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Restingmotion

  • Bittersweet

    I have actually finished altering the skirt.  It took less than an hour, as anticipated, although that hour was spread out over several days.  As I result I did not update you about progress and accomplishments either simply because the available time came down to doing something, no matter how minute, or writing about it. Doing won.

    Saturday was my 50th birthday and it was somewhat bittersweet.  I am not saying the day wasn’t lovely, and that I am at all unhappy about turning 50, as I am not.  But just that life is rather complicated at the moment and the complexities of life spilled over somewhat into the birthday celebrations.

    There was a wonderful party at my knitting group, which was actually something of a surprise because I totally did not expect it.  There was dinner and dancing and a trip to Bard College to see a Mark Morris production of the original Prokofiev score to Romeo and Juliet (yes it does have a happy ending) and the music was just as lovely but also somehow more discordant than in the piece more frequently performed. There was dinner at our favorite restaurant.

    There were gifts:  a new computer from which I am typing now, and which is not completely set up.  I am migrating from PC to Apple and I don’t have the data moved over yet,  At the moment the new computer is on my desk and the old computer is running on the cutting table; all the sewing machines are disconnected, at least until I am sure I have everything transferred and running on the new machine, some things with new programs as well.  I love the apple but there is a bit of learning to do. My time remains scattered and piecemeal; unfortunately my mental functioning is often as scattered as my time.

    I don’t know how to edit photos and haven’t gotten a mac version of Photoshop or whatever the equivalent will be.  So there is much to learn.  With the new computer comes an Ipod Touch, which I also haven’t set up yet.  And DH, bless his soul, also managed to throw in a special gift, the kind that comes in a blue velvet lined box..

    But things still move very slowly around here.  

    My hoped for sewing time did not appear except in small bits and snatches, as described above, since it took me three days to get a one-hour job done.  And then I messed it up.  The distractions were constant, my mind somewhat scattered, and I forgot to sew the lining in place when I put the waistband back on the skirt,  I am not going to rip it out again.  I will just turn the lining into a slip…. but obviously there are other things to work on too.

    And I haven’t even started my coat muslin.

    In the meantime, DH, is spiraling more and more deeply into confusion.  We see a neurologist on Friday and I although I don’t expect answers that day, I am finding myself needing some kind of answers so that I can know and prepare for whatever may be next.  I dearly hope that the tide of these developments can be stemmed by modern medicine, but I am also preparing myself for the idea that this might not be the case. And although I want, and even need to keep sewing, I do mourn the fact that it may be some time before I am once again able to lose myself in the process of sewing. There will be sewing, but progress may be as scattered and unpredictable as my life right now. 

    I am beginning to refer to DH as “the confused one”, not really in a bad way, but as a coping mechanism and a way of separating the person who is increasingly unable to do simple tasks by himself, who doesn’t understand so many things, who needs to be entertained, who can’t follow simple instructions and even conversations, who needs constant help and supervision, from the other person, my beloved DH, so that I don’t lose track of the warm, witty, loving, funny, kind person I married.

    So while I have been working on the computer, too slowly also, I have also done some more “materials management” about which I will hope to get you updated, as well as some shopping at Gorgeous Fabrics, and some thinking about other alterations, plans, new garments and ways of working with my wardrobe. 

  • Tying Up Loose Ends

    DreamingOfSpring4
    I am finishing up the green and purple mohair/blended sweater called “Dreaming of Spring”.  It really just needs sewing up and weaving in.

    I’ve said it before, but blended sweaters require an awful lot of weaving in of loose ends.  I don’t mind doing it, I find it kind of relaxing, much the same way I find sitting and weeding relaxing. 

    Yes, I know, tell me I am cracked.

    Anyway, I will take this with me today, but I don’t think I will be working on it while sitting in waiting rooms during DH’s appointments — it is just too hot out.  But I will take it with me to knitting group tonight.  I might even work on it.

  • It was the Shoes

    Maroonskirt9b
    Remember this skirt??

    I made it in 2006 and it has been one of my favorite summer skirts ever since.  I made the sweater too so together they make one of my favorite outfits.  No comments on sweater fit allowed, this sweater has seen many years of expansion and reduction and it is till in my closet.  That is enough.

    But it is the skirt I am writing about today.

    Since I made that skirt I have lost some weight, mostly through the rib cage and waist with the result that the skirt is currently about 3 1/2 inches too big in the waist and it falls down on my hips.

    This means that the length also falls to about mid calf, not the most flattering place.  It has been like this for about a month, but lazy me, I figured with heels I could get away with it, and I just didn’t want to be bothered.

    But if the skirt falls low on the hip, the sweater shown in this photo becomes too short.  As I approach my 50th birthday it seems that having a bit of tummy peeking out between my skirt and my top is not a desirable look. 

    And the extra length on my legs makes my already short legs look shorter and the long torso look even longer.  Not a particularly flattering look.  What is the point of being tall if you still look like you have short dumpy legs?

    This particular image was brought home to me on Monday, when I decided to wear this skirt with a new pair of shoes I had just picked up on sale for a really, really good price.

    WineLaboutin
    I love, love, love these wine patent flats. Yes, I said flats.  Loaboutin flats.  They look really cute with the above skirt, if I hike the skirt up to just below my bra so that it actually hangs at the right length.

    I wore the skirt anyway on Monday, and when I got home, I resolved to fix it.  After a skirt that is a flattering length will good look with flats and heels.  So I took the waistband off, resolving to alter the skirt.  I don’t want to take it in at the side seams because I don’t want to redo the zipper.  There are twelve pleats in this skirt so it will be easy just to make each pleat just a tad deeper, thereby shrinking the skirt through the waist and high hip, but maintaining that nice billowy fullness through the body, which looks good still. 

    It took me over an hour to get the waistband taken apart without ripping the lining though.   It has been sitting at my sewing table ever since.  Tuesday there was no time.  Wednesday I hoped to get to it but I needed to work on something that was easily interrupted and not in my sewing room, so knitting won the project war.

    Today, it is not likely.  I will be out from around 1PM until after 10, and I am already stealing time from my to-do list to post this.

    Perhaps this weekend.  Although I also have to take down the current computer and set up a new one, transfer all the data, and convert a few things to run on new programs.  It ***should not*** take all that long.  But you never know.

    And by the way, it strikes me as really, really funny, that right after I write a comment on Gigi’s Blog stating that I don’t like wearing peep-toe shoes because I won’t wear hose with them and I don’t like the feeling of all that leather around my feet without hose (sandals and canvas shoes are no problem), I go out and buy a pair of peep-toe patent leather shoes and wear them all day for a couple of days without hose and love them.  I guess even I can be knocked out of my fuddy-duddy ideas.

    Go figure.  Never say never.

  • Cardigan Back Done and first up on the UFO pile

    FilaturaCardigan2
    I finished the back of the cardigan Saturday night.  I didn’t manage to get any knitting done on Sunday, except for the cast on row for the left front.  Tonight is supposed to be movie night if I get my act together and get a few things done and dinner on the table early enough.

    I love knitting this cardigan.  I want to plow on ahead and finish as soon as possible.  However, since the pile of unfinished projects is ginormous, and I also want to be able to wear all of those sweaters, I need to do some finishing. 

    Now that I have finished the back of this sweater I also have to finish one of the sweaters in the  UFO piles.  The idea is that I will do the finishing before I finish the next piece of this sweater, using the  cardigan as a kind of carrot to encourage me to get something actually finished.

    After I finish both of the front pieces, I will once again force myself to finish something else before moving on to the sleeves.  I am not going to be absolutely strict.  I can start knitting the front of Lilac Serenade before  I finish the UFO, for example (did I say tonight was movie night?!?) but I have to finish the UFO before I finish knitting the left front.

    It is all about motivation. Dreaming of Spring3

    The first finishing project will be this pullover I started in February.  I called it dreaming of spring, although at the time it was in anticipation of spring-to-come and now it is in memory of spring-past.  The yarns are colinette and, for those who did not read the sewing blog, I will update all the details when I finish the sweater, which I intend to get started on tonight.

  • Organizing the Pressing Tools

    OK, I sewed napkins last week.  And I spent some time avoiding sewing.  I really need to break this habit.

    I also spent some time moving piles of things around the sewing room so I can work.  I really can’t work like this, that much I know.  I want to finish the sewing room.  I got it 3/4 done a few years ago, life took a couple of sharp turns and I never finished.  I did let things pile up waiting until I finished.

    I have been working on the piles though.  They have been greatly reduced and moved out of the way and sorted in ways that I can work on them a little bit each day and finish, probably even before fall (yeah!!)

    I also needed some shelves.  I had planed to put a narrow shelf above the ironing board, and above the window for little used items, but never did.  The shelves I originally wanted don’t seem to be available anymore, and I didn’t want to spend time dealing with making something just right. So I found something that worked and they arrived Friday.

    Window1

    The high shelves are for a few pressing tools that I don’t use every day, but still need to have around for those times when they are needed.  I also have a few other things used for specific tasks that aren’t regular day-to-day projects.

    I wanted shelves that had invisible mounts because I don’t  really have room to put brackets up on the top and still room to put things on the shelves due to the window frames.  To get the length I had to put up a series of short shelves.  Someday, when I am feeling ambitious and have nothing better to do, I might make a custom sized shelf and just drill the holes to use these brackets, now that I have them.

    On the far right the white roll on the top, way up by the beam is a piece of PVC plumbing pipe that I use when felting.  Below it, on the shelf is a roll of  “soil separator paper” that I got once for trying pattern alterations and muslins.  I learned that I prefer actual muslin because I can’t see the marks on this stuff, but there are times, when I am making multiple copies of something to work out a detail, that it is convenient, so I am keeping it around.

    Window2

    Here’s the south wall showing the shelves above and below the window.  The blurry white thing on top is my flash reflecting off the soil separator paper.  The shelf above the ironing board is narrow (4 inches) and just perfect for holding the things I use all the time.  The sleeve board is hidden in a slot right behind the cutting table next to the iron, easily reachable but out of sight..

    Now all my sewing tools are off the floor, where I was always tripping over them, and some things that were piled up on a bookshelf are properly stowed so I can get the books off the shelf.  I am running out of excuses for not sewing.  This is good. 

    But to make sure I do something I am going to have to give a regular accounting.  If I feel I have to write, I will also feel I have to have something to write about, rather than just the random musings in my head.

  • 29

    All is very quiet. Life is very slow in some ways.  You would think if life seemed to be moving very slowly that I would get more and more done.  This is not the case.  The slower things seem to move the less gets done.

    I finished two more books:
    Under the Banner

    Deluxe They wee both interesting and entertaining to read.  They were both though t provoking, but I really don’t have anything to say about either one.  I suppose that is bad, to just plow through the books without coming to some conclusion or thinking about the content.  But I do think about the content, I am just not feeling particularly communicative at the moment.

    This means that I have now read more books than I did in all of 2006 (but not 2007 yet).  29 books in the first six months of the year.  They were not all good books, but even so it is a good start.  After a period of restlessness I seem to be regaining my hold on those things that interest me.  I am not yet where I want to be, time-wise and interest-wise, but I feel I am making progress.

    Perhaps I need some of that Mormon industriousness (although not the fanaticism).  Of course not all Mormons are fanatics, or consider themselves to be fanatics.

    Perhaps what was most interesting was reading these two books simultaneously as the world’s and world-views they address are so strongly opposed.

  • Artful Yarns meets Filatura di Crosa

    Although my last project may have been exercise in frustration, I am certainly back on track now.  My current sweater is one of the items I really wanted to be starting when I started working with the Shanghai yarn, and now that I am actually knitting, I am loving this project more and more.

    It all started with some Arftul Yarns Serenade in color 6003, Sunrise, Sunset.  I just fell in love with the color of this yarn and bought up all they had at my LYS.  Then I had to find a pattern.  I had an idea in my head, and for once I knew exactly where to look:

    FilaturaDiCrossaSpring2007
    Obviously I had the right idea, and I have no idea how I did it because I usually am terrible at remembering where I saw a particular pattern. 

    But I was enamored of this cardigan:

    FilaturaDiCrossaMalvaCardigan
    Was it the similarity in the colors?  Yes, it does look that way, but as soon as I saw the yarn, I knew I wanted a fitted cardigan with 3/4 sleeves.  This just happened to be the right cardigan. And when I knitted the swatch and got perfect gauge, I knew it was meant to be.

    I love, love, love knitting with this yarn.  And I think I will love the sweater as well.  The angora keeps the cotton light and drapey and it just looks beautiful knitted up, light and spongy.

    Since I started knitting I have checked Ravelry and have found that quite a few people complain of shedding and piling and I hope that is not the case.  I am getting a bit of fuzz while I knit, but no more than any other wool/alpaca/ blend yarn that is not really tightly spun.  I have other angora sweaters that shed only lightly although I know it is a common complaint.  Well I will see.  Perhaps it doesn't wear well, I won't know until I actually wear it, and just looking at my swatch and the sweater I am knitting I have trouble seeing it.

    But then again, I like angora.

    I am about half way through the back of the sweater:

    FilaturaCardigan1
    If this works out well, and I don't see why it shouldn't, I am already thinking ahead to future versions of this sweater in other yarns/fibers/colors.  The pattern itself is such a classically lovely, simple, elegant shape.  How could I not want a few of them?  But then again,  I may once again be counting my sweaters before they are knit.

    I am not one of these knitters that knits something only once.  That would be truly difficult because I am the kind of person who, when I find something I really love, wears it over and over and over and wants it in all available colors.

  • Sewing Time

    I've been suffering from Restless Mind Syndrome of late and so the sewing got put on hold for a bit.  Everything  is still on the queue but the schedule has been shifted around. The external bits of my life have been a bit chaotic of late, and although I don't think of myself as being particularly regulated in my interior life, I cannot really settle down into a more creative mindset with too much is out of order.

    I realize of course that any kind of creative activity needs to be practiced regularly, and I think that has been my goal. I don't want to run into the sewing room, lock the door, and finish a bunch of stuff in a rush then have to walk away for an extended period of time.  I want to make regular sewing time.  And I have come to accept that I am the kind of person who cannot really shut the door on the external part of my life and ignore it completely.  There has to a certain orderliness to the structure of life so that I can feel free to explore the inner creative instinct.  I am constantly trying to regulate that outer need for structure, with that inner more intuitive bit that my sewing taps into. 

    So I am trying to expand the time devoted to creative pursuits.   I am knitting regularly, every day, and have been petty productive, even though some projects have been ripped.  But it wasn't really until the latter half of last week that I began finding daily time in the sewing room and it frankly has not been enough.  Still, the fact that I am there is good, and eventually this slow trickle will expand into a bigger stream.

    What I have been doing has not been particularly blog-worthy, however.  I need clothes to wear now.  And so I have been involved in some of the more boring chores that sometimes fall on those of us who can wield a needle and thread, namely mending and alterations.  I have taken in several things that were too large to wear. If I were reconfiguring or refashioning something interesting, like a Chanel Jacket or a beautiful garment, I would share the process. But taking in tees so they don't hang, taking up baggy summer pants and other uninspiring tasks do not make for thrilling reading. And I suppose none of this is creative, but it is practical experience, and it is a joy just to make something work.

    Of course there was the day I spent my daily hour cursing under my breath at a stack of J Crew tees that had all come undone where the neck band joins the body of the shirt.  They had not been worn that heavily, it was purely sloppy workmanship, and it really annoyed me.  Each top took less than a minute to serge back together.  But it took substantially longer than that to re-thread the serger with different colors of thread between shirts.  I should have known better.  I have complained about this company's merchandise before so I should have known better.  But I fell in love with certain colors in a flattering style that is long enough that my tummy doesn't show above the tops of my Jeans.

    It might be easy to buy tees, but not so easy, apparently, to by perfect tees.  All the more reason to spend more time in that sewing room.

  • Thoughts

    Few posts of late.  I seem inconsistent in my thoughts, and as usual, in times of mental and emotional unrest, I withdraw.  There has been busyness.  When my mind is in turmoil it calms me to straighten, rearrange, and re-organize the physical accoutrements of life, as if by providing structure in the surroundings I can also calm the inner beast.    Following this burst of restructuring usually comes a period of quiet.  I have been shutting down  and retreating into a world of fiction.  You will note that several volumes have been added to the books read listing, most of them fiction.

    I don't know any more than I did before.  Life remains uncertain.  G was so much better following a heart valve replacement in March,  or so he seemed to me.  But now I don't know.  Things are not better now. Was I deceiving myself?  Were things actually better and is something new happening?  Have we only fixed one layer of decline only to find something else under the surface?  Or was this feeling of improvement just a little spark of Indian Summer in the long autumn of life?

    Pardon the bad metaphors.

    What I see is not encouraging.
        memory issues
        confusion
        poor judgment
        problems with choosing the right word
        problems walking, but they seem more neurological than physical

    Is there an identifiable reason or cause?  Is there some kind of relief?

    I am struggling to keep everything on an even keel as I also struggle to maintain some sense of my own life, my own interests, my own friends.

    I don't know what is happening. I do know that I can't keep this part of my life that is beginning to overwhelm everything else locked up anymore, away from view.  For better or worse this struggle is becoming a part of who I am.

  • Call It a Learning Experience

    Well, Shanghai is a bust. 

    I finished the body, and it fit beautifully, but I somehow did not like it on.  I like the knitted fabric and I knew the colors weren't my best but thought I could make it work, but somehow, when I put it on it was worse than blah, it was just plain old "yuck". 

    Not the shape, mind you.  If I could just look at the sweater without the added bonus of the complexion of the person wearing it, the sweater was quite nice.  And no, I am not going to show it to you.  It is destined for ripping. 

    I kind of fudged the armhole shaping, decreasing more in front and less in back, then increasing a bit back out to the shoulder at the neckline.  I also added vertical bust darts and some bust shaping using short rows and the fit was really really nice.  Luckily I did make notes.  So I can think about this sweater much like I would think of a muslin if I were sewing something.  But a knitted muslin takes longer.  Bummer.

    My first reaction was to ditch the whole thing, but I do still like the yarn.  Tonight, while I was working on my new project (which I love by the way) I had another idea, which might actually work quite nicely.  It will be a little further down the queue.  Shanghai and I need to take a little break from each other's company for a while.