Monthly Archives: March 2012

Off the grid…

I’m going off the grid for a week and don’t plan to be friendly with my computer during that time.  I might post teasers by phone on twitter if you follow me there.  In the meantime, I’ve been working like a mad woman to finish the alpaca Tunisian crocheted blanket, as in at least 12 hours over the last 3 days.  And it’s alllllmoooossstt there.  Sadly, I probably won’t finish the fabric strip crocheted edging (for structural support of the blanket) before I disconnect.  I was hoping to finish it so I could use the massive tote it currently resides in… Maybe plan B will come to mind.

3/27/12 Project 365 crocheted edging for blanket

While I’m off gallivanting around, I’ll have a much more reasonably sized project to accompany me.

3/27/12 Project 365 travel project

Blood red paired with self striping neutrals.  I’m so excited I can barely contain myself!

Crafting vs. blogging? Crafting wins every time!

This has been a great day and a great week for crafting but maybe not so much for blogging.  As I told a lovely friend I ran into during an evening school event, there are days when I have a half and hour… and that half an hour is for making stuff.  My goal is still very much that I craft every single day for 365 days.

I spent Saturday in a sewing class.  While I diligently worked on my 2nd custom t-shirt and waited for the instructor to announce she was showcasing zippers, I apparently missed the intro to zippers.  Gah!  I saw the second part, but it was like a foreign language if you hadn’t seen the first.  Grumpily, I decided to finish the t-shirt and maybe see what home zipper projects I could start.  I figured I could bring in questions later if needed.

Sunday I helped enable a troop of Girl Scouts as they decorated their own TOMS shoes.  My favorite quote of the day was “Sparkles” (said with great reverence).

I used Monday for finishing the t-shirts.  The 2nd t-shirt was better “fit” wise, but I’m still working out the kinks on those iron on transfers.  Sadly, nothing photo worthy for the t’s.  (As a side note, I think the patch iron-ons are way better than the design sheet iron-ons.  And, did you know, there is apparently an appropriate height for the design?  Ask me how I know that now!)

Tues I took on the zipper challenge with the denim dop bag in Brett Bara’s “Sewing in a Straight Line” book.  Check it out!  I actually cut the pieces properly!  And the zipper, while not perfect, looks mighty fine for my first foray into zippers.  With all the step by step instructions, it was actually easier than what I expected.  It certainly made me question the bad rap that zippers have.  I did it in canvas instead of denim because I enjoyed the TOMS shoes that the Girl Scouts decorated so much.  Sparkles anyone?

3/23/12 Project 365 zipper

Wednesday I shopped for skirt material.  Our sewing class will be taking on elastic tomorrow and I wanted to at least have the project set up and ready to go so I wouldn’t miss any demos again.  Today I turned to the one-hour skirt from “Sewing in a Straight Line”.  And, success!  I still need to stitch in the ditch (what is that?), but it’s looking pretty good.

3/23/12 Project 365 one-hour skirt

Between yesterday and today I finished off the first piece of the Quercus Cardigan.

3/23/12 Project 365 Quercus progress

I topped off my Friday with an iron-on for Miss E.

3/23/12 Project 365 peace

What a great showing for crafting this week!

Today’s mistake is a “design feature”.

Yesterday I wrote about needing to rip out 7 inches of knitting, but today I’m keeping something in.

I found a cable where I needed to swap the order of the stitches 4×4 but instead had done a little 5×3 swap.  It’s only a few rows down.  If I had caught it at the major rip out… well, let’s just say that’s not an option now.  (I’m trying to let it go.)  I “could” fix it by redoing those 8 stitches in that section (and the 4 rows above it), but it’s a bigger cable, and I’ve only just mastered the 4 stitch cable repair.  It’s just intimidating enough to give me pause.

You have to look for it because it’s not visually obvious.  If I never pointed this out, I seriously doubt anyone would ever know.  The non knitter will not see it.  If anyone did, chances are they are a master knitter and would be kind about it anyway OR they had knit up the sweater themselves and knew the cabling well.  What really tipped my thinking when it came to deciding which direction to proceed was the notion that this particular error hangs way low on the bum.  If anyone is looking in that area, I’m thinking odds are pretty good they aren’t looking at the cabling.  (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)

And so, the knitting continues.  Between you and me there is now a deliberate “design feature” on my bum, I mean cable.

I’m doing the right thing. Why do I still feel so bad?

Yeah.  It’s been that kind of day with all of my projects it seems.

I realized yesterday that I had over knitted a rather large piece of knitting… by oh, 7 inches at least.  It knitting terms this is pretty major… nearly a whole freakin’ sleeve… 3 afternoons at least…  This is due to a) relaxing into a different gauge, b) being arrogant enough not to double-check myself at least once, and possibly also c) just not paying proper attention in the moment.

Given that I had spent a good portion of the afternoon ripping out a black seam on a black t-shirt with my over 40 eyes, gumming up a couple of sewing machine needles and following that with a borderline acceptable iron-on job, I figured I’d move to something a wee bit more mind numbing and less accident prone.  Besides, tearing at something kind of fit “the mood” at that point.

I learned (the hard way) that if something is not quite right with your knitting, it’s best to fix it as soon as you notice.  These things tend to give way to new issues structurally that you hadn’t thought of… and possibly even more tearing out than you would have had to begin with.  But did I follow that lovely little tenant this time?  No.  I thought longer was probably just fine.  Who would notice?

It wasn’t fine on the booty in the mirror.

It wasn’t fine when I saw how the weight of the fabric changed the look of what I had already knitted.

It wasn’t fine when I began to think of the calculations I might need to do for the other piece that was going to be joined with it… and the extra yarn it might require.

(Insert 1.5 hours of ripping and picking back up nearly 250 stitches.)

The thing is, I truly don’t mind the extra knitting.  Knitting is good any way you can get it.  I just dislike being inefficient in getting to my sweater payoff.  I’m mourning those “lost” hours.  Silly, but there it is.

My next step is to do what my mother always suggested… put the crafting down and get a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow is a new start to my beautiful cardigan.

A Kreativ Blogger award!!!

3/15/2012 Project 365 Kreativ Blogger Award

The same day I reached 1000 views on my blog was also the same day mydailycreativity thrilled me with this award.  It tickles me immensely that someone I enjoy following daily for positive, inspirational thoughts also enjoys my blog in return.  Many thanks!

In order to claim the Kreativ Blogger Award here’s what I and the next lucky recipients need to do:

1. Thank the blogger who gave you the award and provide a link.

2. List 7 things about yourself that your readers might find interesting

3. Nominate 7 other bloggers, provide links, and let them know!

7 things about me…

1. I’m always getting lost.  My kids just roll their eyes now when I tell them we are taking the scenic route.

2.  I have problems with rote memory… think street names.

3. Folks are always asking me for directions, it doesn’t even matter if I’m in a foreign country and don’t speak the language.

4.  I know a lot of back ways to get places… because I’ve been lost there before.

5. I have a knack for finding things that are lost… keys, kids, buildings.  I’ve actually found two different lost kids in the woods.  It balances out the “getting lost” thing.

6. I’m evil in the morning before I’ve had my coffee… sometimes even the second coffee.

7. I love walking by the ocean and in the forests; it brings me a sense of peace.

My 7 nominees are…

1.  Anette Grostad for her beautiful projects, musings and pictures.  I love seeing what she makes.

2.  Adine Storer for her beautiful photos.  She is just starting her blog, but I can tell you the photos she has posted daily on FB for her 365 day challenge have been lovely.  I’m putting hubbie on notice that I want a photo book from her for Xmas.

3.  Yarn, Paper, Sisters for their humor and variety of projects.  It’s always a fun read.

4.  Claire Shotter for her lovely illustrations.  I just really like her work and I like seeing the steps involved.

5.  365 Trinkets for his musings about clearing clutter and the insightful life implications associated with his clutter.

6.  Stillmindzen for such a soothing site.  I ruminate on the postings well after I read them.  Good stuff!

7. Melisa for being funny.  I want to be her when I grow up.

The little things…

I get a real kick out of figuring out something that I’ve either been stumped by or somewhat afraid of.  In this case, my son’s duvet cover had about a 2.5 inch slit in it.  I don’t even remember what happened exactly since it’s been sitting in the mending basket for maybe 1-2 years.  (Is this where I get the bad mommy award?)  I knew in theory it could be fixed with the sewing machine, but I wasn’t sure on the actual “doing”.

This morning I “did”.

Changed the presser foot (and found a new setting on my machine in the process).

Changed the needle to a denim needle, something I would not have known to do before my sewing class.

Debated about changing the thread from black to blue to match the comforter, but decided I kinda of liked the effect of the black thread… and no one was going to see it anyway.  (It really wasn’t laziness, honest.)

Lowered the feed dogs… because @meshuggeknitter taught me about when to use them and not.

Cut holes in some canvas and practiced a bit.  They aren’t nearly as pretty as the diagrams in the book, but they were effective in stabilizing the fabric.

3/14/2012 Project 365 practice mending

When I felt comfy I loaded up the duvet.  You can see the hole here.

3/14/2012 Project 365 hole in duvet

There was slight panic when I realized the denim was lighter weight than the canvas and probably could have used a stabilizing fabric behind it, but I threw caution to the winds and forged ahead.

3/14/2012 duvet repair a la Frankenstein

Voila!  My repair à la Frankenstein.

The next step was to take the self adhesive patch I bought at a time when I thought all I had to do was slap on the patch instead of also seaming things up a bit.

Carefully read the instructions.

Gathered my watch with the second-hand.

Found a cutting board to use as the surface, per the instructions.

Found a light weight pressing cloth, also per the instructions.

Heated to the proper temperature and pressed the proper length of time.

And… nothing!

Tossed pressing sheet.

Tossed cutting board right behind it.

Pressed the stuffing out of it again… both sides.

All better.

3/14/2012 Project 365 all better

Sometimes art is just the little things… the practice, the sketches, the swatches, and the patches.

Turning point?

I’ve noticed a trend with my blog posts (and maybe you have too) that reflects a larger interest in fiber art than fine art.  It’s had me thinking a bit…

I chose to do one art piece a day for the blog because it’s something I’m fairly decent at and have been since preschool.  I thought that if I laid out my plan in a public space it would “push” me a bit to do more.  Art in some form or another is always on my mind.  I’ve always thought this was my quiet passion.

But what if…

…being good at something doesn’t mean you have to follow it.

…it’s really the company and the escapism I have on painting retreats that I love.

…I’ve never really had the drive to back up any raw talent.  (In high school I used to hate the 1x/day sketches we had to do.  However, I would voluntarily pull out fiber projects sheer fun.)

…given a choice, I’d rather work on one of my many yarn or cloth projects.  It feels more like “fun” than “work”.

…what I actually DO is more authentic than what I actually say.

…it’s feeling more like a “should”.  (Meh!)

While meditating over the last 8 weeks, I’ve taken the time to just ponder these ideas and observe like you might observe the weather what they made me feel.  I think art has been such a part of my identity for so long, I’ve been terribly afraid to give it up.

While I’m not yet ready to fully give it up even now, I think I can comfortably put it away for a while.  I’m thinking I will pack the bigger art supplies away into storage while I try on the idea of being a “fiber artist”.

(It doesn’t hurt that putting things in storage will free up space for my newest fiber addiction… fabric/sewing.  Heh!)

A funny thing happened on the way to a blanket…

I’m totally loving this blanket.  I’m blowing through a ton of miscellaneous skeins of yarn like nobody’s business.  (I’ve probably said this before; it’s just that I’m so amazed by it still.)  But, I’ve been learning a few things along the way.

Firstly, it’s bigger than I thought it was.  I spread it out on my 3′x3′ coffee table to take a photo and realized it’s at least 75% done.  Whoa!

3/10/12 Project 365 blanket big picture

This first section, was “nice” but boring.  (You can say it too; my feelings won’t be hurt.)  I was also realizing at this point that if I didn’t include other yarns I would have an awfully skinny blanket.  I knew that I didn’t have more of the browns/grays/cream in abundance so I only worked up half the neutrals with the idea I could put the other half on the other side of the blanket, framing some colored yarns in between.  (If you can make it look like it belonged there in the first place, it doesn’t really look like an accident anymore.)

3/10/12 Project 365 blanket/boring part

I went in search of other alpaca skeins and found some sparklies along the way.  I figured, why not?  They weren’t planned for anything else.  Wasn’t this a stash busting exercise?!  Here’s a close up since the previous blog post photos didn’t show them quite so well.  Yum!

3/10/12 Project 365 sparkly eyelash closeup

As I started adding different yarns I realized that I felt better about using every single yard of a skein and not worrying about starting on one end or another and having waste yarn.  I figure it just adds character.  It’s also not that noticeable when using so many yarns, some of them variegated and changing colors anyway.  As one yarn ran out I just started adding another to the mix.

3/10/12 Project 365 variegated yarn closeup

What has been fun is playing with different color combinations.  In the picture above, there is one variegated yarn that runs through the entire section, but it looks very different depending on what it pairs up with.  I think my favorite parings tend to be the variegated along with a neutral (black, gray, white).  Even with the different neutrals they appear different.  What a feast for the eyes!

Here I’ve started adding some ribbon yarn.  It’s possible this is pushing the envelope too far, or I need to pair it with more of a mohair to add some fuzzy bulk.  I’ll know more as I work with it.

3/10/12 Project 365 going too far with ribbon?

With all of the different yarns I’m throwing into this blanket, it’s entirely possible the end result will be homely or have that “oh yeah, that is soooo homemade it’s borderline ugly” look.  But, the process along the way is so fun I seriously doubt it will matter.  Besides, functionally it IS warm.

And, blanket number 2 is percolating in my brain as I play with blanket number 1.  There is a TON of ribbon yarn that needs to shine in someplace other that my bedroom drawer…

3/10/12 Project 365 yarn for blanket 2

Beginnings…

You know you are on a good path when you

try something

screw up

try some more

screw up some more

and thoroughly enjoy the entire process (and want to keep trying it).

I am totally addicted to making pillowcases, but I think I’ve made a mistake on each and every one them so far.  Today was about making Miss E’s pillowcases.  I had saved them for a last, hoping that I would be up to the task of embroidery for her.  She wanted her name on the first case plus a pattern.  I tried.  I tweaked the tension on the top and bottom.  I broke threads.  I played with designs to see what worked with the thread (and didn’t).  When I showed her my practice runs she decided her name wasn’t big enough and opted not to go for embroidery.

(I’d like to apologize to my mom for any impatience I had with her sewing when I was a kid.  I now understand the fun and frustration of sewing.  And, I now get how my “changing my mind” was very possibly inconvenient at best.)

Pillowcase number two was a cute little penguin number with pink and white pinstripe trim.  Unfortunately, the trim was on the bolt skewed… and made a nice crazy 8 kind of thing when I tried to straighten the stripes within my 8 inches of fabric.  Acckkkk!  I managed to tweak it enough and shorten the seam allowances enough to make it work, but it was touch and go with my beginner skills.  Whew!

  You can see the earth love and penguin pillow covers here…

3/7/12 Project 365 E's pillows

I hope this is a bright beginning for many new sewing projects, and I hope Miss E enjoys the things I make for her as much as I enjoyed the things my mom made for me.

Matchy matchy!

My 4 matchy matchy pillowcases for the master bed are all done.  I was in a crunch to try to finish them so I could start on my daughter’s pillow cases.  She, of course, requested her name embroidered on the end.  That’s a whole other level of dealing with my machine and requires some thread changing and manual gazing.  I’m hoping it’s easier than it sounds.

In the mean time, here are these lovelies to gaze upon…

3/6/12 Project 365 4 master pillow cases

Cue the angelic chorus!