that we use to create a hung hem on a circular sock machine, by lifting that running thread onto the needle(s) and then working it together with the live stitches. The only difference is that you work about 40 rows down, not 4. When you do that with the first row above a ravel cord/ waste yarn, it’s easy to spot the stitches you need, and you can then pull the ravel cord and be left with a nice folded over hemline with elasticity that’s perfect for sock cuffs. I don’t think it would have occurred to me to use it my hand knit socks, even though I really love hung hems on my CSM socks.
In my first year of secondary school textiles class, the first thing we made was a needle case/hussif. It was a great introduction to different stitches and was then useful in the class after.
A little late watching this week. Fascinating information on hussifs. Here in the UK all service men were issued with them; particularly important to those in the navy. The socks are a great design and I will be looking up the pattern. 🇬🇧
Quite a coincidence that I just finished watching 10 Acre Wool podcast from Manitoba Canada. And here you are mentioning them! I will add there isn’t enough $$ to get me to go through all the steps leading up to a skein of yarn! 😂
Not doing the full tour de fleece, but using the occasion to process some raw fleece and use up some singles that are sitting around! It’s cool to see you demonstrating some of these techniques because you have such a huge audience and it may inspire sone new spinners!
Thank you for this very informative video. I saw this pattern and was tempted to purchase it but hesitated. Now with your explanations I am confident that I will be able to knit it.
Wow, I watched the linen video... Yes, it's absolutely amazing the amount of work and steps/processes that go into producing linen. And discovering/inventing the process?!?!?! Wow, again. Thanks, Roxanne.
I loved that video about the flax. It was so interesting. I was mesmerized watching all the steps that goes into it. It’s amazing how it ends up looking like hair at the one point. 😮 Thanks for sharing it.
About 'hussifs': those are discussed too in the Permies forum. 'Building a hussif (housewife)' in the 'sewing' part of the forum. It's one of the jobs in their SKIP-program too (you can get a 'badge bit' for making your own hussif). So I made my own hussif, inspired by the old ones, with a pin-cushion and some small pockets in a large strip rolled around it. And I made a smaller one, without a pin-cushion, to take with me.
Another "advanced beginner" here :) This is my third TDF. I don't really have any goals for myself this year, because I have so much on my plate at the moment. So I'll be happy if I get some spinning done. Started with some top I dyed in midsummer. However, today I "just" spent my time fixing a few fixer-upper (traditional Finnish) wheels in hopes of getting them ready and spinning soon. By the way, if you're into rare breeds, check out other Finnish breeds besides Finnsheep. We also have Kainuu Grey and Åland sheep. The first is very much like Finn but oooooooh so amazing and soft and beautiful. Åland is like Icelandic, only a bit softer and nicer (imho). Thos two might be impossible to find in the US though. Thank you for your videos. I just found you a couple of weeks ago and I'm enjoying what I'm seeing.
I’ve not spun anything for a while. To remedy that, I’ll be joining in on Tour de Fleece this year - and will mix it up by using my antique flax wheel, as well as Ashford E-Spinner3, and various drop spindles. I’m hoping to get better and more consistent at all of the above. Spinning everyday can’t hurt, right? It will build a habit, right? Knitting everyday is my therapy and I only miss if deathly ill. Enjoy your spins!
I've not seen that flax video but that one goes further in depth than the others I've watched. The process seems the same. Yeah, that's not the type of yarn I like to produce so I don't prep like that video either. I love the APL. Those socks got me wondering if doing a Latvian braid would hold the sock up out of the shoe. You got combs, yay!! I was hoping you would be spinning that white one, looks fluffy. My goal is just to try and fit in 15 minutes a day and finish a braid I have started so I can do one of Trish's, then work on a John Arbon Textiles top I bought. If I run out I'll start on one of the batts I have.
I was off work last year. It was my first year of Tour de Fleece. I spun up 2lbs of Corriedale wool. This year I have to miss. But next year I will be back at it. Hope you all have fun and reach your goals.
Great tutorial on tuck stitch. I had not seen it before but now I totally get it and could add it to other projects. Would be a cute cuff if a mitten or perhaps even a sleeve. Well done
nothing wrong with an 80s colour combo! I knitted a jumper in those exact shades a few months ago. I'm now very tempted to try out the poem pattern and see how it turns out!
I'm also taking part in TdF! 😃 I'm hoping to spin a sweater's worth of Icelandic in white, with dark grey and brown for the yolk colourwork. I'll be following along, and I'm excited to see what you create with your Swedish Finull!
My TDF goals this year are to spin as much rare breed as I can. Some (several pounds worth) were bought as already processed roving, but, and this is my second goal, I have several rare breed fleece that I want to process from raw to spun. Don’t know how far I’ll get on all of this but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish.
I totally enjoyed your post this week. Loved the tuck stitch demo. You might be interested in a reading recommendation, The Fabric of Society by Virginia Postrel. The book explains the amazing process and history of producing fabric. On shorty socks, I just started another Ducathi pattern, Hazel Shorties, which features another style of cuff. I was wondering what your views are on this style and construction. It is a little fiddly. There might be an easier way?
The wedge heel is sort of like Kat Bordi's sweet tomato heel? I love the way they fit but I dont like the way they look on "empty" socks or on sock blockers. I just pulled this technique out again for a Paoli of socks for a gift.
Yes, there is a similarity in how the same sequence of short rows is repeated, although the sweet tomato heel repeats the sequence for a third time, and uses about 2/3 of the total number of sts for the short row turns, in order to add more room across the heel diagonal, rather than increasing the total number of sts by way of a gusset.
I'm a beginning drop spindle spinner and I bought a braid of fleece at Maryland Sheep and Wool that I'm going to work on for Tour de Fleece. I've been looking for a reason to start this new project.
I may do a bi of spinning, but doubt I can do the entire time. Wednesday, my left sacroiliac joint went out, and I am not sure whether spinning will make the pain worse or not. We shall see. I look forward to seeing your videos about the processing. Just for reference, my favorite form of preparation is combed top. I get frustrated with a lot of rovings and batts because they often still contain bits of vegetation or matted wool. Are you going to address silk at all? Looking forward to the Tour de Fleece.
I tend to be a mostly-wool knitter, so my plans are focused on spinning wool. I hope you are able to do some spinning, and that you are feeling better soon.
Hmm. Martha Washington never lived in the White House. John Adams was the first president to live there, and he moved in while it was still uncompleted. 🧐
I love your tidbit about the poetic stockings. I'm thinking of memorising it. I thought it might be handy. I am halfway through knitting my first sock which seems to be pretty similar to the "rhyming recipe". 🧦🦘🦘🦘🦘🦘
I'm impressed by the amount of detail in the sock pattern poem. Many patterns of that era seem to give more of a description of the process rather than stitch-by-stitch and row-by-row instructions. Well done!
Thank you Roxanne, living in South Texas for almost 40 years, these are socks I will make, great tutorial on the Tuck Stitch!
The analogy about paths and destinations was so unexpectedly needed, and not even for my knitting life!
Red and Black is ALWAYS in style for University of Georgia fans!!!
Sowing to Sewing video was absolutely wonderful (and exhausting)! Thank you.
Phew, I have been looking after a little child today and he went home about 30 minutes ago so I thought Roxanne has a blog because I heard it but he pushed a button to loose it for me, so obviously I found it, after a while.
I really enjoyed the video about sowing to sewing. We had an old Linen Mill at the end of our road when I was growing up and now I know what they did in there, you are a wealth of knowledge, Thank you for that. I hope that you enjoy your time at the Tour de fleece, its a pretty harmless hobby.
Anyway I have had a pretty full day with endless talking and questions being asked so I think I might have to rest my brain and have an early night. Thank you for your visit. Catch up next time.
Very interesting. It was just a few months ago that I was researching Husiffs because I made three for the growing young men in my family as gifts to fly the nest. All three nephews got one made from the material of body armor carriers from work. The pattern is very traditional and easily altered. I got one when I was a very young man and my father was issued one upon entry into the Marine Corps generations ago. EVERY MAN should know how to sew and care for his own stuff!
Last week you got me motivated to scour a fleece I have had for two years. I got intimidated by it and hardly even opened it up to look at it.😳 But I got all excited and washed it up and it’s beautiful! I have flicked part of it and will spin it from the flicked locks, but that’s a slow process, so for the Tour I’m going to spin one of the hand-dyed braids of fiber that I’ve had forever and also been intimidated by. Thanks for the nudge, Roxanne🥰
The tuck stitches are very interesting. This is essentially the same technique that we use to create a hung hem on a circular sock machine, by lifting that running thread onto the needle(s) and then working it together with the live stitches. The only difference is that you work about 40 rows down, not 4.
When you do that with the first row above a ravel cord/ waste yarn, it’s easy to spot the stitches you need, and you can then pull the ravel cord and be left with a nice folded over hemline with elasticity that’s perfect for sock cuffs.
I don’t think it would have occurred to me to use it my hand knit socks, even though I really love hung hems on my CSM socks.
In my first year of secondary school textiles class, the first thing we made was a needle case/hussif. It was a great introduction to different stitches and was then useful in the class after.
And I'm Australian.
I was fascinated with the tuck stitch tutorial. So many possibilities ! Thank you 😊
A little late watching this week. Fascinating information on hussifs. Here in the UK all service men were issued with them; particularly important to those in the navy. The socks are a great design and I will be looking up the pattern. 🇬🇧
Quite a coincidence that I just finished watching 10 Acre Wool podcast from Manitoba Canada. And here you are mentioning them! I will add there isn’t enough $$ to get me to go through all the steps leading up to a skein of yarn! 😂
Loved the Jenny June poem.
Not doing the full tour de fleece, but using the occasion to process some raw fleece and use up some singles that are sitting around!
It’s cool to see you demonstrating some of these techniques because you have such a huge audience and it may inspire sone new spinners!
Great podcast as always ☕️😊🧶
Thank you for this very informative video. I saw this pattern and was tempted to purchase it but hesitated. Now with your explanations I am confident that I will be able to knit it.
I am going to try to learn to use the 3D Turkish drop spindle that husband made & fleece that my daughter gave me & try to spin some yarn
Again, another great video!
Wow, I watched the linen video... Yes, it's absolutely amazing the amount of work and steps/processes that go into producing linen. And discovering/inventing the process?!?!?! Wow, again. Thanks, Roxanne.
I loved that video about the flax. It was so interesting. I was mesmerized watching all the steps that goes into it. It’s amazing how it ends up looking like hair at the one point. 😮 Thanks for sharing it.
I just finished the Windhelm hat and found those tuck stitches to be an engineering marvel. Wish I’d seen this video first! Thanks, Roxanne.
About 'hussifs': those are discussed too in the Permies forum. 'Building a hussif (housewife)' in the 'sewing' part of the forum. It's one of the jobs in their SKIP-program too (you can get a 'badge bit' for making your own hussif).
So I made my own hussif, inspired by the old ones, with a pin-cushion and some small pockets in a large strip rolled around it. And I made a smaller one, without a pin-cushion, to take with me.
Interesting! What is the Permies forum?
As always, you teach so much. Thank you.
Another "advanced beginner" here :) This is my third TDF. I don't really have any goals for myself this year, because I have so much on my plate at the moment. So I'll be happy if I get some spinning done. Started with some top I dyed in midsummer. However, today I "just" spent my time fixing a few fixer-upper (traditional Finnish) wheels in hopes of getting them ready and spinning soon.
By the way, if you're into rare breeds, check out other Finnish breeds besides Finnsheep. We also have Kainuu Grey and Åland sheep. The first is very much like Finn but oooooooh so amazing and soft and beautiful. Åland is like Icelandic, only a bit softer and nicer (imho). Thos two might be impossible to find in the US though.
Thank you for your videos. I just found you a couple of weeks ago and I'm enjoying what I'm seeing.
I bought that pattern, though didn’t do different colors. I enjoyed it! Thanks.
I’ve not spun anything for a while. To remedy that, I’ll be joining in on Tour de Fleece this year - and will mix it up by using my antique flax wheel, as well as Ashford E-Spinner3, and various drop spindles. I’m hoping to get better and more consistent at all of the above. Spinning everyday can’t hurt, right? It will build a habit, right? Knitting everyday is my therapy and I only miss if deathly ill. Enjoy your spins!
Thank you, Roxanne, for yet another interesting and inspiring podcast. I always learn something from you!
I've not seen that flax video but that one goes further in depth than the others I've watched. The process seems the same. Yeah, that's not the type of yarn I like to produce so I don't prep like that video either. I love the APL. Those socks got me wondering if doing a Latvian braid would hold the sock up out of the shoe. You got combs, yay!! I was hoping you would be spinning that white one, looks fluffy. My goal is just to try and fit in 15 minutes a day and finish a braid I have started so I can do one of Trish's, then work on a John Arbon Textiles top I bought. If I run out I'll start on one of the batts I have.
I was off work last year. It was my first year of Tour de Fleece. I spun up 2lbs of Corriedale wool. This year I have to miss. But next year I will be back at it. Hope you all have fun and reach your goals.
Thank you Roxanne. I have always been intrigued by the tuck stitch and how it was executed.
Haha I didn’t think the color combo was 1980s until u mentioned it. What an interesting pattern to check out. Thanks Roxanne!
This was a very interesting podcast! I always learn something interesting! I will have to have a look at that pattern to! Thanks again
Have a wonderful weekend Roxanne!
Great tutorial on tuck stitch. I had not seen it before but now I totally get it and could add it to other projects. Would be a cute cuff if a mitten or perhaps even a sleeve. Well done
nothing wrong with an 80s colour combo! I knitted a jumper in those exact shades a few months ago. I'm now very tempted to try out the poem pattern and see how it turns out!
Great episode
The tuck tutorial was a treat!
The letters that American poet Joyce Kilmer wrote home to his mother during World War I specifically mention his hussif!
Red & black is the BEST combo!! Black toes soooo much better than stripey. I don't see 80s ???? Looks classy to me.
I'm also taking part in TdF! 😃 I'm hoping to spin a sweater's worth of Icelandic in white, with dark grey and brown for the yolk colourwork. I'll be following along, and I'm excited to see what you create with your Swedish Finull!
My TDF goals this year are to spin as much rare breed as I can. Some (several pounds worth) were bought as already processed roving, but, and this is my second goal, I have several rare breed fleece that I want to process from raw to spun. Don’t know how far I’ll get on all of this but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish.
I totally enjoyed your post this week. Loved the tuck stitch demo.
You might be interested in a reading recommendation, The Fabric of Society by Virginia Postrel. The book explains the amazing process and history of producing fabric.
On shorty socks, I just started another Ducathi pattern, Hazel Shorties, which features another style of cuff. I was wondering what your views are on this style and construction. It is a little fiddly. There might be an easier way?
Last year was my first year participating in Tour de Fleece and I challenged myself to spin every day. This year my challange is to do a fractal spin.
The wedge heel is sort of like Kat Bordi's sweet tomato heel? I love the way they fit but I dont like the way they look on "empty" socks or on sock blockers. I just pulled this technique out again for a Paoli of socks for a gift.
Yes, there is a similarity in how the same sequence of short rows is repeated, although the sweet tomato heel repeats the sequence for a third time, and uses about 2/3 of the total number of sts for the short row turns, in order to add more room across the heel diagonal, rather than increasing the total number of sts by way of a gusset.
I'm a beginning drop spindle spinner and I bought a braid of fleece at Maryland Sheep and Wool that I'm going to work on for Tour de Fleece. I've been looking for a reason to start this new project.
I may do a bi of spinning, but doubt I can do the entire time. Wednesday, my left sacroiliac joint went out, and I am not sure whether spinning will make the pain worse or not. We shall see. I look forward to seeing your videos about the processing. Just for reference, my favorite form of preparation is combed top. I get frustrated with a lot of rovings and batts because they often still contain bits of vegetation or matted wool. Are you going to address silk at all? Looking forward to the Tour de Fleece.
I tend to be a mostly-wool knitter, so my plans are focused on spinning wool. I hope you are able to do some spinning, and that you are feeling better soon.
Thank you. I'll do what I can.
Where is the hat pattern with the tucks? Knock It Off?
That's an Ysolda Teague pattern from 2009, called Ripley. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ripley-3
Hmm. Martha Washington never lived in the White House. John Adams was the first president to live there, and he moved in while it was still uncompleted. 🧐
I love your tidbit about the poetic stockings. I'm thinking of memorising it. I thought it might be handy. I am halfway through knitting my first sock which seems to be pretty similar to the "rhyming recipe". 🧦🦘🦘🦘🦘🦘