Sewing with handwoven, and happy socks

My mom was here last week and she successfully made a new phone pouch for me using my handspun, handwoven fabric! She made me one 5 years ago (pattern: cell phone wristlet) and I use it a lot. I’m hoping this one will work as well. You can see that it’s a little bit larger than the original – she added 1/2” in both directions because the handwoven fabric was so much thicker than quilting cotton: It’s also a lot puffier than the first pouch. There is fusible fleece in there, which quilting cotton needs for structure, but I wonder if we could have used a softer interfacing for this one. Mom brought some batik fabrics and I chose one that coordinated well for the lining:

I had enough fabric that she was able to carefully place each pattern piece so we could get all the colors. Even the back is really pretty:

We are both concerned about durability. Can you see some of the pink weft threads already coming loose near the zipper? That area took more abuse from the presser foot than the rest of the fabric. While the last pouch lasted for 5 years, we are hoping that this one will make it for one year. I’ll be careful with it, but we will see. It is so nice to be able to make the things you use (or know someone who can help!).

In other news, I finished Chipo’s happy rainbow socks. They brought many smiles while they were being made, and I hope they bring more to her when she wears them during the long, New England winters:

Having not used this particular yarn before, I wondered how colorfast the dye was. But Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn really held up. I tried the citric acid soak technique, which you use to set the color if the dyer hasn’t done her job (description here). You can use this technique on the yarn or on the knitted object. I soaked my socks, and the water was clear after. Then I wrapped the wet socks in plastic wrap and microwaved them for a while. There was no dye in the plastic wrap, either (which I didn’t expect since it didn’t run in the bowl). Great news!

I hope to give these to Chipo this weekend when I’m in her neck of the woods for the WEBS Spinning Summit (my extravagant birthday present this year).

Also, since I was done with the socks, I returned to knitting my blanket squares using leftover sock yarn. I cranked out quite a few last week:

I’m up to 138 now!