Monday, August 27, 2012

Loop

I succumbed to impulse purchases at Elfriede's Fine Fabrics this summer.  This 1/2 yard piece of 54" wide silk shot chiffon (fuchsia in one direction, black in the other) was only $4 so it came home with me.  It would have made a rather short scarf on it's own.

But, then I saw Habu N-80, a silk-wrapped merino yarn, at Twist during their summer sale.  I bought a 1 oz skein (187 yds), cast on 40 sts and knit in elongated seed stitch on size 7 (4.5 mm) needles until I ran out of yarn.

I sewed the chiffon into a tube in the long direction and inserted the knit piece in between the short ends to form a tube about 80" in circumference and 9" wide.  It can be worn looped three times (above) or twice (below).

I just love the textural contrast between the smooth chiffon and the seed stitched wool.  The wool is surprisingly not scratchy after I washed and blocked it (before sewing it to the chiffon).

Does your stash grow while you sleep?  I do not understand how this ~2 yard piece of silk came to be in my luggage.  When I unpacked my purchases from the trip, there it was.  Where did it come from?

@ Shams: The silk was folded up in a 1 quart ziploc bag, which stores don't usually use.  It's extremely odd.  I don't think that Stone Mountain and Daughter gifted this to me--though, in the 1980s, they used to gift me quite a bit of fabric with their generous cuts.  I actually thought that I was able to buy 1/4-1/3 less fabric all the time because I was so efficient with layout.  Another seamster insisted that I measure my fabric and she was right.  Remember the rule about "a yard and a thumb"?  Well, the cutters at SM&D had very fat thumbs for their regular customers.  I shopped there both for my personal needs and for the costume shops of Berkeley Shakespeare and Repertory so the cutters knew me.

6 comments:

  1. Those look wonderful together, especially in the first picture, where they are more looped!

    It is so weird that the silk fabric came from nowhere, but enjoy! (Could it have been given to you accidentally at Stone Mountain or one of the other stores you visited?)

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  2. @ Shams: The silk was folded up in a 1 quart ziploc bag, which stores don't usually use. It's extremely odd. I don't think that Stone Mountain and Daughter gifted this to me--though, in the 1980s, they used to gift me quite a bit of fabric with their generous cuts. I actually thought that I was able to buy 1/4-1/3 less fabric all the time because I was so efficient with layout.

    Another seamster insisted that I measure my fabric and she was right. Remember the rule about "a yard and a thumb"? Well, the cutters at SM&D had very fat thumbs for their regular customers. I shopped there both for my personal needs and for the costume shops of Berkeley Shakespeare and Repertory so the cutters knew me.

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  3. That is a beautiful scarf. And yes, my stash grows in my sleep or whenever I am out of my seing room. I am always fiding stuff that I could swear snuck in there when I wasn't looking.

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  4. that is gorginacious

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  5. That scarf is stunning!

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  6. That scarf is stunning!

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