The Fable of the Baby Sweater (Or: Me and Hubris, Once Again)

Once upon a time, I had some sock yarn, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.



Cateling suggested I use it to make the famous Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. What a great idea! My cousin was pregnant, and she had knit some baby things for my girls when they were little, so I knew she would appreciate the time and effort in knitting a baby garment.

Except.

Her baby was due in May. Not an ideal time to wear a knitted sweater!

"That's OK," I thought.. "I'll just make a larger size, for him to wear next winter. There are so many beautiful examples of BSJs for bigger babies!"

"But I won't make it blue, because I don't like to play into silly cultural expectations. I'll make it in shades of brown and eggplant, doesn't that sound nice?"

Except.

I wanted to make it in a washable wool (this is for a baby, after all; and for a new mother, who won't have time to handwash her baby's clothing). The yarn store didn't have my chosen colors in washable wool of the correct weight. In fact, the store owner mocked me a little bit (yes, it was that chi-chi poo-poo store, I admit -- I happened to be in that part of town when the urge to get the yarn struck me). The teasing flustered me. Also, the only colors that fit my wool specifications were girly colors, and blue.

*Sigh*. "Fine. I'll make it in blues" ...



... "but I will not" ...



... "finish it with" ...




... "traditional and completely overdone nautical-themed buttons."



Except.



That's really the only kind of button that went well with the sweater colors.

*Sigh*

Dear New Hampshire,

I'm sorry that after a couple of beautiful days the forecast has taken a turn for the worse:



It's just that I've finally completed my mittens, and it would be fun to wear them for a few days before packing them away until next winter.

I'm sure you understand.

Best wishes,

Imperatrix



PS: And this way, we have a chance of breaking the snowfall record -- we only have 3 inches to go, right?

Currently Knitting

Anemoi mittens.

Named for the Greek wind gods. I'll probably call these Boreas and Eurus, seeing as these are mittens!

I've put aside the Noro sock yarn; thanks to Cate, I have a better idea of what to make with that, and I will get to work on that after these mittens are done. Despite the shoulder-pain hiatus, I think I'll be able to have these finished before the cold weather is over (famous last words, I know). I made significant progress this weekend, although my shoulder and elbow/wrist would "pop" repeatedly when I would switch the working yarn (as you can tell from the color changes, that happens quite often in this pattern). Darn, I hate aging bodies.

Blocking should even out this stitch pattern. At least, I hope so!

After this project, I think I'm going to force myself to learn Continental knitting (that means holding the yarn in the left hand). My godmother taught me English knitting (holding the yarn -- you guessed it -- in my right hand), but I think I have to take drastic measures to relieve my right side of its dominance. I expect to be able to use both arms for many more years, but the strain of being so right-dominant may be putting that expectation at risk.

This probably means for a while my knitting results will be sloppy (although, I'm not a knitting perfectionist by any means, so perhaps the difference in quality won't be so obvious to anyone else!)

We shall see.

A Working Example of: Size Does Matter

We had back to back snow days here on Wednesday and Thursday, and there is nothing that cramps my style more than snow days. Case in point: When Impera was in kindergarten, and North Carolina had record snowfall (22 inches overnight), meaning that schools were cancelled for a week, I called on the third day and offered to drive her in even if buses weren't running.

So today, instead of doing work/catching up on things, I took some pictures for you. (Because once I'm in the time-wasting groove, it takes more than a small concern at the back of my mind to get me back to work. Especially on a Friday!)

I've been swatching that Kureyon sock yarn I bought for Christmas. I don't know why I'm obsessing over size with this particular yarn (I rarely do more than half of a recommended swatch just to get a general idea of which size I should follow the directions for). If they don't fit me, they'll fit someone else, so it isn't a wastefulness issue. It's not that I adore this colorway so much that I wouldn't want to share, either.



Katie J asked me to share my opinion about this yarn as I knit with it. And there are a few things I can already say. First, this is Kureyon, so their definition of "spun" is pretty loose -- some of the sections seem just like tufts of wool to me -- and despite this being billed as sock yarn, the thickness of the yarn is uneven, which makes for a great Clapotis shawl (which I knit out of the regular Kureyon a couple of years ago), but I'm not so sure about socks. I'm willing to make "artsy" socks, though, so once these are completed I'll revisit the unevenness issue.

Second, the yarn feels very waxy/sticky as I knit with it -- this may be to protect the unspunness of it from unraveling too much during the knitting process. I washed the swatches and that seems to have removed the waxiness. (I have never washed swatches, either; usually I undo the swatch and incorporate it into the project, but I wanted to know if the waxiness remained.)

Third, I'm a bit worried that the variegation is done on too large a repeat for socks. Heck, in making two swatches, I mostly had only one color (teal) show up. We'll see once a first sock is complete, I suppose.

I first made the swatch with size 1 needles, which is the size suggested in the pattern I'm using. I didn't get a 2" x 4" swatch, even when washed, blocked, and stretched a bit (1.5 x 3.25). I then tried size 2 needles, and that was more in the ballpark (1.75 x 3.75). (And for those few who would know to wonder: yes, the Kureyon gives the same yardage per weight as the Garnstudio yarn.) So I suppose I should go with the size 2's, even though I really like the fabric knit from the size 1's better.



Of course, the sock is just a (k2 p2) ribbing down the entire length, so I *could* use the 1's and just increase the number of stitches I cast on. But after my overzealous sizing for the Consort's winter hat (it really is too big -- he wears a baseball cap over it to keep it on his head), I don't trust myself.

We'll see.

And a last picture to give you non-knitters an idea about the thickness of the needles I'm talking about (yep, fishing for amazement and awe here):

My Christmas Loot

My Moo order has finally arrived! So I can now record for posterity my Christmas loot. Back before Christmas, Trixie emailed all my relatives and told them that she knew I would love a Williams Sonoma gift card for Christmas, so did anyone want to pitch in for one? (I knew nothing about this, and I was touched by my baby putting all this together on her own -- that was actually the Christmas gift part for the mom in me). She got such a great response that instead of tying me down to one retailer, she gave me the collected offerings in a card and told me I should just buy whatever I wanted with the cold, hard, cash (this was a wise suggestion from the Consort). The deal was, I had to spend it all by my birthday (January 17), so that it wouldn't just fade away into regular purchases.



The first thing I did was get a chicken pitcher. I first came across this at a local Italian restaurant. If you chose the 2-person prix fixe menu, it came with a "chicken-pitcher" of wine. Chicken pitcher? Yep, chicken pitcher. They are a traditional Italian pottery, and come with a story of attempted betrayal. I could have purchased this at Williams Sonoma, but the restaurant was selling them, too, so I went with the local merchant.

Then, because I'd really like to start baking sourdough, I bought one of those wicker brotforms (later in the week, we'll see if mine turn out as lovely as the ones in that link!). I'm taking advantage of the fact that we live right by the headquarters of King Arthur Flour this year -- so again, a local purchase rather than a Williams Sonoma one!

In the fall, I learned about postcrossing from Marsha. It's an international postcard exchange project, and it's been a lot of fun participating. I bought a pack of New Hampshire themed postcards to use, and I was almost out. So I decided to order Moo postcards made from some of the photos I've taken during our summer and fall escapades. (Nope, not local -- they're based in England.)

I also bought the Jake Shimabukuro CD from iTunes. Have you heard of him? He's a ukulele player from Hawai'i (of course) who has revolutionized the instrument. No longer just for Don Ho-style "Tiny Bubbles", we can now hear ukulele versions of things like While My Guitar Gently Weeps (blows your mind!), Ave Maria (glorious!), and, believe it or not, the Star Spangled Banner. Really. (So I guess you don't have to believe it or not, 'cause I just told you.)

And lastly, do you notice that skein of yarn in the bread basket? Yep, I bought some more sock yarn. I made a shawl with Noro (a Japanese yarn) a couple of years ago, and they've just come out with a sock yarn. The colors are, ummm, pretty vibrant, but I figure, if you're making hand-knit socks they might as well be visible! Another local purchase (in the sense that I bought it from a local shop -- but Noro itself is pretty distant!).

So, for those of you who participated in this Christmas gift, I say: Thank you! I'm very pleased with the things I chose with your cold, hard, cash. ;-)

FO: Monkey Socks

Can you believe it? I'm blogging a finished knitting project!

I've had this yarn with me since late last spring. I loved the orange colorway, and I enjoyed knitting with Trekking sock yarn before, so I bought it without a moment's hesitation. Then I got busy with the move to New Hampshire. And I didn't really have a pattern I wanted to use. And I got sidetracked by other projects. So the ball of yarn was tossed in the back of the one knitting/sewing drawer I have here.

Over Christmas break, I had a hankering to start a sock project. Perhaps because I had put the KnitPicks sock sampler on my Christmas list. (I won't post a link because they've discontinued it, but it was an assortment of sock yarns, enough to make 6 pairs, that you could get in warm colors, cool colors, or neutrals. I said on my list I'd be happy with either the oranges/reds or blues/greens, but not the browns/blacks.) I was the one thing I was absolutely positive I'd be getting, seeing as it was a quick and easy gift to get. Surprise of surprises, I didn't get it (no worries, I got lots of other cool stuff!). But because I had expected it, I still had the sock-making urge. I pulled out the ball of Trekking, downloaded the Monkey Sock pattern that was all the rage a year ago ('cause I'm about 13 months behind the times, on average), and started knitting while the rest of the family was busy adventuring in WoW.

Now in the past, I have found that my hand-knit socks are a bit on the loose side. They always ended up too long. This time, I decided I'd make them on the short side, to take the yarn "give" into account. That part worked like a charm. From now on, I won't make a pair bigger than size medium, even though I have a size 9 foot, and Impera has a size 8.5.

Something else I learned, though, is that some projects are made to be completed with circular needles. I'm a dpn* gal when it comes to tubes like socks and mittens. When I walked into my local yarn shop in Iowa a few years ago and said I was interested in learning to knit socks, the owner brought me over to the double-point rack, handed me the Patons Pull Up Your Socks! booklet, and told me to follow the directions word for word, even if it doesn't seem to make sense! I had no idea what she meant until I got to the turning the heel section of a pattern. (If you've ever made socks, you'll know what she meant, too.)

Back to the Monkeys: In many rows, the pattern repeat begins with purls. I remember reading in a Nancy Bush sock book (yes, I read it, but found all the patterns too scary to look at, so I returned the book to the library, post-haste!) that one should never begin a needle with a purl stitch, as we have a tendency to knit purl stitches looser. I stored that fact away, and realized the wisdom of her words when knitting these socks. You can definitely tell where those loose, first-stitch purls are. I would take a picture, but it seems that Impera** must have worn those socks today, as I can't find them in her room.***

Darn flash is way too bright!

For most of the sock, I couldn't switch where the needles began because if it wasn't at a purl stitch, it would be at a yarn-over, which seemed particularly scary to me. (I could very easily see me consistently dropping a stitch when that stitch isn't a real stitch but just a half-loop of yarn. Because sock knitting is supposed to be a multi-tasking endeavor for me -- done while listening to a podcast, or chatting with family -- I couldn't imagine enjoying it for very long if I was constantly dropping stitches and having to count, over and over again.)

In the end, I'm glad I got the Monkeys out of my system. But I don't think I'll make this pattern again. It's OK, but I don't feel like buying a bunch of small circulars, and this pattern really isn't appropriate for knitting in the round with dpns.

And once again, I made a lace pattern with variegated yarn. I wonder how many times I have to tell myself that variegated yarn ends up hiding the lace pattern? I'm hoping three times is the charm. But lace patterns are so fun to knit up. And variegated yarns always catch my eye. We'll just have to see, I suppose. I am an official old dog at this point, you know.

Official specs: Monkey socks from knitty winter 2006, knit with Trekking XXL, color 38.


*double-pointed needles
**Yes, I gave them to Impera. I'll explain why tomorrow.
***Although I realize that with the MOUNTAINS of clothes and random items strewn one-foot thick about her room, it may just be that they are hidden too well for me to find.

Meet the New Arrivals

These two gnomes arrived to join the Nature Table. They'll be busy doing prep work around here in the next two weeks, because St. Nicholas can't be lifting and arranging things, and that poor donkey is still traumatized by the chokotoff incident.

Taking a bow

I'm sure I'll be able to catch them in action a time or two. They're happy for the work -- heck, even with us keeping the house at 59 degrees during the day, it's warmer than in the forest, and gnomes are easily paid with a pint of barley beer, especially if it has nice thick foam and a sharp bite to it.

I think some of their humor is a bit strong for St. Nicholas's taste (him being a bishop and all), but they have yet to go too far. But they certainly can be jokesters. I suppose a happy gnome makes a happy home (or somesuch quaint saying).

St. Nicholas, Nature Tables, and Slippers

During my childhood, in Belgium children received gifts from Saint Nicholas (after leaving the slippers out), on the 6th of December. In the U.S., children would receive their gifts on the 25th of December (under the tree), from Santa Claus. Hmmmmm. Now, my parents were willing to shift the big gift giving to the 25th, but they did want to incoporate the whole Saint Nicholas thing, too. So, growing up, from the 6th to the 25th, we would sing the Saint Nicholas song every night before bed*, leave our slippers out, and find a small treat tucked in our slippers in the morning. (We never really had stockings at Christmas, seeing as we had gotten trinket-y things for 20 days in our slippers.)

With my kids, I’ve changed the slipper treats from chocolate and other goodies to things like stickers, pencils, hair ribbons (and a few candies, to be sure). We started singing last night, and this morning, this is what they found:



“What did you get in your slippers?” I asked Impera (it’s a little game we play at Christmas, we all pretend…).

“Saint Nicholas gave me a llama,” she replied.

That’s no llama, that’s Saint Nicholas’s mule, who helps him deliver the treats (Black Peter is not a part of our version of the tradition) to the children! (This morning, the poor mule’s baskets were laden with two chokotoff candies for each girl, his legs rather splayed under him. I proposed we set two candies in front of him for the photo shoot, and he gratefully accepted this offer.)

The theme of this Saint Nicholas season will be: gathering props for our Nature Table.** I’ve been wanting to have a Nature Table for many years now, and in fact have made several projects from The Nature Corner and Feltcraft. We put together something this Fall, gathering things during our walks and hikes (you can see it here, complete with notes), and now it’s time to get a Christmas/Winter table together. I hope the girls will enjoy getting the figurines in their slippers, because I know I’ll be having fun putting them together. I’ll try to remember to post a few more shots as the table is filled with personages and little props.


*I’ll try to track it down for you. I don’t have the time right now, unfortunately.

**You can do a search on Nature Table on Google, and you’ll find some people (those same conservative evangelicals who have no patience for any sort of non-Christian spirituality) saying that this Waldorfian idea is rather neo-pagan (i.e., honoring the spirituality of nature). To which I reply: Yeah, so – what’s the problem, exactly?

Sock Saga

April 2007
"Trixie, it's your turn for the next pair of socks I'll be knitting. I'm thinking I could use the yarn I won in the Secret Pal contest, and make up a toe-up, eyelet sock pattern, with a picot edge at the top. What do you think?"

"Cool! That will be great!"

May 2007
"Trixie, can you try this sock on? I think I should start the heel now."

"No, Mom, make it longer."

"Trixie, I made it a bit longer, but I'm afraid it's too big -- it fits my foot!"

"Mom! Remember, I have big feet, this will be perfect!"

October 2007

"Trixie, I finally finished your socks! Here, try them on."

"They are so pretty, Mom. Thanks!"



November 2007

"Hey Trixie, I notice you aren't wearing your new socks. They'd go really well with those clogs we got you."

"Uh, Mom? They're kinda big."



December 2007

"There! Finally fixed. Here you go. How do they feel? Do they fit?

"Yeah ... they fit."

"What's wrong? Are they too small now?"

"Oh, no. But they feel like knit socks. You know, not smooth like gym socks."



*sigh*

(Some notes: These were knit toe-up. When I had to shorten the foot, I cut off the toe [toe-up makes a nasty mess of knots in the toe part, which is unfroggable, so I just cannibalized it], frogged back to where I needed to begin the decreases for a traditional cuff-down 4-needle bind-off toe, put the stitches on needles, and finished it up. Honestly, I know many perfectionist knitters say you can't knit in the other direction and have it look good, but for these socks, it worked just fine. Especially since I only did the toe in the opposite direction from the rest of the sock.)

(And, in all honesty, she's been wearing them every day since I finished them, so she really does like them!)

Proof that I'm Still Crafty

You wouldn't know it from the past few months, but I used to blog about my knitting. Although, to be honest, even when I participated in Secret Pal exchanges, and had a bit more drive to produce, I never really did. Produce much, that is.

Then it was summer, and we moved here. The heat didn't really inspire me to go looking for yarn shops.

Then we moved to town, unpacked all our boxes, and I realized that we hadn't brought the winter hats, scarves, and gloves. To New Hampshire! Land of winter sports!

That was just the nudge I needed to get cracking on finding a yarn shop. My first visit was to a shop in the neighbor chi-chi town to our chi-chi town. I figured I'd pay a little extra to support a local business. After my visit, I figured I might believe in supporting local business, but the local business needs to provide at least a smidgen of customer respect! (Maybe she could smell my non-hipness, despite my attempt at "dressing up" for the visit?)

I did buy three skeins of yarn. And I made the following hats:
We are pretending to be freezing despite the balmy weather.

For Trixie and Impera, I used this pattern as a base. However. When I was finished with the head part of Trixie's she said, "Stop!" No brim, just a stockinette cap. I may just knit the brim anyway, in case once winter comes along, the wind blows it right off her head. She wanted a pompom, and I may make her one, but she looks so cute without it. Impera wanted the brim, but I did not understand completely how the hat was to make a double thickness (I loved the pattern, but I like to be talked through the designer's concept; I don't seem to trust designers very much). This means that the hat is a bit too long, so you see some purling below the brim. I'm tempted to just sew up the top a bit to tighten it up. I don't know.

For the Consort, I "made it up." All he wanted was a stockinette cap with a ribbed brim, enough ribbing that he could fold it over and completely cover his ears with double thickness, to keep those poor ears warm. It mostly worked, but I was worried about making it too tight, so it ended up too loose, and because it is so wiiiiiiiiiide, there wasn't enough yarn left to make it as tall as I wanted, so (a) it may fly off in the winter wind and (b) his ears may not be fully double-covered. Sigh.

I was out of yarn, and it was my turn. You can imagine that I didn't really feel like returning to the fancy schmancy yarn shop. Instead, I went to this drab little building we pass from time to time in the antithesis-of-chi-chi neighboring town. It is called Country Woolens, and its white aluminum siding and very few windows worried me. "You should check that place out," the Consort had said more than once when we passed by. "Yeah, well, mmmbmbmbmmghhhuhunh," I'd reply.

Foolish, foolish me. This place was wonderful! The older woman who is clearly the owner was welcoming, she and her buddy chatted with me, they weren't pushy, nor were they aloof, and I came out with some Noro Kureyon and no loss of self-esteem. I am definitely going back there. (And it's on the [free] bus line!)

I am a pushover for a good blog recommendation, so even though I read that this hat sized small (it comes in only one size, and that is 18 inches [even Trixie has a bigger head circumference than 18 inches!]), I made Veronik Avery's Short Row Hat.

Don't look at the face, look at the hat!

I did one extra 4-section repeat, so it would actually fit around my head. This made it a bit too tall, though. I "fixed" that by doing some strategic sewing up along the crown, and hiding the surgery with a pompom. After I was all done, I realized I shouldn't have done surgery at all, I should just have folded over the ribbing (I am folding the ribbing, but without the sewing, I may have had enough to cover my ears completely. (No, wait, that's not my concern, that's the Consort's!) I had the Consort take a bunch of pictures, and I took some more this morning, but I wasn't happy with any of them. This was the least bad picture. But you can't really see the full pompom, and it is taken from the side I knit first -- I got lots better at knitting the short rows together. Really, I did.

Now that the hats are finished, my fingers are itching for a new project. But I'll have to keep these lessons in mind:

Trust the designer. They know what they're doing. (Even if they tell you to knit the cap part 9.5 inches before the decreases -- They've got a reason for doing it that way!)

Don't worry so much about tightness. Otherwise, hats (and socks, this happens when you knit socks, too) are too darn loose.

A good yarn shop = one run by a down-to-earth older woman. It was that way in Des Moines, and it is that way here, too.

Remember to get someone else to model your hat next time. You can't take the photo you want by shouting out things like, "Just get the hat! It doesn't need to have my whole body in it!" "Did you focus in on the color changes?" "Wait! These are taken on the bad side! I need the other side!" "Are you focusing on the hat?"

So, yeah

...about that wall quilt I was making? Well, work got kind of super busy, and I didn't have the time pull out the sewing machine, let alone go to the fabric store.

And we're having guests coming over for supper tonight. I really didn't want us to have a big blank wall -- heck, we've been here for two months, already!

Enter, plan B:
I am now adorned.

It's a wooden frame, with some thick fabric (in our case, duck) stretched across it and the whole thing hung on the wall.

Check out my detail, it's almost like a painting, right?...RIGHT?


I got the idea here. Unfortunately, the selection of home dec fabric here in the wilds of New Hampshire isn't as vast as it is in the Chicagoland area. So instead of "oooh! so chic!" we've got the Ramada Inn look again.

But at least the wall isn't bare.

Portrait of the Artist as an Unfocused Woman

“Wow! Our living room is so bare in our itty bitty sabbatical house. And the walls! They exude such … beigeness.”



“But hark! What do I notice to the side there? Could it be? Yes! It is! It is a framed loon triptych*!



*think* *think* *think*

“I bet I could make a wall hanging to fill that space! Yes, indeed. In fact, I found this cool method for making wavy seams. I could totally make something for that space. Totally. In fact, all I’d need to get started is twelve fabrics!”



“Okay! Let’s get started. Wait—it’s too difficult to wavy-cut 42-inch lengths of fabric. I know, I’ll have 20-inch strips, but I’ll stack them, so I’ll still get 40-inch height.”

*cut, match, sew, iron* *cut, match, sew, iron* *cut, match, sew, iron*

“Grrrrrr. This is taking a looooong time:”



“Gosh, I’m only two thirds of the way done. Hmmm. I know! I’ll just do the last third with the strips going horizontally:”



*cut, match, sew, iron* *cut, match, sew, iron* *cut, match, sew, iron*

“Bored now. What can I do? … Dang! I’ve forgotten to use one of the fabrics! Oooh! I think I have a solution. Tadaaa!”



(And a curse on anyone who even thinks that this looks like an upside-down flag.**)

“Hmmm. This doesn't look anything like how I envisoined it.

"Urgh. I need a beer. And maybe a multi-day break from this project."



*No, actually, it isn’t.
**And a pox on anyone who reminds me that originally, this was going to be two strips high. I’m just going to make a wider border than I planned, is all.

Twelve steps

Twelve steps
Originally uploaded by friuduric.

Twelve fabrics. Washed, pressed, and trimmed. This is for a project I've had in my mind for a couple of weeks now. The problem is, it's all in my head, and I'm not sure the physics of the real world will allow my idea to work.

I'm anticipating lots of frustration ahead. And lots of cries of "Why can't I just make something like this from a pattern??!!!!!"

We'll see. And the only hint I'll give here is: loon.

Note to My Readers

I have abandoned my promise of a return to daily posting, I know. I'm sorry. *Sigh*. It's that darn Daily Photo Diary at flickr. You see, there are only so many wasted minutes (in all truth, hours) in a day, and adding another daily chatty / creative place means that I've been running out of energy for posts over here. (Stop that snickering in the back row: Yes, as a matter of fact I do consider this blog a creative outlet. [Not that I lie to you all, of course, I don't mean "creative" in that way.]) Every day I think, "today for sure I will post at both places" -- but then 8:30 pm rolls around and I just can't do it.

While we're talking, I should also point out that I've been slacking off in my conventional crafting, too. Heck, I've got a pair of socks for Trixie that simply need the picot edging finished on one sock and it's done. But have I finished it? No. (Let's not talk about that seascape shawl, OK?)

I did complete something recently, though, and I realized this morning that I could hug two dogs with one arm (as Trixie says; she doesn't like phrases that include animal brutality. Stones? Birds? --Barbarism!). I can post about it here!

I bought some used window treatments at the thrift store and cut them into strips:



I armed myself with a size P (11.5 cm!) crochet hook, and started single-crocheting. I added increases at appropriate points. And I ended up with this:



A sheepish dog rug!

(No, a bathroom rug to set by the sink, there just wasn't enough light in the bathroom, and I put the dog there for perspective). The entire set is, as you guessed, on flickr.

I used the directions from this site, and I liked doing this so much I'm thinking of making a larger one for the living room.

(Edit: In the comments, Carri said something that reminded me there was a bit more detail I wanted to give. When crocheting a rug, you have to be careful that it doesn't curl up on you -- it has to remain flat to be useful! After reading about rag rugs, I was very conscious of the possibility of the "bowl effect", so as well as adding increases at every row (two increases at each end), I would tug and wiggle the stitches around the perimeter when I made the increases to make sure things stayed as flat as possible. Also, after I was done and started using the rug, I still noticed a bit of curl, so I just flipped it over, and now it doesn't curl up. For the next rug I make, I will plan on the bottom side (the side I don't see as I'm crocheting) being the top side when it's done.)

But, there's also a wall-hanging that I want to get to. Oh, and a sweater for me. And some projects with yarn the Consort and girls insisted I buy at a garage sale several weeks ago.

Uh oh. Something's gotta give. (I wonder if I actually have to do all that client work?...)

Pattern Suggestions?

A question for my needle arts readers (If you're still reading. The crafting has been paltry since we arrived in NH, I admit.)

We went to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen ("Crafters!" I shouted to myself) fair on Sunday, and I bought some pretty buttons. See?



Does anyone know of a good pattern to use four 3/4-inch (1.5 cm) buttons? If I were to sew, I was originally thinking of making a Chinese collar blouse. But that would call for many buttons, I think; and I could only afford four of these things. If I were to knit, I first imagined a pullover (jumper) with the opening a diagonal flap along the left side of my upper torso. I don't think I could wear a sweater with four buttons at the top and open the rest of the way down (it would make me look pregnant).

I also really shouldn't be "making this up as I go along." That would definitely not work. I will need a pattern.

Has anyone seen anything in a magazine, book, or on the Internet?

I would be eternally grateful (and it would ensure I'll start blogging about craftiness again!)

Finishing Up Loose Ends

Mizmell asked what pattern I used for my skirt. I used the Sew What! Skirts book I bought in the spring. About a month ago I bought some brown flowery print that caught my eye:

I washed and ironed the fabric, but then put it aside when things got busy. I really wanted to make an A-line skirt with it, to go with a brown t-shirt I got for myself. Here's the result:


I also finished up the secret things I planned to make with some quilted fabric. Remember that stuff?


They became casserole carriers, for our potluck buddies:


I really ought to get packing, but I detest packing. I did go through Trixie's room with her yesterday, so we've sorted out two big bags of trash, a large pile of recycling, and have made "to stay" and "to come" piles. I just have to box things up.

Then, I have to box up the office stuff I'll be taking. Yuck. I've voiced the wish that I could just blink my eyes and skip the next 10 days, and find myself in New Hampshire already. But the rest of the family think that living throught this week of Hell will be fun.

Clearly, they don't share genes with me, those loons.

PS: The FedEx man just delivered an envelope to our door. So I can now say, with no worries of any trickster gods hearing, that we have renters for our house. They'll be arriving in August for a one-year law clerkship. Yahoo! The only worry I have is that the house will be empty for six weeks. But everything should work out fine (crossing my fingers). Plus, they would prefer to bring as little as possible, so we'll be most likely leaving our dishes and our bed for them, as well as most other furniture. We'll have lots of garage sale-ing and thrift store shopping to do during the peak of garage sale season. How many people get a chance to redo their furnishings from scratch, I ask you? The adventure begins.....

Summer Adornment

I’m not a big wearer of jewelry (although I love to look at jewelry) because, like makeup, it seems like such a good idea but I don't have long-lasting follow-through (you know, taking off the makeup every evening, or taking the time to put it on in the morning; or, taking an earring off because you’re on hold on the phone and it pokes the side of your neck and then forgetting where you placed it [because you pace when you’re on the phone] and hoping it’ll turn up when you clean the house, … that sort of thing).

In the summer, though, with décolletés (I’m a big fan of turtlenecks in cold weather) and fun times out in public, I usually get a fresh burst of jewelry-wearing craving. Four years ago, in early summer, in those first few weeks of summer break when I worry that the girls were getting bored, we went to the local bead shop, picked a packet of glass beads and made ourselves summer necklaces:


It was a fun afternoon craft, and all three of us did wear those necklaces pretty much every day that summer. The variety of colors ensured that our necklaces would go with most anything we wore.

Two years later, the girls reminded me of the fun we had making necklaces, and could we do it again? Sure! We visited the same bead shop, and decided to make necklaces with our names on them. We each chose the beads and colors of our preference, and came up with this:


(Note to self: Those “organic” shaped stone beads are poky on your neck. Don’t chose those again!) We wore these most of the summer, too, although the first necklaces made an appearance now and again.

Last year it was my turn to remember the fun and ask the girls if they wanted to make a 2006 edition summer necklace. Yay! They did. The theme we chose last year was to use the same background beads on all three, but individualize the decorative ones:


Now we’ve got three summer necklaces, and although I wanted to have a 2007 summer edition, I worried that if my choices got too varied, I’d be back in the typical jewelry quandary (i.e., choice, which equals wasting time when getting dressed [I admit to a rather strong lazy streak]).

By chance, I stumbled on the Etsy site of Kathryn Reichert. Have you ever Etsy’d? I often follow links to Etsy vendors, but I had never purchased anything. (I think Etsy is a great idea, don’t get me wrong, I just often have a hard time justifying spending money [good thing I work from home and don’t have to purchase work clothes, etc.) Her simple silver posey rings intrigued me. I showed the girls the site, and they thought getting rings this year instead of necklaces was a dandy idea. And hey! We could create our own message for the rings! First, we thought we’d go with words like Adventure, Wander, or Quest. But then, after a look in the thesaurus, and a subsequent Web search, we decided to go with some classical Greek terms:


Trixie and I chose Arete, which represents the idea of “living fully” or “living up to your full potential”. Impera chose Aristeia, which is the classical notion of “a warrior’s prowess or excellence” (she is a proponent of the idea of strong women who do That Which Is Just, you know?). Kathryn, if you read this: Thank you! We are so happy with our first Etsy purchase. Everybody else: Go take a look at her offerings, and check out that bottom picture on the posey ring page, your order comes wrapped in vibrant ribbon – the package looks beautiful even before you see your jewelry.

Bag Lady

First: An Emendation. Cate asked in the comments to this weekend’s post about the patterns I used for my Secret Pal package. Sorry about not including that info. The doily-looking one was made with a pattern on the label of the Sugar N Cream ball of yarn. I think it is this one. Note that I had to end the pattern two rows early because 136 stitches do not fit on my 8-inch double-pointed needles very well. I had to use clothespins to block off the points so the stitches wouldn’t keep slipping off.

The two-color round one is made from this pattern. Easy peasy.

I made the soap sack with this pattern, although I used size 7 needles and the Sugar N Cream cotton. Oh, and instead of a ribbon, I made a crochet cord to tie it up.

Now: On To the Topic At Hand. In my ongoing quest to use my stash of Guatemalan fabric, I spent a good portion of the past few days making bags. Here’s Trixie modeling them, pretending that she’s at the bus stop after a long day of shopping:

One of them, you’ll notice, is not made of the Guatemalan fabric, and you may see a close up of it at a later date, as part of a package for someone. But I had the sewing machine out, with the right bag-making needle on it, so I decided it would be a good idea to get it done now rather than later!

I also finished up the project on size 15 knitting needles: A string market bag (notice how Impera is in such a rush to fill her bag with farmer’s market goodies, she’s got her back to us [actually, she came back from a sleepover birthday party, and was looking a bit peaked):

I used the MagKnits pattern, but I made the alterations as described at Disdressed. This was a fun and fast knit (and I guess I can’t say that I’m a one-project-at-a-time knitter anymore!). If I were to do it again, I’d probably knit it in the round to eliminate the side seams (seaming up size-15 holes creates a bit of a conundrum, you see). But—do they even make circulars in size 15?

I said in the comments that I was burned out sewing-wise, and that’s true. I also made another skirt (not in Guatemalan fabric), but because I underestimated the ease needed (I overestimated last time and had to take it in quite a bit), it doesn’t really fit. It will fit one day, so I suppose it has become my “Goal Skirt.” But it was a bit of a blow. So although I have plans for this stuff:

(I know you won’t guess what I’ll be making with them. It’s not what you think.) I may not feel motivated to actually start that multi-item project for a few days. Which is probably a good thing, seeing as I have put aside my editing projects too long. Time to go back to being an income-producing member of society!

Book Review: Sew What! Skirts

As promised, here are my first adventures with my new book, Sew What! Skirts by Francesca DenHartog.

KathyR asked, “Can an impatient novice with a low end sewing machine accomplish any of these skirts? Not -cough- that I know anyone like that.” Yes, absolutely. This is a book for people who know how to sew straight lines and how to take their measurements. If you know how to use the buttonhole feature of your sewing machine, great! If not, no problem, you can still make skirts with elastic waistbands. I like zippers, so if you can put in a zipper, you’re golden (If you've never put in a zipper, DenHartog talks you through it, it’s really easy). So, Kathy, you can go ahead and tell your friend that she should give it a try.

The book begins by explaining how to make an individualized pattern for the two basics: the A-line skirt and the fitted straight skirt.

First, as you all know, I made an A-line skirt with that blue and black fabric. Cate commented, “I like how the stripes are not quite vertical.”—Erm, that would be because I folded the skirt in half when I took the photo the other day. As you can see, I did cut the fabric along the grainline (sorry this one’s so fuzzy):


Here’s a side view:


The next day, I used the red stripey fabric and made a straight skirt, with an attached pleated bottom edge, so I’d be able to walk in the thing without needing a slit up to there:


And, because I’m enjoying myself, another side view:


The book suggests different ways to finish the top of your skirt. You can add a sewn-in waistband, you can add a facing (which helps it sit more smoothly on your waist), or you can just add bias tape. "Bias tape?! How slipshod! I would never finish with bias tape! How unprofessional!" I thought to myself (remember this bit of pretension later, OK?). So I made facings for these two skirts. Because I had very little red left after cutting out the skirt pieces, I improvised with the facing for that one:

Now, what I used clearly doesn’t “go”, but considering no one will see the facing but me, I let it be. I like this idea of using different fabric for facings (it makes for a little surprise when dressing, and really, who doesn't need a little "surprise!" in the morning? [as long as it isn't of the "ooops, I must have eaten too many of those cinnamon rolls!" variety]). I’ll be using this random facing idea more often. But—probably not this random, next time.

I should mention about here (because you may have just noticed the turquoise zipper) that I was able to do this unplanned sewing in part thanks to a yard sale purchase from, oh, about four years ago. My eye caught sight of a box of zippers, for some unbelievably low price—maybe $5 for a shoeboxful?—and I brought the shoebox home, where I promptly put it aside. I mean, really, zippers in colors such as fuschia, teal, spinach, and tomato bisque? What was I thinking? Who would ever need zippers in such godawful colors?

Clearly, the four-years-in-the-future me. (Because if you put the zipper in correctly, others won’t ever see the tomato bisque zipper.)

As I said, If you’ve never put in a zipper, don’t worry, the author explains how to do it. She also shows you how to make a drawstring binding, and a sewn-in elastic waistband. (There’s also a description of how to make a sewn-in waistband with buttonhole closure above a zipper. But that would take more cut pieces than I wanted to do this week.)

I was on a roll, and I wanted to make the wraparound skirt included in the book. Now, here is where I ran into some trouble, and I believe it’s due to a typo in the book. I could be wrong, but so far I haven’t been able to explain it any other way.

There is a pattern for a skirt made from two half circles, sewn together. It looks very nice; but it takes over 5 yards of fabric. You fold the fabric, take your waist measurement, divide it by 6, and use a piece of string and your chalk pencil (actually, I used a graphite pencil; these are easy breezy summer skirts, after all) to mark the arc for the waistline cut and the hemline cut (sounds difficult, but it’s not; I’m just setting the stage for you). But! The author says, you can use the same idea to make a wraparound skirt, with only half as much fabric. Simply add about 12 inches to your waist measurement (for the overlap), before dividing by 6, and use that number for the arc line. Except—this makes one half circle (plus the 2 extra inches), the half circle which represents HALF of your waist. (Are you following me? For the wraparound, you should divide by THREE, not SIX, since the half circle will become your ENTIRE waist measurement, rather than half of your waist measurement.)

Right now, most of you are probably thinking, “Huh?”

That’s exactly what I was thinking after I cut the semicircle and put it up to my waist. There was no way I’d be able to wrap that thing around my waist. I tried it around Impera’s waist, and there was no way I could make it work for her, either….

“Oh…,
Trixie!…..”



I used the semicircle, but sewed up both edges, because a wraparound just isn’t practical on a playground. She loves the swishing swirliness of it:

(I normally wouldn’t cut off her head in photos, as you know, but the poor kid had to have a filling replaced today, so the entire left side of her jaw was swollen and she looked pretty darn awful, believe me.)

I re-did the skirt in a similar fabric for me, but dividing by 3, rather than 6. I decided I like a little swish in my sashay, too, so I sewed mine closed like I did for Trixie:


I used my handy-dandy bias tape maker (best darn sewing tool I’ve purchased in a long time!):

to make enough bias tape to finish the top and bottom edge of both semicircle skirts (Yeah, yeah, eating my words; but hemming a really curved edge is a bitch to do, and I didn’t feel like cutting out any more fabric for waistbands.)

To sum up, I’ve had fun with this book, and I plan to make several more skirts for this season (including one for Impera, whether she wants one or not; are you reading this, missy?). Except for that one typo, the directions are easy to follow. The most important aspect of this book is the confidence it gives a nonseamstress (like me or you) to make something without a purchased pattern. Split Sister asked, “Can I have a skirt too?” Which I would have to answer—No. Making a skirt in this way necessitates some tweaking. Everybody’s curves are different, and I did have to adjust the angle of the A-line so that it looked good to me (there was too much flare if I followed the recipe to the letter). So I really believe anyone could make themselves a skirt using this book; but you’d just have to do it for yourself (and Split Sister, I know you have a sewing machine!).