Now this is my kind of patchwork!
Too bad it is still to early to plant them. Like fabrics I love though, I just have to grab ’em when I see ’em.
Restingmotion
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More Japanese Knits
I picked up this book:
and absolutely love most of the patterns! It has been moving around the house, sewing room, by my knitting chair, bedside, wherever it can be available for constant browsing.
At the moment the design most on my mind is this one:
Which is knit in one piece and looks like it has an interesting bias affect determined by how you shape the armholes. I am not sure about the details, not sure if I understand everything, and am wondering if I can add sleeves, or if that will throw the entire line out of whack. I guess I better haul out Knitting Languages and see if I can figure it out. I am envisioning this in wool, so it is not a pressing concern, who knows something else might catch my fancy before I get started.
Meanwhile, as we approach the first weekend of May I am thinking about Maryland Sheep and Wool, or more specifically I am thinking about how I am not going. I planned to go, I had planned to take an extra day or two, visit a friend, shop a favorite fabric store in Baltimore, poke around here and there, but cancelled my plans a few weeks ago when I thought the deck would be in process right about now. I’m really not comfortable going away while people are tearing apart parts of my domicile. The deck is still on hold, however the masons are here, there is scaffolding in front of the house and a hole in the roof where mud is being passed down and empty buckets are being hauled back up to be refilled while course after course of bricks are being laid.
Ah well. it is probably for the best. There is too much going on. I was completely overwhelmed at Rhinebeck and perhaps need another year of Rhinebeck under my belt before I tackle anything bigger. Besides I am still on my mission to "support your local yarn shop" and am planning to go down to Yarn Central, probably Thursday after the masons leave. I need to call and check on the hours. It might have to be Friday instead.
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Spring Sewing?
The zippers arrived on Monday. Looking at the postage, and the huge bucket of stuff that I picked up, they probably actually arrived before that. Saturday we picked up mail early, 11 AM, right at the hour that first class mail is supposed to be in the boxes, but usually they haven’t quite finished sorting and delivering yet, so it might have come Saturday. Hopefully I have learned my lesson and will order plenty early in the future. I wouldn’t count on it though.
Years ago, I worked for a company that had a PO Box because they got the mail earlier in the day — 9 AM as opposed to around 12:30 when the local mail carrier got to our office. I don’t know why G had a PO Box but he had one when I met him, said his first wife insisted, and we have kept it over the years. It proved convenient when we travel, it is much easier to manage holding mail through the box than through local delivery.
Over the years mail going to PO Boxes seems to be the last mail that is sorted during the day, they have to get the carriers out after all, and it comes later and later. And then there are the days they just start a bucket for me somewhere, and forget to put a "mail pickup notice" in my box, so it just sits until I wonder why the mail volume has dropped, or one of the mail clerks recognizes me and says "wait you have a box of mail somewhere". That’s what happened on Monday, although actually I would have figured it out because I was in line at the window where I was about to tell the clerk that I had to have mail somewhere; I haven’t had an empty mailbox in 20 years. Besides I am supposed to get a Wall Street Journal every day. There are only two Wall Street Journals delivered through the mail in Hyde Park. The easiest way to learn about supposedly missing mail is to ask about the Wall Street Journal, everyone knows where that is, even the new staff, and if it has been put out, even if they haven’t a clue where to find my mail.
But back to zippers. I ordered a few for upcoming projects, and some basic neutrals as the stock was quite low:
They look kind of boring and basic don’t they?
I picked the colors based on these bundles of fabrics that I am planning on sewing up soon:
But now, after seeing Carolyn’s lovely new spring skirts I am hankering after something brighter as well.
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Sew and Go
Not the way to sew a wardrobe…..
Starting at 7:30 AM the morning you intend to wear the garment, especially when you went to bed at 2:00 AM.
Still, despite my best intentions it happens.
I knew I wanted to sew these silk pants when I bought the fabric at Mood in mid March. I had been planning a series of separates that could be dressed up or down for evening wear, I was hoping for a light gray, I saw the perfect fabric at Mood. As soon as I got home I realized I had the perfect jacket to wear with these pants, and I had an event at the end of April…..
"But April 29 is six weeks away I told myself. I am still redoing my sewing room. I have lots of time."Every week the same thing until two weeks ago. "But I still have two weeks" I said. "Lots of time for these simple pants". But time creeps by without being noticed.
I did realize that I didn’t have a zipper. I had been meaning to sort through the zipper supply and place an order with zipperstop . The local selection of zippers is minimal and there are no good YKK zippers to be found. In recent years, 9 out of every 10 coats and clarks zippers I have purchased locally have broken within a few wearings.
The zippers were ordered. The zippers were shipped. Usually zipper orders come right away. I expected the zippers by Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest.
In the meantime I started the periwinkle cardigan.
The zipper did not arrive.
By Thursday I was getting rather desperate. But it had been a long day. I had not been sleeping well, even less than my normal level of short intense bursts of sleep. I told myself I should cut the fabric the next day.
I was tired Friday and we had plans to go into NYC. I washed and pressed the lining.
Saturday morning at 7:30 AM i was out of bed and in the sewing room. Truth be told the pants only took 3 hours, and would have taken less but I had to put the wasitband and the elastic in twice. Perhaps the old mental neurons were not firing as efficiently as could be hoped. I did realize that I was down to a choice between hand hemming the pants and taking a nap. The nap won.
The pants were done, hanging, and waiting to be worn.
Then I realized that I had shoe issues. Impossible you might say if you have seen my shoe closet. But it was true.
I have lots of evening shoes. They never get worn out. Yet something new is always calling to me. I will not state how many evening shoes there are in my closet, but I can honestly state that I now know I need more.
There are no gray or silver evening shoes, or anything that went with the planned outfit. There were many black shoes, several pairs of gold or gold and bronze shoes. There are two pairs of red shoes. But no silver. No gray. No pewter.
I pulled out the closest choices from the summer heel department:
I wanted the turquoise, they seemed more festive, more like good time party girls. But they didn’t really go. The sturdier blue shoes with the wider heels were perfect. Actually better suited to standing on an uneven lawn, martini in hand.
I was tired. Too tired to take a good photo. But I had a great time and I knew I looked great (well perhaps if I had enough energy to suck my tummy in, but then I was too tired to care).
And now I must go shoe shopping.
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Yarn Shopping
She knits on trains:
I finished the first sleeve, binding off on the drive home from the train station in the wee hours of Saturday morning. No knitting since.
Despite my lack of productive creativity this week, I have been thinking about yarn, knitting projects, and yarn stores.
A yarn store in Poughkeepsie closed its doors. Yarn Swift was a nice store and the owner was very nice. I never really spoke with her enough, although I did shop in the store periodically. I have been plagued with guilt. I have a highly developed guilt reflex you know. Still, I shopped regularly and dropped a good bit of cash but never really stayed long enough to form a relationship with the owner. I am not immensly outgoing and it takes me a while to overcome my hesitancy. Now I feel I should have made more of an effort.
I went to Yarn Swift on Wednesday and came out with two rather large shopping bags full of yarn. Here is a good sampling:
Some Kureyon in the back; some Euroflax linen, which I love even though it is rough to knit; another Noro yarn called Tidiori, some Debbie Bliss Cathay, and some LaLuz. There is enough of each to knit a sweater so you know I will be busy. It’s not like I don’t already have enough yarn to keep me knitting for some time, but even too little too late is better than nothing at all.
At least I am not one of those people who bought patterns and yarn at Michaels and then came to Yarn Swift looking for help and direction.
In my general sense of "support your local yarn store" ennui, I also went back up to Bead & Purl, the new yarn store in Rhinebeck, actually a trifle closer to my house. I am determined to make an effort to buy local, not to fall back on the tried and true internet sources — you know, the ones where you can shop late at night when you are feeling tired and have packages miraculously appear at your door a few days later.
Here is what I bought at Bead and Purl:
The merlot Cotton STria is for another baby sweater. The lovely Kidsilk night will be a cardigan. This was a total impulse purchase, inspired by some soft gray 4 ply silk with which I just made a pair of evening pants. The combination was obviously meant to be.
I am determined to get to the other local yarn store that I have supported, but not enough lately, Yarn Central, during the upcoming week. I had hoped there would be a yarn party, but I might have missed that. Still, I must go. I have been remiss.
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Up, Down, or All-Around?
Thank you everyone for your help and comments. The sleeve problem ended up being simple to solve. G gave me a hint when he saw it the next morning. “The grain changes there” he said. “ Right! Of course!” I thought, actually a little facetiously at the time. I knew that. But the other side of the sleeve, where the grain also changed, stitched together perfectly. By the time I read your comments, and Liana also hit hte nail on the head, I was close to determining the solution.
Then it hit me; the problem was with the directionality of the stitches. I was attempting to sew the sleeve into the body of the sweater in a continuous circle. The stitches that took were sewn from underarm up to the shoulder. The stitches that were not working were being sewn from shoulder seam down to the side seam. A simple change of direction solved the problem.
On the second sleeve I simply sewed it in two passes. I figured that if the first sleeve wanted to be sewn from side seam up, so would the second. Wrong. Gaps on both sides. Reversal of direction from shoulder seem down to side seam on both front and back halves and perfect sleeve setting ensued.
I must not have cut the sleeves in the same direction. I don’t remember. I cut this months ago. The fabric has no nap so it doesn’t matter, although I often cut things the same direction anyway, just in case.
This is interesting because when I am seaming hand-knitted garments I always set in the sleeves in two steps, sewing from the shoulder seam down each side. But I have not necessarily been doing that with knitted fabrics. Perhaps I should. I am sure that, had I looked at the actual fabric at the top of the sleeve cap, and noticed the directionality of the change from straight-of-grain to bias along the sleeve cap, I could have determined which direction to sew the sleeve to the body. Knits are notoriously unstable on the bias, I am sure some knits are more stable than others. I am surprised this hasn’t happened to me before, but then I haven’t really sewn that many knits.
There is always something new to learn.
The cardigan is not quite done. I need to do a little topstitching and the buttonholes. I would like to make the matching top.
In the meantime another project has leapt to the top of the queue.
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Extravagance
I admit that I am no minimalist where tulips are concerned. There have been years when I have planted hundreds, carefully planning my choices so as to have several weeks worth of extravagant tulip displays in the house. Luckily since most of the vegetable garden cannot be planted until late May there is adequate time for a generous tulip crop.
This year’s planting was more modest, but we are certainly far from tulip free:
from classic:
to gaudy extravagance:
I love them all.
Even the smaller flowers emerging from older bulbs that managed to miss being evicted from the garden beds are beautiful:
And last, but far from least, are the tulips planted in the front of the house in the new Iris bed. Spring Green and Black Hereo form one of my favorite color combinations. I did not intend to pick these as they are seen every day from the front of the house and the driveway, but since a large part of this flower bed is currently obscured from view by the temporary location of the spa and various trucks and heavy equipment, it seemed only fitting that a few should be enjoyed indoors.
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Sewing Room Photos
I have posted the photo album of the sewing room remodel so far. There is also a link to the before photos. You can see the photos from the link on the sidebar, or by clicking here .
One wall remains undone. I have sorted through all my stuff and determined what is staying but I haven’t yet figured out how I will reconfigure the shelves on that wall to make them more attractive and functional. In the meantime I need to sew.
The walls are also rather bare and I will work on decorating a bit as well as putting shades or blinds on the windows. The microblinds that are currently installed don’t appeal to me much. Although I thought I could leave the window frames alone, they are in need of repaining but it is not yet warm enough to leave the windows open. Once windows are repainted I can work on window treatments.
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Lost in a black hole
I spent an hour today on what should have been a simple sewing step with no success. Has this ever happened to you?
I can’t explain it.
I had an hour between returning from work/gym/errands and knitting group. I thought I could set the sleeves in my periwinkle cardigan with little difficulty. Although I once considered this a daunting project, that was long ago. Perhaps I should reconsider. I spent the entire hour trying to set in one sleeve. I stitched. It looked good. I turned the cardigan right side out, there was an area about 3 to 4 inches long where the seam did not exist, a gaping hole, surrounded on either side by firm stitches. This seam was sewn in one continuous pass. What happened?
I tried re-stitching over the gaping area. As I ran the machine over the seamline everything looked fine, the machine sounded normal, the stitches looked good. Still the stitches did not adhere in this one area although the rest of the seam was fine.
I ripped and began again. The same thing happened. I tried a different kind of seam stitch. Repeat of the same problem. It seems that one section of my sleeve eats stitches, dissolves them on contact. The stitches disappear, as if into a black hole.
I can’t explain it.
I see one tiny hole in the fabric, this could explain one stitch slipping, but a 4 inch section? Why is the stitching tight on either side but missing in the middle.
I had to leave to go to knitting group. I hoped to return to this problem, but dinner and conversation ensued. It was late. I was up early. Getting up at 5:30 pretty much kills me for any sewing after 11 PM. I am sure a glass of wine with dinner did not help.
Perhaps tomorrow will shed a little light on the situation.
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We have Lift-Off
Sewing has commenced:
I am working on a cotton sweater set that I cut out before Christmas, ages ago, and never really got inspired to sew.
Having space to work and everything organized for easy access is great. Work went well, it was easy to work and easy to clean up, and I had space to play. I remembered a piece of cotton and decided to play with putting some piping along the front band of the cardigan. I wear plain sweater sets all the time, I don’t know why this one seemed so boring, but the piping seems to add the perfect touch. Sleeves, buttons, buttonholes and topstitching still to come.
