Oh the ambivalence. It's hard to describe how I'm feeling lately.
I've definitely been in a weird mood. I suppose it's just been a really
busy half year, and I haven't had the time or desire for introspection. I'm happier than I've been in a long time, which is why this mood feels so strange. It's also not that I'm not
making things, because I've been making a TON! I've just had no desire
to document - often I just cast off or snip the last threads and put
said item immediately into rotation or give it away as a gift. There
have been very few photos snapped, either on the phone or on the dusty
big camera, and obviously none blogged. No particular reason other than
I'm eager to move onto the next thing!
This blog. I suppose part of the reason I haven't been writing here is because I'm unsure of its purpose. While I don't think many people read, it feels weird to change gears without acknowledging the change, even if it's only a record for myself. I created this blog to keep track of things I've made, and I'd still like it to be that. I created it as a journal of sorts, and I think I'd like it to be more of that. I created it to bring attention to things I was selling on Etsy, and I don't think I want to do that anymore. I didn't sell any finished goods last year, and I've been feeling good about that. I just find that I'm in a season of life to let some things go and to move on to others, and the hobby business is one of those things. It was nice to have a little extra money, but I was getting bored making the same thing over and over, and keeping or giving so little of it to people I know. I tried a little of the linking up and self promotion to try to grow recognition or readership, but I felt weird doing it and I'm not going to anymore. It would be nice to be one of those people who makes money from their blogs, but I'm never going to be comfortable with that level of self promotion and sell your soul, so why exactly do I care about "linky parties?" (just the term, ugh)
I don't know. I just want to be me. I really don't care right now if anyone is reading, if anyone ever reads. I'm turning off all the post pushes to various social media. If people happen to find this post other ways, that's totally cool, but I'm writing this for me. I'm not linking for affiliate pennies, that wasn't really working for me. I'm going to link where I want to follow my train of thought, and that's it. A big part of me thinks I should abandon the whole thing in favor of a paper journal, or go straight up private because then I could add more photos to my stories....but I hesitate. I've been listening to and watching a ton of podcasts lately, and it feels very voyeuristic in some ways. I often feel like I "know" the people I'm listening to, and want to interact, but then feel weird that they don't know me at all. Never say never, but I don't want to be a podcaster. But I'm a bit envious of the relationship I see playing out between my digital friends, and it's like I'm not invited to the party because it's a one sided relationship. It's a very strange tension, now that I think of it. So anyway, I figure by keeping my making and some of my random trains of thought public (though not promoted), I can join in that conversation if I want to.
As for the title of this post, RENEW is my word of 2016. I don't do a lot of resolutions, but I've heard of the one little word or theme of the year thing for a couple of years from a couple of places. I think renew could serve me rather well. I've been keeping pace with a lot of things, and I'm at a place now where I am ready to step back, prioritize, and renew my focus on the things that are most important to me....and just let the rest go. So here's to that, happy 2016.
I make things. I can't seem to help it.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Monday, October 5, 2015
What I crafted on my summer vacation
A summer break from the blog wasn't something I'd planned to do, but I did and there you have it. Early summer had me feeling tired and uncomfortable and just not really in the mood to chat or share. Mid summer saw some incredibly high highs, and some very confusing and unexpected lows. The good news is that we've all survived and daresay are even thriving. We still have some fallout to deal with, but I'm hopeful that it will be resolved in short order and someday we can look back on that particular chapter as a funny NOT FUNNY moment in an otherwise good story. Finally, late summer and the beginning of fall have been full of adjustments, with a few more upcoming. I've been wanting to get a post up for a little while, just to catalog the projects I've finished recently. (And not so recently!)
The rest of these are in no particular order, and most will probably not have much detail, but I'm starting with the big one. Also, glamour shots of finished objects have really not been high on my priority list.
The quilt. The hand pieced twin sized quilt is FINISHED! I was so thrilled to finish it in time for an August birthday gift, and more thrilled that the birthday girl loved it. You can't really expect much of a reaction when giving anything to a three year old, and you should really lower those expectations that much more when you're giving something both handmade and utilitarian, so it was really nice to see her face light up for her "pink blanket." I'll not take offense that the favorite and most notable feature is the plain ol backing fabric! In honor of that, I've filed all of those quilt posts under "pink blanket," and that little exercise showed me that I first posted about that project on August 26, 2014, which is actually kind of cool as I gifted it on August 19, 2015. And that's why I do this. :)
All ready to make the quilt sandwich:
The surgery and patchworking required when discovering that no, in fact your backing fabric was NOT cut to the lengths you requested:
Pinning, and happily discovering that your table is the same width as the quilt. I still ended up with a ton of puckering despite my best efforts. Perhaps next time I'll try spray basting as well as pinning.
I embroidered a little message on one corner, which turned out ok. I just traced over my handwriting in disappearing ink. It's not perfect, but I think will be nice to remember in years to come.
Pretty much the best reaction one could hope for:
Where the quilt lives now:
A collection of friends I found in the bed before I made it. I love how you can see some of the same fabrics in their clothes used in the blanket as well!
Back in May, I had three projects on the go, and they are all done now!
Finished toddler tube socks:
The ribbing makes them look so skinny just laid out, but they do actually fit feet. I think that they could stand to be maybe 4 stitches bigger around. If they actually see some wear, I'll do that next time.
Here are the textured gray socks from Lara Neal's Sock Architecture: (affiliate link)
I was concerned that they were extremely tight the first time I put them on back when I finished them this summer. However I've washed and worn them since (yay fall weather!) and they were great. I think it was a combination of swollen ankles and humidity, so note to self, don't try on wool socks in the summer!
I also finished my Brooklyn Bridge cardigan. Everyone said I was crazy for knitting a black sweater, but it turned out ok in the end. One thing I didn't foresee was exactly how terribly my skeins matched. (This is softball merino wool (I think) purchased from Newton's Yarn Country at Stitches in 2014) I tried alternating skeins, but honestly that just left me with stripes. I can see how that technique works when there is variation in the yarn, but it just wasn't a go with a solid color. So I just kept knitting and planned to dye the entire cardigan black in the end.
I stupidly didn't get a clear full shot of the sweater (I tried, they were blurry and I didn't notice until I downloaded and I'm too lazy to set it up again). I won't say my efforts were 100% successful. I can still see the lines, but you can sort of see that the sleeve matches the rest of the sweater a little better in the shot above. I still have half a bottle of the Rit dye I used, so maybe I'll try it again someday. We actually had some photos taken yesterday and I wore this sweater because it was way colder out than I'd originally planned, so maybe there will be a better full shot in those that I will try to put up. Looks notwithstanding, this sweater was WARM! It's just fingering weight, but it's a wool angora blend, and I was so comfortable. The only alteration I made to the pattern was to omit the hood. I wish I'd decreased the tops of the side panels a bit more gradually to meet up with the back, but overall I'm pretty happy with my adjustment!
While on a fingering weight yarn phase, I knit up Baby and Kiddy Vertebrae sweaters. The idea is that by basically just knitting sleeves and a back, kids who tend to overheat may be more comfortable, and it may be the right amount of warmth for a baby when you wear them in the carrier as their fronts are facing your skin and already pretty warm. I will say that I think these are cute on the kids, but I'm not sure how I feel about making more non-closing cardigans in the future. (This is foreshadowing) The yarns I used are Araucania Huasco / Botany Lace for the blue and Manos del Uruguay AlegrÃa for the pink. The Manos was a pleasure to knit and SO soft to wear. The Araucania....well it bled all over my hands as I knit, and despite washing many times AND trying the citric acid soak that the Knitmore Girls have had good luck using, the water still runs blue. Sigh.
I had a request for a kitty Halloween costume, so I worked up a pretty little hat in an effort to use up some of my Knitpicks Chroma. I also crocheted an owl hat a few years ago that is much loved and way too small now, so I knitted Hootie Hat the second. I enjoyed the top down earflap pattern from Jane Richmond, though I wish I'd used a looser castoff on the brim. I also wish I'd placed the eyes while the hat was worn - knitting stretches a lot more than crochet, so the final product is a bit more wide-eyed than planned while on the head!
Continuing my Chroma stash busting, I decided to whip up a kindergartener cowl. I just don't love the idea of scarves for kids, which is why I wrote my Howard Hoodie pattern with the attached neckwarmer last year. I just feel like it's a recipe for the loose ends getting pulled and choking the wearer! The Howard will still be in our rotation for sure, but I thought I'd give a cowl a shot. It's nothing fancy, just a simple stockinette tube.
I couldn't decide whether to use the blue green ball (which matches the hootie hat) or the pink purple ball (definitely the more favorite colors) so I used both! I just striped them and switched colors sort of randomly. I carried the yarns up, but almost wish I'd cut them and woven in ends as you can see the carried yarns due to the rolling stockinette if the "seam" isn't in the back. As for length....I just kept going! I know it will roll, so I wanted it to be long enough to cover the neck when all scrunched up.
If you're still with me (I know this is long!), I've got one last project to share. I've been wanting to make the Rocky Coast Cardigan by Hannah Fettig for several years, and late this summer I just got a yen to cast it on and knit knit knit. Seriously, I knit it in less than a month.
The yarn (discontinued Mirasol Qina) was really nice to work with, and will be really warm in an 80/20 alpaca bamboo blend. But it won't be in this sweater. Yep, this baby is getting frogged. (Unraveled, for those non-knitters.) You see, while I like a long cardigan, the loose gauge of this knit just stretched way too far for my liking. And this other point isn't really the fault of the pattern, but more a combination of my not reading or realizing that it's not just an open front cardigan....but that there actually isn't enough fabric for it to ever close. I don't tend to button my cardigans, but I DO like to be able to at least pull the front panels together. This doesn't come close across the bust, and comes way less close across the bum, and I will never wear it. So it hasn't happened yet, but this will be pulled apart and grow up to be something else. I don't consider it time wasted though. It was a learning experience, both for what I like in a sweater, and with all those cables, I learned to cable without a cable needle so that's good. And it passed the time, which is a lot of what I was asking from it. You win some, you lose some!
The rest of these are in no particular order, and most will probably not have much detail, but I'm starting with the big one. Also, glamour shots of finished objects have really not been high on my priority list.
The quilt. The hand pieced twin sized quilt is FINISHED! I was so thrilled to finish it in time for an August birthday gift, and more thrilled that the birthday girl loved it. You can't really expect much of a reaction when giving anything to a three year old, and you should really lower those expectations that much more when you're giving something both handmade and utilitarian, so it was really nice to see her face light up for her "pink blanket." I'll not take offense that the favorite and most notable feature is the plain ol backing fabric! In honor of that, I've filed all of those quilt posts under "pink blanket," and that little exercise showed me that I first posted about that project on August 26, 2014, which is actually kind of cool as I gifted it on August 19, 2015. And that's why I do this. :)
All ready to make the quilt sandwich:
The surgery and patchworking required when discovering that no, in fact your backing fabric was NOT cut to the lengths you requested:
Pinning, and happily discovering that your table is the same width as the quilt. I still ended up with a ton of puckering despite my best efforts. Perhaps next time I'll try spray basting as well as pinning.
I embroidered a little message on one corner, which turned out ok. I just traced over my handwriting in disappearing ink. It's not perfect, but I think will be nice to remember in years to come.
Pretty much the best reaction one could hope for:
Where the quilt lives now:
A collection of friends I found in the bed before I made it. I love how you can see some of the same fabrics in their clothes used in the blanket as well!
Back in May, I had three projects on the go, and they are all done now!
Finished toddler tube socks:
The ribbing makes them look so skinny just laid out, but they do actually fit feet. I think that they could stand to be maybe 4 stitches bigger around. If they actually see some wear, I'll do that next time.
Here are the textured gray socks from Lara Neal's Sock Architecture: (affiliate link)
I was concerned that they were extremely tight the first time I put them on back when I finished them this summer. However I've washed and worn them since (yay fall weather!) and they were great. I think it was a combination of swollen ankles and humidity, so note to self, don't try on wool socks in the summer!
I also finished my Brooklyn Bridge cardigan. Everyone said I was crazy for knitting a black sweater, but it turned out ok in the end. One thing I didn't foresee was exactly how terribly my skeins matched. (This is softball merino wool (I think) purchased from Newton's Yarn Country at Stitches in 2014) I tried alternating skeins, but honestly that just left me with stripes. I can see how that technique works when there is variation in the yarn, but it just wasn't a go with a solid color. So I just kept knitting and planned to dye the entire cardigan black in the end.
I stupidly didn't get a clear full shot of the sweater (I tried, they were blurry and I didn't notice until I downloaded and I'm too lazy to set it up again). I won't say my efforts were 100% successful. I can still see the lines, but you can sort of see that the sleeve matches the rest of the sweater a little better in the shot above. I still have half a bottle of the Rit dye I used, so maybe I'll try it again someday. We actually had some photos taken yesterday and I wore this sweater because it was way colder out than I'd originally planned, so maybe there will be a better full shot in those that I will try to put up. Looks notwithstanding, this sweater was WARM! It's just fingering weight, but it's a wool angora blend, and I was so comfortable. The only alteration I made to the pattern was to omit the hood. I wish I'd decreased the tops of the side panels a bit more gradually to meet up with the back, but overall I'm pretty happy with my adjustment!
While on a fingering weight yarn phase, I knit up Baby and Kiddy Vertebrae sweaters. The idea is that by basically just knitting sleeves and a back, kids who tend to overheat may be more comfortable, and it may be the right amount of warmth for a baby when you wear them in the carrier as their fronts are facing your skin and already pretty warm. I will say that I think these are cute on the kids, but I'm not sure how I feel about making more non-closing cardigans in the future. (This is foreshadowing) The yarns I used are Araucania Huasco / Botany Lace for the blue and Manos del Uruguay AlegrÃa for the pink. The Manos was a pleasure to knit and SO soft to wear. The Araucania....well it bled all over my hands as I knit, and despite washing many times AND trying the citric acid soak that the Knitmore Girls have had good luck using, the water still runs blue. Sigh.
I had a request for a kitty Halloween costume, so I worked up a pretty little hat in an effort to use up some of my Knitpicks Chroma. I also crocheted an owl hat a few years ago that is much loved and way too small now, so I knitted Hootie Hat the second. I enjoyed the top down earflap pattern from Jane Richmond, though I wish I'd used a looser castoff on the brim. I also wish I'd placed the eyes while the hat was worn - knitting stretches a lot more than crochet, so the final product is a bit more wide-eyed than planned while on the head!
Continuing my Chroma stash busting, I decided to whip up a kindergartener cowl. I just don't love the idea of scarves for kids, which is why I wrote my Howard Hoodie pattern with the attached neckwarmer last year. I just feel like it's a recipe for the loose ends getting pulled and choking the wearer! The Howard will still be in our rotation for sure, but I thought I'd give a cowl a shot. It's nothing fancy, just a simple stockinette tube.
I couldn't decide whether to use the blue green ball (which matches the hootie hat) or the pink purple ball (definitely the more favorite colors) so I used both! I just striped them and switched colors sort of randomly. I carried the yarns up, but almost wish I'd cut them and woven in ends as you can see the carried yarns due to the rolling stockinette if the "seam" isn't in the back. As for length....I just kept going! I know it will roll, so I wanted it to be long enough to cover the neck when all scrunched up.
If you're still with me (I know this is long!), I've got one last project to share. I've been wanting to make the Rocky Coast Cardigan by Hannah Fettig for several years, and late this summer I just got a yen to cast it on and knit knit knit. Seriously, I knit it in less than a month.
The yarn (discontinued Mirasol Qina) was really nice to work with, and will be really warm in an 80/20 alpaca bamboo blend. But it won't be in this sweater. Yep, this baby is getting frogged. (Unraveled, for those non-knitters.) You see, while I like a long cardigan, the loose gauge of this knit just stretched way too far for my liking. And this other point isn't really the fault of the pattern, but more a combination of my not reading or realizing that it's not just an open front cardigan....but that there actually isn't enough fabric for it to ever close. I don't tend to button my cardigans, but I DO like to be able to at least pull the front panels together. This doesn't come close across the bust, and comes way less close across the bum, and I will never wear it. So it hasn't happened yet, but this will be pulled apart and grow up to be something else. I don't consider it time wasted though. It was a learning experience, both for what I like in a sweater, and with all those cables, I learned to cable without a cable needle so that's good. And it passed the time, which is a lot of what I was asking from it. You win some, you lose some!
Thursday, October 1, 2015
How tired am I?
I firmly believe that a continuous lack of decent amount of consecutive hours of sleep is a very effective form of torture, and a device for seeing exactly how stupid and clumsy you can be.
I keep my compostable food scraps in a gladware container in the fridge, because this limits how full we can stuff the bin before taking it outside, and it keeps the scraps from smelling or collecting fruit flies. However. We also keep food leftovers in gladware containers in the fridge.
As I was making my lunch today, I realized that I'd dumped the coffee grounds that were intended for compost into the container holding the last dozen or so mini pumpkin muffins instead. This was annoying, but there were still a few that were untouched by the grounds and seemed salvageable. I scooped them out and put them into a fresh container. And then I knocked that container on the floor.
That was very annoying.
I'm so tired.
I keep my compostable food scraps in a gladware container in the fridge, because this limits how full we can stuff the bin before taking it outside, and it keeps the scraps from smelling or collecting fruit flies. However. We also keep food leftovers in gladware containers in the fridge.
As I was making my lunch today, I realized that I'd dumped the coffee grounds that were intended for compost into the container holding the last dozen or so mini pumpkin muffins instead. This was annoying, but there were still a few that were untouched by the grounds and seemed salvageable. I scooped them out and put them into a fresh container. And then I knocked that container on the floor.
That was very annoying.
I'm so tired.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
All is not lost
The metal forked piece in the top image that was slowly scraping away parts of my sewing machine has been replaced by the actual plastic forked piece that is made to work with my model of machine (what a concept!). I am happy to report that the machine still sews with this custom made foot, and I may actually end up finishing this quilt before the end of summer. Hooray!
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Brand matters
Why?
Well, because your walking foot probably shouldn't wear a groove into the metal parts of your sewing machine like this.
Ohhhh, so many curse words.
You see, I bought this foot several years ago (maybe 5?) when I made my first and only other quilt. Like you do, I just went to a local Joann's, bought the walking foot they had on the rack, and hooked it up to my machine. It screwed right in, and I thought nothing of it.
Fast forward to recently, and I ran into a situation that should have been a sign...but I totally missed it. I wanted to buy some more empty bobbins, and again, I just went to the local Joann's, picked up a multipack, wound one up, and immediately got frustrated when it just didn't seem to fit quite right. I compared it to one of my other bobbins, and noticed it was quite a bit taller. Huh, I thought. Ok. So I exchanged it for the other size bobbin pack at Joann's, wound THAT up, and while it fit better, it still wasn't an exact fit, and the bobbin jammed up and made a mess. I untangled it, and went back to return the second pack. This time I asked the lady working the sewing machine corner what was up. She informed me that they only sell accessories for Simplicity and Husqvarna sewing machines. I have a Brother. Still, no lightbulb moment for me.
I am finally to the quilting it all together point on my hand pieced quilt, and I was swimming along just fine with sort of straight line quilting, sort of an inch apart....when all of a sudden my walking foot just stopped walking. I was confused. The bobbin hadn't run out, the needle was threaded...what gives. I remained confused for a while, re-threaded the whole works, got through another couple inches, and again, it just stopped! This time the little arm thing fell off the screw thing it was (apparently) eating away...but I still didn't see that. I removed and reinstalled the foot, tried again, and again, the arm thing immediately fell off the screw thing.
That's when I noticed the groove that probably shouldn't be there. That's when I flashed back to the bobbin situation....and THAT'S when I figured out that, huh, that walking foot probably isn't a universal accessory.
Sure enough, they sell a specific walking foot to attach to my specific brand and model of sewing machine, and I am a moron.
I have since ordered that specific foot, and am avoiding actually trying it out because I'm afraid that I wore the screw thing away too far and that it won't work and I'll have to buy a new machine if I want to continue using a walking foot. This bums me out because first, the rest of the machine still works just fine. Regular presser feet don't rely on that screw thing, and the screw thing still holds the needle in as it's supposed to. Second, I have absolutely no idea what machine I'd want or need, and there are so many options out there that I feel overwhelmed by the variety and potential cost of replacing my otherwise functional machine.
So stupid. Use parts made for your machine. In this case....brand matters. Or at least MATCHING brands matters!
Well, because your walking foot probably shouldn't wear a groove into the metal parts of your sewing machine like this.
Ohhhh, so many curse words.
You see, I bought this foot several years ago (maybe 5?) when I made my first and only other quilt. Like you do, I just went to a local Joann's, bought the walking foot they had on the rack, and hooked it up to my machine. It screwed right in, and I thought nothing of it.
Fast forward to recently, and I ran into a situation that should have been a sign...but I totally missed it. I wanted to buy some more empty bobbins, and again, I just went to the local Joann's, picked up a multipack, wound one up, and immediately got frustrated when it just didn't seem to fit quite right. I compared it to one of my other bobbins, and noticed it was quite a bit taller. Huh, I thought. Ok. So I exchanged it for the other size bobbin pack at Joann's, wound THAT up, and while it fit better, it still wasn't an exact fit, and the bobbin jammed up and made a mess. I untangled it, and went back to return the second pack. This time I asked the lady working the sewing machine corner what was up. She informed me that they only sell accessories for Simplicity and Husqvarna sewing machines. I have a Brother. Still, no lightbulb moment for me.
I am finally to the quilting it all together point on my hand pieced quilt, and I was swimming along just fine with sort of straight line quilting, sort of an inch apart....when all of a sudden my walking foot just stopped walking. I was confused. The bobbin hadn't run out, the needle was threaded...what gives. I remained confused for a while, re-threaded the whole works, got through another couple inches, and again, it just stopped! This time the little arm thing fell off the screw thing it was (apparently) eating away...but I still didn't see that. I removed and reinstalled the foot, tried again, and again, the arm thing immediately fell off the screw thing.
That's when I noticed the groove that probably shouldn't be there. That's when I flashed back to the bobbin situation....and THAT'S when I figured out that, huh, that walking foot probably isn't a universal accessory.
Sure enough, they sell a specific walking foot to attach to my specific brand and model of sewing machine, and I am a moron.
I have since ordered that specific foot, and am avoiding actually trying it out because I'm afraid that I wore the screw thing away too far and that it won't work and I'll have to buy a new machine if I want to continue using a walking foot. This bums me out because first, the rest of the machine still works just fine. Regular presser feet don't rely on that screw thing, and the screw thing still holds the needle in as it's supposed to. Second, I have absolutely no idea what machine I'd want or need, and there are so many options out there that I feel overwhelmed by the variety and potential cost of replacing my otherwise functional machine.
So stupid. Use parts made for your machine. In this case....brand matters. Or at least MATCHING brands matters!
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