A Little Yarn On The Side

I learned a LOT yesterday.  Some of it quite by accident--probably most--but all rather helpful: *  Used sewing machines, while being everywhere when one doesn't want them, are nowhere to be found when one does *  Even a shop that built up a long reputation on being able to service old sewing machines can be sold, and the new owners might decide to sell new machines only, even though presumably they paid for a reputation regarding repairs that they are quickly losing *  Ebay really does have everything *  Browsing Ebay is a great way to lose 2-3 hours of one's life *  After a couple hours of browsing on Ebay, I have an insane urge to learn to make Fedora hats.   *  Bidding on used sewing machines is rather exciting, though the idea that I could win an auction, pay for it, and have a machine shipped to me possibly before I get my own sewing machine back is pretty amazing.   We'll see. *  Even though I'm bidding on an i...

It's official.  I am OBSESSED. I have now done 9 pattern repeats on the edging, so if we ignore the whole grafting-yet-to-come part, I am 28% of the way through the edging.  Whoo hoo!!!!!!!! I admit, I have become obsessed about seeing how this turns out.  I'm now far enough along that I can sort of stretch it out a bit over the ironing board, but the part I'm most curious to see is this I tried blending two designs over the last increase section, and I am hoping they'll blend fairly smoothly when blocked.  Pi shawls do take some severe blocking because of the way the increases work, so this may or may not work well when stretched, but I will find out soon! And tomorrow is Finishing Friday, and STILL no word from Jeeves, and unfortunately I just saw someone on the Husqvarna Facebook "fan" page post that she had been told a MINIMUM of 6 weeks to get a part for her machine as well, and hers is brand new and still in production.  So....it looks like it is...

Actually, I'm on the edging.... but as today marks 5 weeks since I took Jeeves in to be fixed for the second time , the first one may be pretty accurate as well. I'm using an 18-row edging pattern, so I'll need 32 pattern repeats total, which leaves 30 left to do.  That sounds SO much better than saying I have 1152 rows of edging to do total--of which I have done heartbreakingly few....There are times when being ABLE to do math and it being a good ideaI to do math are just not the same thing........

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 ...