A Little Yarn On The Side

If you ever get a wild idea to repair a bedspread or comforter, begin by taking a large, heavy object, then beat yourself on the head repeatedly until the urge passes. I am feeling better, but not 100% back to normal, so it seemed like a good day to tackle the bedspread problem.  After all, why ruin a perfectly good day?  I serged the remaining seams, then because I thought it best to reconstruct the thing in the same manner it had been put together (like a pillowcase around the batting), I sewed the edges together, and it was time to figure out how to attach the batting.  Luckily, I had a helper as usual.  Interestingly enough, the batting is several inches too wide in every direction, which had been dealt with by simply folding the batting over.  Okay.  The problem was that the manufacturer also had some sort of spray adhesive that is much more durable and firm than quilter's basting spray--which was no help whatsoever.  So, I decided the biggest ...

As it turns out, quite a bit.  Going back to Finishing Friday,originally I was only going to knit, but a very stern sidekick persuaded me to do a bit of work on the bedspread.  which made one of us extremely happy. Not that I'm not thrilled to be making progress on it, but I would be a lot happier if I hadn't messed up the final seam on the top piece& had to rip it out and start pinning again.  It's taking a bit longer than it should because I'm reinforcing and serging all the existing seams as well, as it wasn't done initially and the remaining seams ripping out would really be just a matter of time otherwise.  Remind me to make all future bedspreads.  This thing is SO not worth what we paid for it--even though I actually bought it on sale.   Needing a break from repairs, I dug out the birthday socks that need to be finished in February, and figure out how to make the heel turn around the coin cable.  One side turned out fine,  b...

The GOOD news is: I have an entire day of knitting ahead of me. The BAD news is: I have  an entire day of knitting ahead of me because I'm sick today.

Make a note of how the bedspread goes back together BEFORE taking it apart.

The Loden Mist sweater that I started in October but had to abandon for smaller, faster projects.  It really made a good project because even though it's lace, I don't need a chart or pattern to do it. And, I enjoyed the knitting night at the library so much that my friend & I are going back next week.  One of the staff members at the library was there to answer questions and to teach anyone interested to knit, and the library keeps supplies  ready for anyone who wanders by & might want to give it a shot (which no one did, but there was a drumming group in the room next door, and that's sort of hard to compete with on a cool-group-to-join scale, though I have to say that I think knitting-in-public has GOT to be easier & a little more socially acceptable than drumming in public, especially on airplanes and while waiting in line....). So, I am now officially a groupy knitter.  Not to be confused with a groovy  knitter, which I have never actually...

Okay, not really.  Well, obviously.  But a friend and I are going to check out a knitting club at our local library, and I have no idea what knitting to take.  The idea is to talk to people while knitting, right?  So I probably shouldn't do anything really fussy, but then again, I hate to take my super-simple "knit while reading" projects as it seems like a good time to get something a bit more sophisticated moved along.  So, beading?  No, too fussy.  Lace involving charts?  Again, too fussy.  Socks that involve cables but that I'm making up?  Is this a good Knit Night sort of project?

So for Finishing Friday I was really hoping to dazzle everyone with a display of finished projects--and to be fair, the green scarf did get finished late Friday night, so there is a finished project number 10, which puts me slightly ahead of my goal.  Only very slightly, but I have a feeling this year will be a "grasping at anything" sort of year. Finishing Friday is the day of the week when my optimism is at it's highest.  Could I just work on the pink jeans jacket?  Oh no--that would have been far too rational for a woman facing an entire day of crafting freedom.  Instead.........In my very last fabric shopping trip of the year, I came across these: in the clearance racks.  The lavender is 12 yards of nice satin that I scooped up for $1 a yard and will be converted to a Halloween costume.  After one disastrous attempt to make a costume with cheap "costume satin," I have learned that cheap fabrics are never worth working with, so I hunt for good fabric...