A Bag

A while ago, I posted some pictures of some bright yarns that I was making into a bag.  

Noro Wadaiko and some Custom Woolen Mills 2 ply in the most incredible turquoise.

Well, they were knit up and they were felted.  And that was the last you have heard of them.  I have been thinking of them for a while now.  

The bag felted much much shorter than I expected, leaving it looking a little wide and shallow, but still very workable.  

My first design element was to pop some grommets into the sides.  I have no idea why, but I think it had to do with liking the way the silver and the turquoise look together.  They might have a function and they might just be there for looks.  I'll know that once I get a little farther into the finishing.  

My plan for the handle is for a braided handle where one of the strands was a silver chain and the other two were the same fabric as the bag istself.  The chain's job is to carry the weight of the bag and to give it just a little bit of flash.    They will be attached to the bag with some D rings of silver metal  that I have around here somewhere.  If that doesn't work, then I will have to find a turquoise leather handle.  They can be had, but I really wanted this to be an in house project.

I am going to put a zipper in the top.  I can't stand big bags that don't have some way to keep everything inside securely.  A zipper will also help pull my somewhat wide bag a little narrower.  I'm not sure how much I can do, but I know that the stability a zipper will give is something I will appreciate.

It needs a good lining.  With a lining, I can create some pockets for small stuff and I can tuck the zipper in much more professionally. 

Tomorrow's chore for  the bag and I, is to search for it.  I'm kind of looking forward to it.  I hope to find something that echos the Wadaiko colours.  Something sturdy and funky, but conservative, middle aged funky (Is there such a thing?), not teenage funky. Grownup funky.  Well you will see.  If I can't find it, I'm leaning towards granny smith apple green.  

Its kind of fun playing with this.  I haven't done a bag before and I can't wait to carry this eye popping summery thing around with me.  

Darn it.

Excuse me while I take a wee break even from the break of knitting the wee baby sweater.  

I've some darning to do.  This sock looks in tough shape with that long slit down the centre of the heel and the dark stains on its sole.  The stains are from an old pair of shoes with a bad inner lining.  

Everything on the sole of this sock is great.  The fibre is perfectly sturdy but a couple of washes ago, this long, perfectly vertical split between stitches going up the fabric about an inch appeared.  It isn't the usual problem of wear.  

I like these wee low tennis type socks.  They were made from 1 - 50 gram ball of yarn.  It went right down to the last few inches but it was fun seeing that it could be done for my feet.  I am loathe to lose them.  

So repair it is, for a perfectly good pair of socks.  It will only take a few moments.  Then, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Sitting here

I'm having a quiet coffee this morning, sitting in my jammies waiting for some guys to deliver doors we ordered in April to arrive.

... I'm in my jammies. Oh dear...

There that is better. It wouldn't be a good thing to still be in my jammies when the delivery people arrive with my doors. It isn't that my jammies are indecent, but rather the state of my jammies is, well... Around here, jammies tend to be comfortable. An old cotton sundress that is just too comfortable to toss out, a couple t shirts that saw better days years and years ago, some comfy old gym pants.

I don't know about anyone else, but my wardrobe has these days when all of a sudden there isn't room for things in my drawers and closet and its time to go through the stuff that that is only good enough for the next time I have to paint. Right now, without even thinking about it, I know have at least 6 pairs of comfy stretchy pants and double that of t shirts that I am embarrassed to wear even when I am alone. But they might just be good enough to wear when I paint right? Does one woman really need this many sets of painting clothes? Time to toss and sort and make space. New things might fit!

Before I work anymore on the lever knitting, I am going to have to find my wrist brace. I am so close to really getting this way of knitting, but I'm going to need a little assist to learn to hold my hand properly so I don't give myself carpal tunnel type pain. I need to learn to hold my hand at a better angle, and to stop the lobster claw thing.

So onward to sewing. I need another good skirt for work. Just a little wrap thing I think, to go with a tan and black plaid blouse I have had in the works for a while. Maybe some knitting on my Shoal water shawl this afternoon. Then again, might start the KAL shawl...A whole day with nothing urgent...just waiting for doors.

What else happens at Saskatchewan Stitches

There was en entire week of classes at the conference. It is very suited to the programs people in Saskatchewan want to see. There were all sorts of sewing and quilting classes. Really a great line up.

Here are just a few photos of some of the things I found in nooks and crannies. A full quilt of iris with a couple of small works pinned to the bottom for display. It is hard to see but the red Camellia (??) was breathtaking. An entire bouquet. From a distance it was really gorgeous and rich but my photo was fuzzy. And a tiny rich masterpiece in the making. Like I said, there was other sewing too!

Quite a few breathtaking things, just laying there on sofas, and cushions and in corners. It would have been lovely to spend the whole week there just looking.

Several of the ladies I lunched with professed to taking their sewing machines along with them when they camped and traveled, and there was a lot of hot talk about a little iron from Avon.

Just as nutty as we knitters, and nice friendly too.

The Deep Archives

As the weather turns cooler and the calendar turns to September, I am driven by some deep inner urge to clean corners and cupboards. I have been unusually successful in quashing this feeling the past number of years as I turned an empty bedroom into a study and from study into yarn haven. I'd forgotten just how deep the deep archives were.

The deep archives are some deep cabinets Mr. Needles built as we were gussying up the family room. The cabinets are approximately 3 feet deep by 2 feet by 2 feet. There is a lot of storage behind those tidy knotty pine doors. I could have sworn I took out all the yarn a few years ago, but it seems not. Three of these cubes still contained yarn.

Once the old catalogues and magazines were cleaned out, and the yarn pile was sorted, I was left with this.The photo does not do it justice. The pool table is 4 x 8 feet and the pile of various and sundry stashed items covers 1/3 of the table, piled like this, right across. As you can see, most of the yarn is your basic big bag o' yarn from purveyors of ordinary acrylic. Some of it comes from my mother-in-law's stash as she became too infirm to do hand work, but most of it was for projects which were never made. I've done many afghans over the years and any a number of thick crocheted aran sweaters to wear in my former place of work.

Even the deepest darkest archives can hide special things. Hidden among the general miasma of inexpensive acrylic, there were some things I forgot I ever had.

The first find was a nice little book on sewing tips I had forgotten about. I probably could have used it. (see photo above)

Then there was a cross stitch duck. I wondered where this had gone off to. It was from a pair of pieces I wanted to do for the family room, suited to our warm golden pine, and rich green walls. It will sadly, not be completed. There are too many other nice things I want to embroider before my days are done and way too much knitting to do. I might turn it into pillow topper though. Waste not when you put all the time into a project. Next, I found a bag of crochet cotton and lace.Does anybody still makeParadise Collector Doll outfits? (They have some interesting new stuff on their website. New bags and beaded fancies to make) There was a time, in my house of men, where I really wanted to make some of these fancy dresses for display. Even then I had a vision of a study where all my girlish impulses could hang out, where ruffles would rule and pillows would be scattered gracefully on everything. I started a project and found to my dismay, that working with black crochet cotton is an exercise in the un-fun.

I found good quality acrylic in one of my favourite colours. There is enough of it to do a little something, but I have no idea what.There was some seriously fine dk weight cotton. There isn't enough of either yarn to do anything serious with, but as part of a tapestry crochet project, its going to be fantastic. (Not that I have any tapestry crochet planned, but you never know) And from the mists of time, from the depths of history, some deep cherry red mohair. I have done a few mohair things in my time, and its not my favourite fibre, but even now, I find can't resist the colour (its a much deeper cheery red than the photo shows)

2 and a half balls of red beauty. sigh...

I had to put it under covers to stop myself from petting it all night. I already have plans for a nice simple lacy scarf to show off it loveliness.

We have lived in this house for 15 years, and cleaning the rest of the 'deep archives' is not going to be easy. I don't think there are any more treats scattered in the dark corners, just bits and pieces of things I have not used in a decade or more. But you never know. Its an adventure.

And if I keep telling myself that, maybe I'll believe it.

A stitch in time

Today I plan to make a foray into the world of sewing. I've sewn a lot in my life. There was a point where most of the boys clothing, and most of my own clothing was handmade. For most of the many years I worked in an office environment, my clothing was sewn. It was only the last 5 years that my sewing dwindled.

Working in the yarn shop this year I realize how much my clothing choices were tailored to fit that office environment. I have a lot of suit type things. Jackets to coordinate and match almost everything. I have several black jackets so I could have a variety of sleeve lengths. I never had to worry what fabric they were made from because the office was always cold. There were summer days where it felt like we were sitting an arctic cavern, and winter? Don't get me started on winter. Heavy sweaters were a must. A lot of my knitting goals were designed around that office.

Now that I no longer spend all my time in that office, I have come to realize, people don't wear long sleeved heavy polyester fabrics in summer. People have actual short sleeve shirts and blouses. People wear jersey knits. I mean really, for 15 years I did not know these things, because I worked in a cold space.

In the store, we work under normal conditions. It is warm (a mild understatement) on Mondays before the air conditioning cuts in. It is still warm the rest of the week, only not unbearably so. Cotton and linen are my new best friend. It is urgent that I have some cotton and linen in my wardrobe, and has been urgent for some time.

So today I'm starting with tops. One simple pattern, and two mildly more complex patterns. Next will be a couple of skirts from 2 different patterns, again, one basic and simple, and the other a little fancier and new to me. I hope to squeeze in at least one simple sleeved dress in there somewhere too. These are goals, mind so don't hold me to it.

Usually when I do a mass of sewing, I work up the main sewing, and get the garment bodies sewn together. I leave all the finishing to later for one long sit down session of hemming and button sewing. If you work off just a few patterns you can do an amazing amount of work in a very short period but I expect to have some finishing to do through the evenings next week.

Sewing is not nearly as much fun for me as knitting, crocheting and embroidery, but I do it because it is very hard for a plus sized person, such as I to find stylish garments at a price I want to pay. OK, that is not really true. I'm not into stylish at all. I'm into ordinary, I just don't want to have to pay 40 dollars for a simple lightweight polyester blouse that won't last a full season. I am so tired of paying big bucks for ill fitting clothing. I am so tired of clothing fitting my bottom but not my top, or my top but not my bottom.

I shop in the discount aisles and I watch for sales. Even when I wasn't sewing I shopped. So yes there is some stash here, and only a little new stuff. My choices tend to be plain and classic fabrics and colours, so I usually get away with a deep clothing fabric stash.

Really the knitting stash is just in its baby stages in comparison to the age of some of my other stash. Thank heavens for small mercies.

PS.

Thank you Kathryn for your comment about knitting machines. I love your website and I already learned a ton from you.

Finishing

Saturday was supposed to be the Edmonton Ravelers field trip. Morning brought a heavy snowfall that did not let up on this side of the city till well after 1:00 (the meeting time) and the shop is about 75 minutes away. I’d have arrived just when everyone else was heading away. I really hated to miss it, but it sounds like some of the ravelers are going to do it next Saturday instead. One of them will be me.

While I sat and waited to see what the weather would do I picked everything in my work project arsenal. Each sock was moved just a little farther down the heel. Once the weather had made my decision, I picked up my work bag. The work bag was crocheted in early February and all it was waiting for was the lining. It seemed like a good idea for something just a little different to work on.

Because I ended up sewing much of it by hand, I had the chance to watch Bette Davis crochet in the movie "The Letter" based on a Somerset Maugham play of the same name.

If you get the chance to see this classic film, pay close attention to crochet. Crochet plays a very big role in this movie and I think Ms. Davis must have at least known the basics. Even though a lot of screen time was given to her crocheting, there was only one scene where the work was not hidden by her hands, and she may have actually worked a stitch. The rest was close. It was just a little surreal to watch.

By the time the movie was done, the work bag was complete. The first lining attempt had the many pockets I was wanting, but it had a fatal design flaw (or is that designer flaw?). When that idea didn't work out and just as I started the second try at the lining, the sewing machine quit working (which led directly to the hand work). This second go at lining, since it ended up hand stitched, was much simpler in its execution. The straps were lined to give the stretchy crochet fabric some backup in the heavy lifting department. You can see just a hint of that above.There are two deep sections, one with a large booklet and document pocket, and a huge cavity for knitting projects and the other, a single large spacious pocket for purse things.

I may go back and put in a couple of smaller pockets on the purse side so things like my cell and my keys don't get lost among the jumble that usually is at the bottom of my purse. The plan was to crochet a pocket for them on the outside of the bag, but now I am not so sure. I'm going to use it for a couple days and see what feels right. I'm also going to have to come up with something to keep it dry when we camp.

Moving out of the old work bag was a little sad. It is still sitting by my chair because I just don't have the heart yet to toss it out. It looks forlorn. The handles are torn through and the corners on the bottom are in tatters. Its only good working part is the zipper and I want to get that out of her before I send her off on the long good bye.

Fare the well faithful little workbag.

I Love the Depths of Winter

I don't know if it is normal for most people to feel a rhythm to their projects when they look back over their hand working lives, but I sure do. There are always the little exceptions, the little hiccups, but the rhythm is there when I look at the projects where I have followed my heart. Maybe its part of getting to the age that I have come to. There is comfort in that flow of things, comfort in the stages and the processes and I revel in it.

Winter is a great time of year to work big heavy things, things that you can cover yourself with as you go to hold off the chill. The deep winter, the part after the holiday rush is done, is when warm afghans are crocheted, and quilts are completed. Deep winter is for epic embroideries, large panels, and huge pictures with fine shadings and rich tones that take months of dedicated thought and work to complete. My deep winter projects have always reflected my need to hunker down, burrow in, hibernate in the quiet of the day, the quiet of my thoughts to survive the dark and the cold.

As the days get lighter, in the pale of winter, there is a change in the air. Its too cold but you can't help thinking about what is next. Your thoughts are full of garden catalogues and magazines, and there is a lightness in the air that just has to come out. Everything within you is straining to spring. Projects are light tones, small, quick to complete, things that express the urgency of green bursting through the thawing forest floor, of newness, of freshness. It is the season of projects that are light, open, airy; laces, doilies, delicate things, beaded embroideries, but always things that tell of crisp edges against a rich deep blue summer sky.

June is all show, all flamboyance. It's the season of testing yourself, working faster, pushing to meet deadlines, like wedding samplers and bridal gifts. June is warmth and busy days doing everything so long as it is under the sunny skies. Its often about trying something just a little further on the edge than you normally go, like socks, like knitting. Its about not fearing failing, about bold, big movements, confident things that you might not try other seasons. Its when I am most likely to experiment with new techniques, with new processes. Working in the dappled shade on a hot day might bring out lazy hazy days of summer for others, but for me, its all about growth.

August is the fullness of spring and summer promise. August is for bringing things in, for earnest efforts for completion. Everything is about making ready, about preparing for the next step. Fall is purposeful thinking, purposeful handwork. Fall is the time of sweaters, vests, socks, things that have a job to do. I find my self arranging and planning gifts, embroideries , long hardanger pieces, graceful little crocheted snowflakes, long strings of beads surrounded by lace crochet, tatted edgings and small bags to fill with lavender for people you love.

Fall is always followed by the rush of Christmas approaching. Its not about choosing anymore, or planning, its just about making sure its done with enough time to wrap and deliver under a tree. Sometimes this is the season of panic, and rush, but only when you can't reign in your inner belief that you can and must do everything even when everything is unrealistic and downright ludicrous. Its the season of midnight knitting, and beading enough to drive you mad.

I find myself wishing the time of each season would last longer, sometimes wishing days moved slower even now on these dark and cold days. I can't help but see that its the end of January and I want more days when I can simply sit and work. I wish time would move as slowly as most things do in this kind of cold. I'm not really in love with -32 and severe weather, but I'm deeply enamoured with winters projects.

I worked on the shawl yesterday at lunch, I worked on the shawl last evening while visiting the guy stuck in hospital, I worked on the shawl this morning in the wee early hours. It still looks much as it did in the photo I took more than a week ago, even though it has been a constant in my days. It is with me everywhere, and it is in my mind even as I finish small and more urgent things. Most days there is a row or two of the shawl. Part of me is distressed by this slow middle, but most of me is entranced. Projects like this are like finding a friend, learning who they are, getting to know their secrets.

This shawl will be my companion a while longer still, and that is very very good.

The 10 Year Rule

But first socks.
It's becoming very easy to love Kroy yarns. They work up so fast, it's very rewarding. These are for my father-in-law, nice workman like simple comfortable warm socks (searching for more adjectives). Of necessity they will have a peasant heel, unless, I magically learn how to work a short row this evening. I'll probably try it and see what happens, just for fun. I probably should practise with some scarp yarn first. But I am yearning for completion of something, anything.

I did work on the shawl. Time trials reveal that a knit and purl row pair are now taking about 20 minutes. I'm working slow though and keep going back obsessively to make sure I have not lost the centre stitch again, and that my yo's are where they need to be. Soon. The ball does look a little smaller today.

I may have spoken about the 10 Year Rule before, indeed I may have blogged it before, but well, I'll talk about it again.

Over a great many hand worked string things, over a very long time, I've come up with a rule that allows me to forgive myself when I fall out of love with a project. It began with a huge crewel work picture given by an aunt when I was 16. I just was not ready for it, and many years later, I put it for sale at a garage sale. I felt bad about that, but I reasoned I was never going to finish it, and it had been at least 10 years since I touched it, other than packing it in moving vans. So I now apply the rule to things that sit around for 10 years.

The quilt top is getting perilously close. The top is a Grandmothers Fan , though I was going to orient the fans facing one way with a border of blue between every square, and an outer edging of blue. In my mind, it is beautiful, but in reality is is in parts. The squares are all assembled the borders are all cut and are ready to go, I just have to sew it together. In fact, about half of it IS sewn. I touched it last about 3 years ago, when we were putting cabinets in the laundry room. Even then, I only touched the bag it was in.

I really don't want to put it on the 10 year pile, I really want to finish it, but...

I have this dream, and like the embroideries I showed yesterday some dreams die hard. I dreamed of a lacy bedroom with embroideries and doilies, and a lovely quilt to top it all. White sheers, and blue ruffly fouffy curtain swags. I dream of the kind of bedroom that makes you think of warm comfort and old fashioned snugly goodness. I long ago gave this room to the status of guest room. Maybe that is why the dream dies so hard. A guest room is not really for using, it's mostly to look at, with occasional people sleeping among it lacy bower of goodness. It was going to be my girly space in the house, the showcase for things I love and do.

After 10 years is it still a possibility? A probability? Well...maybe... just maybe.....sigh.

I can't seem to let the dream go. I'll keep these pieces for a while yet. Maybe I'll invent a 20 year rule.

Getting a Good Fit in any Media

I spent a good deal of time last evening considering why I've been so comfortable playing with fit of the things I have been making. Much of it is the sheer inspiration I find online from everyone else, but part of it is background and experience in a broad range of stuff.

I followed patterns when sewing for work till about 4 years ago. The most I ever changed anything was making it wider to fit. I happened across this book, Sewing for Plus Sizes by Barbra Deckert. What a revelation. I have all kinds of sewing books, probably not the best ones on the market, bought at a remainder place as they are, but they are decent. This book, though changed my sewing, my crocheting, and if I ever knit a sweater for myself, my knitting.

The writer discusses plus sizes, from a plus size perspective. She hits all the areas where we plus sized people take issues with standard patterns. She deals with patterns that assume because you are ample, you are tall, amazonian even. She shows clearly how to adjust, change, mangle and rebuild every single fit issue I've come across. She teaches the basics of proportion, design considerations, texture and weight of fabric considerations, so the sewer can be the best she can be. She does tend to speak more of one certain figure type, but I think that is because it is her figure type. Everything I ever wanted in a book on plus sizes, written by someone who is plus size. Darn fine Book.

Oh, and the other very very cool thing? She shows how to make a dress form to fit your body. At home. On your own. At a very low cost. Very very cool.

Whoops, digressed a little again. Where was I? Ah yes. Her book changed my attitude towards fit from 'never going to happen', to OK, let me think about it, and I have been blithely making things fit better in every media ever since. I know what to do to make my sweaters fit so the front doesn't pull up. I understood why Emma's short row concept on the Tubey that Curlerchick is working on will work. (Curlerchick is assisting me learn short rows, and the horrors of wraps!!! Curlerchick has me side listed on her blog!!! Its really not like I'm stalking her, at all. Nuh uhh.)

Of course that doesn't always help. I still need to fix that measuring problem I have, and well follow a pattern? Who me? I turned out a clunker last year, that I intend to fix, if I ever get up the gumption.

So, to make a really long story short, if you find that the sweaters you crochet and knit are not fitting as well as you would like, go get a really good sewing book which discusses pattern alterations and fit issues. Think of your sweater parts as pattern parts, and then apply what you know about short rows, and all the other little knit tricks out there, to make perfect fit yours.

Then go get Lily Chin's masterful Couture Crochet Workshop. Lily completes the circle. Her book shows you how to take your modified pattern and turn the fit into crochet and knitwear, any pattern, any stitch design, and to use the shaping and texture to show off a yarn and your work to its very best advantage.

Sewing for Plus Sizes rates a Double Crochet, a sound solid resource book.
Couture Crochet Workshop rates a Treble.