A Little Yarn On The Side

Meet Bernie!  I tried finding a used one, but the used Berninas were going for more than I wanted to pay for a used machine, so yesterday I mustered up my courage and bank account, and bought this--which technically solves my stash problems too, because now I don't have any money to spend on yarn or fabric anyway...... It's a purely mechanical machine, and this is the one that home ec and theater classes used, so I figure if it can withstand teenagers, it will work for me for the next 40 years.  And even when I eventually DO get Jeeves back, it will be a good idea to have a heavier machine for bigger sewing projects since Jeeves has more things to go wrong. Speaking of Jeeves, I called and left a message at my Husqvarna dealer yesterday before setting out to run errands and pick up Bernie ........and no one has called me back yet--more than 24 hours later.  I think I would have gotten Bernie even if Jeeves had been ready to be picked up yesterday, but the poor servic...

There are 137 days left in the year. I need to finish 46 more projects in order to reach my goal. That means I need to do slightly better than a project every 3 days for the rest of the year.  And I'll be starting on that right after I get some oxygen............

I have less than half of the edging left to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YAY! (And tomorrow will be the 6-week mark of Jeeves's second trip in to the dealer, and of course no word yet. I wonder if I even have 50-50 odds of getting him back by the end of August?)

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...