a finish and a start

Have you ever had a project hang around so long you begin to actively dislike it? That's the story with these stupid socks:



I am pretty sure evil gnomes visited in the night and unravelled all the work I'd done each time I knit on these. They took FOREVER! I cast them on in January - yes, January! - and finally finished them a couple of days ago. They were started as a project to carry along to the hospital when AJ had surgery to close up his belly. I worked on them in fits and starts all year. They just never seemed any closer to completion.

The yarn is Regia Galaxy, and I didn't love working with it. I don't know if it was the fact that I pulled from the center of the skein or what, but the twist was intense and I kept ending up with coiled, kinked yarn. I had to drop the sock-in-progress every inch or so and let it unwind so I could continue knitting. Not so fun! I will be stuffing these in the back of my drawer, to be worn this winter when I'm done being frustrated with them.

On to other things: I've been taking lots of cross-stitch and embroidery books out from the library, poking around for inspiration.

And inspiration struck.



Oh boy. The book is Traditional Samplers by Brenda Keyes. One design jumped right out at me, and I told myself if I had all the supplies on hand, I would let myself start it. And what do you know...I had all but one color of floss in the house, plus the correct aida cloth, needles, and hoops galore.



This is the Edwardian Style Birth Sampler. I originally thought it would be for my son, but now I am thinking perhaps it will be a Christmas gift for my nephew instead. Neither of them is a Patrick so I'll have to re-chart the name and birthdate, of course. So far (the past 3 nights) it's been a blast to stitch.

I've been listening to The Help on CD (because I cannot get my hands on a paper copy) so it's been working out perfectly to enjoy the story and stitch away.

I love cross stitches - the orderliness of them, marching across the cloth. This sampler appeals to me because there is a minimum of backstitching and no other stitch is used. I don't care for lots of different styles of stitches on aida cloth as I find them hard to execute. 

It's a bit of an ambitious undertaking when I have plenty else to do, but it's buzzing along so quickly, and I am enjoying it so much...I think I will actually finish the thing! Stay tuned! 

this time of year

It's that time of year...a time of endings and beginnings and change. I always feel a little untethered in September. For the past 10 or so years, since officially ending my formal education (got my Ed.M. in 2002), I've felt a bit lost watching the world go back to school. Even my 3 year-old started something new: speech therapy 5 days a week with a new therapist (we love her and she is awesome). 

The weather is struggling to change, and I feel it inside of me too. One day it's gray and chilly, then misty rain and humidity, only to change completely to warm sun and high 70s. I never know what to tell everyone to wear. This week we will have nighttime lows in the 40s and daytime highs in the 70s. Yes, Daughter, you'll need a wool hat with your shorts today! 

Such a random and confusing time of year. 

I want to sew...I want to go to Joann's and come home with great heaping piles of denim, corduroy and flannel. Wait, let me amend my statement. I want to shop for sewing stuff. I can't really seem to get myself to the machine, despite my imagination working overtime. The kids could use new hats and mittens to match this year's coats. The pile of yarn is sitting on my desk gathering dust. I'm having trouble anchoring myself in the moment and just starting what needs to be started. We are also expecting a new niece in two months, and I keep going over my plans for what to make her in my head, but nothing is getting done. I seem to think I have all the time in the world. 

I fret over this weird internal thing I have going on, even though I recognize it and it happens every autumn. I will pull out of it, most likely without noticing until one day I realize, hey, I feel better. 

It's naptime, and Daughter is at school. The house is quiet except for the clock ticking. I believe I will cast on for a hat. Yes, that would be good.

ran. dom.

Ok, so...I changed my blogger to the "new" interface...and I feel like I can't make it work right. I'm so confused.

Maybe I'm confused because I have an ear infection? I think I have an ear infection. It's making me dizzy.

I did finish a sweater. It's AJ's fall/winter wool cardigan:

Top-down cardigan from Raglans Unlimited (a really old pamphlet I got from my mom), size 4. Yarn is Knitpicks WotA in the winter night colorway. Again, I apologize for the otherworldly glow...it's a nice color in person. Buttons are little cars from Favorite Findings, purchased at Joann's. Side note: I dragged the kids to Joann's to buy these last week (with a coupon, of course), then came home and cleaned up all my knitting stuff, organizing my current WIPs, etc., only to discover I already had a package of the exact same buttons. My disorganization makes me sick sometimes, it really does. :(

School starts tomorrow. Thank goodness.

That is all.

short and stout

More from A Rainbow of Stitches. Love.

14-count, DMC color 823.

ps: I erroneously referred to these little squares of aida as DMC short cuts...they are actually made by Charles Craft.

a rainbow of stitches

As I've mentioned before, after a period of seriously practical knitting and sewing, I'm feeling pulled toward more whimsical projects. I would like to make some things that are art for art's sake, just fun and skill-enhancing without necessarily being strictly "useful."

I started with some lace shawls, which are kind of a hybrid of useful and beautiful (mainly because even though I'm not likely to actually wear one, the possibility exists so I can justify the time spent). I'm still working on the latest one - 3 charts to go - but I can only work on it when I am undistracted for a length of time.

In the meantime I've gone to some hand stitching. I used to do tons of embroidery and cross stitch. I even had a friend who liked it too, and we could be found in the embroidery supply aisle of Michael's at age 14, picking out samplers and DMC floss.

When I saw this book on a blog back in the spring, it knocked me right over:

I usually take craft books out from the library, but the choices for embroidery and cross stitch are...well, let's just say "dated" at best. We're talking Better Homes and Gardens compilations from 1992. Not exactly inspiring for the modern crafter. Unless you're into teddy bear bibs. Which frankly I am not.

But A Rainbow of Stitches is fresh and fun. I highly recommend it! I linked to amazon, but I actually found mine on ebay and bought it from a Goodwill seller. It still had the Barnes & Noble gift receipt stuck inside! Someone got it for Christmas 2009 and, it appears, never even opened it. Now it's mine!

I dug through my bin of hand-me-down embroidery supplies and found a pack of DMC short-cuts, which are 6X6 inch squares of aida cloth. Mine were 14-count in white and off-white. Perfect for stitching up a little nugget and getting back in practice. I chose a tomato-red skein of floss and I was off to the races:

Don't ask me what I'll do with it, but oh, was it satisfying! Cross stitch is just so orderly and well-behaved. Anyone can do it, it's inexpensive, and the results are pretty much guaranteed to be good if you follow the chart. I found this little apple to be so, so relaxing to stitch.

There are many, many designs in this book that are built around colors and themes, with about an equal split between cross stitch and embroidery. It is NOT a project book, which I guess really upset some people who reviewed it online, but it does not claim to be a book of directions. It's just motifs and charts with photos of project ideas.

We are attending a tropical destination wedding this winter, and I'm thinking of making Daughter a dress for the rehearsal. Look at these adorable water/beach/nautical designs:

embroidery:

cross stitch:

more embroidery:

And I know this one is hard to see, because it's printed in a light tan, but I'm thinking of a pale linen sundress with some of these shells embroidered around the hem:

So many things to make...so little time!

i am perhaps seasonally confused

Oh man, file this one under "I'm a bad mom." At the beginning of summer I cut out this dress for Daughter, and proceeded to ignore it for pretty much the entire season. Niiiiiiice. I could give a bazillion excuses, but it boils down to: it was hot, the air conditioner is in my bedroom, and I am lazy. Really pretty much zero sewing happens around here in the summer, it is just too uncomfortable. So if I don't get the summer dresses and shorts sewn up in the spring when it is still chilly, it doesn't happen at all.

Case in point:

I did finally put this together last week. The temps dipped down to the high 70s/low 80s with a breeze, so I could stand to sit at the machine and, more importantly, use the iron. I was still sweaty by the time I finished, but at least it got done!

Here's a (purposely) blurry shot of Daughter helping a little friend of ours off the slide over the weekend. I just wanted to show more of the dress without splashing our friends' kid across the internet.

I can't find a link to the pattern on line right now and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and find it...if anyone has a burning desire for the exact number I can look it up. But I did a quick look around at Simplicity and McCall's and both have similar dresses shown right now in their current pattern collection. It's a very simple pattern...self-lined bodice, shoulder straps, and choice of one-piece full skirt or 3-tier even fuller skirt. I used the size 5 bodice pattern and the size 6 skirt pieces for length (the width is the same no matter the size). *Note* if you make this pattern, you can just cut width-of-fabric pieces for the skirt tiers. The pattern calls for even wider pieces but that is a waste. If you have typical 40-44" wide calico, like I used here, just cutting the lower 2 tiers from selvage edge to selvage edge works fine.

Also note that if you do not like gathering you will not enjoy making this. I cut two of these out at the beginning of summer, made one, and was very frustrated by the huge amount of gathering. For some reason this is a sewing skill I struggle with, and likely another good reason why the second dress sat unfinished for so long.

Moving on: here is a random action shot of me wearing one of the skirts I made earlier this year:

And finally, the reason for the post title...while still sewing summer dresses, I'm also working on fall and winter woolens (of course).

Listen, I have to apologize for the following photo, because it's awful and hurts your eyes. But the color of this wool (Knitpicks WotA "winter night") refuses to show up in a photograph without displaying an otherworldly glow:

Gah! Awful! But the sweater will hopefully be sweet. It's a top-down raglan (boring but reliable) in a size 4(!) for my growing boy. It will likely be a little too big at first, but should serve him well all winter. The weirdness of the color explains why I had a terrible time finding buttons to match (or even coordinate). We went with the little cars from Favorite Findings (with coupon, at Joann's). With an unusual shade of yarn, I find it best to go with completely non-matching buttons so it doesn't look like I tried and failed.

I would like to go work on this sweater some more, but instead I must clean the mac-n-cheese explosion from our kitchen table area. Maybe if I go really fast I can squeeze some crafting into naptime.....

monday monday

Thank you for the kind words. The funeral was on the 15th, so I am still a tad melancholy, but I'm getting through it.

Other things that are more fun to talk about:

Hubs took me to see a production of FAME! on Saturday night. It was so awesome! I have an intense love of musical theater and will go see just about anything, so when these tickets were offered for free from his office (his company sponsored the show), Hubs knew I'd want to go. And, dude, it was FAME! Who doesn't love that? So the kids slept over at Grandma & Papa's house, and Hubs and I got to go on a date, with dinner and everything. The show was performed at Artpark, and if you're ever in the western NY area, I recommend you visit. It's a state park, open anytime, and you can walk right down to the edge of the Niagara River. It's really beautiful.

Also...I finished a sweater! Woohoo! I feel like I've barely finished anything this year, so I was really thrilled to block this baby:

This is Spring Time in Hollis and I really like it. I saw it on a blog last winter and in a rare move, I bought the pattern (through Ravelry, I believe). I liked that it was worsted weight, top-down construction and had just enough interest to keep me going. I'm getting bored after making a bazillion plain top-down raglan cardigans. This pattern is well-written and easy to follow, and I will surely make another sometime.

This is size 8 (!) for my big first grader, knitted from Knitpicks WotA in violet, a discontinued color that I got on sale years ago. I think I used about 6 balls, but I can't remember for sure, as I started this several months ago and only just now finished it. As per Daughter's request, I left out the eyelets and belt, and knit the sleeves somewhere between 3/4 and wrist length, so they "wouldn't get in her way." I'd like to get some fall fabric and make a matching dress for the school year...we'll see.

It feels good to get another languishing project finished. Time to go diving into the UFO basket to see what else I can clear out!

5 years

August 12th is here again. Sometimes it catches me by surprise. It always catches my husband, mostly because I have to tell him about it. He never remembers (though he is terrible with dates), but still I often think it must be nice to just sort of not remember. I have no choice. The memory lives in my body.

I look at Daughter sitting on the couch watching television and I see the spirit of another little girl sitting near her. A little girl who would be turning 5, heading off to kindergarten, with dark wavy hair and a little face so like her big sister's...and yet a bit different.

And then I look at my baby boy and wonder if he would even be here. Last night my husband said, if we had our daughter nothing in our lives would be as it is right now. Maybe so, maybe so.

Some years have been easier than others, but this year I am really sad. I miss my baby girl.

vacation! (and some projects, too)

Oh man, it's August 9th already. We had such a cold, rainy, long spring and then got super baked for several weeks and I feel we've hardly had any "real" summer. I hope we get some nice days of high 70s with sun and a breeze before school starts.

School, wow, already?!? The time, it flies. Daughter will start first grade after labor day. It's coming up quickly...we've already purchased her supplies (except the markers, because I haven't seen them for $1 yet). I'm watching for juice box coupons and stocking up on snacks for the lunchbox. The light outside is shifting, just a bit, telling me that autumn is indeed on its way.

We were away last week, the kids and I, visiting my sister and her baby boy in the midwest. Her husband was out of town on business so we descended upon their home for a whole week. It saddens me that the cousins in our family will all grow up far away from each other, so it's nice to put them together and let them become acquainted. That way the holidays aren't a visit with people who feel like strangers. Also, holy cow did I need a change of scenery. It was amazing to get out of town for awhile and look at something other than our four walls! Even shopping at Target in a different place feels somehow fresh and new. We played, walked, swam, shopped, cooked, ate, baked, and played some more. My sister's house has central air - glorious! - and our moods were all greatly improved by the comfort we experienced.

I took along a bit of knitting but didn't get a whole lot done.

These socks were started in January. January! I cast them on to take to the hospital for AJ's surgery, which ended up postponed until mid-February anyway, and besides, I never actually knit in the surgical waiting room. Taking knitting along is just wishful thinking. So these rode around in the bottom of my purse until recently when I got sick of seeing them in there and I started working on them in earnest. One down, one started.

And before we left, when I was doing vacation pre-cleaning so we wouldn't come home to a gross house, I picked this quilt up off the dining room table and finished the stinking thing:

This is, I guess, broken dishes (?) but was supposed to be a pinwheel quilt separated by sashing. It went from a planned queen size to maybe a twin to a wallhanging as I got tired of making the blocks. Ha! Some quilter I am.

I based this on a quilt pattern in Nickel Quilts. Unfortunately somewhere between making the first batch of blocks years ago and finishing it up last winter, I accidentally changed the size of the individual components, so some of the blocks got chopped down in the final assembly. If you enlarge the photo you might be able to see where several of the pinwheels don't actually have points on them. Whoops!

Anyway, I don't care and I think it looks pretty good to hang on my living room wall! We need color desperately, and this roughly 56"X64" quilt will bring it.

I've been swayed lately by all the fresh fabric collections quilters are using in the online quilting world...lots of juicy oranges, pinks, lime greens, browns, bright blues...and I was even thinking I might splurge on some of the newer fabrics, despite my reservations that these colors might seem really dated in a few years (remember country blue and rose? how about peach and seafoam green? yeah), but then I finished this quilt and I realized where my heart lies. I love these tiny prints and semi-solids. I love traditional quilts.

And now that I've finished one, I can start another. Or maybe two. Those are the rules. Right?

thoughts on summer

How do you see summer? Do you still think of it in terms of a big vacation, like when you were a kid and summer meant...doing absolutely nothing, or doing whatever you wanted, and it stretched out before you like an endless path?

As a stay-home mom I think of it like that. I've almost always lived by the school calendar, going from high school to college, then two years after that to graduate school, then on to teaching, and now I have a school-age child. My life is ruled by the school schedule, and I have come to really love and rely on the structure it brings.

Sadly, as a mom, summer is not a vacation, right? Gosh, I do still think of it that way, and long for warm, lazy afternoons sitting in a lawn chair with a good book and a glass of iced tea, or breezy mornings sitting on the patio working some cross stitch or knitting with my coffee. I make all these mental plans for what I'm going to accomplish, like finishing sweaters and starting on Christmas ornaments, creating involved cross-stitches to frame for my home, sewing quilts and garments, and getting a head start on next fall and winter's sewing and knitting.

HA!

My fantasy of my children happily playing in the sandbox or splashing around in the wading pool while I crafted serenely were quickly dashed this year. The children hop around from place to place, declaring the sandbox too hot, the wading pool too cold, and everything else, you guessed it, booooring. AJ mostly wants to follow his big sister like a shadow, so when she hops out of the pool and heads for the back door, he wants to go in too. This inevitably happens moments after I've gathered all the required towels, sunscreen, snacks, etc., and settled into my lawn chair for a few moments of knitting or stitching.

So to sum up, I'm getting absolutely nothing done. I spend my days refereeing the bickering of the children, chauffeuring Daughter to and from her library activities, serving up endless snacks, sweeping up sand and crumbs, and hiding in our air conditioned bedroom (yep, we are caught in the northeast heat wave, though thankfully on the low end with temps in the 90s). If not that, we're sitting in whatever pools we can find, or visiting grandma in her air conditioned house. It's too hot to hold knitting needles, too sticky for stitching, and I can't even turn on my bedside lamp to read at night because it throws too much heat. Yuck!

This too shall pass, I know, I know. In a few short years my children will be far better able to self-entertain. And I'm not complaining, really, about summer and heat. I vastly prefer being able to just run out the door with the kids when we want to go out, rather than bundling into winter gear...I guess I'm just making excuse that I don't have much to write about because this time is not really mine. It's all mommy all the time just now.

an easter sweater in july

There's a new online quilt show aimed at the young, new quilter. It's called "Quilty" and it's hosted by Mary Fons, daughter of super-famous quilt personality Marianne Fons (of Fons & Porter). If you haven't seen it, check it out, it's very cute and focuses on beginner quilting skills.

There's a 2-part episode dealing with hand and machine quilting, featuring Marianne Fons as Mary's guest. When discussing the sample they are using to demonstrate different styles of quilting, Marianne says she had trouble coming up with something to bring along...she doesn't have a bunch of quilt tops laying around because, in her words: "I finish my projects."

I finish my projects. What novel idea! I often wonder why so many of us have craft ADD, where we flit from one project to another, leaving baskets of abandoned socks, sweaters, embroidery, quilts, etc. in our wake.

It's fair to say I always have at least two knitting projects on the go at once, generally one on larger needles and one on very small needles (a sweater and a sock, for example). But sometimes, as in right now, I get way more than that piling up. I currently have a sock, a sweater for Daughter, a sweater for AJ, a long-ago abandoned baby sweater that was supposed to be for my son but will now become a gift, a shawl, and a granny square afghan (crochet, but let's lump it in there). Actually, I just surprised myself in coming up with that list...it seemed I had more semi-abandoned projects than that.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong to have a lot of projects going. It's certainly common. I have so many things I want to make it keeps me up at night, my mind racing with possibilities. And I also feel the need to knit and sew for my kids as much as possible while they are still little and will wear what I present to them...Daughter, at age 6, is already expressing strong opinions about her wardrobe and I've started consulting her before beginning anything new lest she dislike it and stuff it in the back of a drawer.

But none of that does any good if I don't finish up. So with that quote from Marianne Fons in mind, I sucked it up and finished the sweater I'd intended as an Easter sweater for Daughter.

Knitting Pure & Simple neck-down cardigan, size 6-8. I used close to 3 skeins of Lion Cotton Ease in white, knitted up on US 9 needles (US 8 for the seed stitch ribbings). I fell in love with these buttons and I think they are perfect to jazz up an otherwise plain sweater. Click on the photo to see them bigger - they look like gingham! So cute! They are "Dress It Up" buttons, purchased at Michael's.

This sweater was so boring, the size 9 needles felt so clunky, and the cotton yarn made my hands hurt. I guess that's why it took forever and a day to finish. Plus Easter was freezing cold (we wore wool) and it was such a cold spring season, this sweater wouldn't have gotten much use anyway. I'm hoping it will get lots of wear at the beginning of the school year.

So, that's done! I guess that means I can cast on for something new...right?

no, really, it's relaxing!

I'm sure that some people find the idea of knitting lace to be absolutely abhorrent...I think I used to be one of those people. So fiddly! Such fine yarn! Pretty, but useless! I want warm sweaters, dammit, not doilies!

Mmmmm. My words taste goooooooood.

It turns out I love to knit lace. In particular, I love to knit triangular shawls on a stockinette background, preferably with the edging incorporated into the body of the shawl, but this time around I'm going for it with a knitted-on edging.

I've begun the Shaped Triangle from A Gathering of Lace. The book photo does not do it justice in the least - if you want to see what it can really look like, check out the gorgeous blue one on ravelry.

I wish I had a pretty, soft color to make this shawl with, but I'm bustin' stash these days, and what I have is some well-marinated Knitpicks Shadow laceweight.

This yarn knits up beautifully, with no splitting or knots thus far. But the color is kind of uninspiring (I think it is called "sunset").

I've nearly completed the first chart, which is all these little asterisk-type things. I'm enjoying the heck out of knitting this so far! It does get more complicated after this chart, but so far it's been dreamy. I find knitting lace to be quite relaxing and distracting - the stress of dealing with my son's transitioning of therapy services has been so all-consuming it actually makes me feel physically ill. This pattern requires just enough concentration that I lose myself in the pattern and my brain stops chewing on other issues.

And it's a good thing, too, because I knit lace without a safety net. That's right, no "lifelines" here. Instead I make sure I knit this when the children are in bed or zombied-out in front of a video (only used when I am desperate for peace, I promise), with no media bombarding me. I sit in good light, and softly chant the stitch pattern to myself as I go along: "knit two, yarn over, knit three, yarn over, slip-knit-pass, yarn over, knit one..."

A holiday weekend is upon us (July already???) and the weather looks good. I'm going to get the house reasonably clean (ok, tidy, clean is a reach), and enjoy the sunshine with my family. Happy 4th!

summer begins

Oops, did not mean to fall off the face of the planet for 2 weeks. It's been a busy, busy time and I got sick (again) with a sinus infection that traveled downward and settled in my throat, rendering me voiceless over the weekend.

Around here school starts after Labor Day and doesn't finish up until the end of June, so we've only just begun our summer vacation.

It seems like Kindergarten just started and now it's over! My big girl, on to first grade...

It's only been 4 days but school seems so far away already. Daughter is signed up for crafts and stories at the library, and also lego club which I have to admit sounds like fun. I don't mind paying taxes when these free activities are available to my kids. AJ isn't getting signed up for a specific activity this summer because he still has speech therapy several days each week and I have nowhere for Daughter to go if I'm busy with her brother. So we'll wait till fall.

I say that, but I don't know what the coming school year will bring. We're in the throes of transitioning from Early Intervention to our school district for AJ's speech services, and that means evaluations and testing and reports about our baby boy...which I know are all necessary to get him the help he needs, but it's a horrible process to endure from a mother's perspective. I have to sit there and calmly, quietly watch him be tested, all the while wanting to "translate" his speech because often I do know what he is saying, but the tester has no idea. Thankfully he scored right on target for his age cognitively, meaning he does not qualify for special education (which we pretty much knew), but the speech problem...well, it's pretty severe.

No one knows exactly what is wrong with my kid. As our ENT told me yesterday, he is one-of-a-kind, an interesting case. And you don't really want to be "interesting" in the medical world. Doctors like interesting cases. They want to poke your kid and see what happens. All along I've been hoping and praying things would even out and become easier; that he would succeed and prove that he's really just fine. Now we've been referred to cranio-facial specialists to further investigate the apparent weaknesses in AJ's palette, facial muscles, and eyes.

It all leaves me feeling frazzled and knotted up and confused. I want and need to do what is best for my son (and for my daughter, of course), but it is sometimes hard to know what that is when you're dealing with so many medical disciplines.

So if I disappear for a few days or weeks at a time, it's likely because I just can't sort my thoughts out in a coherent fashion. Through it all there's the endless laundry, the cooking and cleaning, the piles of sand tracked into the house that need sweeping, the potty training and cleaning up of accidents, the bills to be paid, the groceries to shop for, and of course the summer family fun to be had.

Back soon.

F.O.: flower basket shawl

What? I said this should be done by next week? Oh, haha, just kidding. I meant I was going to practically injure myself to get it done immediately. (Seriously, my poor wrists, ouch.)

Flower Basket shawl, from Interweave Knits, fall 2004. I post-it-noted this pattern when I got the magazine all those years ago, but only just now got around to making it. At the time the concept of knitting lace with two strands of yarn held together sounded way intimidating. I just didn't have the knowledge to realize I didn't have to follow the directions exactly, and that I could substitute yarn and needles.

What a lovely pattern to knit. It's actually very easy, and each line of the chart is memorized quickly for fast, smooth knitting. I used almost two entire hanks of Knitpicks Gloss fingering weight, which came in a sock sampler my husband gave me for Christmas in........2007? I would have to search the archives but I think that's right. That means with 440 yards of fingering weight and a US6 needle I got a shawl measuring 60" across and about 30" from the neck to the bottom point (after blocking). I didn't count my repeats but I did several more than the pattern calls for. On the last repeat I was sweating it out, fearing yarn famine, but I made it with a (very) small ball of yarn to spare.

Daughter wants it. We just took these photos and she's now curled up on the sofa, wrapped in the shawl. I'm thinking we'll store it carefully away for when she's a bit older. :)

joys of homeownership...and also more lace

On Saturday morning the phone rang at 6:46. It was the company we'd ordered topsoil from, telling us our dirt was on its way. The dump truck showed up about an hour later, and when it did, I thought, "boy, he must be making a bunch of deliveries with all that dirt!" But then he backed into our driveway and proceeded to empty the entire dump truck.

This photo does not do justice to the true quantity of topsoil we moved. This is 4 cubic yards, which is code for "a backbreaking amount" and we moved all but about 1/2 yard of it by lunchtime. The driveway, front walk, side-of-the-house walk, and back patio were all repoured before we bought the house, but were never backfilled properly, so the jagged lower edge of the concrete was exposed all over the place. We needed to shore it up and seed it, both to make it look nice and to ensure that the concrete doesn't heave from moisture in the coming years.

It sucked, but it's mostly done now. This picture cracks me up because the kids were so determined to help with their tiny sandbox shovels. Also funny: this is what I get when I tell my daughter to wear "old clothes." Quite a fashion statement!

The moral of the story is that I really hurt my wimpy body by doing such a massive physical job. I am sadly out of shape and come Sunday morning I could barely get out of bed, my back hurt so bad. The pain and stiffness continued for a couple of days, so I've been fairly useless when it comes to the more physical housework.

What a bummer, I've had to park it in my recliner with more lace!

I wasn't kidding in my last post...I'm fairly obsessed at this point. More lace! Must knit more lace!

I think I'm hitting a period of pretty, delicate work after several years of hearty, practical knitting and sewing. I also have the wild urge to do handwork, like embroidery and cross stitch.

Gosh this is fun. And it really flies off the needles, what with all those yarn-overs. I'm eyeballing my yarn to see how many more repeats I can squeeze in before I knit the edging. This should be an F.O. by next week. More details to come when I finish!

FO: summer mystery shawlette

I finished my mystery shawlette! Woot!

Actually I finished the knitting a week ago but I was lazy and smushed it into its ziplock bag to avoid weaving ends and blocking. I didn't know where to block it because we have hardwood throughout our house - no carpeting other than area rugs - so I wasn't sure where to pin it down. It turned out our dining room area rug has enough rubber backing that I could gently shove my t-pins into it.

I wish I had better photos but it's just me and the toddler here today. I tried to get a photo in the mirror but...no. Total fail.

What a nice project this was to work on! I used frog tree fingering weight alpaca, way less than two skeins. I'll probably make a special bonnet or booties with the remainder for someone I really care about...because hello, expensive, can't-throw-it-in-the-washing-machine alpaca. You know.

It comes just around my shoulders, so if I made it again I would add repeats to make it much bigger. But I love the pattern. Thanks, Wendy, for a fun knitalong!

I did not block this "severely" because I don't care for lace that is blocked so hard the stitches become distorted. In this photo I can even see a few areas where the stitches are pulled out more than I like to see. I love lace but I like it to have a little substance to it. Not a big fan of the cobweb weight, filmy lace.

But I've been bitten by the lace bug, now. It's going to be tough to work through my wips now that all I want to do it knit lace! I dug out my lace books and found a surprising amount of appropriate yarn to make lacy shawls and scarves. I might make that my summer knitting!

over the top?

Still clearing out the WIPs this week...Hubs went to a concert last night so I took the opportunity to finish up another project.

Daughter and I were in Joann's about a month ago when this fabric caught her eye, and we simply had to buy it for AJ. We had to, HAD TO I SAY!

Ok, it's a bit.....loud. But come on, he's 2. It's fine to be this loud when you're little, right? He desperately needed some summer pajamas, too. Serendipity, methinks.

This has become a favorite in my pattern collection. I've made 4 sets for Daughter and now 2 sets for AJ. I'm not so into the fussy collar on a set of pajamas, so I always make the collar-less version. Also, pockets? On pajamas? No thank you. We go simple around here.

Anyway, they're size 2, and use about 1.25 yards of 44" woven fabric, so they are fairly economical. I used 4 bright yellow plastic buttons from my stash o' buttons to save some money and a trip to the store. Also, that shade of green does not exist in any thread collection (trust me, I looked!) so I used up a spool of limey green, which blended in surprisingly well. Ah, it feels good to use something up. Actually, I've used up several spools of old thread lately that kind of matched, rather than buying new spools for new projects as I used to do. Sometimes good enough is good enough!

I can't believe I'm making size 2 pajamas for my son. Looking back at those old posts with projects for my wee Daughter blows my mind. Today was her end-of-kindergarten concert and party! What?!? How can it be?

I'm outta here before I get verklempt.

clearing out some wips

The weather is finally so indescribably gorgeous, I can't believe I'm inside typing this right now. It rained hard in the wee hours of the morning and my patio chairs are still wet, otherwise I'd be out there enjoying the warm sunlight and soft breeze. Especially since tomorrow it's supposed to be 90, which in my humble opinion is too hot to enjoy.

Luckily we have ways of dealing with it:

Look at my big guy! Almost 3 years old! Where does the time go? He loves to "make rainbows" with the hose and cool off at the same time.

I've got a few F.O.s to share. Late winter saw a flurry of WIPs started and cast aside as I struggled to entertain myself on cold, wet days. Of late I've been picking them back up and working my way through the basket of unfinished stuff.

Plain top-down socks to add to my collection. This is Regia "Galaxy" yarn and is supposed to look all outer-spacey. Pretty cool. Plus, I got it on clearance for $2/skein. VERY cool!

I know I showed this partly knit, but I don't think I shared the finished sweater. It's a February baby sweater, of course, made with exactly 3 skeins of Knitpicks telemark in the carnation colorway. I like this yarn enough, it's hearty and warm, but they say it is sportweight and calls for size 3-4 US needles. I knit it on size 5, I think (or was it 6? no, I think 5) and the thing could practically stand up by itself. Maybe it will soften after washing? We shall see.

This looks to be about a 6-9 month size. After I wash it and attach some vintage-y buttons, it will go in the cedar chest awaiting the birth of a baby girl to someone we love.

This week I was planning to keep chugging along on my hippy dippy granny square blanket but I got my first international order (!) and I'm knitting away on two oatmeal-colored soakers for a UK baby.

Patons classic merino in "natural mix" which is exactly the color of a bowl of oatmeal. Mmmmm...oatmeal.

After these are done and shipped off, it's back to the WIPs, both yarny and sewn (oh yeah, there's a pile of stuff cut out next to the sewing machine, too).

What are you working on this week?

more skirts

I blew off all my normal household duties yesterday (except for feeding children and changing diapers) in favor of a sewing mini-marathon. With only a few stops and starts I was able to complete two more skirts for my summer wardrobe.

This first one I've been referring to as my "Pier 1 bedspread" skirt because it reminds me of stuff we used to buy there back in the 90s. Not sure if this is a hit or miss fabric-wise, but I think it works with either an ivory or brown shirt.

(Waistband is straight in real life...the hanger distorts it!)

I chose the fabric for this next one because it has several shades of pink and red on a black background, which gives me lots of shirt options. I should have fixed this photo, as it's a bit washed out.

These are Simplicity 2226, my new favorite go-to skirt pattern. It's awesome. Both skirts took two yards (with about 5" leftover if you cut the pieces close, as I do). I used quilting cottons from Joann's. Each also takes one 7" zipper. The only other notions required are thread and a bit of interfacing for the waistband.

For the 3 skirts I made, I only had to purchase one zipper as I had some on hand. For the butterfly skirt I used a vintage zipper in the wine-red color of the darkest butterflies. It was purchased by my grandmother probably at least 40 years ago, based on the packaging. The zipper tape is a lovely soft fabric instead of the stiff poly used now, and flexes beautifully. I wish they were still made that way.

So, yay, I have new clothes! It's always so fun when a pattern actually works out.

skirts!

Did everyone have a nice long holiday weekend (in the US)? It's been almost non-stop rain here for weeks...there is water seeping into my basement because my poor yard cannot absorb any more. It stopped raining just long enough for me to plant 8 pepper plants, 2 basil plants, some lavender and the 6-pack of marigolds Daughter chose, all in the awful muddy garden. Then we got a rip-roaring thunderstorm that bashed the heck out of them. Oh well, fingers crossed, maybe we will get a small pepper crop. I also did a ton of housework trying to whip the house into shape, so I didn't have a lot of crafting time.

[sad face]

Anyway, I did have time to ponder my sewing plans whilst mopping the crusty kitchen floor. I've been hemming-and-hawing about the new Lisette pattern line that's made a splash in the online sewing community this spring. I was immediately drawn to these patterns because they are the kind of clothing I want to wear. Simple, clean lines, sweet fabrics that are available at a reasonable price point from Joann's...so many good things. But I kept on not buying the patterns, even when they went on sale for a buck. I finally figured out why. It's because the dresses I like best (Portfolio and Market) are the style that looks worst on my body type. [more sad face]

I am 5' 7" and relatively slender, with a pretty average bust measurement. I am also very short-waisted. My natural waist falls just below my bustline, honestly, it's ridiculous. My height is all from my legs. Because of my high waist, I am somewhat rectangular, by which I mean my waist measurement is not a whole lot smaller than my hips. So what? Well, that means a simple pullover dress with bust darts will inevitably look like a sack on my body. I need waist shaping in my garments to give the illusion of having more of a natural waistline. I searched the flickr groups for Lisette and saw a lot of cuuuuuuuute dresses, but I could tell that the bodies wearing them were shaped differently than mine. What a bummer!

But all is not lost! This story has a happy ending. The pattern companies are always coming out with new styles, and this year I got lucky indeed. I have a skirt that I simply ADORE, purchased last year at a thrift store. It's a full skirt with a yoke and side zipper, made of lawn with a matching lining. I would show a photo but it's in the wash because I wore it yesterday.

I wore that skirt at least once a week last summer because it's cool, comfortable, and extremely flattering. The flat, fitted yoke front elongates my waistline and the full skirt balances my upper body perfectly. Looooooooove. I thought, "I MUST HAVE MORE!"

I even thought of trying to draft my own pattern using the skirt as a guide. So many talented sewists do that, but I'm not that visual. I like patterns and directions ready-made. Thankfully I came across Simplicity 2226. Oh. Em. Gee. It's my skirt! Almost exactly!

I whipped this up in an evening over the weekend. It is very easy! It's also a "learn to sew" pattern, which might be really helpful for a beginner, though you have to install a zipper which is hairy until you get good at it (in my opinion).

I struggled mightily with the size I should make, as I always do. The sizing is based on...your natural waist. As we now know, my natural waist is up under my chin, so I can't go by that measurement. I want my skirts to hang lower, just over my hipbones. So I ended up cutting a humongous size and then bringing it in until it fit. I've re-measured the pattern pieces and I'm hoping I know the right size to go with now.

This is one of the front pockets. The pocket construction is flippin' incredible, I just love it. It's difficult to describe how it goes together, but it's so easy and so awesome. (And the waistband is sewn on straight - the hanger is pulling it out of shape in the photo.) I highly recommend this pattern if you like a comfortable full skirt. I have cotton to make two more and I intend to make fall versions too, using denim and corduroy.

Oh, and I have to mention the fabric! I like loud, large-scale prints for summer with solid color tops. This fabric was on the red-tag clearance shelf at Joann's. It's a "premium" quilter's cotton, but was marked down to $5/yard. Over the weekend all red-tag fabrics were an additional 50% off. So I took the last 2 yards, which is exactly what I needed, making this skirt a whopping $6 including the zipper, purchased with a coupon. I got a couple more cottons off the same rack, and by using vintage zippers from my grandma's stash, I am psyched to be getting two more skirts for about $10 total. People, I am all about saving money by sewing. I really, really love to save bucks by making stuff myself. And I'm extra excited to get these high-quality fabrics because they are a heavier weight, so they are not see-through, and they have a lovely soft hand. The designs are printed straight and they are woven well so there's no distortion when you cut, gather, or stitch.

Those two skirts are on my to-do list for this week, so hopefully I'll have a "finished" post soon.

In other news...

My mystery shawlette continues apace. I'm caught up and excitedly awaiting the final instructions this Thursday. What a fun knit! I'm mentally shopping my stash for yarn to make another.

summer mystery shawlette knitalong

I've never been one to join stuff. Don't know why, exactly, but if everyone else is doin' it, I probably won't. Weird! But this time I'm a-joinin' in the fun.

For years I've had two beautiful skeins of fingering weight alpaca following me around. It was purchased when I was a relative newbie to serious knitting and I think I thought I would make socks from it (?) which would be unwise, as it doesn't have any nylon and would probably not wear too well! It's gorgeous, neutral, and soft as a cloud. When I saw Wendy's post about a summer mystery shawlette knitalong, it all came together in my mind - finally, a use for my pretty alpaca.

I don't really have much use for shawls, though I might use a shawlette as a scarf in cool weather. Truly I'm a practical knitter at heart and prefer hearty, workhorse yarns for warm sweaters, socks, and accessories.

But it's also fun and challenging to stretch my skills and make something beautiful, just because:

The first two "clues" of the mystery have been released and I've completed them. I'm pretty sure there are a few errors in there, but what mom with two young kids can knit perfect lace? I'm not worrying about it, just enjoying the pattern. I'm not going so far as to put my work on Ravelry like many others (see, not much of a true joiner) but I've browsed around on the site, and it is fun to see this made up in all the different yarns people choose. In fact, my own mother is also knitting this! I'm so psyched that we're both making this and I can't wait to see hers.

The next clue is released on Thursday in time for Memorial Day weekend. Maybe I can talk Hubs into taking the kids to the park for a couple hours so I can, you know, "get some housework done" (knitknitknitknitknit).

birthday gift sewing

On Friday we got home from the hospital around lunchtime. We all ate a bit, then Hubs (who is suffering from a sinus thing) crashed on the couch, and AJ crashed in his crib for a monster nap, so I decided to start the birthday outfit I intended to give as a gift on Saturday.

Nothing like waiting until the last possible minute.

I used Butterick 4176 in a size 2.

{As an aside, let me just say that I have no concept of appropriate sizes to sew for other people's children. When I asked my friend to measure her daughter's chest so I could make the right size, I almost fell over when she gave me the exact same measurement as Daughter...who is SIX YEARS OLD. Folks, believe me when I say I have some skinny kids.}

I must recommend this pattern if you have little girls in your life. It's easy and it's adorable. However, I must also recommend you trace the pattern pieces carefully, which I did NOT do. I therefore ended up with a dress back, and more of a "tunic" front. Somehow my pieces were off by about 2" which really cannot be fixed (I had pinned and cut them). There was nothing to do but chop off the bottom of the dress front and make the whole thing into more of a tunic-length top.

But I didn't feel I could just give that piece with a lame story about how I screwed up at the very last minute. So after bedtime on Friday I made a late-night dash back to Joann's and thankfully they had a bolt of coordinating fabric so I could rescue myself with some wee matchy pants.

I washed and dried the fabric Friday night while I finished stitching the top, and then whipped up the pants on Saturday between our zoo outing and the birthday party. I used french seams throughout both pieces so there are absolutely no raw edges except for the crotch seam, which I zig-zagged for strength and to prevent lots of fraying.

I love this pattern. It just comes out so cute every time.

Here's the back, with the sweet coordinating blue button I found in my button stash. I did purchase the fabric for this because it was a gift, and because I don't have many cuts of fabric in my stash that are appropriate for toddler garments.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to house-and-yard-work while I dreamed of the eleventy-billion projects I want to do. I went shopping in my yarn stash and came up with two lovely skeins of alpaca yarn, and for the first time I am joining a knitalong! I've pretty much been a lifelong anti-joiner so this is a big deal for me. I'm off to watch Doctor Who with Hubs and knit a few rows...I'll be back with more on that soon...

late night ramblings

My son had his 7th surgical procedure this morning. He received his 3rd set of ear tubes to relieve the pressure from the sticky mucus that has been building up behind his eardrum. Not only is that gunk at risk of becoming infected, it also affects his hearing, his speech, and how comfortable he feels on a daily basis, so it had to be done.

I pray it was lucky number seven - as in, the last one. I don't know how many more times I can take it, truly. And I'm starting to worry about the effect of all this anesthesia on my little boy and his developing body and brain. When we walked in I was able to greet the recovery nurse by name, because our son has woken up with him twice before. He didn't remember us, which I completely understand. For me a day like today is terrifying. For him it's, you know, Friday.

So I've been up since 5 a.m. (we had to be at the hospital at 7, which is when we usually get up), I spent 4 hours at the hospital, I feel like I've barely eaten because since AJ couldn't eat, we didn't either, and I'm just totally out of whack. In fact I just looked at the calendar and was startled to discover it's still Friday.

I'm having a late-night snack of cinnamon toast and tea with lots of sugar and cream. Turns out I was starving. I just finished the top half of a little outfit I'm sewing for a special birthday girl whose party is tomorrow. We're going to the zoo in the morning with my best friend from middle school and her family, then to the birthday in the afternoon. I'll finish up the outfit in between and try to remember to take a photo.

I'm so thankful my kids are ok, and that all our problems have been pretty small problems in the grand scheme of things.

That was pretty random, I guess. Just wanted to get those thoughts out.