An Attempt To Repair Moth Damage To a Wool Vest

Well now. Repairing moth damaged crochet may never make it to my list of superpowers, but I'm managed to fix moth holes in a crochet vest that I like to wear over my chore jacket in winter. When it's time to do morning barn chores on a frigid morning, it adds a comforting extra layer of warmth. 

The vest was crocheted from a bulky 2-ply yarn from what was called "beast roving." It's a blend of mixed breed fleeces, mostly gray mill ends but with bits of color here and there. It was fun to spin and quick to crochet into a vest.

Happily, I found some of the leftover yarn when I cleaned out and rearranged my stash of handspun. I also still had the pattern in a notebook. 

The first step was to pull out the yarn back to solid crochet stitches, securing them with safety pins and stitch holders.

Then it was a matter of filling in the hole with the same stitch.

In hindsight, I should have started on the other side, but since I was trying to figure it out, I just accepted my clumsy results and moved on to repair the second large hole. 

The second hole was challenging because it was on the front edge and is the foundation for the reverse crochet edging. I had no idea how I would manage that.

I filled in the eaten away single crochet stitches and then re-did the edging. The result?

No where near invisible mending, but at least the repair matches.

It puts the vest back in service with I am glad of because winter is far from over with.

I confess I had a hard time mustering enthusiasm for this repair. But I pushed on because I like the vest and it is useful to me. In examining it closely, I made the discouraging discovery that not all of the moth damage was holes, but in many places they appear to have nibbled through strands of the yarn so that it looks intact until close inspection. I wondered if I should have tried a different, visible repair, but sometimes, something is worth doing not because of the results, but for what one learns from doing it.

An Attempt To Repair Moth Damage To a Wool Vest 

© January 2024 by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

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Spinning For Weaving, Knitting, Crochet, Etc. An Introduction

Busy Hands, Listening Mind

I'm not very good at multitasking. Not in general, anyway, and especially not when concentration is required. My family has learned not to talk at me when I'm cooking, because I inevitably do things like forget ingredients, forget to stir the pot, or because it otherwise delays the meal while I attempt to pay attention and respond.

Even so, fiber arts activities tend to be rhythmic in nature. Knitting, spinning, crocheting, and weaving occupy one's hands, and unless it's a complicated pattern that requires counting or concentration, they allow for things like conversation, watching a movie, or listening. It was due to my return to weaving that I discovered that my local library does not have a terribly impressive selection of CD audiobooks. It appears that downloadable books are what's popular now. 

One evening, I searched for free online audiobooks, and I discovered LibriVox. LibriVox is a website of human recorded books (as opposed to computer read books, which I find difficult to listen to.) These books are in the public domain, i.e. mostly written before 1923 for which copyrights have expired. It's a huge collection of well over 18,500 recordings of all genres. Everything is recorded by volunteers. Books can be listened to online or downloaded from either the LibriVox website, or from the Internet Archive. It's a fantastic resource!

Right now, I'm listening on my computer, but it would be nice to have something portable. The last such device I had, was back when walkmans were popular, which I don't think are even around any more. If someone can pass on some suggestions for a listening device, I'd appreciate it.

Busy Hands, Listening Mind © Nov 2023

by Leigh at Leigh's Fiber Journal

A 2nd Little Space Dyed Yarn Blanket

By Leigh

The trouble with enjoying my weaving is that I start to get ideas. I wonder, "what if I did this," or "what if I changed that." So too with the spaced dyed yarn weaving. As I worked on the 1st space dyed yarn blanket, the wheels were already turning with ideas for another.

Here's what the turning wheels produced over the weekend:

Click pic for a slightly larger view.

This one definitely has a more plaid-like look than the first one.

Cat included for size

A few close ups:

I did nothing special to line up the color sequences of the space dyed yarn. I measured and wove as it came off the skein.

The Particulars:

• Yarn: Red Heart TLC, worsted weight acrylic knitting yarn
• Structure: plain weave
• Warp ends: 360
• Sett: 8 epi
• Picks Per Inch: 8
• Width on loom: 45 inches
• Length on loom: didn't measure
• Finished size: 39 x 44 inches woven, with crochet edging 41 x 46 inches
  
• Wet finishing: soak in warm water for about an hour, then machine wash and dry with a dryer sheet to soften the hand.
  
• Edge finishing: machine zig zagged cut edges, then crochet shells

• Row 1 - single crochet
• Row 2 - shells - *5 DC in one stitch, skip 2 stitches, one SC, skip 2 more*, repeat
  

The difference in the effects of the space dyed yarns is from two things:

1. Color value - the first blanket's yarns had more light and dark contrast
2. Color transition - the change of colors in the first blanket's yarns are more obvious. In this blanket, the color changes are subtle.

These last two exercises in weaving with space dyed yarns have inspired me to want to try doing my own warp painting and space dyeing. In fact next month, Karen Madigan is going to give an Online Guild workshop I plan to participate in, "Easy Warp Painting and Ikat."

However, what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment, is getting ready for the Complex Weavers Tied Weaves Study Group which commenced this month. And I am, I promise. In fact I've begun a review of summer & winter weave. I'll see how well I can write that out next time.

© 7 Oct. 2008 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
Space Dyed Yarns & Plain Weave
Space Dyed Blankie Done

Finishing the Unfinished Afghan

By Leigh

In August, I posted about finishing my (commercially) space dyed yarn afghan. (That post here.) Instead of fringing it, I decided that I wanted to crochet an edging all around. Finally, with cooler weather, I've gotten that done.

I decided on a simple closed shell edge, to compliment the zig zag effect of the twill treadling.

1st row - American single crochet (double crochet in the UK) all around in solid blue (the same as the weft yarn).

2nd row - a shell row consisting of *5 American double crochets (UK trebles) in one stitch, skip 2 stitches, one US single, skip 2 more*, repeat from *.

For the shells, I used the space dyed warp yarn. I didn't figure out the corners till the last one, but oh well, who's gonna notice from a galloping horse?

I think that as a Christmas gift, this will be appreciated by the recipient. However, as an experiment in space dyed yarns, I'm not satisfied with the results. I tried to measure the color changes in bouts, but the commercial dye job was too inconsistent, so that the color changes aren't even and the effect is too stripy. So I reckon that leaves me with dyeing my own warps, which is an adventure I'll save for another time.

© 23 Oct. 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
More Space Dyed Twill Weaving
Space Dyed Twill Afghan

Dabbling With Yarn

I like the idea of a day of rest. Not 'rest' as in doing nothing. But 'rest' as in taking a break from one's normal pursuits and activities. So yesterday I abandoned all my unfinished works in progress, and indulged myself in sampling some new things.

One thing I tried was a new crochet technique. The Online Guild is doing a crochet workshop this month, and though I've not participated much, the photos of what everyone is doing were too irresistable to not try myself.

This swatch is done in weaving crochet:

It's a lovely way to show off a novelty yarn. The green is Red Heart and the novelty yarn is Yarn Bee's Icelandic Jewels. I can see quite a few possibilites by varying the 'windows'.

I also have been wanting to try some modular knitting. I got Modular Knits by Iris Schreier awhile back. I first dabbled with it a couple of weeks ago, but decided to really focus on the first couple of exercises in the book yesterday. I had several false starts, which was beginning to get a little frustrating because I couldn't 'see' what was happening. So I couldn't simply unknit a mistake, because I wasn't sure where exactly I was in the process. After several disgarded swatches, I eventually developed a rhythm and it began to get easier.

Here is my vertical and horizontal side squares swatch.

And here is my alternating squares swatch.

A little cattywampus, but looking better than my first tries.

These were fun to do and I will have to experiment more at a later date. Today it's back to sleeve knitting for my Rare Breed Sweater and finishing sleying the reed on my loom. Even though my change of pace still involved yarn, it is refreshing to try something new. It gives me a renewed appreciation for the projects I am working on, and the motivation to get them done so that I can look forward to new ideas to work on.

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal