Sewing

Well, I haven't been too productive on the knitting front. Since I last posted, I've finished one pair of socks for a dear friend's birthday- she turned 80!! She said she wasn't going to wear them and I said "But that's why I made them!" "No, now listen. I'm not gonna wear them until after the fair so that I can enter them." Ha, ha, she's so funny. That's one thing that surprised me about my job. It has given me the chance to make all kinds of friends that I probably would not have met otherwise. One of my best friends is a 60 year old lady that likes to tell me how to do everything- she tells everyone how to do things- but she also knows I probably won't listen to her. She has daughters the same age as I am, but she doesn't treat me like a kid. I am an equal to her. Incidentally, she has a great relationship with both of her daughters, too. She has learned to see them as people, not just as her kids. I hope I can have that with my kids someday.

Wow! That went in a different direction rather quickly. Okay, knitting, back to knitting.

I've also been working on the Dollar & a Half Cardi from the Spring Interweave Knits. I had a hard time with the lace pattern at first, but I also started with the sleeves for some reason. Uh, hello!, have I ever heard of sleeves having increases? Duh. So I ripped those suckers out and started on the back. Much better. Now I have the pattern down so I think the sleeves will make more sense. So far, the only thing I would change is to maintain at least two stitches in stockinette on each end instead of the one that the pattern suggests. My selvedge stitches are always a little ugly, so I think it would just be easier to seam with two. I'm using some yarn from elann.com. The pattern suggested a linen blend, but I am always cold, so I went with an Alpaca/Tencel blend. This may not have been the best choice, but it's too late now (it stretches quite a bit). The whole thing might just end up in my ever growing pile of non-worn handmade items.

Lately, though, I have mostly been sewing. I am having some trouble with my right arm- I think I have a pinched nerve in my upper back/shoulder. Whatever it is, it makes knitting more than a few rows at a time a real pain! So instead, I've been sewing. Plus, I don't get nearly the same scolding when I sew at work as when I knit at work. (Yes, I know we sell yarn, and needles, and patterns, but there is no knitting at work! Makes sense to me, not!) So, for some reason I got myself all jazzed up about making myself this skirt. Do I wear skirts? Not usually, but I really wanted to make it in a robin egg blue with little white dots and a cute little bow. I loved every step of the project. I put in an invisible zipper, I did every pleat perfectly, I hand-stitched the facing down, but did I try it on even once along the way? Nope. And now it's done, and it is so much too big that I can wear it over top of my clothes! No wonder I usually stick to kid stuff and quilts! But did I learn my lesson? No, next I'm planning on making this. It's got to be something about Spring that makes me want to make skirts and dresses, even if I won't ever wear them.

Well, that's a bit of a catch up, and next time, there might even be pictures.

Step 2

So I'm on to the second step in my recovery, actually posting knitting content. I was so proud of myself at Christmas. I actually sewed or knit everyone's gift this year! Well, I got my dad a book, but that doesn't count 'cause he always says I'm not supposed to get him anything. I made fleece blankets for the men and my cousin Cassie, and then the rest goes like this:
Grandma- a shawl out of Cascade 220
Sister- a chenille blanket
Mom- homespun sock yarn! (yep, I spun sock yarn and it was perfect!)
Sis-in-law 1- cabled scarf
Sis-in-law 2- fetching mitts
Aunt- chenille backed quilt
The best part was that everyone was super happy with their gifts! Even my brother who never even says thank you! I mean, he still didn't say thank you, but I caught him showing off his blanket to his wife. Of course I'd had much bigger plans, but I ran out of time. That's where the fleece blankets came in. They are super fast and always useful and appreciated. I just finish off the edges on the serger, and voila!, they're ready. I've been hand embroidering lately, so I might try a real blanket stitch on the next one.
Okay, enough about 2 mos. ago, here's what I've been up to lately. That's Starsky, Jr. from the
winter Knitty. It was Abbey's birthday sweater.
And despite the look on her face in that picture, she really likes it. The night I brought it home after finishing it, she wanted to wear it to bed. In fact, I caught her with it on after The Man had gone to work and she was supposed to be sleeping. Crazy kid!

I feel like I have been super productive lately. I finished a fleece jacket that The Man wanted me to make for him. And when the guy at work saw it, he said I had some "mad sewing skills". Ha, ha! Me, the one that had never sewn until a few years ago. Well, he is a man, and he doesn't sew, but I'll take the compliment anyway. I'm also almost done with a pair of socks for The Man that I started right before Valentine's Day. I'm using KnitPicks Gloss. I kinda like it. I think I might order some more and make myself a pair of socks. The shine it has adds a little something to the plain color.

I also got a new toy. It's an Ashford drop spindle and that's my first spindled skein. It's different, but kinda fun. I've also tried my first boucle, no pictures of that, sorry. It looks okay, but I haven't quite figured out how to lock down the loops with my second sewing thread. My spinning lady said it looked good for having taught myself. Is that a compliment? I keep pestering her about classes. She's really into needle felting right now, but she said she does have a lot of new spinners out there. Hopefully she'll have one soon.

Well, I've gotta boogie. Work beckons.