An ordinary day. Without knitting...

I am certain that this whole not knitting thing is making everybody batty.  Still in an interesting way, I have found myself stimulated and interested in so many things.  I am reading a ton of books.  Yes they are mostly light mysteries but they are really good.  Try Daisy Dalrymple mysteries if you are looking for something different and yet familiar and comfortable.  

It is the sewing that is keeping me sane.  

The sewing is stimulating in an unexpected way.  It's unexpected because I never used to think of hand made clothes in a creative way.  I never thought much about how to take one pattern and adapt it to be something just a bit different and now, every time I turn around, I can see myself doing something different with the patterns I have.  It is weird because I never thought that I would be that kind of sewer who would change a collar or cut the neckline different or even think about changing the garment to make something very different than the pattern started as.  I just never thought of it that way.  Till I became a knitter.  Becoming a knitter changed everything.

I sewed today.  Rather, I did not sew, but I did cut and prepare and plan.  I have several pieces of wonderful winter flannelette shirt fabrics.  I wanted the shirts to have long sleeves and I wanted them to fit comfortably and yet be easy enough that if I wanted to put a light weight sweater underneath, it would have room to fit it.  Waikerie to the rescue.  

 I am making this version with long sleeves rather than the neat little tab sleeve but otherwise it is a simple basic Waikerie shirt.  It will suit this gorgeous blue and green plaid.  I love plaid and this blue and green is my favourite of all colour combinations.

I thought about starting sewing, but I had 'that feeling'.  I went and did some other fooling around looking at the internet.  I did find an interesting shirt style that I can adapt from one of my patterns.  I was looking to see if there were any variations sewing a shirt placket to sleeves, and found an ad for a simple tunic shirt with a standup collar and a front shirt placket.  It was simple and really nice. It will be a great variation on this shirt or on the  Torrens Box Top.  And if that isn't quite right, then I can certainly do it with the more fitted shoulders and crisp lines of the Tarawi shirt.

It was nice to cut out such good fabric and there is plenty left to make a Nullabor Cami from the leftovers.  It would make a great pair for those days when it is chilly in the morning but midday needs something light and easy to wear.

As I was mucking about in the sewing room, I found my linen pair of pants on the table waiting for repair.  I had sewn one side seam in a non stress area too close to the edge of the fabric and about two inches of the seam had come apart.  So I did a quick repair.

 

I had done a repair to my favourite shirt too.  I had not locked the side seam bottoms with a reverse stitch and they were letting go too.  These two pieces are the most comfortable things I have for summer wear.  The shirt is a linen cotton and the pants are a beautiful pure linen.  I would love to have more of this wonderful fabric.

Anyway that was my day.  I made chili and had a really good supper and then sat and did some squares.  And here I am and it is bedtime.  And thus ends the day.

Oddball weekend.

The weekends are for days off.  I still feel that way, only now I generally knit on the weekends, which is sort of what I do all week too, so...

This weekend was different.  I had a sleep study on Friday night.  It was interesting.  The room was kind of like a cheap hotel but with a single bed and you had to stay in the room till they got you out. I did not sleep very well, but I did sleep.  I needed to do it to keep my funding for my bipap machine so do it I did.  It made for a weird start to the weekend though.   It would have been much better if I could have knit.

I am not knitting still.  Another week I think, just to be safe.  It is so much better, but I would hate to start too soon.  I am still trying to keep busy with other things, besides sewing.  

The little loom has been busy this week.  

Last week, I had twenty four squares.  Now there are almost fifty.  It is about a quarter of the blanket I hope to make.  It has taken very little yarn so far, so I if the blanket magically happens to get bigger, that is fine by me.  Once I can knit again, I doubt that I will make as many as quickly as these were made, but I do hope to keep a few going on.  Note to self:  Needs more hot pink squares.

I have no idea what I did yesterday.  I did listen to a book and goof off on the computer for a good part of the day looking at knitting patterns and different variations of the patterns I have collected to spark some inspiration.  I have plans.  

Today I did this.  Keith hardly helped at all.

Don't be impressed.  This is a very easy puzzle, just like the last one.  It is a beautiful picture and I am having fun setting it, but it isn't as challenging as I like.  I am really enjoying the puzzles, and Keith has been enjoying setting them too. If he sees I have one out, he seems compelled to stop and help.  The next one I get is going to be a wee bit more challenging though honestly, If I had room and had the money to spend, there is a 18, 000 piece Ravensburger of a book shelf of magical books.  18,000 pieces would be fun.   

Yup.  That might be going too far.  The puzzle setting is making me batty.  Thank heavens it is only another week or two till I can knit and it is a darn good thing that I have sewing to do during the week.  

Now that my handy dandy button measuring tool thingy has arrived, I am going to sew another shirt or two with long sleeves, out of my wonderful flannellettes and then I am going to have mega button day.  I am really looking forward to this week.

A good day for mail.

It was a pretty great sewing day.  The pinafore is complete and the adjustments are on the pattern pieces.  It only needs buttons now.  Still debating about button holes, though I have to say, I realized that if I took the time to make button holes, I could wear it as a long vest of sorts.  

I am not sure if I would ever wear it that way, but maybe?  It is complete and I am pretty happy with it.  

I pottered around doing a bit of other stuff through the day while I listened to a book, and then it was time for mail.  It was nice mail.

There was a package from my much loved River City Yarns.  I purchased a sweater quantity of their Adam and Eve yarn.  I have a special project in mind for this lovely stuff.  

The soft grey was requested and now I am just waiting for mohair.  I missed out on a matching silver handdyed mohair silk.  I waited too long to order and some other lucky person got the silver before me. Still I am very pleased at getting the silver Adam and Eve before it is all gone.  The mohair will be here in a week or so.  Rather than trying for a matching silver, I am going with a natural white undyed mohair that I found on esty.  It should arrive in a couple of weeks.    

And my fabric came.  I wasn't really thinking about purchasing fabric, but I have very few knits.  I needed some basic knits to make some undergarments.  Mine are all at least ten years old and even a really well made pantie won't get much beyond that.  The string stage is to be avoided.  I ended up purchasing a fair bit of navy and grey melange knit for tshirts, undies, turtlenecks, maybe a dress.  Undies and turtlenecks are needed first.  

 

I also took a bold decision to try a fairly expensive linen (at regular price) to make some Glebe pants or a skirt for summer wear to go with a wonderful piece of cotton linen I have.  

Aren't they a great match?  I had tried to get a matching colour fabric once before but was disappointed in the fabric and am using it for muslins.  There was a really good sale on for a few hours only and I took a chance and this time, I won.

I also purchased some cottons - they were very, very well priced - and a piece of stretch twill in black.  These are for a slighlty different cut of pants that I want to try and I did not have quite the right fabric for them.  Most of what I have is heavier and not quite as stretchy.

I really didn't need anything but the knits.  The other stuff was impossibly well priced.  Besides, I won't have tons of clothes even if I sew everything up that I have purchased in the last few years.  I still will have a much smaller wardrobe than average.  I will however have a wardrobe full of colour and pleasure and joy knowing it was made by me.

And only enough t shirts to wear as undershirts.**    

And for my final piece of interesting mail, I received my button hole thingy.  

For less than twenty dollars the tedious task of measuring out button holes just became dramatically easier.

**I hate t shirts in general.  It was all I had for far too many years.

  

Feeling Good

I was very busy today.  Laundry beckoned and I did the responsible thing and tended to it.   In between I sewed.  

I am working on the pinafore I impulsively bought the other day and so far, it is going well.  I put pockets on it and did a set of front plackets for buttons and button holes.  On me, having that vertical element is important f I want it to look right.  I also sewed the shoulder seams and the side seams.

If you look carefully, you can see the neckline above the first pin acting as a button.  As I look at it here, it has shades of ye olden school uniform to it, particularly in this navy blue.  Oh well.  It is just a muslin for the eventual pinafore that I hope I can wear regularly.  And if this one works out well enough, it will be pressed into summer service too.  

The pattern has deep armscyes and ought to have a deep neckline.  And because this is a new pattern and this sew is acting as a muslin, there are going to be some adjustments.

The York pinafore has a  fairly deep neckline but because I have shortened the upper part of the bodice, shortening the neckline, I am planning of cutting the neckline a bit lower to get the right look. It is just a little bit high at the moment and if I had not shortened the shoulders, the armscyes would have been too low. The other adjustment that needs to happen is to fit the hip area properly.  I cut wider than I needed so that I could get the right look and fit to make the skirt hang properly. I also wanted to be sure that there was enough ease to the skirt so that it still stayed properly in place when I am sitting.  

Once the fit issues are resolved, I will go back to the pattern and mark it so that the next time I cut it out on my nicer fabric, I can simply sew and know that I have it right each and every time. Once that is done, this muslin will be finished with bias tape and buttons and hems.  There probably won't be button holes.  I doubt that I would ever unbutton it.  They really are just to get a look that works on me.  

It is a kind of exciting process, this first sew of a radically different new pattern.  It is radically different because it is a straight sort of skirt.  It is different because it is essentially, what we used to call a jumper.  They have not really been a thing since 1964.  But I loved the jumpers my mom sewed for me.  I still remember many of the clothes she made for my sisters and I.    

I will never forget the feeling of the very first pair of pants that I sewed a few years ago and how liberating and thrilling it was to have a garment that fit me in every way.  I will never forget my first dress. Oh the freedom of it.  I think this is going to be just that same sort of feeling.  It is just such a different garment.  It needs a blouse or light weight sweater under it.  It is perfect for leggings or my pencil style pants worn under it.  It's an extra layer of clothing that will work in lots of ways and in lots of seasons.  It will be different than just pants and shirts and gathered skirts and I find I am craving that difference.

I am also wondering if this could make my perfectly fitting overalls.  I am always looking for an overall pattern that would work for me.  It mostly needs to be easy to get into and out of.  I already have two overall patterns and I am leary of making them just because they are so fussy feeling  This would be so simple to adapt with my best fitting pants pattern.  Plus I saw someone else do it on the great wide internet.  

Sewing used to be buy a pattern, sew it and hate it.  Now it is buy a pattern and change it till it fits right.  That is such a wonderful thing to do that it never fails to make me feel good. 

And in even better news, my hand is doing really well.  I hope to be back to knitting late next week.  I could be tempted to start this week, but I would rather take a few more days than risk reinjury.   

A WIPs Dig and a Good Day.

I had a busy day today.  I had some errands this morning and then decided to clean out the WIPs bin.  It was time for a check on that yarn and the projects in the many bags to ensure that all is well there.  While I was at it, I thought it might be a good time, to make a list of everything that is on going to reacquaint myself with them.

Socks, many socks, many yarns, many wonderful fun things.

I love strong contrast so this pair is getting the charcoal stripes at the colour changes.  Both yarns are Kroy and they feel delicious.

I had to wonder at this bag of yarn.  There was no sock and no needles and then I remembered.  I took the sock and used it for my phone bag that I now carry all the time.  Some day soon, I need to make some i-cord so that I can carry it as a cross body bag instead of in front of me, getting in the way at every step.

And these pretty things.  The pattern is a pair of children's socks, the Baby Bootkin from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.  I really enjoy knitting these.  They are so musical and the yarn is my very favourite Cotton Fun from Meilenweit, found in my deep stash.

These are for an upcoming project that is very exciting.  A mohair Log Cabin Shawl based on, or from The Log Cabin Field Guide from the Modern Daily Knitting ladies.  The Somerfeld Shawl is my goal.

My beautiful and oldest WIP, my Bridgewater Shawl.  I started this in the time before and though I have worked on it  since then, it goes slowly.  I will finish it this spring or summer.  It is time.

My stunning version of Starting Point by Joji Locatelli.  It is such a mix of yarns but I am utterly in love with this.  

Ice Cream Socks!  I Scream Socks from Operation Sock Drawer from the Knitmore Girls marvelous book.  These are high on my sock list though it will be a more poignant knit since my dad is no longer with us.  I can just hear him teasing us after dinner when we wanted a treat, I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.  And for the neopolitan ice cream we used to love because we were never allowed to have a whole pail of chocolate.  These socks will always remind me of my dad.

And this is an upcoming project too.  I need a monkey for my wee Everett of the fierce cry and the big hungry.  For a rough start he seems to be doing very well.

My very basic but oh so pretty socks.

The Drawer Full Socks, again from Operation Sock Drawer.

A sweater needing a restart.  The yarn is my stunning Midknit Cravings yarn in the now discontinued colour Pesto.  I simply adore this and will start it very shortly.  I know exactly how I want it to be so it is a good thing that i have had this time to think about things.

A teal cardigan for some very very gorgeous teal buttons purchased some years ago in Kelowna.

Eeep.  This is my blue and White Friesland by Jenise Hope.  The yarn is special because this was the yarn Marcus picked for me.  I meant to knit one a month.  Maybe this year.

My much loved Elton in Fleece Artist BFL 2/8.   

I had almost forgotten this.  It is my version of the Scandinavian Star Vest by Cheryl Oblerle from her book, Folk Vests.  I worried that the blue wasn't enough contrast for the white, but I no longer care.  I love the softness of it.  It is so very wonderfully me.  It is also Cascade 220 so it will be lovely and warm.

There were a few other yarns in the WIPS bin.  Two lace shawls and a bag of leftovers that I want to use for wrist warmers for me.  But that was the bottom of the WIPS bin and it is all vacuumed and tucked away now, nice and clean and ready for action.

After doing all that, I went to the fabric stash.  I needed to do the same thing to the fabric and spinning fibres as I did to the WIP bin.  It was time for a good clean and sort to freshen and air everything.  

While I was in there I also dug out an appropriate fabric for a test York Pinafore.  I am going to use an old piece of gaberdine from a suit i made years and years ago.  The fabric is a simple navy and if it works, it will be a wearable garment.  Gaberdine is never out of style. I cut out the fabric and it is ready for sewing tomorrow.  

I then had a nice cup of tea and a piece of Christmas cake that I found in the freezer.  And then, magically, it was time to make some soup for supper, beef and barley, good for a cold day and so my day was done but for a few little squares woven and some Time Team watched and enjoyed.  

I am always amazed at how much I get done in a day since my hospital visit. I used to be so tired that it took forever to do anything.  Medical science and a smart doctor made so much difference in my life.  It was a good day and I hope the good days continue.

All the things

I did so many things this weekend.  All of them were done to avoid thinking about knitting and how much I am missing it.

I finished pulling out this sweater.  

It's a fair bit of yarn.

It was a sort of pretty thing.  I liked both of the stitches, but I did not like the way it was constructed.  I am thinking about reknitting the yarn to be something like it, but knit in a much more sensible way.

I set an entire puzzle in about 10 hours.  Every time I pull out a puzzle, Keith ends up spending a great deal of time setting it too.  It was an easy puzzle though.  I hope the next one takes a bit more effort.

And then, I did a bunch of small squares.  Since I wasn't going to do the larger pin loom till, my hand is healed and till the apron was done, I just worked on these.  

They are hypnotic and it is interesting how the different yarns work out.  I did a further four since this photo was taken.  One episode of Vera.  

And then, I mucked about with patterns.  I was checking to see dimensions of my new pinafore pattern against a pattern I have sewn and that fits me very well.  I was also debating about what piece of fabric to use a test pinafore.  I have a couple in mind that might work well.  I really want to make this pattern for the green fabric and I would hate to ruin it, so slow and steady is going to be the way.  

No matter what else I do though, I miss my knitting.  I am really glad that I have a stash to play in and lots of things to take out and fondle and think about.  I can't wait till the world rights itself and I can knit again.

I can iron for miles and miles and miles...

The apron project took hours and hours.  It was a not a lot of sewing but tons and tons of cutting and acres of ironing.

I cut out all the pieces for the apron.  Easy peasy.  Then I searched for something I wanted to try for a while now, continuous bias tape.  There are all sorts of videos and blogs about how to do this nifty trick on youtube and if you have only ever made your own bias tape by cutting the fabric and then sewing the strips together, you should give this a try.  It is kind of interesting.

You take a square of fabric and then you do a certain kind of cutting and marking and pinning and sewing together.  That is where the tricky part comes in.  Look for the videos.  Continuous bias binding.

And then, you cut on the line and you end up with this vast long strip of bias tape ready to be pressed. .  

And then you take up a position at your ironing board (trust me, this will take a while) and you press in the double fold that make a purchased double fold bias tape so handy.  It takes forever.  I have an iron that has a large water capacity for steaming and I went through three fills of the reservoir as I pressed.  Honestly forever.  

And then you sew the shoulders and sides on the apron bit.  That took ten minutes, maybe less.  And then, you look at the bias tape which you already worked on for four hours and you are sure you are starting to hate and you start debating attaching to the apron.  You leave it for the next day.

Wise move because this morning, you are feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed and the dratted bias binding attaches like a breeze.

You may note that I switched from I to you as I wrote.  I think that I needed to separate me from the whole bias tape experience just a bit.  I was just too close.  

I will repeat the bias tape experience again, I am sure.  There is so much that you can do with a bias tape you have made.  You can choose your colour, your width in a way that can be a very fun part of the process and can add a bit of individuality to your sewing.  

But I ain't gonna like it.  Much.

Updated to add:  And then you sew on the pockets.  Easy peasy.

Lots of time to think.

It was another interesting day.  I started this morning working on finishing up a dishcloth.  As you can see a minor miscount on how much yarn I needed defeated the whole point of continuous strand weaving.  

It just means there are more ends to weave in the cloth might not last quite as long.  

It turned out well enough and will shrink up enough and no one will ever notice that there was a slight problem with the weave.  If this was a commercial product it would be ranked as a second.  Still usable but with some flaws.

I didn't want to start anything big because I had some appointments today, so while I was waiting, I dealt with a problem that came up when I was weaving the dishcloth.  When I weave on the larger pin loom, the pins are forever catching in my sweaters.  I am starting to worry about snagging the fronts and damaging my hard won sweaters.  It came to me that a good sturdy apron might be just the ticket.  That took me to looking for apron patterns that were free, and from there, I started looking seriously at patterns that were not free and that took me to this pairing from Helen's Closet.  

I have loved this pattern for a long time, but I could never talk myself into sewing it.  I didn't think it would work well for me. I worried that the deep arm openings would hang and display my hips unflatteringly, to say nothing of displaying my bottom every time I bent over with its shorter than my preferred length, but wearing dresses a lot and after drooling over the many, many lovely versions on the internet, I have decided that it will work for me. Plus I have the nice short leggings that I sewed last fall.  They are great with dresses. 

The York Pinafore has the plus of having an apron expansion.  I like the cross over back.  I can easily live without the strings of a normal bib apron.  An apron will help keep my sweaters cleaner longer and that is a great thing.  Avoiding stains is a regular issue for me too so there is just no way this is going to be a bad thing.  

I know just the fabric I will use too.  Its an interesting many shades of green cotton poplin print.  I bought it for the incredible price and meant to use it for a dress.  Sadly the fabric was heavier than I thought it would be and much too busy for pants or a skirt.  However, it is going to be just right for an apron.  Or two.  And sturdy enough for getting into all kinds of trouble.   

I know exactly what fabric I will use for the first run of the pinafore too.  And I have some truly stunning green fabric for a second and a top to match.  I may yet become coordinated in my dress.

So, all told, it was a busy stimulating day only without knitting.  Gosh I miss knitting.  Even more so now that the big dig is done for a while. Which reminds me there is a soft yellow linen and cotton yarn that would look really great with the green...

Who knew?

I've had an adventurous couple of days.  I was doing a really big stash dive and closet cleanup as I am wont to do and, well, it didn't all go according to plan.

I started by cleaning out the display cabinet. 

It is emptied and needs to be filled

with this.  There is more down on the floor in front of the spinning wheels.  Almost done.  

I suspect that I would be done but for the thing that happened yesterday.  No one was hurt.  It was a wee bit funny.

I was down to the last stack of containers.  I don't know why, but the stack did not want to move from its nicely fitting corner in the closet.  It was six boxes high and it just did not want to cooperate.  I kept pulling when all of a sudden it moved.  It rocked and before I knew it there were boxes falling with a great loud crash.  The first thing I thought of was campfire talk when Brian used to tease me about how one day the yarn would come jumping out of my closet to get me.  

It had.  Mostly I worried about having made too much noise.  Keith was home and was working in his office and my room is just above that.  He heard it but wasn't on a call when it happened.  He heard me moving around so he decided not to worry.  

I slowly picked up the yarns that had fallen and this was the only damage.  

Just one ruined box.

It wasn't too bad of a loss.  The box had some lace weight cones of yarn and 3 bags of red cotton.  I managed to get all of the lace weight into the box with the rest of the cones and then I took a break for the day.

This morning I finished going through that stack of boxes and as I did that, I also managed to put away and sort out some of the yarns that were floating about the room with no purpose.  I put together all of project leftover yarns where there was enough yarn to make hats, or mittens or cowls or other significant things.   I sorted out yarns and where I could, put leftovers with other yarns of the same colour and type of yarn.  I generally tided that miscellaneous class of stuff that cluttered my floor.  

And when that was done, all that was left to find a home for was the red cotton.  

The problem with the red cotton is that it was on beefy looking cardboard spools and they took up a lot of space in the boxes.  There is some more denim yarn that is taking up a lot of space in another box of summer yarns and I am pretty sure that if I wind it all off those spools, they will all fit nicely in the same container.  There are 9 bags all told.  It's going to take a while and I don't want to do too much at a time, lest I hurt my hand again.  That would be awful when I am so close to healed.

The other thing I found deep in a box, was this partially knit sweater that needed frogging.  

It's a really nice yarn, 1824 Cotton and dates back to my earliest knitting.  I can tell how long ago it was by the things I did as I was working it up.  I had no understanding of how to read a pattern and I had no idea of how to adapt to fit me.  It was such a mess, that it really was not worth keeping.  

There was no sewing at all today.  No fabric cutting, but that is okay.  The stash dive is almost complete and it feels nice to have that huge job done for a while. 

Even if the yarn did jump out of the closet.  Who knew?

Thinking of sewing and knitting.

I had planned to sew today but I didn't feel like it.  I was not sure what to sew next.  I have sewn four new tops and shirts in summer materials and that is pretty good for the middle of February. As I worked this afternoon, I figured out what I want to do next.  

I have several pieces of flannelette that were my first fabric purchases a long while ago.  I think I am going to sew a couple of good warm flannelette shirts that I can wear over top of a turtleneck or t shirt.  And while I am doing that I am going to think about what to sew with some nice red and black buffalo check  flannelette.  I have four metres of it and it could become pajama pants but I remember seeing it after I washed it and folded it.  It just instantly spoke dress to me.  Would a red and black buffalo check dress be too weird?  

I may also sew up the very lovely pink corduroy that I got at the same time as the red stuff.  That will be a shirt too, a Waikere, with long sleeves just like the flannelette fabrics.  It just speaks to me of warm.  It did cross my mind that that would make a really cozy dress too but it would be almost more than my washing machine (small) could handle.  

Maybe tomorrow.

I ended up working in my room for most of the afternoon.  It was time to go through all the yarn in my display cabinet and it was time for a big dig in my stash.  I ran out of steam when I had a stack and a half of containers to go through yet.  I am too tuckered to go on and there is always tomorrow to finish up.  

I love when I dig in the yarn.  It isn't that I forget how much lovely stuff I have but it always feels like going through treasures.  And it makes me feel very rich in a very special way.  

I am rich in all the ways that matter.  I have great sons that I am so proud of.  I have two lovely daughters in law and I have grandchildren.  Oh goodness, my grandchildren.  How I love those kids.  Six grandsons and one granddaughter.  I am rich in every way that matters plus I have a lovely stash of yarn, bought when I could afford such friperies.  And slowly, oh so achingly slowly, my hands are feeling better and are leading to to take up my knitting once again.  

That Point...

There is always a point in the day, where I say to myself, "Well that is enough."  It doesn't matter what I am doing, there is always a point where I say this to myself.  Sometimes it is because I am a bit tired and need to take a break and sometimes it is because I just have a vague feeling that I am about to do something stupid.

I was sewing today and said to myself that it was time to stop.  It was a good place and it was time for dinner. After I had something to eat, I was restless and wanted to go back to my sewing.  It was a new pattern and it was a bit different than anything I have sewn before.  It isn't difficult but because it is new, it needs some serious attention paid to it and the whole process was interesting.

It seems I wasn't ready for something that needed attention paid to it.  

If you look carefully, you can see the dart on what the straps seem to be saying should be the front of the top.  It is sort of weird looking because the dart seems to be coming from the center of the front.  And indeed it is.  It seems I have put the straps front to front and back to back rather than the front to back as it would in normal tops.

This is the real front.  For a half a second, my mind thought halter top?  But no.  I really should have listened to myself and gone and set a puzzle.  That would have been much smarter than picking up my sewing again and making this heinous error.  It is really irritating because I did all the finishing sewing around the top edge and I did a really good job too.  

I marked the error and went out and found something else to do.

I did these and listened to another book and had a decent afternoon.

I am reading a lot these days.  It just feels right.  Since the end of January I have been reading a bunch of Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries.  They are light, very well written classic cozy murder mysteries by the author of the more famous Hamish MacBeth books, Carola Dunn.  And before I am done these, it will be time to read some more Miss Silvers.  There are a lot of books in both series.  I am also watching a fair bit of Time Team with Sir Tony Robinson where they excavate interesting fields where there appears to be something of archeological interest.  I used to watch it occasionally but I am really enjoying it now.  

In knitting news, my hands are getting better.  Each day there is less of an ache or even any tingling in my wrists and thumbs. I am so happy but I am not going to knit too soon.  I do not want to have to go through this again.  Not at least till next week.  And maybe another week after.  

I can hardly wait.  

A Good Metal Box

I did something today that I never really thought I would have to do.

I did some work on my button box.

I couldn't close it anymore and there were buttons that were starting to pile up in weird places, like the drawer with the elastics, and in one with a bunch of spare knitting markers.  That kind of disorder bugs me.  The button box picture above is the before.  I couldn't close it any more. Time to sort out the buttons.

Why so many you ask?  I like bags of assorted buttons.  There was a time  more than a few years ago, when I bought a couple bags of miscellaneous buttons from Walmart.  It was a good deal and it has taken care of my button needs for a very long time.  Most of the button sets that were found among those bags and the ones from discarded clothing had been reused and there were only odds and ends.  

Then, three or so years ago, I bought a couple bags of darker buttons, most of them wood look of one sort or others.  Those have taken me a long way too.  They feature on many sweaters and were a real treasure trove.  There were even little Mickey Mouse buttons that have decorated grandchild sweaters.  I have one wee Mickey button left.

What my over flowing button box did not have was white or light buttons.  None that were sets or that were even close enough to use on a shirt front.  I did get a few last year from Walmart but four cards of five and six buttons cost much more money than I wanted to pay for so few buttons, so I decided to try going for a little bag of 100 buttons online.  I am pretty sure that I did as well going for bags of mixed buttons as I did trying to get nice carded sets of buttons.  

This isn't all of them by any means but there are at least 14 sets of buttons here, so I think I did okay.  There were lots of small buttons for tiny garments so if anyone needs a few buttons for baby things call me.  

I also decided to cover my back and get some plain buttons too.  They are the tiniest bit larger than I hoped for but they will do.  If they look weird, I can always make a concealed button band for shirts I have to use these on.  They are only backup and I don't forsee needing them often.

I had originally planned to keep all the singles and weird buttons in one box and the sets in another but the only metal box** that I could find was too small for either of those groups.  Keith managed to find a nice large box left over from Christmas.  It was pretty large but I thought it would be okay. I ended up putting everything in one large box.  

I introduce you to my much larger button box.  If you need a button, I have it.

The old silver box has been my button box since the earliest days at our house in the woods some 30 years ago.  I am retiring it from its long  service in the sewing room.  It will go to the general craft shelves and will become the case for the fimo for miniature things.  There is always a use for a good metal box.  

And just in case you were wondering, the button box really wasn't sorted or even tidied and no buttons were harmed in this faux sorting of the button box.  All I really did was play in the buttons for a few hours and it was delightful.

**A proper button box needs to be a metal tin.  My mom's was.  My grandmother's was.  My aunt's was.  It's tradition.