A Little Yarn On The Side

But there has also been a lot of socializing, complete with still being sick, which explains the amount of knitting and the spectacular lack of blogging.  But I have  been catching up on my craft tv show viewing, and am ready to reenter the crafting world armed with all sorts of new information!  For example... *  When I use stabilizer for machine embroidery and it ends up unexpectedly puckering in the wash, I have added textural elements. *  Next time I snag a thread on a silky piece of material, I am creating an heirloom "pulled thread" look *  When I end up creating some article of clothing that I would not be caught dead wearing, I have created fun, wearable art *  Three months from now, even long after all the winter decorations are put away but somehow everything still has glitter on it no matter HOW much I dust and vacuum, I have added bling to our living space. I don't need to become better at crafting--I just need a better spin d...

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?