Wednesday Night Digital Sewing Date

Heather and I were chatting this aft about the cleaning (and sewing) we want to get done. As it turns out we both have the evening free (after some thesis-ing on my part)...so spawned a Wednesday Night Digital Sewing Date.

We are both beginning our evenings by tidying up our sewing spaced, and then moving on to finishing up projects that have been hanging around our necks for ages. And trying not to distract each other *too* much :P


My task list for the night is small but important:

1. clear off my sewing table, thus unburying the pieces of the pajama top.
2. nuts up and get the collar sewn on the top. Me = giant chicken.

Anything else I accomplish tonight is gravy.


If I can get this freaking collar on, maybe I'll even let myself splurge a bit at the big Fabricland sale tomorrow <evil grin>

No one around but me? Check!
Gmail chat open? Check!
Mug of hot tea? Check!
Bunnies sleeping right where I need to walk? Check!

All the ingredients for a productive sewing night are present!

A newbie's pattern stash

Tanit-Isis' post a few weeks ago got me thinking about stash storage and also left me feeling a tiny bit grateful that I'm not faced with her problem (yet! When we buy a house all bets are off!).

I love seeing pictures and reading posts about other people's stashes, am grateful for them even. THV only muttered once about the size of my cross stitch stash - I promptly showed him some pictures online of other ladies' hoards and he hasn't uttered a peep since. Smart man.

So while it is still adorable and tiny I thought I'd share my pattern stash with you guys:

Yup, thats it for individual patterns! I can fit the entire stack in my purse if I really needed to for some bizarre reason (Armageddon?). Not pictured are some Burda magazines and 2 books have some patterns in them. That subject might be fodder for another quick blog post :)

Lets see whats in the stack...

The "good patterns" aka. the ones I'm seriously interested in making (well aside from that tote bag, it just needed to go somewhere).

The aprons! I went through a phase apparently. Although in my defense two of those were gifts. Number of aprons I've made? 1!

The WTF patterns. Top two were scrounged from my mom's long unused stash. The best of a pile of 1980s patterns. The dog bed pattern I bought right when I started sewing and was terrified to sew a straight line without a pattern holding my hand. Hmmm, well I'm really not much better now, but I can at least figure out how to make pet beds without a pattern!

Randoms. Top two my grandmother bought me at craft shows. The Amy Butler Heather and I bought together at a quilting store with the idea of time-sharing it and I seem to have held it hostage ever since. Ooops. Sorry Heather!

Bottom left is actually one of my favorite patterns of all time. My awesome sewing aunt has made me two muumuus from this pattern. Never to be worn in public, perfect for super hot summer days at the cottage or an un-airconditioned apartment. After the last muumuu she just gave me the pattern to make my own :)

And finally, my newest pattern! A birthday present even! Can't wait to make it, assuming I can ever find 60" wide knit fabric that I: 1. like and 2. can afford

Thats it! All of my patterns. Not many now, but it's a slippery slope I've started down....

Do you collect patterns like candy or slowly and carefully add to your stash? Anyone else have a "wtf was I thinking?" pile?

Hearts for Heather's mom

Last Friday Heather's mom went in for surgery for breast cancer. Her family made and sent heart pins out for everyone to wear on that day in support and love. They are an amazing family! Some were headed to me, but Heather warned me that due to a Canada Post "issue" they wouldn't arrive on time.

Well that just wouldn't do. A heart pin was needed!

Then I remembered a crochet pattern I was noodling about with around Valentine's Day:

Just needed safety pin:

A bit lopsided, certainly not the official "breast cancer pink" but it's a heart worn with love and pride and support for the woman who brought one of my best friends into this world.

Project notes:

Pattern: Mini crochet hearts (free!)
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter cotton in a pinkish-red. I learned I am not a fan of using cotton yarn with my metal crochet hooks.
Hook size: various. Try a few and see what works best with your yarn and unique tension abilities.
Comments: super, super quick pattern to do (its less than 20 stitches, including the starting chain), but tension really really matters if you want it to look like a heart. Hence why mine aren't close to the perfect hearts seen in the pattern.

I've made 5 so far, the progression is kinda amusing. My first attempt looks more like a real heart than a symbolic one:

Birthday bracelet

Spent a lovely day with my longtime friend Bug. She patiently read a magazine while I got my teeth cleaned (living in the boonies + snowstorm = you have to be efficient about your trips into town). We hit up a yarn store where she picked up some Estelle Frill Seeker to knit her very first scarf. Yay Bug! Visited a tea store. Ate an unhealthy lunch. And then back home to sip some new tea, chat and knit. Now that's friendship.

And she gave my an (early) birthday present. A gorgeous Swarovski crystal bracelet she made for me. You can probably tell by the colour :) Beading is one hobby I've managed to not pick up (so far), but Bug does amazing things with it.

Such a delight to be gifted with a beautiful piece of her work.

Check out a closeup:

Of course it had to travel home with her for some adjustments. Totally my fault. When she asked for my wrist measurement I used my second-best measuring tape (my good one appears to have disappeared with those blasted pattern instructions)....and thought my wrist measurement was 8". I thought it seemed rather large, but trusted the tape. Then the made-to-size bracelet turned out to be far too large:

Apparently the 6 and the 8 look very similar on my now-deemed-evil measuring tape.

Doh.

Sorry for the extra work Bug!

Sea Cozy Tea Cozy (I hope)

Started a new knitting project last weekend while slumming it in a cabin in the Laurentians. Hot tub, pool table, fireplace and lots of big squishy couches perfect for curling up with a mug of tea and a crafty sort of project.

This is my first time knitting with two colours of yarn and it's turning out to be easier than I had expected. I've been knitting off and on for a good 10 years now, but it's been far more off than on, so I've accomplished little more than a few scarves. Knitting isn't my first, or even second or third favorite creative/crafty activity so it often gets pushed aside in favor of other things.

Eventually, hopefully, this will becomes a tea cozy. I'm using this pattern I found on Ravely.

I've added a few rows of single-colour garter stitch at the bottom on the recommendation of various Ravely people - apparently it keeps the strands that get carried across the back from peeking out.

Hopefully I don't have to frog this and restart - I'm worried about my tension now that I'm on the stripes. The pulling of the yarn across the back to make the ribs stand out seems to make me want to knit very tightly.

Yarn: Cascade Pacific
Colourway: 23 & 66
Pattern: linked above. 

When the weather outside is frightful....

.....let's sew, let's sew, let's sew!!!!!

This was the view across our backyard this afternoon. Normally at this time of year I'd be sulking, but we've had such pitiful snowfall (and too much freezing rain) that I'm almost giddy with excitement. More snow means more cross country skiing!

But you can't ski while most of the snow is still in the air instead of on the ground. So I did the next best thing and worked on my pajama top. Surprised myself by getting a good chunk done. Realizing I don't have to switch feet every time I switch between straight and zig-zag stitch has sped me up a fair bit (not that changing feet takes a noticeable amount of time, more that I think it does and end up futzing about when I should just be getting on with the sewings).

I made a pocket!

I attached a pocket (after several bad starts...I suck at edgestitching)

Attached the facings!

Made the collar!

"I like mah collah popped yo!"

"Less pictures, more pets plx"

Also got the big bits sewn together at the shoulders. That's a lot of progress for a glacial sewist like myself!

Hopefully I can finish this weekend, but that depends how distracted I get with skiing and nerdery.

So Project: Pajamas has been moving forward at a glacial pace - although I suppose the eulogy I had to write and give last week is a legit reason to not be sewing.

After cutting out the pattern pieces on Saturday night, I left everything carefully laid out on my sewing* table for Sunday. When I went back to it Monday night I couldn't find the pattern instructions! Extremely frustrating since my sewing area** is abnormally clean right now - there are only so many places I even have to look, and I've checked those places multiple times.

I bitched.

I moaned.

I sulked.

I did all three over gmail chat with the ever patient Heather and she didn't disown me as a friend.

In the end I went out and picked up the regular-sized version of the pattern. I was going to buy it any way since the 1X in the Plus version was big on me - and I've lost weight since I bought it. I love this style of pajamas and fully intend on making many more.

I do feel like a bit of a sewing wuss for not just trying to put it all together myself as Heather suggested. This is my first time making a garmet of any type - I've never done sleeves or collars before. At all. So I kinda want the safety net of instructions to keep my perfectionist self from freaking out.

Well, I think that's enough justification, don't you?

Less justifiable, but I will share just the same: these two patterns just happened to come home with me too:

The one on the left looks exactly like a beach cover up I drooled over in Bikini Village last year - and didn't buy because it was $75. The dress/top on the right might not be perfectly in fashion right now, but it's a bit more interesting than other patterns that are suited to my skills, and gives me practice sewing with knits and coming up with creative fabric choices. I like the look of the red variation, the other two with the white banding - not so much.

* also thesis table, board game table, art table, plant care center and to the bunnies: Pedestale On Which The Most Honoured And Glorious Receptacle Of Noms Rests.

** also office, bunny room, games room, storage room, art room, wannabe greenhouse and lounge.