I picked up the Elna at Style Fabrics and also bought the purple velvet. I can’t capture the color exactly on the camera:
I had hoped to make the de la Renta dress. Unfortunately there is not enough to make any kind of dress, only enough for a skirt. I bought it anyway as it has been on my mind so heavily. I think it needs to sit in the stash a little bit and acquaint itself with a few other pieces, make a few friends, perhaps determine what it wants to be.
…and disappointment often follows.
I have hit a wall on Twisty Turns:
The first skein was wonderful knitting. I loved the color combination and knitting the scarf. Even though it was looking increasingly likely that the purple/orange/maroon combo was looking, overall, a little too much on the orange side to be my best color, I couldn’t help but be enthralled with the colors and how they were knitting up.
Then I started the second skein (left above). The first think I noticed was a little bit of green that I hadn’t seen in the first skein. Then the differences became more obvious.
I checked the labels, I know I bought them from the same hook at the Decadent Fibers booth. The labels are the same. There had been three skeins, the first skein, the orange purple was the one I fell in love with first. I picked the companion that looked most similar in the relatively dull light inside the barn at Rhinebeck. Perhaps I should have picked the second two skeins and put the first back, but it was the first, the orange/purple, that I truly love.
Will it work out?
1. I should have knitted alternately from each skein and I could rip out and do that still.
2. It is possible that the way the wrap goes together they will look OK in the end, I think the entire wrap will end up with a wide row of skein 1 next to a wide row of skein 2 all along the wrap but I don’t have the directions here. I left them at Yarn Central last week. I think I seam the thing along the length to make the twisty wrap. — but I’m not sure if I like them together or not, sometimes I think yes, but when I look at the photo it is a definite NO.
3. The problem isn’t just the color. The first skein was pretty uniform in thickness throughout. The second skein is much variable and most of it is much thinner than the first skein. I do not think I am getting the same gauge. But then again, it might not matter.
4. Perhaps I should just wrap the whole thing in a plastic bag and throw it in the back of a closet and forget about until some unspecified future date.
If I don’t work on Twisty Turns, what am I going to do at group tonight???
I had hoped last night to finish serging the edges of the black and white jacket but I got distracted by an e-mail which led to some research and discussion of the Fiat plant which opened in Poughkeepsie in 1910. That discussion pretty much used up my sewing time, and G was ready for bed, but I begged a little extra time to do my serging.
I shouldn’t have bothered. The serger jammed up again after a few inches. This seems to have been the norm with this project so I shut everything down and decided that the serger and I needed to spend some quality time together this afternoon.
I had a sneaking suspicion I knew the nature of the problems, and after I managed to fix it the first time, I spent some extra time playing with the machine. Yes my suspicions were correct. It was a thread problem.
I know people whose sergers don’t care what thread goes into them, but me, I’m familiar with thread problems. My first serger was a lovely machine, I could thread it mid-seam and we constructed a lot of garments together. But it was very particular about thread. It only liked Mettler. Anything else and it jammed. So I always bought Mettler thread, and I gave away everything else. Then I discovered Mettler’s finer serger thread, Metrolene, and I loved it. It gave the finest finished edges, even on sheer fabrics. But Mettler stopped making Metrolene, I bought a big supply at that time, and most of it is gone, except for six colors.
I guess I hadn’t used any of the Metrolene on the new serger, which I have now had a year or a little better. But I used it on this job. It was the only kind of white serger thread I had in stock; I guess I haven’t sewn anythng white and I am fairly picky about matching my serger thread to my project.
Anyway, the thread kept popping out of its guides as I was serging, and the Metrolene is so fine I have trouble seeing it, especially the white threads. As soon as I ran regular serger thread through the machine everything worked perfectly; if I switched out one thread, it started acting up and I couldn’t get it readjusted to work. This serger doesn’t seem to care about the quality or brand of the thread itself, I even tested it with Maxi-Loc which just stopped my older serger cold, It handles fuzzy nylon and various embroidery and specialty threads, but it doesn’t seem to like the really fine thread, at least not the Metrolene. But then, perhaps it is just me.
So the remainder of my Metrolene collection is going bye-bye:
Mettler Metrolene thread 2000 m spools
color 792 navy — 4 spools
color 003 black — 5 spools
color 739 red — 4 spools
color 632 gray — 4 spools
color 692 l ight beige — 4 spools
color 619 brown bronze — 4 spools
If anybody reading this wants any of the thread, leave a comment; it just needs a good home. If not I will put it up on e-bay after Thanksgiving.
I found a new wardrobe combination that I think looks really good. The oversized cardigan is perhaps a little schlumpy, but then I feel good wearing it. Besides I have always loved running around town in a big old oversized sweater. At least I can almost pull it off again.
Or perhaps it is just that, having reclaimed my space, I feel filled with light and pulled together despite all evidence to the contrary.
The body of mermaid went up on the blocking board yesterday.
Although it is a lightweight sweater and should dry quickly the weather has been very cool and damp with steady rain. Even in the house, the air seems damp, so Mermaid was not yet dry this morning, although I do think she will be dry tonight. Whether I have the energy to seam her shoulders after going out knitting with Alexine this evening followed by a late dinner remains to be seen. Luckily not much seaming is required.
The sleeves will be knit side to side, so I need to try the sweater on and check the length needed for the sleeves before I start knitting. I am not going to knit the sleeves more than once.
I was planning on working on Twisty Turns tonight anyway as I always manage to mess up my seaming in company. I had truly hoped that I would be further along with Twisty Turns, but the lack of rain over the weekend meant that I as finally able to catch up with the yard work and am now pretty much set for the winter. Well, I still have to wrap a few of the more tender shrubs with burlap and layer some mulch around them, but that can’t be done until the ground freezes, usually mid December, although it wasn’t until January last year. The stakes are all up and ready though, waiting for the cold and their burlap coat.
I received a package today from my friend "Book Guy". I haven’t heard from him in a long time. Book Guy designs computer systems and chips and reads, although I hate to say indiscriminately, I can at least say widely. He has time on his hands, he builds both hardware and software systems, contracts out to whoever pays him the most money, and spends most of the time he is not designing chips, software, or sleeping reading. The ultimate computer nerd with a bookish bent. Since he makes far more money than his lifestyle requires, he buys books in quantity and then periodically he sends stacks of books to his friends. The only catch is that we have to pass them on when we are done, although passing them on to local libraries is also OK. The books are nothing esoteric usually, but popular fiction, with the occasional surprise. No surprises here:
Stephen King: Liseys’ Story
David Baldacci: The Collectors
Robert Ludlum: The Bancroft Strategy
John Grisham: The Innocent Man
James Patterson: Cross
They might not have been things I would have read on my own, but Stephen King’s "Lisey’s Story" was on my list either for the library or to wait for the mass market paperback. At the moment the wait list for "Lisey’s story is three times the length of the supply list for all the libraries in the 3 county system, so I was in no rush. They will be good gym reading, and perhaps good travel reading for the upcoming Thanksgiving trip to Kansas. I am not sure any of the bro’s will be interested so I might have to pass them on elsewhere. Although I probably wouldn’t have bought these, I will enjoy reading them (I admit to not always being a critical reader) and brother C, who I tend to think of as being smarter and having impeccable taste, is probably far above this kind of thing.
None of these books are in my local branch library although they are all represented in the local library system. I will check tomorrow if they are interested in a donation of current fiction. I have been turned down before, although if they would publish a list of books they wanted to buy, I would consider purchasing same, reading and donating to a good cause. In case the library isn’t interested, if you harbor a hidden penchant for popular fiction, please advise.
Much was accomplished last week, but my accomplishments were not in the line of sewing. At one point I was, indeed, obsessed with knitting. But my jacket will wait.
But mostly I just needed to reclaim my life. I had time, but I also had too many projects sitting incomplete. There were too many piles of dirt and wiring and lumber tracked in by too many men, too many stacks of materials, too many of our own things that had been displaced. Too much time was wasted shifting things and finding things that had been shifted and made unavailable in the hopes that the job would have been completed long ago. Life seemed out of my control and I, as a result, felt in the thrall of the men in heavy boots. No more. We have been organized, and cleaned. Space has been reclaimed and along with it, time has been reclaimed as well.
I also managed to get out in the yard and clean out the flower beds, dig up the dahlias, and callas and put everything to rest for the winter. I was late. This should have all occurred in October, that month that is best stricken from memory, but I am happy to have the work over and no longer hanging over my head. My tulips have been planted, later than they should have been, and only time will tell if this will work or not, but now my mind is clear and I can embrace the future and whatever projects catch my fancy, even sewing projects.
It is 6:30 on a Monday. I am home from the gym. Dinner still needs to be made and there is still a pile of work on my desk to be completed, probably at least 2 hours worth, but I am no longer oppressed by "that which has not been done." I may not be sewing this evening, but the possibilities are once again endless and my time is my own to control as I see fit. My time is full of possibilities. Whether I knit or sew, I know in my heart that all is possible.
Life has been busy: too busy to read, too busy to pursue hobbies, too busy to cook too busy to write. There are things to report, if I still remember them when time is more forgiving, updates will be forthcoming.
If not, dream on….
By Thursday morning I was desperate to finish the body of Mermaid. The last four rows had progressed quickly on Wednesday, the i-cord edging more slowly. I finally collapsed with about 5 inches to go.
Still, I was determined that the i-cord would be cast off before I went to lesson/knitting group Thursday night. Obviously, I did not realize how determined I was to begin Twisty Turns until I actually got to group and started knitting (see below).
Thursday was a crazy day, filled with meetings, a visit to the dentist, work, and the normal craziness of life but I did get home in what I hoped was adequate time to finish Mermaid, make dinner, and head out the door. I did not count on a conference with yet another contractor and yet another incursion of "job materials" into our ever shrinking living space. The only good thing about the ongoing storage of construction materials is that at least I am seeing visible progress outdoors now, not just a big wet pile of clay and an ever-increasing pile of materials and debris.
Needless to say, there was not enough time. I knit the last row of i-cord, cast off the stitches, and tossed Mermaid on the floor beneath my chair with just minutes to spare before I was "supposed" to leave. I hadn’t even gathered the materials for twisty turns yet, and the yarn was still unwound, in big giant skeins.
It wasn’t until I was well ensconced at Yarn Central, knitting away, that someone noted that my outfit was coordinated with my project:
I thought I had selected that skirt because it was a summer weight; it as a warm day and I thought it my last opportunity to wear that skirt until spring. Of course, I am coordinating a lightweight cotton skirt, with a very warm, bulky weight wool wrap, again, not intentional.
But then, I obviously dislike these colors intensely.
No knitting or blocking today, although I see it is not yet 10 PM so I can probably knit a bit tonight yet. Today was the day I reclaimed my house from the incursions of boxes, dirt and "stuff", rearranging and cleaning house like a woman obsessed. It is a rare occurrence for me. I keep a passably neat and clean house, but I am no clean freak. Thursday just pushed me over the line in terms of loss of control over my territory, that and the concrete and fiberglass dust that appeared on Monday. It was good. I feel like the space is mine again. More contractors again tomorrow, this is the second week in a row they have worked through Saturday, and I have a walk-through with a new electrician, but knitting and blocking time should be available.
As the end of the body of Mermaid has approached I have become increasinly obsessed with finishing. Even so I did not spend enough time on the weekend; progress was still painfully slow. Two movies-worth of knitting time was not adequate (Match Point and Good Night and Good Luck). When no further progress was made on Monday I declared Tuesday a knitting day.
I worked most of the day, but by about 4 I was ready to declare myself absent from work, turn off the computer, and turn the ringer off the phones. And so I knit.
I knit to the entire audiobook version of Memoirs of a Geisha and still I wasn’t finished. The book was enjoyable and I always have a soft spot for a happy ending. I always mean to listen to more books than I do, and I carry on internal arguments about whether listening is as good as reading. But I did enjoy listening to this and although I enjoyed it, it is not a book I would probably have saved. So this worked well: nice story, nice knitting, sweater still not done.
I turned on the election results and knitted some more, knitted pretty constantly except for a few excited moments which required jumping up and down, a few moments of disappointment, and the pouring of a drink. I knitted until my knuckles hurt and I was falling asleep.
There remain 4 rows and the i-cord edge. I do hope to finish this today, although the demands on my time are far heavier.