Fiber Monday -- Making and unmaking

We'll start with the more pleasant things. I washed a whole bunch of yarn I have spun. It is the final part of the spinning process and it sets the twist, making a more stable yarn. 

This is the yarn I'm spinning for the cardigan I want to knit myself as well as a couple of skeins that I had finished but never washed. I need to not let it pile up like this because it took a while to get it all washed. (Let's not comment on the ugliness of our shower. Painting the bathroom is on the rather long list of things we still need to do around here. Refinishing the yellow shower might be on the list as well.)

I also finished the scarf I was weaving for J. It just needs to be wet finished and have the fringe trimmed, and it is totally done. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially since it is only the second thing I've ever woven.

The unpleasant thing and the unmaking part of the title is this.

Yes, that is the sock I have been trying to finish. On Thursday, I was so close to actually finishing it that I was expecting to be able to wear them this weekend. But as I was doing the decreases for the toe, I become more and more concerned because things were not working out as they should. I finally stopped and compared the finished sock with the one I was working on and realized I had made a horrible mistake. After I had turned the heel and picked-up the stitches to continue on to the foot, I just kept knitting instead of creating the gusset. This the part of the sock that reduces the number of stitches so that it fits nicely around the toe. It also explains why the toe of the sock I was working seemed just so enormous. This was not the kind of error where you fudge a bit a make it work. There was no making it work with 20+ extra stitches. I had to rip it all back... all the way to the heel. It was not fun, though I was able to get all the stitches safely back on the needles. Once I'm over the frustration of it all, I'm all set to do the gusset and continue on. I still have hopes of being able to wear these socks this winter, I just couldn't face them this past weekend.

I also started a sewing project. This is more utilitarian than fun. I dress in a lot of layers during the winter. My family is amused by how many layers I wear, but it means I am comfortable. I really like being able to wear a silky-type tank top as a first layer because thermal underwear just slides on it and doesn't bunch up. The trouble is that I only have one. It is a very simple tank top, and it fits me well despite there being no shaping. I decided it would be easy enough to trace a pattern from it and make some more. So yesterday, I traced a pattern and started cutting out a new one from some fabric as a trial run.

This is the tank top that I'm copying.

It's hard to see (but I know you don't come here for the photos), but if you enlarge the picture, you'll see the new pattern all drawn out. 

The new material I'm using is just polyester. Ideally, I would love to make some out of silk (warmer, breathable, better for the environment), but silk is expensive and I no longer live close to a fabric store with decent apparel fabric. I miss being able to walk to Vogue Fabrics.