My new row counter for #knitting short rows toes and heels! (yes, it is quite specific)

It's an old toy: a white plastic board with holes at regular spaces and coloured pegs that were used to draw some kind of computer-free pixel art.

Instead, I've added a strip of paper with the number of stitches on each row (and whether it's knits or purls), I use four pegs to mark the beginning and end of the current toe/heel, and I mark every row as I knit it by moving other pegs around, first to one side of the strip of paper and then to the other side.

I still think that something like this would be really nice in wood and brass, but this has the huge advantage of actually existing right now :D

Il calzino di cui parlavo, finito

e un calzino di un'altro colore e taglia, appena iniziato, di cui si vedono la punta ed un pezzettino del piede, più i ferri da calza con cui lo sto lavorando

Il modello è knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTu… (e anche lì ci sono ulteriori foto)

The Fuchsia is one of the well-behaved ones, and it's, well, pretty much magenta. My main aim is to use it for CMKY mixes, but it also looks nice on its own.

From what I see in the online reviews the Platinum Cassis Black looks quite less saturated (I see it is an iron gall one, so that's to be expected, I guess), while this is much more straight pure magenta.

filed under: loot :D

My latest #fountainPen #Ink order has arrived: I only needed a couple of blacks (DeAtraments Document, waterproof, and basic staple Pelikan 4001), but I just had to add a few samplers of other DeAtramentis Document shades, plus the KWZ Sheen Machine.

The DeAtramentis Document White (which is sold as fountain pen safe — I wouldn't use it with anything that isn't extremely easy to clean, however) was a surprise because it actually works on black paper! (I bought it to mix it with the other shades, I didn't expect it to be useful on its own)

As for the other shades, this confirms my perception that this line is pretty great, except for the blues, that are horribly feeathering :(

I'll see what happens when I do a few mixes that involve some of those blues.

Foto di una locandina incorniciata coi seguenti contenuti

PROCLAMA

Sento che alcuni malintenzionati traggono partito da misure militari e mosse strategiche delle truppe, per diffondere voci allarmanti ed indurre la popolazione ad atti inconsiderati, come per esempio a convegni in massa in singoli luoghi.
Mentre rammento, che gli autori e i propagatori di voci allarmanti incorrono nel rigore delle Leggi militari, esorto la popolazione a non lasciarsi fuorviare da simili rumori né indurre a siffatti passi inconsiderati, essendoché si sono già prese le più efficaci misure per mantenere l'ordine legale, e ristabilirlo, ovunque venisse turbato, per cui i trasgressori delle Leggi non potrebbero che imputare a sé stessi le gravi conseguenze della loro contravvenzione.

Milano, 29 maggio 1859

L'I. R. Tenente-Maresciallo e Governatore militare della Lombardia,
ANDOR MELCZER di KELLEMES

Dall'Imperiale Regia Stamperia

(green hexagonal sticker with the words “this machine kills -9 daemons” in a fixed width font)

my preciooouuuuuuuuuus has arrived!

Thanks to a combination of coincidences, last week I ordered 50 garment labels in woven cotton (pictured above as they arrived from the german language shop, as a continuous strip, with the writing in white over a black background) with the hashtag #FreeSoftWear to sew on the garments I make for which a Free as in Freedom pattern is available .

Now I need to be better at actually writing compilationsewing instructions for the valentina patterns I put on my git repo, because right now they tend to be... obvious to a quite experienced sewist who already did something similar?

I've made myself a new pair of Rosalia Stockings.

It's my second pair (a few years after the first, because I got distracted), and this time I've solved the fitting issues with my first pair, so now I can make ALL THE STOCKINGS!

Mostly the pattern is symmetrical for the right and left leg, but my feet are very much not symmetrical, so I changed the stocking to be more pointy rather than square-toed.

It's made from the leftovers of a cut of black cotton jersey that I was using for something that was supposed to be a nightgown, but is looking more like a little black dress (yay for drafting my own patterns and always having predictable results :D )

Also, I've finally found a use for at least two repeats of a piece of plastic lace that I got for free from a shop more than a decade ago because it had been discolored by the sun (at strategically placed positions that made it harder to use in any kind of length). Also, have I mentioned “plastic”? I wanted to use it for something, but it's scratchy enough that I didn't want it anywhere where it could touch my skin. Here it's safely on the outside, it helps distinguish this pair from future pairs I'm going to make, and it looks nice.

#sewing

I haz a #bustle cage!

(picture of a bustle cage in off-white fabric with lace over the boning and box pleats at the bottom)

There is a gaping hole at the top because the top row of boning is a bit too high and I didn't have enough fabric to pleat it correctly to the waistband; I will probably add a few more tapes to keep that bit of fabric taut.

It's based on adamselindisdress.wordpress.co… (and the instructions on the book by the same author), but I've added tapes on the inside instead of a full inside back piece so that the width can be regulated, but most importantly making it was much easier, as even the second side seam is done on a flat cage instead of a 3D shape.

New shirt!

Sewn by hand, pattern by Bernadette Banners on youtube with minor changes (all of the non-historically accurate details are mine).

Light blue (with a purple tint) shirting that I bought a few years ago, so it counts as stashbusting, right?

Worn tucked in

and loose, with a belt (I guess it can be worn without the belt, but I don't think I like that look)

It is pretty long, almost reaching to above-knee lenght.

Also, is it me, or am I accidentally ending up with a pidgeon breast look even when wearing things from a different era?

I don't have the platinum carbon black (yet :D ), but you may be interested in this test I made some time ago with drops of water and of bleach (they are all water based inks, but not all of them are fountain pen safe: the ones that resisted bleach and are fountain pen safe are the R&K Sketch Ink and the two Koh-I-Noor Document).

And if you are interested in preservation, this is a lightfastness test, on mostly the same set of inks.

This picture has been taken on 2020-07-09, after two months of being stuck on a south-east facing window.

Too late, the sun is going down, the #solarOven is back to 50°C and the apples have already been moved to the haybox so that they remain warm until dinner.

But you can get a high quality picture of the haybox, taken with a pinephone, where you can also see a bit of the oven

(And yes, “haybox” means “random box from an online store, with shredded paper packaging material from another online store", and later I topped it up and wrapped the box in a blanket)

Può servire?

(no, non ce l'ho veramente in casa, è una foto vecchia con una storia carina)

This reminded me that in another age I spent two nights in the #castle of the Piagnaro in Pontremoli

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunigian…

Sadly the weather wasn't really being helpful for pictures (also, apparently I forgot to take a picture from the outside)

With random pictures from an internet search:

These are some of the things one can find in a pasticceria in the north of italy

Most panettieri are more likely to have some kind of sweet bun and/or a loaf with raisins such as

I've seen both pasticcerie and panetterie sell croissants, and some panetterie also sell cakes, but they tend to be simpler than the ones you can find at a pasticceria.

In case you are stranded in Italy outside meal times, I'd recommend trying both :D

Testing of De Atramentis #inks continue.

I've finally finished the Pelikan 4001 in my preppy #fountainpen, and filled it¹ with the De Atramentis Document Black

On good paper the lines are slightly wider than the Pelikan 4001, but still reasonable, and it writes nicely (a bit scratchy when reverse writing, but I don't think I can expect anything else when reverse writing on a japanese EF :D )

Then I tried on a bit of the worst printer paper I had around, and I can say “it works”. I could see the line getting wider as I writed, but the result isn't bad.

I also needed a test of the red, so I used a dip pen (with a flexible nib)

and these are the backs of the samples above, with some ghosting, but bleedthrough is really happening only when I flexed the nib.

And now, I need to find the strength of mind to wait until I have finished at least a bottle or two of other inks before buying the whole De Atramentis Document series :D (also, nope, that's way too expensive to buy at one time :D )

¹ not a full converter load, because I don't use it enough

@SlowRain

(mordor meme: one does not simply walk into an haberdasher)

to buy matching ribbon during a lockdown, no, one must make it from self fabric. finicky, slippery, self fabric.

And then they reopen the shops in advance, but meanwhile the hat is almost done

(picture of a witch hat with ear covers, in dark green herringbone fabric and gold lining).

The idea and instructions for the hat are from Bernadette Banner: youtube.com/watch?v=bwDo4R6wtu…

And dere vill be anodder #hat

The design is by Bernadette Banner youtube.com/watch?v=bwDo4R6wtu…

This is just an unlined mockup in cotton, but I have some leftovers of dark green wool from my old girl genius costume and they are already on my cutting table :)