handwoven | Tasha Miller Griffith

In which I concede that yes, some wool is itchy.

My grandmother wove the fabric for this top, and she sewed it! She gave it to me many years ago, but I’ve never worn it much, because when it touches your skin, the fabric is super scratchy. You all know how much I love wool, and I try to advocate for it, so I usually say that it doesn’t have to be itchy! But the truth is, of course, it varies enormously with everything from the kind of sheep the wool came from to the way it’s processed, leading to everything from super snuggly high-end next-to-skin layers all the way to heavy duty outerwear. (And here’s something I can’t get out of my head since I read it, that we might not even want all wool to be soft, we want some to be hard-wearing too.)

Ok, so say that you do have a scratchy wool garment that touches your skin, what to do? Line it! I’ve had vague plan for lining this top for a few years, a plan which gradually clarified itself and worked out details in my head, as I realized that I could satisfy my clear need for more sweater layers using almost exclusively things I already had.

This top is a very simple construction which seems to have a been a favorite of handweavers in the 1970’s. It’s just two large rectangles for the front and back, and two more folded over for the sleeves. It has slits at the side seams for a little more movement, and the edge of the fabric is just turned under to make a bit of a curve at the front and back neckline.

I’ve been storing this in my brain and knew I would use it! A couple of the older sweaters I’ve re-used for Fiddleheads have a sturdy ribbon reinforcement at the underarms. I know this is a point of stress for this top, as the stitches had already popped there, and I’m not going to want to undo the lining to fix it again!

I thought it would be pretty simple to line this, and I was right. There is a lot of minor fudging going on here, and it doesn’t really show, since it’s um, the lining. I measured all the dimensions of the top and cut the lining the same size, plus seam allowances. I knew that that would make the lining a little bit baggy, since it’s the same size and inside the top, but I didn’t want to make it too tight, or make this project super fiddly. For such a simple garment this worked well.

Since the issue with the itchy-ness of this top is where is touches my skin, I knew that I needed an edging that would stick out past the wool at the neck and sleeves. I had two candidates for lining fabric in the stash, both blue rayon. I really liked how the color and slight twill texture of one looked with the wool fabric, but it was a little heavy for lining and has more potential as a garment on its own. So I decided to use the first fabric for just the edging strips, and the lighter weight, darker colored rayon for the main lining pieces.

I’m trying something new here, a lot of the sewing details are in this photo. I hope that it will both be visually more clear what I’m talking about, and make the main text a little less dense. Click to enlarge and read!

No doubt, this project has a LOT of hand stitching, mainly backstitch. Fortunately, I love handstitching. It has all the advantages of knitting in that it’s soothing and portable, I could work on it anywhere, and while talking to people on the phone, etc., so it actually went pretty fast. Plus, I didn’t want the stitches to show on the outside, and since I could place and pin the fabric as I went, handstitching gave me the most flexibility to see how things were coming out, and pin under more or less to adjust.

So, many little stitches later, there you have it! Lined garments just feel so finished, and kind of luxurious when you put them on, don’t you think? And, the itchy issue is 100% gone, to the point where I forget all about it. (Remind me not to cuddle small children while wearing this . . . )

Now I just have to figure out how to wear it. I’m not used to having wide 3/4 length sleeves, and sometimes catch them on things . . . The first time I wore this into town, I thought it looked better with a cowl or scarf on top. But looking at these pictures, I kind of like it on its own. I live in layers, and this one is a bit tricky to layer on top or under, so I think a cowl or scarf will be a good option when it’s cooler. The weather has been so mild lately that I was really comfortable taking pictures outside in just the top. It may be a sign of impending doom, but I might as well enjoy it, right?

Totally, that’s what I thought. What are you working on for winter, assuming we get winter?

Ok, blog people, let’s talk about something important: chopping vegetables. Nope, I’m not kidding, in fact I think that being able to do this efficiently can make a real difference in how much work it is to cut up veggies, and therefore how many we cut up and eat. I have not been to cooking school, so I learned most of my “knife skills” just by experience, and reading cookbooks. But there are a few simple principles I use now that really make quite a bit of difference.

First of all, get a big sharp knife. This does not have to break the bank. When we were renting in Madison, we went to the thrift store, got the most solid-looking/feeling knife (from a rather large and alarming bin of them) went home and sharpened it, and it worked great. If you use a tiny knife, you will have to cut each piece of each vegetable separately, and that will take forever, and you will be grumpy and think that vegetables are too much work.

Ok, second thing, and this really the key as far as I’m concerned, chop the vegetable into sections, which you can chop together into pieces the size that you want to end up with. I’ll demonstrate on this squash: cut the ends off (any part you don’t want), and then cut it in half.

Then, cut the halves in half again, so that you have four sections of squash. You can pull the knife in a curve as you cut if your veggie is curved. If you want very small pieces at the end, cut into eight sections now, dividing each one one more time.

Now, line up the sections and chop all at once! You can chop thin or thick pieces, whatever you’d like for your dish. Notice that the tip of your big knife can stay touching the cutting board as you lift the thicker part near the handle and chop chop chop.

At this point I should perhaps point out that I am usually holding whatever I’m chopping (not the camera) with my non-dominant hand. And that if you are left-handed, you’ll do exactly the same things, but your chopped squash pieces would appear on the left side of the frame above. When you’re holding something that you’re chopping, lots of cookbooks advise you to keep your fingertips tucked under, I think on the theory that if your knuckles are sticking out the furthest, they are higher above the thing being chopped, and more likely to bump into the side of the knife than being accidentally shaved by the blade. Most of the time, I forget to do this. Use whatever works for you without chopping your fingers.

Also at this point, you may be thinking, “Ok, fine, but not all vegetables come in such a straight and manageable shape.” Ah ha! True, but use the same principles to break them up. For example, I cut this crookneck squash into a (more or less) straight part, and a very curvy part.

Cut off the ends and divide into sections as before. If one part is noticeably thicker, I’ll cut it into quarters, and leave the thinner section in halves, to get pieces of about the same size. That way they will all cook in about the same amount of time.

There wasn’t an easy way to line up the curvy sections flat, so I stacked them on top of each other. It’s all about chopping more pieces with one cut.

Another thing that’s not illustrated, but helps a lot, is having a big bowl (or two if they are not all going to the same dish) to collect your chopped veggies in. Having a cutting board cluttered with things you’ve already chopped will force you to make smaller, less efficient movements.

Apply the same principles to a round eggplant: slice first, crosswise this time, then stack and cut into pieces the same size as the squash.

A few vegetables have their own variations on these ideas, like onions. Any other ones you’d like to see covered?

What to do with all these lovely freshly chopped veggies? All of the ones illustrated here went into ratatouille.

Try it, trust me, it’s faster, it’s so worth it.

When I say “faster,” I don’t mean “hurry” or “rush” (which in my case always leads to mistakes and/or injuries, usually and), I mean more efficient, less time spent doing the same task, even though you are doing it well. Whenever I think about efficiency as applied to hobbies (like cooking is for me), I think of this quote, it’s from a weaving and sewing book that my grandmother gave me off her shelf when I liked it. I love the way the authors write about craft:

In all human pursuits there seem to be fast, efficient ways of doing things and slower ways of doing things. Some weavers hesitate to look for and adopt efficient methods in their craft because they think of themselves as amateurs. In their heart-of-hearts they feel that it is not appropriate for them to become more proficient. . . . Loving the craft of weaving and wanting to pursue it more efficiently are certainly not mutually exclusive. There is every reason, in fact, for all weavers to try to become efficient. The first benefit of increased proficiency is the production of a better fabric. There are very few satisfactions that compare with that of a job well done!”

– Handwoven, Tailormade by Sharon D Alderman & Kathy Wertenberger

There’s a lesson here for all of us who make ourselves anything as a hobby. I’d love to spread this attitude, and the resulting more and better sewing/cooking/weaving/whatever you make. What do you think? How to you view efficiency in your hobbies?