Interesting Finds

In order to start sewing, I had to do a little refining in the sewing room. the sewing room also functions as the laundry room, and occasionally - normally - the sewing space is overwhelmed by the flotsam and jetsam of daily living. As usual, the flotsam and jetsam is deeper than I think it is.

Under piles of prepared fabrics (I wash them all first) I found a little treat I have been looking for for quite some time.

Many moons ago, we lived near and became friendly with a family from a Hutterian Brethren community. They stopped by on their way back from the farmers markets on Saturdays and would give me a good price on whatever was left of the garden produce. It meant that the ladies would have less to do when they got home and they were greatful, so occasionally they would give me other little things. One of them was this duster. It is made of acrylic fibres, garter stitched, sewn together, with a cuff to hold it on your hand. On one side of the palm, around each stitch of the garter, a short piece of yarn is latch hooked, making a fluffy dust catching surface.

It's quite obvious that the last time I saw it, it was in use, doing its dusty job. Please forgive it.

I have used this for 20 years, and when clean, it is a wonderful thing. Beats the heck out of a throw away duster, or plain cloth. Its great for cleaning in tight places, like on stair balusters, and small edges of almost everything.

For years I meant to make more of these out of crochet. Crochet a rectangle about the size of your hand, crochet a ribbed cuff, and then latch hook the duster yarns. It never quite happened, though I did think of it a lot. Being a little lazier than the industrious women of the Hutterian Colony, I long ago decided that I would work the duster part, using a short loop stitch rather than latch hooking.

And I would do this in Knitting too. I'm doing it in fact. Here is a quick look at the loop stitch via Crazy Aunt Purl

I dug for yarn in the leftover basket, and came up with what I hope will be enough Cottonlicious and 1824 Cotton. I'm going to make this with two side seams, rather than the one seam the Hutterian ladies did, and I'll do the cuff in the round. No reason you couldn't do the entire project in the round.

Though it is looking really nice, the 1824 Cotton might be a little too well mannered for a duster. The Cloud Cotton I have, with its heavier loosely spun texture, would work much better. Any good heavier weight acrylic or washable wool would be nice too.

I like things you toss in the washer rather than toss out and this is a great idea. I might use this same technique to make a knitted replacement for my dust mop too, rather than buying the new duster end.

And the sewing? Hah, I was trying to avoid that it seems.

I sewed two tops, have one skirt cut, the fabric washed for the dress, another couple tops and the skirts. It was really lovely outside in a dog days of summer sort of way and most of the time I sat outside.

I finished the sleeve bands on the knitted top from More Big Girl Knits (Not too much to do now. I need to block and decide if I want to do a collar edging but otherwise its looking good), and worked on socks and thought about spinning and avoiding sewing.

More sewing tomorrow though. I really really need the clothes.