Who Doesn't Need a Cashmere Blanket?

Today's gratuitous flower shot:

The last of my daffodils

Wednesday is my usual day off. I'll admit, I slept in just a bit past the craft alarm, but I still had plenty of creative time today. I got my hour in this morning, then another this afternoon.

Today's Project: Sewing

I have a big bag of cashmere scraps. Doesn't everyone? These came from a project I began, ashamedly, three years ago. (I just looked that up; I honestly thought it was about one year.)  As you may have gathered from my recycled silk stockings project, I used to haunt Goodwills for sweaters to use for their yarn. In learning about recycling sweaters, I read about cutting cashmere into squares to make blankets. I had to have one!

To make one, gather as many sweaters as you think you need. Wash and dry them. Yes, that's right. In your washer and dryer. This helps tighten up, or full, the fabric, then also makes your finished blanket machine washable and dryable.  Cut your sweaters into squares and rectangles. My largest ones were 12" x 12", down to maybe 4" x 6".

I sew mine together on my serger using black thread. The serger finishes off the edges nicely, and the black gives it a stained glass look.  I made one out of 12" x 12" squares for myself, but never put a border on it. Then I made a smaller one for my mom in her bedroom colors about 2 years ago. I still had a bag full of squares and a few sweaters sitting by my sewing area this morning, so off I went.

And that doesn't even show all of them!

I picked out all the blues and grays and set to work making long strips. This afternoon I serged the strips together and got this:

Long skinny blanket

Now, I've run out of a few colors so I can't continue in this pattern. I'm going to use the grays to make a fat strip on each edge I think. But that will be for my next sewing day.

It feels good to be making things again. But even better is seeing the progress on things that have been languishing for so long. These things become invisible (to me anyway) after sitting for so long, but now that I'm using it, I am aware of the space it has taken up, unused, and usuable in its current condition. Soon I'll have a soft throw for the couch, more floor space in my sewing room, and an empty project bag. Not to mention the feeling I'll get when I can tell people I made it, and yes, it's cashmere.

Podcasts du Jour

An eclectic mix today.

• Curious Handmade--knitting podcast out of Britain
• Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project--Adam of Mythbusters fame and two of his friends jabber on about whatever catches their interest. I just found this one and I'm catching up on old episodes; very enjoyable.
• Genealogy Gems Podcast--a great free podcast concerning one of my favorite pastimes

Knitting Corner

I didn't get much knitting time yesterday; darn work got in the way. I did manage a little on my silk stockings that I showed you previously. I thought I might share more about my re-enacting hobby.

I belong to a Revolutionary War group, the 71st Regiment of Foot. You can read about the original Fraser's Highlanders on Wikipedia.   My particular unit has a very inactive Facebook presence here. We mainly do two events, Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous and the Market Faire at Locust Grove. We fight for King George against the bloody colonists though we are from Scotland. 

The girl and me two seasons ago at Locust Grove