Last weekend I was like a factory worker of old… sewed all day on Saturday, never even walked outside at all. Can you believe it?

Made this as a gift,

(don’t you love the fabric? “bow wow chow mein”!)

Made one for myself,

(hard to see, but it’s batik red dragon design on the other side… what? don’t you have your xray vision going?)

And decided to sew up most of the rest of the fabric I have (most, there’s still some more, but they’ll be more patchwork).

all because Kenny got a new foot

And tune up and new wires and I’m not sure what else…

And the repair guy never even commented on the bits of tape I have all over it. I put them there for my SIL, who borrowed it a few years back, but she couldn’t figure out how to thread it.

Gotta say, I like the old mechanical machines! The Kenmore isn’t fancy like the Singer Featherweight, but it will go through twenty some layers of fabric AND the silk cording! It could stand a new case… if you see one, let me know!

snow and ice

Snow pile at work… all snow! Can you see that bulldozer?

Ice dipping, from the crafting with carpal tunnel forum on Ravelry. The snow in the ice bath works great! PT appt next week to get better handle on what’s going on…

knitting?

Yes, some, none exciting though. Front and back are done and shoulders sewn on DH’s sweater. Started down on the sleeve (with short row shaping for cap-I was happy it worked!). It’s oatmealy/gray… Next project will have to be a small one with loads of color!

She really needs a name, this little Singer Featherweight.

I did some sewing yesterday. A duvet cover. From two big sheets. One would think this is a relatively easy thing. Pretty much three long straight seams.

Well…

I broke my sewing machine, the 1965ish Kenmore partway down the first seam. There was some trial and error because one of the sheets is the exact size of the comforter, while the other is bigger. There was some frustration. There was a lot of frustration. I don’t really have a sewing space, it is the end of the kitchen table. The end we typically eat on. Because it’s closest to the outlet. We have dogs. The floors aren’t super clean. There was a lot (a lot!) of fabric. Kenmore gave up the ghost… booo and hooo…

But I called my pal, and she said she had a machine even older than mine (~1947)! It works like a charm. There was some user error. After some bobbin thread massacre that required tools to clean up, I was good. Or maybe it was that I broke out the port. Chosen because it was the open bottle of anything wine-like. And a corkscrew was just too much at the time!

This machine was her mom’s… and she bought it as a young woman, in Hawaii! It is an amazing thing… light, compact, tidy, efficient, and beautiful.

The goal was to cover the down comforter with sheets, and to then ditch the top sheet on the bed. I told DH that it better be the damned best sleeping he’s ever had. He just laughed.

The seams are not straight. But it’s functional, and comfortable. So, mission accomplished!

bad eggs

Nothing is growing… but they still amuse me.

Of course it might be that these things were bought at deep discount, and they sat for a year before I planted them… or that I forgot which was the pitcher plant and which was the fly trap, and one of them needed to have its seeds frozen first. Those dragon plants advertise that the cut leaves bleed! Wouldn’t that be a hoot, terrifying bleeding plants at work? Right next to the whip…

Kenmore needs some servicing… but I think after maybe new belts, possibly new wiring from pedal, and perhaps (??) a new motor, it’ll be all good. It’s really a sturdy machine and has done a lot for me… including things I shouldn’t ask of it, like too many layers of fleece or denim. But after this little sewing escapade, I am clear that I do NOT want to sew my own flannel jammy pants. I’ll just buck up the big bucks (relative, to me) and get some ladies’ tall ones…

Last week Alphie, the ballet master from the Julliard, came over to hang out and knit (along with Jane, who is making a fish face in this post). Alphie talked about visiting the Helen Keller school on long island, and watching two blind women knit… I think it was something with cables. He asked them how they do it. By feel, which makes sense, and they are always checking their work, so they will notice a dropped stitch sooner rather than later. Then they wanted to feel what he was knitting…

mmmm, nice even stitches…. mmmm, fair isle… mmmm, you carry your yarn in the Swedish method.

Alphie asked if they knew colors, and they said yes… this is navy and white! Alphie said the sweater was actually navy and off-white. The womean said that different colors cause the yarn to feel differently, and that they can’t always tell exactly what color something is (but really, can sighted people always tell?), but that they know groups of colors. Mastery, eh?

kid proverbs

Two today, because I missed last time…

All good blankets must come to an end.

Actions speak louder than lying.

what I made and what I started this weekend

Actually, just yesterday since I worked all day on Saturday…

A shoulder/tote bag, from a skirt I got at that yard sale a couple weeks ago for maybe 50 cents!

the neat inside side, and the not so neat inside side…

You can see that I just sewed a tube, closed the bottom, and folded up the corners (under the straps). I used only half of the skirt for the bag, but all of it for the strap… The seams across the strap are for little pockets, one for my key card and one for my glasses.

full, and what it’s full of (don’t you like the waggy dog tail?)

Actual knitting!

Started these,

Gotta say, knitting the hemmed cuff closed was a pain in the butt!

Also finished the pair of maine morning mitts from the handspun, and have enough to make a second pair (if I start them with a couple rows of some other yarn…).

Thing 1 wasn’t quite right,

I figured out a couple of things for Thing 2, but it wasn’t quite right either,

But at this point I was willing to cut into ‘real’ fabric (as opposed to circa 1978 fabric from my MIL)

the tabby thing is intended for a tiny carabiner so I can hang the bag from a belt loop

After Thing 1 I ran down to Whippersnappers (you need to scroll to the bottom, they’re in alphabetical order). Lynn, the very nice owner, suggested double pulls versus the one. The ‘real’ fabric is from her…her store is like walking into a paint box!

I’m still not entirely sure (because I wing these things) if the opening is going to be good on Thing 3. Don’t look too closely, the seems don’t line up!

I bought the fabric maybe a month ago, enough to make three different color schemes of these bags, maybe some short needle rolls, maybe some notions pouches. I’m going to see how mine holds up before making more of the small project bags.

And why, you may ask, do I want a small project bag? Well, in part, who wouldn’t? But, also, ::nerves to be saying out loud:: I’m going on a trip! May 16 I leave Portland at 6 am (which means getting out of here by 3:30 or so…), and after flying all over I end up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where I’ll meet my mom!, and my aunt (her sister) and uncle (the aunt’s husband). We are doing this trip. It is an incredible and wonderful gift from mom, I am so looking forward to the time with her, my aunt and uncle, spending time on a train, seeing all the parks, just the whole thing! Here’s where you all might be able to help me…they all fly out of Albequerque May 25, as do I, but I land in Phoenix and don’t leave there until after lunch on the 26th. Do you know any knitters in Phoenix who would want to get breakfast/coffee/hang around and knit on that morning?

Contest update…if more than one person guesses correctly, I’ll pick a winner at random. If nobody guesses correctly, everybody is in and I’ll draw a random winner.

I did a bit of sewing yesterday.

a tiny curtain! This is botanically correct juniper with berries

behind curtain #1…microscopes, hoping to keep the dust out

Made using this

circa 1965-1968 Kenmore

This was Mom’s. She made my clothes on it. And clothes for my Barbie. That I pretty much never played with. Except to go scuba diving. She became a double amputee. Notice the electrician tape about a foot from the machine. Some puppy chewed through the cord. I think I might have changed the tape a few years ago. I still have the Barbie box!

what could possibly be in here?

2 “real” Barbies, one that is double thigh high amputee, and one fake Barbie in hand-made purple velour dress

Either I didn’t play with this enough, or I was clueless (possibly both). I did some close inspection yesterday and found that MOST of the outfits were made by Mom,

gotta love them all, they even have little bust darts!

So the DH birthday sweater…I did some short-row lengthening on the back. It really bugs me that the sweater I made him last year rides up on his back side. HE doesn’t care. My friend Ginny suggested lengthening with short rows. Basically it is exactly as Vogue Knitting recommends on page 186. I took some photos, sorry they are poor quality. DH said “let me take your pictures”. He has a better digital camera. But he was on the phone with one of his 4 brothers last night…

On the knit side (I did this short row with 6 stitches remaining to the outside), you are knitting along,

slip the next stitch

bring the yarn to the front

slip the stitch back to the left needle

flip the whole thing over

and now you have to bring the yarn back to the front so you can purl across

On the purl side (if I do a short row on the knit side I want to do a corresponding one on the purl side)

you are purling along

slip the next stitch

wrap the yarn to the other side

slip the stitch back to the left needle

flip the whole thing over

and then bring the yarn to the back so you can continue knitting

Then you need to hide your wraps, on the knit side,

the dissecting needle tool points to the wrap

insert right needle under the wrap

and into the next knit stitch and knit these two together

On the purl side

the dentist tool shows the purl wrap, this is harder to see in the picture than in real life

the photo for the next step was TERRIBLE…insert right needle from back to front into the wrapped stitch, lift this onto the left needle and purl these two stitches together

After all this, this is what you get,

notice just to the right of the needle, three rows, and to the right of that, two rows

I did this short row on the K and P side three times…thinking Illl add at least 1/2 inch, maybe 3/4. Now I just need to remember to measure the back at the seam and not in the middle!