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Restingmotion

Monday Musings

>1 The self-timer on my camera and I seem to be having a bit of a tiff right now so photos of sewing week projects are not yet forthcoming. I had plans to make another attempt at a photography session today, but there were a couple of electricians crawling around the deck and an audience of strange men put something of a damper on my photographic frolic.

>2
One of the first things that struck me upon my return home was what a total disaster area my gardens had become. The fact that the front yard was such a mess is about as clear an indication as any I can imagine that I was indeed overwhelmed and depressed. This was the longest time I had ever spent not gardening since my bout with Melanoma 20 years ago, and I am rather stunned at my ability to ignore my surroundings for so long. Needless to say, I felt a strong urge to make some inroads in reclaiming my space.

The gardening season is nearly over, and aside from weeding, cleaning up beds and generally preparing for next year there is little to be done at this point. However, while I was t the grocery store I saw a couple of these tall millet plants and some mums on sale and decided that it was well past time that I put something in the planters flanking the garage doors. Just this little bit has really perked up the place and my spirits and been enough incentive to start tackling the bigger projects, which abound.

>3 I have also been very busy in the kitchen.
Even though fall is not quite here I have been overcome with the fall cleaning bug and I started with the kitchen, hauling everything out of the pantry (not difficult as the cupboards were pretty bare upon my return) and scrubbing everything from top to bottom, then restocking. It was almost as if I scrubbed out some frustrated part of my mind, the part that had been cooking because we had to eat but not enjoying it, and starting fresh allowed me to rekindle my love of food and cooking and just playing in the kitchen…….see what a little sewing time and time spent with friends will yield? A full rekindling of creative endeavors. Tonight we had sea scallops (the freshest I have ever seen in a local market) sauteed with roasted red bell peppers and artichoke hearts served with a side of spaghetti squash.

>4 The box I shipped home from San Francisco arrived today.

In it were some of the things I originally packed to take with me, but decided I could live without for a week or so and a few new things I picked up, including this fabric. It is a knit with these fabulous blue and yellow brushed mohair stripes. I got two full panel repeats (gray knit plus stripe) plus one extra striped area.

I have ideas bubbling about. Will they work with this fabric? I have no idea. I am torn between wanting to jump right in and having second thoughts. I think I will let this piece sit and inspire me a little bit.

September 24, 2007
Remembrances of sewing week part 1

Sewing week was different this year. I spent most of my time actually in the sewing room sewing and hanging out with my sewing friends. This is the first year I didn’t have to work, and the lure of the computer was substantially reduced as there was no pressing need to turn it on. I had a lot of fun and got a lot done, but already it is becoming a blur, a happy blur, but a blur nonetheless:

I began sewing week after a long absence from sewing and plagued by a bit of confusion over not only what I wanted to sew but what I wanted to wear. Having spent the summer in my gardening clothes and not having spent much time visiting my closet since February, I felt disconnected and uncertain. Although I had plans, I was plagued by indecision.

Following our introductory show-and-tell and personal makeovers, I was even more confused, probably amplified by the fact that I still had not settled into California time and was not sleeping well. My plans went completely awry and I was not sure what I was sewing.

Rather than cut anything out on Monday, I started revising my plans and made an emergency run to Britex for a new lining for the eyelet and a complimentary fabric for the floral. Back at the hotel, all the new fabrics had to go in the wash and only later did I realize that I purchased new fabrics without the requisite threads and a second trip to Britex was required.

Monday was plan revision and panic day, along with a little tipple of wardrobe-refashion.

Tuesday was devoted to the blue eyelet skirt, about which more will come later and buying antique buttons from "the button ladies".

Wednesday I made the black/lilac floral skirt shown to the left. As you might recall (see below) I had originally planned on making this a short narrow skirt, but that idea did not seem to go over well on Monday and I threw that plan out the window. Not really sure what I wanted, and with encouragement to wear longer skirts

(and here I am trying to get out of longer skirts)

I decided to use Vogue 2969 using the floral print for the body of the skirt and black for the contrast inset and overlay.

As the pattern is designed for knits or wovens cut on the bias, I hoped it would work out with my black fabric and I went to Britex hoping to find a black contrast that looked good with the background of the black print. That sounds a lot easier than it actually was, but in the end success was mine.

You can see the finished skirt in the photo above. I still have mixed feelings about this skirt. It is the only project from sewing week about which I am at all ambivalent, and I still wonder if I should have just stuck to my original plan. But it is a nice, wearable skirt and I shall just have to see how I feel about it over time.

The skirt was easy to make and I had no problems with the pattern. The instructions were clear and everything went together well. I like the basic shape of the skirt and will probably make it again in a different fabric. Bias polyester crepe de chine was not easy to work with and in the end I grew frustrated and just serged off the hem. I had thought of doing the band finish as show on the pattern, but decided that was just too fussy with the print. If the skirt becomes a wardrobe basic, I will eventually finish it off with a narrow hem.

Wednesday night I cut out the orange cotton skirt.

Thursday we had Christine Johnson talking about sewing with knits accompanied by patterns and swatches of her wonderful fabrics. I have used some of her patterns in the past and love them, and of course her fabrics are fabulous. It was a great day, but a little slow on sewing progress. Of course, once again I sewed well into the night.

Thursday and Friday were also devoted to the orange cotton skirt, which was almost finished by the time we had to vacate the sewing room at 4 PM on Friday. All that remains is the hem. It would have been finished had I arranged my schedule differently, but I was working on some misinformation: namely that we would be able to sew until 6 PM. When I returned to the room following a lunch and shopping break at 3 PM, Sandra had just learned that we had to close down by 4 and the remaining hour was spent packing everything up.

Saturday was fabric shopping day followed by dinner at Sandra’s. It was a fabulous day, and yes, I did buy fabric.

Here is a picture of me at Stone Mountain and Daughter, shopping up a storm. The pile of fabric behind my right shoulder is also mine, waiting to be cut:

September 20, 2007
Alas, Passel did not debut in San Francisco

In fact practically no knitting occurred during the entire week. There was even a dearth of airplane knitting.

Somehow, once I left Dutchess County behind, I found that I had left my knitting spirit as well. Not that this was a bad thing. I was desperate to sew, desperate to reflect and reconnect with some part of myself that I thought I had lost, desperate to talk and sleep, eat and drink, spend time with friends and indulge in other creative outlets of the non-yarn variety. All of those goals were met. I sewed, often late into the night.

I read more than I have for some time, mostly authors I had never read before with two exceptions (one book a pure pleasure reread), some good books, so fun entertaining books, at least one awful book, but I enjoyed the pure indulgent pleasure of curling up late at night, alone, or even isolating myself on the airplane, with only the words on the page to keep my company and my own ruminations.

In fact I only resumed knitting when I ran out of books on the flight
home. After a delayed landing in Atlanta, and only 20 minutes between
when flight one arrived at the gate and flight two was scheduled to
depart, there was no time to seek out further reading matter. I was
forced to knit. By then I was ready.

The final sleeve has barely been begun, but now that I am more settled in myself, it shall not take long. In fact it is time to settle in my comfy chair with Passel and a glass of wine: whether this is the most productive way to spend knitting time is yet to be determined, but all the ingredients for a pleasant evening are at hand.

September 19, 2007
Alas, our accomplishment to expectation ratio is running -10%

Once again, I have fallen short of (self-imposed) expectations:

1. No sewing was done this week in preparation for sewing week. I was hoping to arrive, an accomplished sewist, with a new garment to show for my efforts. Alas it is not so.

2. No further reductions were taken in the stack of sewing projects. All the candidates were able to squeeze into one 21" suitcase and were therefore designated cell-mates for the duration.

3. Despite occasional misgivings that my project choices were primarily of the warm-weather variety and in direct opposition to any malingering thoughts I might harbor to the effect that fall is just around the corner, the suitcase remained resolutely in summer mode. After all it is always summer somewhere in the world.

4. The fall fabric stash aided and abetted the summer projects by defying all attempts at being routed out of their hiding places.

Sewing week will be lots of fun. Lift-off is tomorrow at 6 AM, the airport an hour away, and my dreams and expectations are on full alert.

September 7, 2007
Off to camp

September? How did it get to be September, much less the end of the first week of September?

My knitting bag is packed for tomorrow’s flight to San Francisco where I will be sewing a great deal and probably knitting very little. I will (hopefully) be knitting some though as I hope to debut Passel next Saturday night. Since I am packing no alternate outfit for the party, motivation will hopefully be high. I am wildly optimistic (perhaps blindly so) as I have also packed another knitting project for the latter half of the week, or perhaps the trip home.

Sometimes I think the older I get the more I lose my grip on reality.

I will be home in about 10 days.

September 7, 2007
Decisions, Decisions

Here it is September once again, and I am packing up projects for sewing week. Truthfully I am having a lot of trouble focusing my sewing thoughts and narrowing down the list of projects I want to make. And even though fall is just around the corner, and I am staring wistfully at fall fashions, my sewing projects are not quite settling into a fall pattern yet.

Here is what has survived the first cut, although they aren’t all in my suitcase yet:

Cotton eyelet from Kashi at Metro Textiles. This fabric has moved on and off of my cutting table all summer and I really do want to make it. The neutral color means I can wear it well into fall as there will be plenty of warm days ahead.

I meant to sew it up this week, but since I am still struggling with packing — I have grown totally out of touch with my closet and it is a strange and foreign land — it does not appear that the skirt will be finished before take-off on Saturday morning. More likely I will have to stitch this garment up if I intend to wear it. Luckily it is a TNT pattern I have made several times before, although I will have to make a Britex run first thing as I seem to be experiencing a severe shortage in the zipper supply. Only today, as I was trying to gather supplies did I remember that I had not yet placed my semi-annual zipperstop order before life intervened in my plans last spring.

Aside from the blue eyelet, there are several other fabrics that have recently joined the skirt queue and it looks like my sewing week will primarily be skirt week.

I posted this fabric back in June when I met some sewing friends for a shopping spree and gabfest at Metro Textiles. Although the fabric really screams summer, the deep oranges strike me as a possible transition for fall. Although the fabric is quite light, making it perfect for the full circle skirt (I hope) the lining is heavier, and might make this a more transitional garment.

When I started gathering together potential projects for this trip, this fabric also reminded me of some tangerine chenille that has been sitting in my yarn stash for some time. I was about to add it to the E-bay pile, but now I am thinking of designing a sweater to wear with the skirt, perhaps extending its seasonal usefulness even further.

Then, in early August I picked up two beautiful polyester prints at JoAnn fabrics. Since they are poly I can’t imagine blouses or even dresses from them, but think they would make interesting and fun skirts:

I know that once again, they are prints that are more reminiscent of summer than fall, but I think they can be mixed in with many trans-seasonal pieces, and can also travel to more southern climes year-round. Besides, what can I say, I am hemming white pants and knitting a white sweater as well. Seasonality and the creative spirit have never quite meshed in my mind.

I also have fabric and plans for two jackets, although I might not get to either one of them. If I get started I might only get as far as the muslins, but I am still considering these two pieces. They may go in lieu of the skirts or in addition to the skirts.

This is an interesting silk and polyamide (nylon) chenille-like fabric on a silk gauze backing. It actually looks like individual strands of yarn that have been stitched and partially fused to the backing. I think it would make a very interesting jacket but it has to be simple, as the fabric is the statement here.

I have had the Textile Studio Capri jacket pattern for some time but have never made it. I am not sure if this fabric is appropriate but the style looks like the kind of thing I am looking for. I will have to do a muslin first anyway.

Then an off-white and black wool with a coordinating piece of lace for a jacket inspired by something from Valentino Spring 2007. Since it is wool, it is probably seasonless in this world of air-conditioning, heating, and automobiles. More information whenever I get to this particular project. Again, I will have to make a muslin for this as it requires a bit of morphing between two patterns I haven’t really used before.

So do I go for the quick thrills or the more complicated and interesting projects, or dabble in a little of both. Fewer than 60 hours remain before some semblance of a decision must be made.

September 5, 2007
Saturday Miscellany

The new Threads magazine came the other day and I spent a little time yesterday causally looking through it.

This issue is interesting and entertaining and has some good information. All in all, perhaps Threads is appealing to me more again…..not that I was going to stop subscribing or anything.

One thing really made me laugh however. One of the first things I always read in the Threads is the article on the last page, the "Closures" column. What tickled my fancy was this paragraph by Kristine Kadlec:

"If you listen to opera and/or classical music, you tend to be extremely organized. You’re self-disciplined and always schedule sewing time into your day. If your house isn’t clean and the laundry isn’t done, you can’t concentrate on your sewing projects."

Well, I don’t really believe people can be that easily classified and I listen to most genres of music fairly regularly, but my first musical love and primary treat will always be classical music. People have always accused me of being organized, although I tend to think I am never organized enough, part of that same nerdy side of me that tends to think all problems can be reduced to a mathematical equation — the trick is finding the right equation. And I used to schedule regular sewing time. But lately I don’t seem to get through my list of things that need to be done efficiently enough to schedule sewing time. There are too many distractions and interruptions and unplanned events. Not that I am, or ever wanted to be a, highly scheduled "at 7:18 we take our vitamins" type of person, but I still can’t let myself sew when there are piles of laundry to be done or other "more important" tasks.

Oh well.

Not that means I have been out of the sewing room completely. I just don’t have anything really to show for my time except fun and learning experience, neither of which photograph well. SInce I have had bits and pieces of time, a half-hour here, an hour there, I have my machines set up and I am playing with their various capabilities. I have been testing the various feet that came with my new Baby Lock serger (over a year old at this point) and learning how to use them and making samples and notes to myself. I have also been working through my Bernina manual, trying all the different stitches and feet, although not in any comprehensive way. I am but a mere beginner, but I am getting much more intrigued and confident about doing some new and different things.

Besides, even though I don’t get the thrill of a new garment to wear, I am still sewing something, even scraps, and I am still simple-minded enough that I find that endlessly entertaining.

Which brings me to the other timely aspect of the new Threads magazine, at least for me. A good portion of this issue is about wardrobe and planning and snoop shopping, in short deciding what to sew, I have been spending a little time doing mental gymnastics in the wardrobe department. All this not sewing has me itching for new clothes. Not only that, I am itching for more pulled together outfits rather than the mix-and-match kind of very casual separates I have been working on in the recent past.

There was a reason of course. When I stopped going in to an office every day I stopped needing suits. I liked suits. I liked skirt-suits and pants-suits. I like menswear inspired tailored jackets. But I got a lot of well-meaning advice from friends that an Armani-inspired suit with jacket, slacks, and loafers was not really appropriate casual-weekend-spent- antiquing or watching-a-soccer- match attire. My friends were probably right. But I had a hard time figuring out a casual wardrobe. Now all I have is my casual wardrobe, and fancier go to nice dinner or cocktail party/evening clothes. (I am probably exagerating here ) And I think I have gone to far in the casual direction….I crave outfits, which is really more my nature.

Perhaps my mood is influenced by the fall designer collections, which have certainly be heavily leaning toward a more polished, formal silhouette, a look that I really prefer to the completely casual attitude. Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article about just this trend and the doubt that it will be an easy sell. It could be that I have had to spend a few days lately in a suit and heels and hose and it felt really good. I had forgotten how much I love being DRESSED, and how much more myself I feel, when I make a bit more of an effort.

As to gloves and hats? Well, I would definitely go the glove route. And I love the look of layered sleeves, short over long, or short with gloves. I already have a small glove collection and have a pair of gloves to match every coat I own, and some that I just have for contrast or special occasions. I love hats too, and if I lived in a city where I walked more, I would probably have a hat for every coat as well. I have sometimes toyed with that idea. But it is hard for me to get in an out of a car with a hat, much less drive in one, so the hat is mostly off, as is the coat if I am spending a day in and out of the car. I think if I ever quit the suburban life I will just have to head for the city…and find a good milliner too, as my head, unfortunately, is too fat for one-size-fits-all women’s hats.

September 1, 2007
Sleeve Plans

Well, my haphazard approach to knitting this sweater has not changed.

I rushed off to knitting group without doing the math and without measuring the row gauge on the pieces of the sweater I have already knitted. So I had to do it all at group with the aid of a cell phone and quick call home to get DH to tell me the total length of the sweater on the board. I knew the total number of rows in the sweater, so I could calculate from there.

I worked out that my row gauge is about 8.3 versus the 10 specified in the pattern.

Now I like the length of the sleeve as shown, and I had someone do a rough measurement of that sleeve on me, and think it was ok, or barely a half an inch longer than I would like.

I figured out I need to drop about 14 rows from the sweater. The next decision was how to do that without altering the layout of the stripes so that they match up properly with the sweater. I eventually decided to take it off the length of the body of the sleeve, dropping the lowest pink embroidered stripe.

It was suggested that I could also shorten the length by removing one of the rows of ruffles, and that three ruffles is a bit excessive. I agree that it is excessive, but I think I like the three ruffles, so they stayed in.

We will see how it works out, but I think this will be quite nice. The sleeve on me will be about the same length as the sleeve shown relative to my arm length, but the bottom of the sleeve will not line up so nicely with the bottom of the sweater since my torso is longer and my arms shorter than average. I am not quite sure how that will affect the appearance of the sweater when it is being worn, another good reason to think things out before starting.

Of course, I spent more time talking than knitting, so I have no idea how it will actually work out yet.

August 31, 2007
by guess and by golly

Note to self: write.it.down!

The body of Passel is on the blocking board and I have started the first sleeve.

The entire process of getting this sweater pinned might have been easier, taken less time, and caused far less anxiety in the knitter if a few notes had been taken at the beginning of the project.

I know I knitted a gauge swatch. I know that my stitch gauge was correct. Apparently my row gauge was not as the sweater I ended up with is longer than the one described in the pattern. Since I have no idea what I did with that swatch, and I neglected to make any notes, there was a moment of profound frustration where I was ready to just slap the sweater down, let it dry, unravel it all, and put it aside until next spring. Luckily I regained my senses and calmly figured things out.

As I said, apparently my row gauge was off, I am getting fewer rows per inch than the pattern. This is not unusual for me. I knit loosely and tend to get long skinny stitches. As I pinned the sweater I vaguely began to recall that I thought that my gauge was off just enough so that if I knit the pattern as written, I would end up with a length that would be better for my tall frame, i.e. 24 inches instead of 21 inches. Apparently that was the case as the sweater pinned out to 24 inches and all the pieces line up and match (one point for the knitter). I would have been happier if I had written this down though, and perhaps even done a few calculations (my actual gauge times number of rows in the sweater to confirm that I would get the desired length). If I did do any math I don’t remember it and I certainly didn’t write it down.

And I had been so much better about these little details up until this point.

Of course now I have to figure out how many rows per inch I am getting because I will have to alter the sleeve pattern. I may be tall, but I am not blessed with long arms and legs and I often have to shorten sweater sleeves. Well I don’t often have to shorten Anny Blatt patterns, but I don’t have to lengthen them either, and if I knit the sleeves as written but I am getting fewer than the 10 rows/inch stated in the pattern, I will have sleeves that are much too long.

Now I have to spend time doing math. It’s not that the math is difficult, it’s just that I hate to have to do it in the middle of a project. My own fault for not doing the prep work.

Well, with knitting group tonight, a bunch of waiting-room time scheduled tomorrow, and the US Open to watch, there appears to be ample knitting time on the horizon. Hopefully I will make short work of those sleeves once I get the math done because although I might have knitted the body with a "by guess and by golly" plan, I don’t intend to use that technique for the sleeves.

August 30, 2007
on Romantic Hand Knits

While I was away on vacation I received a copy of Annie Modesitt’s Romantic Hand Knits. Unfortunately I also received a lot of other mail and the knitting, sewing, and fashion-related items had to be shoved to the back corner of my sewing/knitting room waiting until I caught up with all the boring, but oh-so-necessary work related mail.

So it wasn’t really until this past weekend that I really had enough time to give this book the attention it deserves.

Now, I admit that I had been looking forward to this book. I really like Annie Modesitt’s designs and even the designs that I would never make, or that I think are a little too far out there for me are really very interesting. She seems to be a very creative and thoughtful knitter, one really thinks about the problems of designing knitwear and often comes up with new ways of solving knitting problems.

This is a book for someone who is adventurous and doesn’t want just the same old knitting book. It is filled with wonderful ideas and wonderful ways of doing things. Even if I never knit a single pattern from this book, and that is not going to happen because there are several things I want to knit from this book, it is filled with creative clever ideas that I would want to incorporate into my knitting.

A lot of these patterns have interesting details. A lot of them have clever shaping. This is not the book for you if you want sweaters designed with simple box-shaped block that seems to be so ubiquitous in the hand-knitting world. Take the skirt shown on the cover, for example. There is another picture here:

Now a skirt is really just a tube right? And this one is really no exception but it is so well designed. First of all it isn’t a straight tube because it has those lace godets. Now look at the details and the patterning. This skirt is designed to accent those curves that we all have. Rather than just stretching out a simple swath of stockinette, the skirt draws attention to the ins and outs of the form underneath. I am really intrigued by this pattern and I don’t necessarily always find knit skirts the easiest thing to wear. But mostly that is because I find too snug, stretchy, negative ease skirts difficult to wear. Looking at this skirt I can’t help but wonder if it is really more forgiving than it looks.

But I can’t buy a book just for its cover sweater. And there are a lot of other ideas in here that intrigue.

This sweater is called Ninotchka and it is really a lovely design even though it is not particularly for me. What is really special about it is that it is designed with a shelf bra knitted in with a stretchier yarn and it has short-row shaping to help provide extra shaping and coverage in area that seems to me to often be just a little too exposed in your standard knit tank.

And while I am on the subject of little tops and bust shaping what about Jezebel?

My initial reaction to this dress is that it is just too much. But the more I look at it the more I keep coming back to this design even though it is, as shown here a little too exposed for me. Still the ideas that are involved in this dress are wonderful. Take a look at the short-row shaping at the bust. Shaping is included for C and D cups as well. These techniques can be used a starting point in other sweaters even if I never make this sweater. The ribbed waist with its short row shaping is also amazing. This dress is laden with ideas and although I am no Jezebel and am not inclined to make a halter dress, I might be convinced to make some variation on a halter or to use some of the ideas from this dress in other sweaters.

Dark Victory is a sweater that at first glance looks like a pretty standard sweater but ends up being something far more special.

For one thing, the shaping is fabulous. This is no rectangular block sweater. There is a good bit of shaping hidden in the design. The double contrast bands at the neckline really emphasizes the face and shoulder line giving a hint of sexiness while still being fully covered. The color work also emphasizes the color in the variegated yarn and the slip stitch pattern used throughout helps control the color, avoid pooling, and add interest. I am always intrigued by hand-dyed yarns until I start knitting with them. Sometimes they work out, other times I wonder what I was thinking. But this one has me itching to give it a try.

I also love the way Charade makes use of the great drape of of a ribbon yarn:

I love ribbon yarns in open and lacy patterns that accent their texture. But they are long on flow and short on structure, and the weight of the ribbon often causes the sweater to seem to drag, especially if knitted at a gauge loose enough to allow the ribbon to show in all its slippery glory. Using the weight and drape of the ribbon to make a surplice top is a fabulous idea, and one I am looking forward to trying.

I also love the shaping possibilities in the bands at the top of Saratoga:

and the lovely lace patterning in Casablanca

Note the nice bit of shaping that is incorporated in the after-thought sleeves.

And although I have no place to wear it, and probably can’t pull it off, I love Cleopatra. This one really is just a tube, although granted a tube with ribbing at the waist which will add shaping, I can’t help myself. This design is just so filled with dreams and desire, the idea of clothing as costume or fantasy and the idea that if you can just knit it your fantasy life will come.

August 27, 2007