ArtChain Day One

I don't know if y'all have seen it, but there is a hashtag making the rounds called #artchain. I have never used a hashtag before today, but my friend Holly tagged me so I'm participating. Even though I made this blog with the intention to document current projects I thought I would go ahead and post my artchain projects here in addition to facebook. Today I posted the knitting project about which I am most proud.

I designed the skirt, socks, and gloves myself. The skirt won me a blue ribbon from the county fair last summer, and I got third place for the socks. 

All the yarn is a lace-weight recycled cashmere/silk blend from the Etsy shop Penelopes Fine Yarns (with which I am in no way affiliated). Check out the shop if you want luxury yarns for affordable prices. The owner is super nice and the yarn ships quickly.

Anyway, the socks were made on size 000 needles, the gloves were made one size 1 and the skirt and shawl were size 6. I used about 3000 yards of yarn and I have no idea how many hours it took me. I tried to keep track, but I lost the exact number. If I had to hazard a guess I would say I spent more than 200 hours, about 100 of which was just one the socks. 

The skirt comes just below my knees, the socks come a couple inches above them. The gloves around a couple inches above my elbow. 

I have a confession to make about these clothes. Other than trying them on to make sure they fit, I've never worn these items. They are my most time-consuming and labor intensive project of all time and I'm afraid of ruining them. I guess I just haven't had the right occasion. Even if I never do wear them, I think that might be okay. They were made for the art of it, and they make me happy just to look at.

So there you have it folks. ArtChain day 1.