A Little Yarn On The Side

So....last night when I was about halfway through the edging on the hat, it became quite obvious that I was going to run out of yarn. I ripped back, then thought I would just do a normal K1P1 ribbing rather than an edging so I could just stop wherever I wanted, but by the third round it became obvious that I had far too many stitches to create anything even resembling a hat ribbing. So, I ripped back again, then ripped back a few extra rows for more yarn, then started the edging again--this time using one less stitch. Which brings me to here: which is about where I was last night. Sigh...... Since all existing projects were basically thumping me, I moved on to an idea for an upcoming birthday gift--copying from a similar project I ran across in a book. I cut 3 circles of about 4.5 inches in diameter (turns out a vase downstairs makes a perfect template), then putting the right sides of two together, did small seams of about 3/4 of an inch (turns out it will need to be about 1/2...

She who is foolish enough to brag about a project being done the following day will spend the night ripping back because she is running out of yarn.

...not right now, of course, but maybe tomorrow!!!! Still reeling from the ignominy of getting my crafting arse kicked by the blouse-that-shall-not-be-named, I am going for the last easy one--the chemo cap . I'm down to just the edging and it's moving fast. Could I finally get past the "10" rut I seem to have landed in? And will I, in sheer frustration, finally send the fussy blouse through the food processor? Tune in tomorrow for As The Needles Churn.......

OK, I admit it, the blouse is kicking my a**. It has 2 pages of instructions aside from being a silky-slidy material that I must have been out of my mind to select. Today it has driven me to the lowest depths...... I cleaned. Not just any cleaning even--bathroom cleaning. Now there are some bad projects, but when you would honestly prefer to scrub toilets than work on the project, that's a whole new level of "bad." Battered and beaten by a yard and a half of polyester, I needed stockinette stitch, so I dug out this which I'm not sure has even been granted photo space on the blog before. It's a chemo cap made from Elann Esprit, which I started at least two years ago. The yarn is elastic & stretchy and a nightmare to work with until I sort of got the hang of it. It's based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl, and I'm just a few rows short of the sides. When the stretchiness of the yarn got to me, I switched to Fleur, and have started sewing on...

I have still been on a sewing rampage--it's just taken me a little while to be able to talk about it. First, let it be known that I love microsuede. I love wearing it, touching it, buying it (unfortunately)--love, love, LOVE it. It is, however, the very devil to sew with. This is microsuede. The pattern calls for a zipper. People brighter than I would stop right there saying "No, that's a bad combination." I, of course, plunged right ahead. 2 hours later--most of it filled with the sort of foul language that even makes the movie industry raise their collective eyebrows--and the dress has a working zipper. The seams are by no means perfect, the material doesn't exactly cover the entire zipper, and it doesn't look great, but I do think the odds of the zipper spontaneously falling off the dress are pretty low, so it is now in the washing machine for the final run-through. Not having learned a darn thing, I decided that it would be a good idea to attempt so...

Inspired by either the thrill of getting to do new projects or the horrifying realization that I do not have enough storage room for the new fabric, I have been churning out the sewing projects like someone training for the Amish Olympics. First, I finished Andy's fleece jacket which he has been wearing almost nonstop since I finished it, then I finally broke down & put a zipper in a skirt I started a couple months ago-- which in true Toni fashion, has been finished one month after it might have been practical to wear. Then Theo and I went to work on the Soup Night napkins then distracting Theo with a little decoy fleece I was able to get a jumper cut out and sewn relatively fur-free. The seam going down the back is the basting where the zipper would be right now if I had one. I actually keep zippers on-hand, buying them with the fabric (sometimes) and stocking up when they're on sale and not a single one is even close to the right color. It wouldn't have even done ...

I made it 9 months and 20 days without buying ANY new fabric. Yesterday....... There was a sale at Joann Fabrics. I actually new I was going to buy fabric, because I needed a couple things for Christmas gifts. What I was not ready for was the great apparel fabric on CLEARANCE--some for $2 a yard. Then I ran into this: which I thought would make a lovely addition to Soup Night. Then when I got into the clearance area...... Leaping off the wagon would be more accurate.......