A Little Yarn On The Side

I know how to work my sewing machine, but it isn't here.  I barely know how to work the serger, but it is here.  So is the big instructional workbook I bought because the manual that actually came with the serger is almost completely worthless (I say almost because on a hot day, I can fan myself with it, so there is that....).  Rather than mope about the lack of Jeeves like somebody I know, I decided it was time to actually learn to use the serger for more than 2 stitches. I have actually taken the new serger owner class at my local dealership, where I learned (among other things) to never turn the handwheel away from me.  The instructor said she thought it was because it was hard on the machine.  Nope.  On page 5 it clearly states to always turn the handwheel TOWARD yourself because to turn the other direction will flip the threads off the take-up lever and the serger will have to be re-threaded (which will strike fear into the heart of anyone who ...

The magic of the Pi shawl is in its simplicity.  You start with a certain number of stitches, which can actually be any number though single digits make the most sense.  Then after one row, you double the number of stitches.  Then after after a couple rows, you double it again, doubling the number of rows each time as well.  It always sounds so simple...... ....... and I always forget how freakin' many stitches that last increase turns out to be!

Okay, not a lot of knitting, but some.  Mostly this week has been gardening and socializing.  Which is all good--especially the socializing--but it does sort of cut into the knitting time. After playing around with different ideas, I decided to go with the original pattern for the final Pi shawl section, largely because it was based on the same number of stitches and I thought would "blend" well: Since I now have double the number of stitches as the last section, it's going much more slowly, but I think this will make an interesting effect when done.  If not, I have LOTS more yarn........:)

Jeeves has officially been gone for 3 weeks now--not counting the earlier two weeks.  So yesterday I called my dealer, and the repair guy said the part is still on back order because they're having to make it.   OK. I bought Jeeves in 2006.  I got a good deal on Jeeves because they were phasing him out as the newer version--the 955e--was coming out, which doesn't seem to exist any more either.  The repair guy (yeah, the same one who doesn't check his work) said that they haven't had this problem before.  So my question is:  if they haven't had this problem before, then somewhere there should be a nice full box of spare parts if they haven't needed them.  Unless, as soon as the last machine rolled off the assembly line, they burned all the extra parts, destroyed any unsold machines, and then--like whoever it was in history who had his architect murdered so no one would ever be able to duplicate his palace--shot all the people who had ever made ...

I am just finishing up the last rows of the 48-row set on the Pi shawl, so I'm about to start the what-would-be-96-row-set-if-it-didn't-make-a-monster-sized-shawl part.  I'm trying really hard to NOT have to take it all off the needles, so with the aid of some stuffing, here's where I'm at Everything so far has been sort of V-shaped, though the center part looks more like a flower than anything else.  I'm thinking of using this for the next part, or is it a little too much "V" happening?  I could do something in more of an over-all pattern like cat's paw, or even something really open like faggotting.  Thoughts?

Just minutes ago, the beaded ostrich plume was finished! Blocking will come later, but I am quite pleased with it.  I pressed a bit with the iron as I was working just to be able to see how it looked, but I have been promising myself I could get back to the Pi shawl as soon as this was done, so if you'll excuse me.....I have a hot Friday night date with some merino!

I called the dealership yesterday, and the part still hadn't arrived yet.  I believe he said it was coming from Tennessee.  According to Google Maps, it would take 1 day and 8 hours to drive from Boise, Idaho to Tennessee.  Throwing in a night to sleep and a few stops for eating & peeing, that still doesn't explain how it could take longer than 16 days for a part to come ONE DIRECTION ONLY.  I realize they probably shipped it via the cheapest rate possible because it is warranty work & they can't stick me with the bill, but it does make me wonder about shipping companies.  If you give them insane amounts of money, your stuff arrives pretty darn quickly--like in that 1 day, 8 hour time frame.  If you give them a slightly less insane amount of money, they'll deliver it less speedily--like someone taking breaks to stop, eat, and occasionally pee.  If you give them the least amount of money possible, how do they stretch it out for longer than 2 wee...

I have 53 finished projects and 11 days left in July........I think I'm going to fall behind.  For someone who doesn't have "knitterly optimism" (a.k.a. a complete lack of reality), falling behind would be a certainty, but I'm still holding out hope.  Of WHAT is anyone's guess, but on the off chance that Jeeves is ready this week (and the even slighter chance that the dealership actually calls to TELL me he's ready), there could be some manic sewing on Friday, and I do have 2 new projects cut out........and I swear that the beaded ostrich plume scarf really has gotten a lot of attention......even if the darn thing is almost the same size it was 4 days ago.  NOTE TO SELF:  Lace may be too frustrating for "I-need-to-see-some-dang-progress" sorts of days..... 5 projects in 11 days.........I think I see a potential problem here..............

Andy was gone this weekend, and since I couldn't spend the weekend sewing, I decided to sort through my sewing pattern stash and match up a few with fabric--you know, like I actually remembered what I bought material for in the first place........ And, after only about an hour of rummaging around in the closet, I found................ THE MISSING PAJAMA TOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You know--the one that has been missing for two and a half years.  Of course, now I don't know where the rest of the material is, but as Andy pointed out, if all else fails, I could just bind the edges of the armholes & he'd have perhaps the first EVER wife-beater flannel PJ top.  It was underneath several yards of green suiting, which has now been "assigned" to Andy's next Halloween Costume...... A Zoot Suit!  I told him not to hope for the costume to be done by this Halloween, but since he's been waiting for a PJ top for 2 1/2 years, I doubt he was really ...

Or thereabouts. Someone asked me how many skeins I have left in my stash after removing 220.  I'm using Ravelry, and don't actually mark off yarn that I've used on an unfinished project, so their spreadsheet shows 705 skeins left in my stash, but I know that at least 7 of those have been used up, so I'm under 700 skeins.  If I use them up at the 2008 speed, I'd be totally without yarn in about 6 years--in the strictly hypothetical sense, of course, because if I ever got down to having enough yarn to fit in ONE tub, I'd be buying up yarn so quickly that my credit card numbers would probably melt completely off my little card.  So getting down to no yarn is just completely out of the question.  BUT, if I continue Cold Sheeping until the end of 2011, I could be down to under 600 skeins, which sounds like a nice number.  Maybe that will be my stopping point?  I admit, 500 is a nice number as well--heck, I have nothing against 100 to be honest--I just don't th...

I started "cold sheeping" on January 1, 2008.  Since then--aside from some year-end reward yarn purchases--I have been knitting exclusively from stash.  I admit, I was starting to feel like I haven't even made a dent in my stash, but on a whim I recently tallied up my stash-busting to date: Today I used up my 200th ball of stash yarn. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter how you look at it, 200 skeins of yarn is a lot of yarn.  Want to know how much 200 skeins of yarn actually is?  It would look something like this: From a how-much-closet-space-it-took-up point of view, this would be quite a conservative picture as I have knit up all my really bulky-weight yarns, and a good chunk of this pile is laceweight because it is the easiest bin to get to, but it is STILL an amazing amount of yarn.  No wonder the stash didn't all fit into the sewing room! I believe the planned/allowed purchases would come to no more than 35 skeins, so even with that, for the last two and ...

Sweaters?  What sweaters? I wish there was a good way to photograph a Pi shawl without taking it off the needles--which I am far too lazy to do--but this isn't too bad for an in-progress picture.  In some ways, this is a lot of the fun, because I don't even know exactly what it will look like when it's finished and blocked.  At least I picked a really pretty way to fall dreadfully behind on the 100-projects-a-year goal.......

because that will make the math easier.  I'm halfway (sort of) through the year, and my stats stand thus:  (I'm always so excited when I can use the word "thus."  It makes me feel like those 4 years getting an English degree were a well thought out plan of action ) Yards of yarn used:  7050.5 Skeins of yarn used:  35.35 Yards of fabric used:  49.315 Projects finished: 53 (but there were actually 51 as of July 1) Which (easy math time) puts me on target to end the year with approximately: Yards of yarn used:  14,000 Skeins of yarn used:  70 Yards of fabric used:  98 Projects finished: 102 Not bad, I suppose--I'd have used up more of the stash than I did last year, but not as good as what I'd like to call the Great Yarn Reduction of 2008 (19,183 yards and 118 skeins).  However.....the year is young and this time the new part for Jeeves is being shipped from Kentucky--which is three times as far as where the last one came fr...

It's July 8, and I have just under half the year to go and just under half the projects to go.  So what am I doing with my spare time today? Working on the new Pi shawl.  As I need a little over 8 finished projects per month, what could be a more foolish idea than launching into a 1500-yard lace project--except, of course, starting a new quilt, which mercifully I haven't done.  I'm not using Elizabeth Zimmermann's suggested pattern.  Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I've seen so many Pi shawls on Ravelry that I needed something different.  AND, since I'm making it up anyway, it makes a great portable project:  no pattern means no pattern to cart around.  The color is actually a bit more accurate in this picture but the pattern so far might be easier to see in this one Not that I shouldn't be working on Andy's birthday sweater--or cleaning the house, for that matter--but Pi shawls are amazingly addictive.  I don't know why--pi as ...

So, you might have guessed that I didn't have the greatest holiday weekend.  Surprisingly, the Knitting Gods didn't think a broken "newly repaired" sewing machine & a cold were quite enough.  I ran into a snag on the Baby Reefer Jacket which, to be fair, is completely my own fault, but annoying just the same.  I decided to make the two fronts & back all in one piece, and just divide for the sleeves.  Simple, no?  Actually, no.  It turns out that the sweater is made with drop sleeves, so there I was knitting away, when I finally double checked the pattern and realized that I was going to end up with one great big piece of knitting with no armholes.  AND, there are no schematics for the pattern, so I have no idea how far down the body the sleeve will actually reach, so I decided to break at a reasonable spot for the sleeves and hope for the best.  I can either steek or sew a bit if I'm off, but I'm really hoping it will be the sewing option...

So...Jeeves is not so much fixed.  In fact, more things worked on Jeeves before I took him in.  I'm not even sure the original problem was fixed because most of the buttons don't work now, and without them, I can't test it.  Color me unamused.  He goes back to the dealer tomorrow for what I hope will be a shorter stay.  It could be that not everything was connected after they replaced the circuit board, but that still leaves the glaring fact that the repair guy didn't bother to test ANYTHING, which is irritating to say the least.  No referrals for them! THEN, in case that wasn't annoying enough, we had a 3-day weekend with beautiful weather....and I got a cold.   I guess that works out okay--I'd have been annoyed if after Jeeves being gone two weeks I couldn't sew because I had a cold, or if I was feeling great and had a sewing machine that could do less than half of its functions because of a repair guy who doesn't check his work, so as long as I ...

I got up bright & early this morning to find my little side-kick just waiting for some sewing time. I've been anxiously waiting as well, but my waiting is just not that cute.  I'd cut out a jacket while Jeeves was gone, and just put the finishing touches to project number 52 Here's an important lesson:  Under any other circumstances I would never have finished this jacket.  The material--while it will be totally fun to wear--is so light that it was a nightmare to cut out, and I only managed to finish the narrow hem around the ENTIRE jacket by utilizing all my pins as well as scotch tape and; a fabric glue stick that I REALLY hope is as water-soluble as it says it is.  Luckily, I was so excited to be able to sew again that I didn't even swear while making it--which Andy will tell you is a really remarkable feat for me, if not an absolute first. I would have started sewing last night, but there were a few technical details to attend to.  Know what this ...

And I'll be going to bed at 7:00 tonight to be fresh and ready for Finishing Friday tomorrow!