day forty-seven: finally something other than spinning

I finally plied my Manx singles tonight. I had two spindles with cops on, so I plied them both. I have no earthly idea how much I made, but it looks like plenty.

I didn't get any pictures of the plying process, because I was doing it during a Zoom meeting, but it was a little distressing that I kept forgetting which direction to spin the spindle for plying. Given I was just using a student spindle, I might just mark it with handy arrows.

Once the singles were plied, I needed to set the twist. I wrapped them around my hand and elbow to form them into a hank, then hung it over the hook of a clothes hanger and weighted it with a bag of quarters hanging from another hook. Finally I steamed the skein with my clothes steamer. I sincerely doubt that this is a period method of setting the twist, but it's quick and easy and I don't have to wait hours for it to dry.

Some years ago, I bought some wooden snowflake shapes to use as thread winders. I finally got to use one today. It's not period, and not even particularly convenient, but it's effective.

And finally, at long last, I got to set needle to cloth. When I sew wool, I'm in the habit of turning and sewing down the edges of my pieces and then joining them with a whip stitch. I think I might do something a little sturdier for the seat, but I don't think the front will be under a lot of strain, so I'll join it that way.

I turned the long edges of the front panel with a 1/2 inch seam allowance and set about stitching it down. I started out using an overcast or felling stitch, but interestingly, it seems to curl the edges of the piece.

i think it's the way the stitch spirals in the fabric

This happened fairly quickly, so after only a few stitches, I switched over to herringbone stitch. It doesn't put a lot of tension on the seam allowance, and while it does take more thread, I don't mind because it holds the edge so beautifully.

it's a little hard to see because the thread blends so well.

you can't even see it on the right side

The thread seemed a little coarse, but I spun it on heavier spindles than I would prefer, but it did the job. I have a new lightweight spindle coming, so if I don't like this thread, I can make more and save this for other stuff.

So that's it for tonight. Progress is made, I've told you about it, and it's well past bedtime. Night, y'all.