A Little Yarn On The Side

Okay, I admit, I'm getting a little bit cheesed at Husqvarna in general and my local dealer in particular.  Tuesday will be 5 weeks without Jeeves, and I have no idea if the part has shipped or if it's still on back order.  So, I decided to do something different on Friday, so I went out to lunch and to my favorite used bookstore. These were $2 each, and have some clever ideas--along with some seriously outdated pictures, but for $2, who can be picky? And.... I cast on the yellow socks!  I am using the Ribbed Lace pattern from Sensational Socks, and so far I love the pattern.  It's actually a k1, p1 rib-based pattern, so I have high hopes for socks that will actually stay up , which none of my knitted socks really do.....except for that pair that cuts off circulation just a bit, but I think one pair of tourniquet socks is enough for anyone..... Someone is refusing to hang out with me at all..... If there isn't sewing soon, I may have to relinquish my status a...

I'm glad I'm finally learning to work the serger, but it's still very foreign and hard to do--and I may never recover from the "blind hem episode"--so I felt like spending a day with yarn.  It's friendlier, never cuts or grabs anything, and never requires such a thing as a blind hem.  But I needed a break from the lace shawl, so Some friends gave me a dye kit and this yarn back in March, but I've been a bit nervous to try it because I was afraid of messing up the yarn somehow, but since I still can't do any sewing I decided to give it a shot yesterday.  Since the yarn is gift yarn, I wanted to make something for myself with it, and decided that I wanted a pair of yellow socks and a pair of red socks.  I started with the yellow, thinking it might be easiest to fix if I messed it up, but this was actually pretty simple.  The instructions say to simmer on the stove for 30 minutes or until the water is clear, which for me took a bit longer, but it did...

As of tomorrow, Jeeves will be at the dealership for an entire month, NOT counting the original 2 weeks before he came back with less working than when I took him in.  I have no idea when I might get him back, though I admit I am hoping I might have him back (and fully working) by the end of August, though I am trying not to depend on it.  Which creates a problem for the August Project of the Month.  It can't be a sewing project as I may not have a sewing machine this month, and starting another knitting project would just delay all the other knitting projects which seems counter-productive when I'm trying to reach 100 finished projects this year.  So, I'm hoping I can learn enough about the serger to make an entire project on it.  Granted, I've done napkins completely on the serger, but we have more napkins than we know what to do with--I just can't think of any additional napkin options.  So, for right now, there isn't an August Project of the Month. I ...

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 ...