Repair ...

So over the last few years I have become more and more interested in repair as a practice, and I have to say I am becoming more comfortable about repairing and been seen to repair. I grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s in New Zealand, where for political and economical reasons there was a pretty much a closed economy. You could buy anything, as long as it was made in New Zealand, or that possibly could be made in New Zealand. That meant that when the rest of the developed world had tv, we were waiting for someone to make the components and then make the tv ...cause technically tv's could be made here ( even if they weren't). The same kind of logic applied to all sorts of other things, electronics, cars, toys, shoes, carpets ... pretty much everything one wanted and saw in the media that those overseas had. I know now the media painted a rosey and unrealistic image of a world of plenty - but then I didn't know that. And this was post World War Two, and economically and culturally New Zealand aligned with England, who had a rather slow economic recovery from the war. My parents were children of the war, so their experience was pretty much the stuff you had was the stuff you could afford, and the stuff you could make. My dad was a mechanic, so fixing things was what he did at work, and at home, our house was a fixer-upper, our car old and repaired, and then repaired again, both the motor and the body. My mum sewed, and when we grew the clothes were altered and let out, always in such a way the adjustment was concealed. When the electric kettle died a new element was bought, when a heater, lamp, or radio stopped working a repair was made, either by dad or he took it to a repair shop. My childhood radio was 1960’s white plastic, with valves, two white knobs and one unmatched 1970’s black knob as that as what the repairer had to hand.

None of that bothered me, that was how we lived. Fixing stuff was just what was done. What did bother me as when china broke, plates or cups, and they were glued together, and continued to be used. I have to admit that was my grandmother not my parents. There was something uncomfortable about a visable repair, a patch, a line of yellow glue oozing out of a mend, a criss-cross of sticky tape across a rip or torn cover or page. What bothered me more was when the repair decayed, the glue yellowed, the sticky tape came unstuck, and the item was worse than before. So recently my hand felted slippers started to wear, and life was busy, too busy to make another pair, but the more I wore them the larger the holes got. I still live in New Zealand but the economic and political climate is very different, I could have stopped and bought any number of replacement slippers ... cheap, mass produced and on the whole ugly. I could have searched out more expensive slippers ... Lambskin lined with soles, but it loved the idea and the feel of my hand felted ones. Then a few days ago I gave in, and darned an hole closed,

It looked good, I used sock yarn and liked the effect, so I added a darn to the instep, where another hole was forming.

And the. I decided that I would try chain stitch over the darn, and I liked the effect, the darn looked like knitting. I added a band of chain stitch around the top edge and another around the edge of the sole. I began to see that this kind of repair could be ok, not ugly and very much not making do.

 

Ther was just one problem, the inside was as worn as the outside, maybe more so. The only thing that stopped the holes in the felt was a layer of leather, the sole. I knew that stitching over those holes wouldn't be as easy, they were inside and I'd feel any lumps and bumps.

Enter my knitting library, and a book I've had for ages. Icelandic knitting using rose patterns by Hélène Magnùsson. This book explores the garter stitch colour work found in shoe-rags or inner soles and applies the designs to outerwear. I was a little surprised not to find a shoe-rag pattern in the book, but there were heaps and heaps of clear photos of historical examples. After a few false starts where I overthought the process and tried to make anatomically correct innersoles with left and right toe shaping and a narrower heel than the ball of the foot I gave in and knit some as pictured. And these work, surprisingly fantastically so.

Somehow the pointy garter oblong fits into a slipper and moulds itself to fit, garter stitch is magic - beginner knitters don't appreciate how forgiving it is. The innersole adjusts to the shape of the slipper with no wrinkles or bumps. I'm already halfway through the second one ...

Pattern to follow, if there is interest, for those who like warm feet, have worn out slippers and like me are coming to terms with repairing things that take so long and so much knowledge and effort that replacing them isn't an easy option.

Na Stella

 

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So if we are talking about foot size.

Youger cub has the smallest feet, then mine, then Bear slightly wider and longer than mine, and then elder cubs are longer again than any one else in this house. Then two of you tell me that Granddads feet are bigger than elder cubs? Really?
So if the KAL socks fit Bear .. they won't fit Granddad?
Really?
Bother.



Bear - do you want another pair of socks? Oh you do? You like these ones and have been admiring them? Oh good, they are yours then.

Slip stitch heel pad and heel flap

So when I made the socks I made them larger for me, which always works for Bear, I kind of knew that my Dads feet were bigger, but thought that they were bigger in the way that Bears feet are bigger than mine. Socks that fit me - fit bear .. but now I learn that Granddad has much larger feet, large enough to require a more generous sock. I could frog and rework the sock, but instead I'm switching who this is for.  Sock number one is done, finished, the ends woven in and everything. The heel worked out beautifully, if the other one didn't need to match I'd play with starting the slip stitches under the heel in a 'V' pattern. Even better the heel flap seems nice and generous.

Slip stitch pattern transitioning into 3x3 rib

The slip stitch pattern is still subtle, or almost invisible depending on how you see these things. When worn and from further away I'd like to think the pattern was more obvious. I'm wondering if I used a more solid colour yarn if the pattern would show up more? I am not sure if the variation in this yarn is camouflaging or enhancing the slip stitches. If enhancing - then in a more solid yarn the effect would be even more subtle.  I did try and work the slip stitch pattern into the ribbing, and I chose a 3x3 rib to work with the 6 stitch repeat of the leg pattern.

Blue felted room shoes with leather sole

The two pairs of felted slippers now have soles (Thanks M!), my pair I stitched on using a slayed blanket stitch. Knowing that I really don't like to repair things, especially things once they are worn and dirty from scuffing around on the floor I stitched the soles on twice. First with a row of back stitches through the holes in the soles, then second with a row of blanket stitches. I figure that if one yarn wears thin and breaks that would still leave a second yarn holding the sole in place.

My first felted slippers, soled and ready to wear.

Bears were stitched first, and on his I worked a standard blanket stitch, and then a round of back stitching. Of course it is summer here and most of the time we are both barefoot or just padding around in socks inside the house .... but come winter and we are ready.

We are also ready for Christmas, the last of the post was sent out today, the sun is shinning so I'm able to keep laundry in check so it doesn't pile up. Elder cub is off earning money with his first paid job (car washing for a work colleague), younger cub is surprisingly calm about the whole idea that Christmas is 3 days away.  Bear has two more days at work .. and they are keeping him busy with lots of last minute deadlines. His present arrived today while he was at work so I've examined it, and wrapped it and hidden it ready for Sunday*. I might go and sort something easy for dinner (Indian crumb chicken with onion bhaji) and then knit some .......on that sock for Bear ....

take care
Stella

*  A fountain pen,  new,  Sailor 1911 mid size Maroon, with a lovely 21kt M nib and a bottle of Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo Night Sky blue Ink. I do hope he shares the ink, I've read about the Pilot Iroshizuku inks and they seem like one of the luxurys of the fountain pen world. 

Room shoes

Yesterday I attended a 'room-shoe' workshop. There was a workshop earlier in the year but with one thing and another I wasn't able to sign up. This workshop was at short notice ... and coincided with elder cub hosting a sleepover for 5 friends .... so we negotiated. The sleepover had to start once I had returned from the workshop. I'm not sure elder cub agreed but he understood that if he wanted a sleep over - those were the terms. Turns out that he is a good host, he diligently made sure all his guests had sleeping bags and pillows and knew where the amenities were, and he played host all night refreshing drinks, organizing snacks, and suggesting entertainments. That is a side of him that neither Bear or I had seen before and one we are impressed by.

But Room-shoes, these were made for Bear at the workshop. They started life as 50 grams of grey polworth and 70g of purple polworth fibre. Machiko talked us through the felting properties of various fibres - and Polworth appealed as it felts into a smooth dense surface. In her 'other lives' (and like all interesting people she has several) Machiko lectures product design and makes the the sort of jewellery that I want to buy whenever I see it. Machiko provided all the materials for the room-shoes, and template for making baby shoes right up to large Bear sized ones.  I chose to make the larger size of the sizes on offer, as Bear has bigger paws than I, and in the class was a little worried that I had not felted them enough t fit Bear. Once home Bear tried these one and they fitted just right - how cool is that?

I blanket stitched around the opening tightly with sock yarn to reinforce the edge and stop it stretching. The largest sharpest needles I had on hand were bookbinding ones and they worked well for this.

Today I decided that the best way not to forget how to make room shoes was to make another pair, so I did. Once the extra boys had been returned to their respective families. Perendale in apple green on the inside and Gotland bright blue on the outside.

I've trimmed the opening, but not yet bound it. I like the idea of binding this with fabric but probably will just blanket stitch with sock yarn like the first pair. Because this pair were for me - I adapted the template a little, cut it narrower and shorter.

Both fibres felted beautifully, and now they have to dry. The weather is windy and threatening to change, so that may just happen inside near a heater tonight. The plan is to finish both pairs with leather on the soles so they are durable. Even just wearing felted shoes inside is enough to wear the soles thin  - so it makes sense to add a more durable layer.

One of the best things is there is only a teeny tinny bit of left over felt once the foot opening is trimmed. I brought the scraps home from the workshop and put them in the compost, and will do the same with these scraps .... I won't be able to do that with the leather scraps, as leather is pretty durable stuff and not the best thing to add to a compost. I like this method of making slippers or Room-shoes, its physical but only takes a few hours, far less involved than knitted clogs.

Meanwhile younger cub has already requested a pair, and Bear has seconded that she could have a pair and even gone so far as to suggest they be in purple .... so it sounds like there may be  a few more pairs made over the summer holidays .. if only we can find a source of leather for the soles. ...

take care
na Stella