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Restingmotion

  • Honoring the stitch

    The super-stretch stitch is such a wonderful little thing, truly a modern marvel, yet we take it for granted.   My old Elna does not have this kind of stitch and even with the various possibilities for knits, there is nothing remotely like it, something that lays flat yet stretches with the garment.  Oh, I remember all the years I have battled popped stitches.  Oh super-stretch stitch I embrace thee.

    It seems to take forever to sew.  The machine hums along, the needle going up and down at almost blinding speed and yet, the fabric moves forward ever so slowly, creeping onward at an almost invisible pace.  You wonder if the fabric is moving at all.  But eventually you are done and the seams stretches with the fabric and then returns to its resting state, flat and perfect. It seems amazing that you have spent so long on such a simple seam, one you wouldn’t even normally think about.  You think " I could have sewn the entire garment on the sergeer by now"; but then you do think about it and look at the tiny stitches and marvel.

    I don’t think we spend enough time marveling at the simple little things that make life so wonderful.

    I have decided that I don’t like completely serged together knits.  I like to combine the stitches from my sewing machine with serging.  The seams appear to look nicer, at least to me, even if all I do is add a simple straight stitch just inside the serging line.  I don’t always use the super-stretch stitch, don’t need to really, but the knit for this caftan is very stretchy with four-way stretch.

  • What a waste

    I will fritter away hours trying to avoid a mending job that will take 10 minutes.  What a waste.  I could have been sewing something fun.

  • Fuzzies 1, Knitter 0

    I have given in and ordered two more skeins of Posh.  Because I could not get the same dye-lot, I am holding on off on starting the last sleeve.  I don’t know if it matters in this yarn as but it will probably be better to alternate the skeins as knitting.

    I DID make more progress with unknotting but the problem with this kind of yarn is that it does not take to tugging and pulling well and begins to shred.  This will happen in the sweater as well unless one firmly knots the joins between yarns.  Otherwise the synthetic threads start to unravel, leaving little fuzzies throughout your sweater.  The yarn I have unknotted looks rather worn and frazzled in places.  Although I often find myself in a worn and frazzled state, I would prefer that my sweaters not start out that way.

    Posh6

    Because I felt guilty about buying the extra skeins when I might be able to reclaim enough yarn,  While I was out I stopped at the store and got together some items to send a care package down to Louisiana to one of the organizations accepting donations to help the stranded and homeless.   Somehow, if I can make frivolous yarn purchases while some people are struggling to get buy having lost everything, it seems that the least I could do is send something to those who have less.    I know that my little matching gift program, where I try to match my fiber purchases in charitable contributions, is probably frivolous, and I am grateful that I am able to indulge in my yarn and fabric habits, yet I still feel better sending an equal amount of money off to others, my own little way of giving thanks. 

  • Fear, Loathing, and the Moral Nation

    I have been avoiding thinking about the disaster in the south.  I have been avoiding thinking about all the people who are suffering, about the cost of rebuilding, of what will happen.  Actual the economic end of it seems unreal, when I think about Katrina I wonder what will happen to all those people, and I can’t fathom it.  Then I become angry.  Terribly angry.  Angry that we have allowed this to happen.  Angry.Because.Each.One.Of.Us.Is.Partly.To.Blame. Myself Included.  Better to not think about guilt.

    We blame the conservatives.  We blame the Government.  We blame President Bush.  And well we should.  They have handled this very badly.  If the President handled 9/11 well, he certainly has handled this very badly.  A blight upon his presidency. He seems out of contact, as if he doesn’t care, and the incomptence spreads and spreads and no one seems to know what could be done, what could have been done, what should have been done. That we can hold ourselves up as a model of what is right in the world and tolerate this total lack of regard for human life from our President and Government is appalling.

    Does anyone care anymore?

    Of course, I know that by not following everything I am trying to escape and not face the facts, as I suspect are many Americans — it’s not my life — even though we feel bad for those who have suffered.  Send Money.  Send toiletries and food.  Many of us have done that, myself included.  Still it is another thing to sit here in my comfortable home and wonder what will happen to the poor.  Avoiding the issues does nothing to help, and hence I must accept part of the blame because I have done nothing to help.  Writing about it does nothing to help either, nor does complaining.  It maks the writer feel better, more virtuous.  hmmmm..  we are on a roll here.

    As I said it is easy to blame the conservatives.  But truly are the liberals better?  I don’t see strong politicians mobilizing forces.  The democrats have been fronting weak, nobody candidates and then screaming when they lose.  Does either side really think about the poor as people, as someone who could just as easily be you or me?  No.  We read the reports.  We complain about the unfairness of it, but we don’t really upset the status quo.  We think of the government as apart from ourselves, our lives.  We let it go on its merry way and then we are angry when it disappoints us.   We blame the crooked politicians for paying poor blacks in New Orleans for their vote.  We don’t blame the poor, usually black, who vote twice.  The $50 payment is more tangible to them than the benefits or harm to come from voting for whoever.  They don’t see that anything will change anyway, might as well collect the money.  Are we any better.  We elect our government.  We elect people who don’t upset our comfortable lives, or we read the news and let it slide because we don’t really believe anything will change anyway.

    Again people blame President Bush.  He has wasted an opportunity.  He has shown gross disregard for human lives.  So have many others.  Would someone else do better.  I would hope so.  Would the situtation have turned out better.  I don’t know.  There are too many reports about the failures being widespread.  This was ANTICIPATED.  Even the Wall Street Journal   has reported about the failures.  No one had plans, or more realistically no wanted to pay for those plans. Or the plans were incomplete even though the data was available in many places.   In a market driven economy there is no money in disaster preparedness.  It is a net money loser.  Even though the rebuilding of New Orleans and the relocating of thousands will cost billions, billions more will be made.   The economy doesn’t care.  Billions in, billions out; good for business. 

    We have lost the human scale.

    There was no plan for evacuating those residents who had no private transportation.  This in a city where almost a quarter of the population was poor.  City and state officials must have been aware of this.  Yet they never thought in human terms what this meant for all those poor people who had no cars or way to escape.  Invisible.

    When they were finally faced with doing something, they transferred some to the Superdome.  Yet they had no provisions for food or water or medicines, toilet facilities or anything.  They thought they would just dump them there like bags of used clothing.  Invisible.

    People were rescued and dumped on th side of the road while military and emergency operations went around them.  Invisible.

    No wonder the poor looted and stole.  They know we don’t really see them.  It is so sad that they think that getting a high definition TV is what makes them worthwhile, but we have bred that mentaility as well.  Are we concerned?  As a nation no.  Invisible.

    Back to the Wall Street Journal.  This time to Thursday’s issue: Old-Line Families Escape Worst of Flood  which describes residents high and dry, although granted inconvenienced, with generators, ice and security guards, using Audobon Park as a private heliport to come and go, while people are drowning and dying of dehydration such a short distance away.  Invisible.

    It is amazing that these are the people who want to rebuild New Orleans, and will probably be able to do it, without the poor black population, even though the grittiness and mix of cultures is a great deal of what has made New Orleans such an enduring culture.  Invisible.

    A Government’s first reponsibility is to its people.  All its people in equal measure.  A community’s first responsibility is to its people.  All its people in equal measure.  I don’t think the United States as a whole is much of a community anymore and this makes me very ashamed.

    I was directed to several blogs discussing these issues by various knitting links, most directly by Kerstin from whom I found myself directed to Tom Watson  who said this: 
    An unwillingness to lead at the head of government: that is the hallmark of the modern American conservative movement, one that is firmly established (for now) in power over the dwindling Federal might of our country. This administration is unwilling to lead (outside of war and related saber-ratling) – it does not believe strongly in the mission of goverment, in government that can do good, in government that can lead people and improve society. It believes only in the marketplace and in thin, sloganish vitriol.

    From Watson, I was lead to Jason Chervokas  and even more interesting thought provoking reading, which pretty much shaped my day.  While doing other things, I was contemplating so much that was running through my mind.  I will end with another quote:

    If Howard Dean is correct, if it is time for a new America, the moral purpose he talks about restoring is a very old, very simple one that Conservatism has abandoned: Take Care of Each Other. That’s why people join together in groups to live–whether they join in families or tribes or democratic governments: to take care of each other better than they can take care of themselves. A government that has anything else as it’s primary goal is a government without moral legitimacy.

    Where we DO we go from here?  Will we change our path or is just another little speed-bump on the road?

  • Fabrics, Patterns, and lack of sewing

    There has.precious little sewing the past two days; in fact the only action the sewing machine has seen has been mending and alterations, two of my least favorite tasks.  Generally speaking I would rather make something new than mend anything.  Unfortunately that is rarely practical.

    Michael Bearman of Michael’s Fabrics  called on Tuesday and said he had some wonderful Agnona double faced cashmere in coating weights and asked if I was interested in seeing swatches.  Of course I said yes.  I immediately thought of some of the lovely coats and jackets done by Ralph Rucci in double faced cashmere and wondered if would be able to do something inspired by those creations.  The swatches arrived today, I promised to send them back, so they will go back tomorrow.  Unfortunately the fabrics are heavier than I imagined.  I knew they were coatings but I was thinking of a more plush drapey coating and these are thicker and a little stiffer than I wanted.  They are wonderful quality though and come in some absolutely delicious colors.  I admit I am tempted.  But I have far too many coats as it is.

    There is one swatch in a kind of chestnut and black which reminds me of a jacket I made a few years ago, the fall Susie Denison got married.  It was chestnut and charcoal gray, merino wool instead of cashmere, but about the same weight and hand of these cashmere swatches. I took it with me to Washington State for the wedding and I wore it a lot that winter, a simple straight jacket, reversible, with a turn-back collar that showed the contrast and cuffs that turned up.  For some odd reason I did not wear it much last winter though, I don’t remember why.  I was looking at it the other day while I was sorting through the closet and made a note to myself to wear it more this year as it goes with so many things in my wardrobe and is so simple and elegant.

    I also received the new Marfy catalog this week, on Tuesday, and I need to refine my choices and place an order for the patterns I like.  I will probably order several.  I love seeing new shapes and seaming and looking at how they are done.  I am not convinced that I will ever become someone who will draft most of my own patterns.  I love playing with other people’s ideas too much.  Anyway the Marfy patterns are so well drafted that I love using them and have no qualms about ordering  these patterns.  I will not regret a one.  I want to place the order this week as I know that orders slack off after the catalogs are mailed and this was the second batch sent out.  I missed the first batch by ordering too late.  I had the mistaken idea in my head that I had a standing order and it would just come.  Well, I know better now.

  • In a Tangle

    Terribly busy day, ending with a sore back, my own fault really, I was determined to do heavy work in the yard and finish digging out the soil in the new iris bed and sifting out all the rocks.  I did manage to finish and so feel like I have accomplished something.  I picked up the first load of topsoil and organic amendments and can add them in tomorrow.  I will hopefully be finished and have some of the plants in by the end of the weekend.

    I sat myself down in my chair after dinner and felt like knitting, but not the sock, just too tiny for my tired hands.  I thought about going ahead with the next sleeve for Posh, even though I have not put the sweater together and checked the first sleeve.  However, George found a missing bit of yarn and it may be just enough to finish the sleeves.  I knew I had this bit and had wondered where it had got off too, I left it in his car in a fit of frustration.  The only problem is that these two skeins fell apart the instant I pulled the end out of the center and they have been a mess ever since.  I finally gave up, most of the way through each, and left an impossible tangle.  I did intend to save it, despite abandoning it to the car,  reasoning that I just might need the yarn.  After an hours struggle this evening however, I had only managed to extricate a little over a yard of free yarn.

    There is some stubborn part of me that does not want to order two $11 balls of yarn if I might already  have enough.  There is another part of me that feels that the struggle with the tangled balls is just not worth the effort.  If I have to depend on that yarn the sweater will languish forever.  George has volunteered that it is not worth the effort and he opts for buying more yarn. Usually this would have been my first thought, after all even at this fairly large gauge, a sweater takes a lot of time,  but perhaps I am just feeling stubborn and frustrated and don’t want to give in without a little bit of a fight.  Since George is usually the frugal one however, perhaps he has a point, he is not caught up in the struggle.

    Perhaps I will see if I can get the sweater basted together tomorrow before making a decision.

  • Rants and Raves

    Raves First.  I got my hair cut today.  Hip Hip Hooray!  The previous cut was attractive, I had agreed to try something different, and I got TONS of compliments, but every time I looked in the mirror or saw a photo of myself I did not recognize the person looking back at me.  It was very discomforting.  As Alfie performed his magic with the scissors, I began to see a familiar face looking back from the mirror.  Self Restored!! 

    Rants: 
    I finished the first sleeve of Posh.  I am not sure  I have enough yarn for the second sleeve, although it admittedly will be very close:

    Posh5

    That is all the remaining yarn, 2 whole balls and 2 partials.  I started this sleeve with a partial ball (see the ends) then ran out of the next two full balls (sweater is knitted with yarn held double) just before the sleeve cap shaping.  I think the ball that is left is bigger than the partial ball I started with, but I am not sure that I have enough to finish a whole sleeve.  I will have to seam the shoulders and baste the existing sleeve into the sweater to be sure it fits.  Perhaps it is too big, which does sometimes happen as my arms are short, and it is always hard to tell how the sleeve will sit in the shoulder and how the yarn will hang before I knit.  This is why I never do sleeves first. 

    I almost hope the sleeve IS too big, then I will probably have enough yarn to manage.  Holding it up against my arm however, unattached, I am not convinced. 

    The RANT is because I am not convinced this is completely my fault.  Oh I do mess up — look what happened with Tesla, which I still haven’t started by the way — I got too wrapped up in Posh.  But in this case I ordered the yarn from one of my (once??) favorite yarn stores, which will remain NAMELESS and they have this summer shorted yarn on a bunch of sweaters.  When this yarn arrived, I had not yet had the yarn shorting problem and I admittedly did not count the skeins.  I noted that Posh was not the yarn listed in the Vogue Pattern Magazine and I hadn’t yet checked the corrections and realized that this was the proper yarn.  I assumed the number of skeins was correct for the sweater I ordered.  I ordered the large, not because I need the large in width, but because I needed to lengthen the sweater and that always takes a surprising amount of extra yarn.  After checking the Vogue Knitting  corrections list, I realize that I did not receive the yarn for the large sweater, which actually would have been more than enough.  I would have had extra, but that was my choice to make and not the decision of the person selling me the yarn.

    If I had checked this earlier, I might have caught the problem.  So, no matter what I must accept some of the blame.

    Nonetheless, I am predisposed to being pissed at NAMELESS yarn shop right now because, although I have ordered from them for many many years, I have, since POSH arrived, received packages of yarns  for 5 other sweaters each of which was missing 1 to 3 skeins of yarn.  They weren’t consistent, it was not like the  shipped the kit for the wrong size.  Yarns were just missing.  I was charged for the complete kit, but I did not receive it.  I would open that cute little box with the polka-dot ribbon (hint hint) all excited, only to be quickly disappointed.  Boo Hoo.  Of course, I called promptly.  The last order (4 fall Anny Blatt Sweaters) came almost two weeks ago (13 days) and I haven’t received the missing yarns yet.  This reminds me that I will have to call again.

    Should I just order another skein or wait and see?  Stacy Charles yarns don’t tend to stay in production long.  Depending on how popular this was, it may be hard to find two more skeins. 

    I hate having a sweater I can’t finish.  I hate having a stack of projects that can’t be started because they are waiting for yarn to arrive. 

  • Let’s Get Ready to Lounge About

    Last night (Monday) I finished working in the iris bed around 5:30 and, being hot, tired, and lightly coated with a fine layer of dusty soil, I thought the first order of business was a refreshing dip in the pool.   When I emerged I wished I had some kind of lounging caftan to pull on, to curl up in while I read a book or just lounged around for the evening.  No serious tasks loomed; dinner was to be cooked on the grill, and I had little inclination to put on real clothes, yet it was too early for pajamas.

    Unfortunately my caftan supply is sadly non-existent at the moment.  I have two pieces of fabric, purchased for that exact purpose earlier in the summer, which I washed but never made up.  I was determined to get started.  This is something I will use and enjoy immediately.  Tops and skirts can wait.  Yes I will wear those, but the caftan is something just for me, something to look forward to coming home and changing into, something to help instill the luxurious feeling of leisure.

    George poured me an extra large glass of wine with dinner saying it would be good for my sore muscles but I was still pretty alert (it must have been the steak  – does red meat slow down the absorption of wine?). and I still felt like getting started with a sewing project.  I knew I had a caftan pattern which I had never used so I pulled it out and started the prep work.

    Caftans1

    I managed to get the pattern cut out and pressed and the fabric pressed before it was time for my Monday Night TV break, when I curled up in the knitting chair with my current project and watched The Closer, my television addiction of choice this summer.

    After my television break I returned to pattern prep.  This is a pretty basic pattern, straight and oversized.  I am making it in a forgiving cotton/lycra knit.  I never planned on making a muslin for this garment as I think I can just wing it from my block.  It is, after all, a lounging garment and I can cut myself a little slack here.

    I did lay the pattern out and check critical fitting points against my basic bodice block, matching bust points, shoulder line and waist line.  As expected, I had to lengthen the pattern by about 1 ½ inches above the waist.  In one sense, since it is not a fitted garment it might not have mattered where I lengthened it, but although oversized there is a gradual flare from the bust down through the hips and I certainly don’t need extra width in the pattern above the hip line.  Lengthening above the waist, where it is actually needed, will preserve the slim lines. 

    Even though this pattern is pretty roomy, and the size 12 pattern still had a good 5 inches of ease at the hipline, I added a total of two more inches, tapering from just below the ribcage as there is more than enough ease at the waist and bust.  In a heavier fabric this would not be necessary but this particular cotton is very thin, light and drapey and is likely to cling.  A little extra fabric will probably be appreciated.   

    Caftans

    Perhaps it was just anticipation of actually working on a sewing project but I was wide awake and ready to leap out of bed by 6 AM and I managed to cut everything out before George was up and it was time to face the rest of the day.

    I got the two body lengths cut out with no problem but the fabric was a little short for the sleeves, about 4 inches short, just slightly more than I took up by lengthening the pattern.  This surprised me because I almost always buy extra fabric and I was pretty sure I had in this case as well.  I decided long ago, what with asymmetrical body parts and lengthening everything that I should just figure extra in all my yardages.  I also decided that if I was considering an expensive fabric and I could not afford to buy an extra half hard or so, then I probably couldn’t afford the fabric and should just skip it.  This plan has worked well for me over the years.

    Anyway, I checked my records.  I bought 4 yards.  The pattern called for 3 ½.  I obviously thought this would be enough.  This should have been enough, but I obviously did not allow enough for shrinkage.  I have found that fabrics with lycra tend to shrink a great deal in the wash and I often tend to run them through multiple pre-washes to avoid further shrinkage after the garment is made.  I did not measure the fabric after washing and before cutting, but looking at my cut pieces and the leftovers, I would guess I had slightly less than 3 ½ yards. 

    Hmm.  I think I need to remember to buy more with washable lycra fabrics.  I know it will shrink, but I don’t always add in extra for lengthening AND extra for shrinkage.

    It will work out ok.  I just cut the sleeves short.  I think I am going to want a 3/4 or below elbow sleeve on this top anyway, and if not, I have enough fabric that I can piece in the lower part of the sleeve, perhaps adding a decorate seam to make it into a design detail.

    No further sewing was accomplished today.   I had planned a trip down to White Plains to the Container Store for their shelving sale, there were several things we needed, and to Whole Foods  for a periodic restocking of things I just can’t find locally.  I also made a brief stop at Yarn Central as well to get an extra skein of yarn for the front band on a sweater I am supposed to be finishing up.  They were thrilled to see me in a hand-made sweater and Marta recognized that I must have made my red skirt because, she said, that she didn’t believe I could find something in the store so beautifully done.  That comment gave a real boost to my day. 

    By the time I got home at 4:00 I was too tired to start sewing then and I just had time to go through the mail and grab a cup of coffee before being picked up for Tuesday knitting group.  Still I am happy with my progress.

  • Labor Day

    I spent Labor Day laboring, not on the normal, everyday, boring things, but working in my new flower bed:

    Irisbed6

    I have sifted about half of the existing soil.  So far I have removed enough gravel and rock to fill the drainage ditch (about 9 cubic feet)  and take a buggy load over to fill in the area around the drain channel off our property where the soil has washed away around the drain pipe.

    I also started working on planting plans for this bed.  I don’t know if they will work, I really don’t have a lot of experience planting perennial beds for sun.  Here is what I have come up with so far:

    Irisbedmasterplan1

    Irisbedmasterplan2

  • In a burst of knitting fever I finished the front of POSH on Friday night in front of the tele, watching Forest Gump.  It is rare that we spend the evening watching TV, the DH is usually doing "more intelligent" things like reading or studying, and if my brain is not up for concentration anymore I am doing various stuff that needs doing.  So, I got to sit next to my sugglewumpus and knit, how cool is that?

    Posh4

    I actually made a grievous error about halfway through the right front and did not notice it (OMG!!) until I finished and laid it on the floor next to the left front to admire.  Then I had to rip and redo.  Well, I still finished!

    Saturday was a terrible photography day, because it was dark in the house all day. The blocking board is on the guest bed right now and that room gets wonderful morning light, at least most of the time.  It is dark and dreary now.  If your are not a morning person and want to visit us, I guess early fall is the time to come.

    It was beautiful outside, mixed clouds and sun, breezy, wonderful for working in the yard.  Sometimes having all the windows on the west side of the house is a real pain.  That’s not exactly true, there are other windows, but they are for the most part high and small.  Morning sun rarely gets inside. On the other hand we get more than our share of the late afternoon sun.    But it is the morning light I really miss.  I have my  light starved days when I just have to get outside. 

    Actually, I have lived in this house how many years? and I just noticed something.  Looking out this morning I see that it is really just that the sun is just low enough in the sky now that it is below the line of trees on the south and east and therefore the light does not get through all that verdant green leafiness.  Another sign of impending Autumn.  We saw our first red maples on the drive north to the Berkshires yesterday, and the last few days particularly I have noticed the change in the light.  Strange that I never made the connection to the path of the sun and the changing seasons before.  It is Labor Day and fall is really almost here, even if the official date is a couple of weeks off yet.

    Winter will be brighter, it usually is, now I know why.  Who would have dreamed that I would be looking forward to when the leaves fall off the trees?  Truthfully I never thought about it quite this way before.  The leaves are starting to drop early because of the drought in late July and August,  I honestly can’t say that I mind.  I want light!! Come on in Winter!!

    I haven’t started any other knitting projects or worked on my UFOs.  I intentionally put off the second sock for the moment, but it is sitting next to my knitting chair waiting for the perfect opportunity.  I took Posh for the car yesterday and knitted on the drive to Pittsfield and back.  The first sleeve is done up to the elbows, or about half-done.