Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

I have finished the knitting section of my Tumbling Blocks cushion project and have diligently weaved in the 138 yarn ends. The cushion front has had a swim in a bath of Soak (a Christmas present from Craig, saved for my most special projects) and is now blocking to a perfect 16×16″ square.

How I love to block things

I am wet blocking the cushion front, rather than follow the pattern instruction to ‘Press carefully using a warm iron over a damp cloth’, because I am not domesticated enough to own an iron. I did own one once, but decided that it was never in use so threw it away. I know, I am a domestic goddess in every sense.

I am eagerly awaiting the cushion front being dry and so find myself checking it every half hour or so, even though it was still quite damp when i checked on it this morning.  The blocking mats have done an entire tour of the flat through the day as I move it from one warm and breezy spot to another as the sun makes it’s trip across the summer sky.

I just can’t wait for the next step in the making up process, where I get to sit down with my knitted cushion front, piece of co-ordinating fabric for the cushion back (a section of cloth included in the kit, the size of which is known as a ‘fat quarter’ – a fact that keeps making Craig giggle for some reason) and a zip I made a trip to the market to buy this morning.

Zip and fabric

I have a sewing machine (yes, that’s right. I have a sewing machine; in fact I have two sewing machines and yet no iron) but I think I am going to hand sew this project together.  I have hand-sewn since I was about 6 years old.  My Nan was a seamstress and taught me how to sew and embroider.  Even she was amazed at the neatness and precision of my tiny stitches when I was younger, so it is something that I have always felt comfortable with and enjoyed.  I find it relaxing and calming, and i think that will be the perfect way to finish this cushion which has been an exercise in patience.

Beautiful fabric, spun from the silk of Golden Orb spiders

Those interested in the fibre arts are finding it easier to source ever more exotic fibres to run through their fingers and weave around needles and hooks, especially with the advent of the internet and the spread of knowledge about the beautiful yarns available to crafty folks.  There are some real luxury yarns on the market, perhaps the zenith being the almost mythical Qiviut/Qiviuk – the downy undercoat of the musk ox.  As light as air, as warm as a 1,000 tog duvet and with a softness you cannot imagine (or so I am told, at least… I am unlikely to ever get my pauper’s hands on any), this prized fibre seems to be the height of luxury, but is that about to be surpassed?

Simon Peers, British art historian, may have eclipsed the combers of must-ox bellies in seeking out the most unlikely and labour-intensive fibre-source.  The beautiful golden brocade-like fabric above is in fact spun from spider-silk.  Spider silk, in fact, that has been collected from a team of no less than one million Golden Orb spiders.  Quite a feat, especially as the silk was collected from living spiders, harnessed together in groups of 24 whilst the end of their silk was gathered together and slowly extracted, being hand-spun and wound delicately onto a spool.  Four strands of this 24-ply thread were then plied together to give a 96-strand yarn to use in the weaving of this magnificent cloth.  It has been said that at no point in the weaving of the cloth did the spider yarn break, so no spit-splicing and no extra ends to weave in, at least.

There are plants to make a second cloth come next spider-season in Madagascar, where the Golden Orb spiders were harvested.  It’s all but impossible to imagine that such a yarn would ever find its way onto the knitter’s market, but it is sometimes good for those who knit and crochet to stop and remember the sources of the yarns that we enjoy working with, and to remember what wonderful jobs the creatures that produce some of those yarns actually do in manufacturing their own thread creations.

I was going to post a photo of a golden orb spider but they are huge and I'm a wimp.