Orange Socks

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Noile

I finished my first pair of (extremely wonky) loom socks!

Pair of orange tone marled wool socks knit on a handheld loom.

They´re much more the same size than they appear to be here, and, amazingly, they fit well. However . . . there are some issues!

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Sock Loom Tool Tin

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Noile

My sock loom tool kit fits in this slim tin, but has everything needed to make (or fix!) socks-on-the-loom.

Photo of a slim silver metal Romney´s Kendal Mint Cake
tin with royal blue decoration.

The box itself has a history; it originally held a sugar cake, credited with saving lives, in former times, on Everest, before Everest was destroyed as a tourist destination. Now mine saves socks!

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Sock Loom 1

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Noile

I found a better way to fidget! (Also an occasionally frustrating one, but nevermind.) These are stressful times, and I, at least, need all the tools for dealing with them.

Photo of a wooden sock loom with white plastic pegs,
warped with orange yarn.

This sock loom, once a sock is underway, provides an almost zen-like activity.

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Easy Enclosed Pillowcases

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Noile

We sometimes feel the need for sturdier pillowcases when knocking about the house.

Photo of a turquoise and a purple enclosed pillowcases,
showing a shallow hem at the back, and the fold
in the front which covers the pillow completely.

We quickly discovered that life would be less complicated if these more durable versions encased the pillows. And we thought we´d like them to be bright colors.

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Tessuti Leni

Posted on April 18, 2025 by Noile

Lately I´m always searching for small projects, and I´ve been on an eternal search for woven equivalents of t-shirts: Something that makes up quickly and is easy to throw on and forget about. And I didn´t learn my lesson from making the Donny Shirt.

Line drawing of a sleeveless, boxy top showing front and back.
(Image from stofdepotet.dk)

Enter Leni — boxy, cute, and simple-ish. Naturally, I changed it up.

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Posted in 2025, Tops | 2 Comments

Donny Shirt

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Noile

I´m struggling to figure out how I want to dress now that life has changed so much since Covid first hit. I´ve been thinking all along that what I really need are a series of short woven white tops, to treat as t-shirts, and toss on over any pants at all.

Line drawing of The Friday Pattern Company´s Donny shirt.

This does not seem to be the case. Here´s a perfectly nice top — The Friday Pattern Company´s Donny. It´s also a perfectly fine pattern, but it just doesn´t work for me. No fault of its own!

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Posted in 2025, Tops | 2 Comments

Wrist Bag for Crafting

Posted on April 3, 2025 by Noile

It looks like a golden trash bag (!) because I can´t resist trompe d’oeil, and I find this fabric endlessly amusing.

Photo of a small cotton bag hanging on a door.
The fabric is in golds and browns and looks either
like crushed trash, or crumpled satin.

It slips over my wrist when I´m using my sock loom, keeping the yarn and all the bits and pieces in one place. It´s incredibly useful, and only took an hour to make.

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Cross Straps for a Vintage Cloak

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Noile

When I was growing up in San Francisco, two brothers dominated the department store scene — I. Magnin was the store for fashionable affluent women, and Joseph Magnin catered to a similarly affluent, but generally younger and livelier clientele.

My mother shopped occasionally at I. Magnin, but on the rare occasion when I needed something a little closer to ´adult´ than my usual apparel, or outerwear that I was likely to wear for years, Joseph Magnin was the place to go. I hated shopping as much then as now, and was just as inclined then to keep clothing forever than as I have ever been, but this wonderful Joseph Magnin cloak was more than worth the cost (and the pain of entering a store).

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Pocket for a Vintage Jacket

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Noile

I found this jacket at a resale shop sometime in the 1990s, and was quite taken with it — probably because of all the zippers! Underarm, side, neck — zips everywhere you look! Also, the low-key color-blocking, largely in my favorite blues, was a bonus.

Photo of a 1990s teal, purple and black color-blocked
Columbia jacket with a newly-added pocket hidden
under the central purple flap.

But I´ve worn it a lot less than I´d hoped, because there´s no convenient pocket for small essentials — like a wallet or phone. Disappointingly, that decorative flap on the front is just that: decorative. There´s no pocket underneath. Who knows why not?

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A Pocket for a Manufactured Bag

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Noile

Recently, I needed a much larger waistpack for a different kind of trip. I found this one at REI, which met the brief, except for one small problem.

Photo of an REI Trail 5 Waistpack, courtesy REI.
The pack is a sky blue with a large zipper pocket, a waistbelt
(also sky blue) and a smaller zipped pocket visible to the left.

There is no interior zip pocket. Especially with a bigger bag, I always want a zip pocket so my wallet doesn´t tumble out when I´m not looking. Better safe than sorry is my general motto in life.

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