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Restingmotion

Our Home Away from Home

Of course it always happens during a heat wave — the AC is broken and cannot be repaired. A replacement will not happen right away as a new condensing unit must be ordered. Even a replacement of the same size would take a week to 10 days, and our previous system was woefully inadequate — in fact I am probably responsible for burning it out during the heat waves we have had this summer. Knowing full well that the unit could not handle the afternoon sun on the western wall of the house, but also having an elderly ailing spouse who couldn’t take the heat, I pushed the AC beyond its limit. The power supply to the compressor is a burnt out mass of molten plastic, metal and soldered wires. The compressor is a small burnt partially charred mess.

So now we have two homes — the hot one where I am working now, and the one shown above where we will be sleeping tonight. Even with the windows open and the fans on, the nights during this heat spell are too warm for me too cool the house down to a tolerable level for my ailing DH. He is lounging around in the cool hotel room while I am working at home in the heat, catching up on work, meeting a contractor and doing other tasks. Luckily I have a cool pool, and the sun has not yet hit the house or the 50 feet of glass on the western side, so there is a cool breeze.

If the weather breaks enough that I can clear out enough residual heat to return to our bed over the weekend, we shall be home, if not, we will have to move. This is a resort area in high season and all local hotels are booked on the weekends for the remainder of the summer. We shall be literally going over the river and through the woods to the far side of Kingston, the next nearest available hotel.

I don’t know what will be happening with my sewing plans, but I will try to sew here and there — who knows, freed of other duties I might find more time…or it may just be too hot.

Last night I curled up in the air-conditioned hotel and pondered fall sewing: The fall Marfy and the new Vogue Patterns both arrived.

The new Vogue Patterns looks quite promising and I think I will be making a large pattern purchase when the website is open. The new Vogue’s are not likely to be stocked in my local Jo Ann fabrics until sometime in August, and I refuse to patronize that kind of pattern rationing.

There are also quite a few Marfy pattern I like but I need a little more time to consider, look at patterns I have purchased in the past, and narrow down my selections. Not to worry I will show you the final list when it is finally compiled.

July 10, 2007
Hot, Hot, Hot

I have three current projects in various stages of undone:

It is too hot to knit, even too hot to seam up the linen tank….too hot to do much of anything I am afraid.

We are having a record breaking heat spell — it seems to be the trend this year, unseasonably cool, followed by unusual heat, seesawing back into another cool spell. I suppose when we look back, the average temperature will be not much different from usual and people will wonder why we were so upset.

On top of everything the AC is on the fritz.

Luckily I have a pool and a swimsuit, so that I can carry my personal cooling system around with me. Swimsuit and a pair of pants or shorts and I can function in the house, which is hot. And since the pool is only a few feet from the back door, frequent dips are in order.

After I started writing this I got a call from the A/C company. They are sending someone out now, at 1:20, although if it is a problem in the condenser, they will have to come back first thing tomorrow, as I am sure it is already well over 100 in the attic.

And although I am working around the house, I am not one to sit around and mope, I am not working with my normal efficiency. Frequent dips and breaks are in order here.

Unfortunately those breaks have not including knitting or fiberly activity of any kind.

July 9, 2007
I just don’t get it

Sometimes I just don’t get it.

This Chanel jacket arrived this past week, forwarded by one of my favorite personal shoppers. The jacket fits me beautifully, but I don’t like it.

Why?

Well, it looks like a muslin, like something I just slapped together to get the fit right.

It is not a muslin. It is actually beautifully finished, beautifully and meticulously constructed to look just like it was slapped together.

I understand about deconstruction from a purely intellectual standpoint. I understand about exposed seams and ravelling and fringes and so forth. But I can’t help myself. I still fail to see why someone would spend $4,000 on a Chanel jacket that looks like something their dressmaker just slapped together in a few hours.

I suppose, if I were the person who purchased this, (it is on sale now for about $1700) I would appreciate how beautifully it was made and get a little thrill out of the fact that it is such a meticulous piece of work even while everyone who saw me thought I was wearing some falling apart jacket that I didn’t bother finishing.

But I am not that person. And although I don’t have trouble with the idea of people buying expensive clothes or investing in them to the best of my ability, I don’t really get this "expensive run down" look. Perhaps I don’t have enough money to appreciate the irony.

Later in the week, I got another Chanel jacket. This one is from the fall line and it is much more traditional. I like it much better. It is also cheaper, retailing for around $2700. I am still not buying it, and it doesn’t fit me well — it fits through the shoulders and needs serious shaping below the bust. I would enjoy making something like it however, and I have the perfect fabric in mind.

Why is it cheaper even though it is wool? Well it is much more traditionally made. This jacket looks more like a finished jacket but it took less time to finish it properly. There was a lot of work that went into making that other jacket look like it was unfinished.

Here is a peak of a detail from the original.

For more you will have to seek out your nearest Neiman Marcus or Chanel boutique. Or wait to see if I ever do anything further with the ideas this jacket has inspired.

July 7, 2007
On Birthdays, years, and decades.

Today is my birthday. And I am fortunate that I am spending it pretty much as I like — not devoting my time to one particular task, but working on several things I wanted to work on, talking to friends and family, and generally having a very nice day.

Who could ask for more?

I did wind some yarn for one of my next projects:

You will be seeing more of this someday, probably soon, as soon as I get something finished.

49 seems like an odd number, an insignificant year, but it is ending up being a kind of important birthday for me. I think I always go through this on the cusp of the decade change thing. Oh I know that I have another year left in my 5th decade, and that 50 is the big number, the one everyone gets all excited about. But I have never been one to make a big deal about those decade changes. Each time I am looking forward to the next one. 50 will be big because I always thought I would be grown up by then. I may be disappointed. But then I have a year to prepare.

At 11:15 tonight I will have successfully completed my 49th year on this earth. Although I will officially be 49 for the next year, meaning I have completed 49 years, I will also be starting to live through my 50th year at 11:16. This is what I find so intriguing. I will no longer be in my 40’s. They are done, finished, caput. I am (or will be later today) 49 but I am embarking on my 50th year. It is the same kind of thing as that decade thing. When I turn 50 I will be beginning my 6th decade. And now, I am still in my 5th decade, and I am 49 but I am actually beginning to live through my 50th year. So although I am not yet at a milestone year, and I am not yet beginning a new decade, I am still, in one sense, saying goodbye to my 40’s. I have done with them. Isn’t this fun?

Am I the only weird person who finds this interesting? Being 49 is kind of like being in some in between place, neither here nor there. My 50th year is the end of my 5th decade, and my 50th birthday is still a year away. But my 40’s are gone. What happens next? If you read old gravestones, you sometimes find "he died in the 50th year of his life" meaning, well, that he was 49. He made it partway through the 50th year but didn’t reach the birthday, he didn’t make it to the milestone.

I guess I see these "9" years as interesting precisely because of these juxtapositions of the measurement of time. Being 49 is kind of an in-between place, no longer in my 40’s, beginning my 50’s but not yet in my 6th decade, not yet 50. Kind of like I am in training for being 50.

Well, I have a year to practice being the person I want to be when I am 50. I hope it will be enough time.

July 5, 2007
Ending a year and starting sewing again.

Well I was determined to end my 49th year actually sewing, not just dreaming about it, and on that count I have been successful.

Last night I finally sat down and finished the blue tee. This was originally supposed to be a "muslin" but I liked it so much that I had to finish it. I am going to finish the purple printed tee as well, although I must have, in a fit of pique, put the remaining fabric away for a later project. Rather than storing that fabric in my muslin pile, it got moved, following Judith’s excellent suggestion that it looked like a skirt, into a future project box that is currently stored at the top of the master bedroom closet. Since it was late, it seemed best not to go hauling things out of the top of the closet in the dark, so it will wait until I get tired of UFO’s or get around to that box of fabric.

Taking pictures of a dark blue tee is not easy:

It is meant to be loose and fairly boxy and I am quite happy with it, even though I did have trouble sewing the neck band and I messed it up more than once before it went in correctly. But basically I love the tee. The fabric is really nice, a beefy cotton knit from Wazoodle and I love the shape and size. The neckline lies perfectly at the back of my neck and the tee does not slide back, threatening to strangle me they way most purchased boxy tees do. This is going to be a great hang-out and exercise tee.

To refresh your memory, this tee is a morph of two patterns: Christine Johnson’s 3 tees pattern and an old Vogue pattern, Vogue 8253:

When I think about what I actually did, I realize this top is mostly the Vogue pattern, using the Christine’s back neckline, which fits me much better, but using the shape of the shoulders, front neckline, and sleeve shaping from the Vogue, sized up to be somewhere between a CJ small and medium. Actually the back is cut more in a trapeze shape between a small at the under arm and a medium at the hem, and the front is closer to a small all the way down, except that I added a little fullness at the center front for the bust..

So I have no idea how I am going to file this in the pattern file: under the Vogue number I suppose.

I have plans to cut out another top in a really interesting textured charcoal gray knit. But first I am making a pair of one-seam pants in a neat French terry I got from Textile Studio. I am actually going to keep the light gray (shown in the photo) on the inside and leave the dark charcoal on the outside:

I was surprised to see that I had enough for two pairs of pants, another sign of successful weight loss. Previously I would have had to cut them differently, using side seams, and staggering the pieces so I would have needed more length even though there would have been more waste. This is also a boon to having TNT patterns. I know how much yardage it takes and what to expect, whereas when fitting new patterns I have experienced some unpleasant surprises and therefore tend to buy more fabric than I need if I am not sure what I am making or how it will fit.

I only cut one pair now, if I like them I will sew up another pair before changing the serger thread. It shouldn’t take long.

This morning I cut the pants and serged all the edges. This probably isn’t necessary as it is a pretty stable knit, but it just looks nicer. I also serged the edges of the blue cotton border eyelet I got from Kashi in the spring:

I am washing that and some ambiance lining since a skirt made from Simplicity 4186 will be my next project after the pants and tee are done.

I will be only using the border half of the blue cotton, so the remainder, which will be significant will be used for something else, what I don’t yet know.

I have not been working steadily or at any great pace, but I have been enjoying myself. I think I need to learn to work with more interruptions, and with an audience, and I am slowly getting used to the idea.

The new Patrones arrived today and it is ok, but not my favorite issue so far. That shouldn’t surprise me, as generally speaking, summer clothes aren’t my favorites. I also have finally spent some time perusing the new Threads which is definitely one of the best issues they have produced recently.

I might still get some more sewing done today, but I also want to write another blog post over at that other place, and catch up with some emails so I might not get to it. I do need to go to the gym even though it is my birthday. I need to think of working out as being good to myself, rather than as a chore to be endured.

But I can’t complain. It is turning out to be a good day.

July 5, 2007
TNT

A significant part of my "spare" time the past few weeks has been spent looking at fabrics and dreaming of things I might make, as well as bemoaning the fact that I probably need to make a muslin of everything. Bummer…muslins are great and I highly recommend them, but they are not conducive to instant gratification.

I have also been cleaning out my closets and trying on everything that they were harboring. In the process, I made, what seems to me a remarkable discovery. Many of the clothes I made two summers ago fit now, or nearly fit, which means that I actually have some patterns that fit, and they are, for the most part, basic patterns that I can use for new garments or as a basic block for altering other patterns.

The second half of 2007 suddenly looks much brighter:

First I learned that I could wear these pants again:

These are actually just one pair of several pairs of one seam pants that are in my wardrobe, both in wovens and knits. I also took this pattern and adapted it to be pants with a side seam, the first pair of pants I had ever made where the pants fit through the waist, hips, and crotch curve, and the side seams fell absolutely straight. I wrote about them back in May 2005 . All of these paints were made from a pattern I got from an online sewing class to which I can no longer find any links and I have totally changed the crotch curve, and in the standard pants with side seams, the entire shape of the pieces.

Still, I learned a lot using this pattern over a year or two and it is still has basic information which I use even when using other pants patterns.

I also learned that the straight skirt I last made two summers ago fits well and that pattern can go back into my basic pattern list without further alterations (yippee!)

I don’t tend to think it matters what basic straight skirt pattern one uses, as there are only so many variations. This particular skirt is from an OOP Sandra Betzina pattern for Vogue:

Between this skirt, and the pleated skirt pattern I used last summer and fall, I have a good foundation for several other skirts, and a good base to use when using new patterns as well.

Then I found that two older knit top patterns also fit again, or fit with only minimal work needed, perhaps a small full bust alteration, depending on the stretch factor in the particular knit being used, Butterick 3124 and Vogue 2483.

But truly the biggest thrill for me was that I almost fit back into a peach silk dress I made back in 2004 for my step-son’s wedding.

It is not quite a TNT pattern as it looks a little dumpy on me now, and actually it is too small through the bust and too big through the hips. The hip thing can be easily altered, the bust, not so much, and although I can zip the dress, I feel like my chest has been wrapped in a compression stocking, so this is not a dress I would recommend for wearing comfort.

However, this is something I think I can easily alter, even with my relative lack of experience in FBAs.

So I am thrilled. With these patterns, and the two knit top patterns that are still sitting on my cutting table waiting to be perfected, I could practically make a wardrobe in a pinch, and I can certainly use them as a starting point for working with several other styles and determining accurate pattern sizes.

July 4, 2007
Fiberly pursuits and the life well-lived

You know, I was going to write yesterday but there was just so much work to do, and I was determined to get it done so that I could take time off for FUN things. Well by the time I got caught up with actual work I was sick of my desk and sick of my computer and unwilling to spend any more time here, even for a blog post.

I have been working on the linen tank:

I finished the body of the front and was up to the armhole shaping yesterday morning, when this photo was taken. I am actually about half-way up to the neckline by now so the front is going much more easily than the back, mostly because the interesting landmarks are more evenly distributed on a front than on a back. I am getting excited about finishing even though I know there is still a fair amount of knitting to do.

I’ve been doing other things as well, of course. My interest in purging and cleaning has continued apace and I took another large load of things to my local donation center this week. It is always hard, finding that happy medium between having enough and having too much, and deciding what is of value and what is not. When I am in the right frame of mind it is usually best to take advantage, as opposed to those times that I am upset or otherwise stressed and am just discarding for the sake of venting frustrations.

I have also been reading again and it is a conflict in time of course. I can knit to a book on tape, but there remains nothing as nice as holding a good book in the hands, and turning the pages while savoring the prose. Last weekend I was savoring the prose of Michael Chabon, as I moved up the queue in the local library system a little faster than I had anticipated, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union arrived in my hands on Friday. Now that was a GOOD book, and there is nothing quite like a good read to calm and refresh the spirit.

I suppose I am a dinosaur, with my interest in books and fibers, the pleasures of actually making things with my hands, and reading an actual book rather than staring dumbly at a screen and reading the text. But sometimes it seems there is too much pressure to do more and more and more. And with that brings more emphasis on instant gratification. Click and read. Buy online and ship FedEx and so forth and so on. Stay on top of all the news of the world. Sometimes I think it really does us no good to actually know everything that is going on as it is going on in the world, it just increases our stress and our sense of helplessness.

Increasingly I am convinced that the life well lived is not the life with the most things crammed into it.

But here it is, the Fourth of July, Independence Day. And I am happy to be a citizen of this country, and I am proud of those who we celebrate on this day. And because of the efforts of those earlier great visionaries, I can spend the day with books and yarn and fabric.

July 4, 2007
White

The accomplishments of the weekend are blue and white. Unfortunately, no sewing was involved.

After the crew "cleaned" the pool there was still a fairly noticeable black ring or two. We, the clients, were not happy. I was told by the pool guy that he poured acid on it and scrubbed but it didn’t come clean and that it would fade in time in the pool chemicals. Well, that may be true, but I have had rings in the past that did not fade in pool chemicals.

So of course I did it myself. I didn’t want to get taken off the list for water delivery, and I was afraid that we would be waiting for these guys forever.

Besides, once I thought about it, it occurred to me that if the pool guy was right and the grime was caused by oil residue from the trains that go by several times a day, acid alone would do nothing, because you need an alkaline detergent to cut through oil residue. Although most household cleaners would probably do the trick, some one would require more elbow grease than others.

Luckily, although I am not one of those people who finds cleaning a pleasure, I do believe in keeping the appropriate tools in the house, including appropriate cleaning chemicals, and we have had many oil spills on the garage floor from G’s leaky truck.

It is amazing how bright the inside of a white pool is in the sunlight.

But the results are worth it:

July 2, 2007
Bergere de France

You know, I just love getting packages in the mail. Who doesn’t? And when the package comes with funny little customs stickers and postage in a foreign language? All the better.

The hard part was waiting to come home, and then actually finishing all the errands in town rather than running home right away to try out my new CD’s from Bergere de France. I was as giddy as a child staring through the window at a Christmas tree laden with gifts.

When I finally did get home, and got the groceries stowed away, for it is far to hot, even with an air-conditioned house, to leave food sitting out this time of year, I lined them up on my desktop and proceeded to play.

Now I knew about Bergere de France knitting patterns. I have admired a few things May knit before she started her blog, but I didn’t know any place to get the patterns. I knew that some patterns were posted on the website for free download, but I had never tried to order a book or a catalog. It wasn’t really until Abi posted about the CD-ROMs that I started seriously looking at the possibility of ordering from the website. I found the CD’s on the site and figured I would come back and order, then got busy. When Abi posted again about the CD’s and mentioned that there had been an increase in interest in the CDs, I figured that if I was going to order I should do it. Generally, I assume that if the United States is listed in the country list, I can order from the US. Some European websites don’t even list the US, and on a few occasions it is listed but I have gotten an e-mail telling me they can’t ship to the US, but hey, it’s worth a try, right?

This is wonderful, money and time well spent. Of course my college French is a bit rusty, but I assume that with my rudimentary French, a good dictionary, Knitting Languages, Google and a bit of determination I can get through it.

Any way, there are a lot of patterns here I WANT to knit. Don’t start laughing. I know I have said that before.

June 27, 2007
Eye Candy

Yes, the box of fabric arrived from Kashi yesterday evening.

It took me all day to get around to taking the photographs.

The Fuschia rayon lycra jersey was the first fabric I chose. There were other things I kind of had my eye on, but that was the first fabric I found that really screamed "buy me". So I did. I bought lots, thinking something along the lines of top and skirt, or sweater set (and skirt) or dress….vague ideas at best so I needed to be prepared.

Then I was talking to Carolyn and my eye fell on this wonderful cotton voile print. I am talking about the orange fabric in the middle here. This is not a print in which one can get lost in a crowd. I immediately thought of a skirt to wear with the knit. The pinks are the same. I immediately thought of something floaty, with multiple layers of fabrics, and perhaps asymmetrical pieces. Then as I was watching the others shop, I saw someone pick up a really fabulous piece of deep pumpkin/bunt orange silk. I remember charmeuse, but it might not have been. I was sorely tempted and my idea started to change. But I did not buy the orange silk because I suddenly remembered that I might have something similar sitting at home, and I did. That lovely piece of orange silk twill will become the lining for the skirt that will be made of the orange cotton.

Kashi showed us some fabulous silk prints that had just come in and this one really stuck in my mind. He had it in black, and this wonderful bright navy blue. Now I don’t do particularly well with classic navy, but this one is wonderful. So I wandered around thinking about it. As usual with a successful purchase I had an image forming in my mind of a dress, but a printed dress with a coordinating, or contrasting for that matter, print as well. But I didn’t find anything. I decided to buy the silk print anyway and just after he cut it, someone came in and bought some of this perfect navy blue silk, the perfect blue to go wtih my charmeuse. It was not what I was originally thinking but immediately my thoughts began to transform themselves. I took some of the solid as well.

Remember that burnt orange charmeuse? Kashi had

it in purple too. Purple is a much better color. This one is actually deeper than it appears in the photo, purples seem to be hard to photograph.

Then I pretty much sat down and let others shop and tally up their purchases. I was done cutting and just needed time to get my order written up, but I was happy to look at what everyone was buying and ooh and ah their purchases. Then, just as we were writing my order up, I saw another silk. Truthfully I had seen it before, but it hadn’t clicked with me until right then.

I am sure you know what I am talking about; you see a fabric you love but you can’t for the life of you figure out what you would do with it. There had been another fabric like that at Kashi’s, a beautiful deep dusty plum printed eyelet, but I passed on that one. This next fabric spoke to me but I couldn’t quite understand its language. And then it occurred to me: bias. Cut the fabric on the bias.

Again I am thinking about a dress, but I don’t have specific patterns in mind. I never commit myself to anything until the fabric is cut. dreams are free after all and I reserve the right to change my mind.

June 27, 2007