Big Finish

The Lenore Tawney project (aka the reason I've been so absent from the blog) is finally finished, and I'm back again, hopefully with more frequent updates from here on out. I went in today to set it up in the gallery, unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me, but I did snap a picture as I was getting it ready to go.

Obviously the cardboard disk is just there to get things evenly spaced, it was removed after I secured all the strands to the pedestal. I had a difficult time with this project, I made a few miscalculalations early on in the project, and it just turned into a slog by the last third. It was also very difficult to tell what it was going to look like until I got it off the needles, blocked, and then hung up. So the morale was low, and I only jussssst managed to finish it on time. 

Still, it looks better on the pedestal, under tension than it does hear, and I'm okay with it. I'm certainly okay with it being finished. If I had a time machine, it would be half as big around and twice as long, and it was supposed to 'split' again, but time ran out. 

Now that it's done, some small, fast, fun projects are in order to get my enthusiasm back. First up is this pillow for Seamus's dad, only a little late for Christmas...oops. But a neat little patchwork/embroidery project. 

First Strip

So the first full strip of my coat is complete! It's 25 braid segments and 32" long on each side of the 'shoulder' join--the coat itself should fall to about mid-thigh.  I did one full one (after starting up all of them at once) so I could make sure the gradation effect matches up with the subsequent strips. 

And now I think I can finally show you the reversible nature of the braid--when they were so small, it was hard to show, and even harder to explain. Now just to make 3 more double sided strips and 7 one-sided ones. 

Row D on the Dear Jane has begun! I don' think I'll be working too heavily on it at the moment, if only because there is so much handwork invovled with the braid-strips that when I want a break from them, I don't really want to do more handwork. I might start up making a sample jump-suit for the class on my off time.

And just as a neat little aside, my boyfriend works at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia, and brought me home some bits of old costuming that they were throwing out. In addition to some robes that'll give me some good quality cotton sateen and wool, there was also this lovely embroidered sash, and a military-looking hat from the Knights Templar. He guesses these were from around the turn of the century.