A Little Yarn On The Side

Sometimes even the most crazed of us have to accept defeat.  Though, in my defense, I must say that had I not gotten sick on Monday, this might have truly been finished in February.  I did at least finish this just under the wire, so I do at least have something to show for myself this week.  (Besides lots of napping with Theo). Yesterday I did pick a new Project of the Month bag to find this: which involves some of the oldest fabric in my stash and fabric that I fear might not be of the best quality.  Just as most knitters I have known had to start with cheap yarn before they could appreciate why one would buy expensive yarn, I had to start with cheap fabric before getting this concept in sewing.  So, I am not sure how well this will turn out, but I am going to wash the mystery fabric today and if the dress falls apart after one wearing, we'll call it a "muslin" and celebrate the fact that I have used up 3 yards of old fabric stash.  And hopefully if...

It's 9:30 AM on the last day of the month and it's possible that the February Project of the Month could be finished tonight.  I woke up early today and got the yoke facing and one sleeve attached, and I hope to be able to get back to sewing fairly early tonight. There are cuff facings, but nothing too hideous and only two buttonholes to be made, so there's hope! Saturday I dropped Jeeves off at the repair shop, then yesterday I finished this: The fact that my "Mark-Be-Gone" marker hasn't "be gone" yet makes me a bit nervous as the other pen disappears in less than 24 hours, but maybe this one disappears with washing?  I made the embroidery stitch a bit heavier by using 3 embroidery threads.  I wanted it to look slightly cartoon-like.  Not in a silly sense, just in a light-hearted sense.  I'm actually rather proud of myself for doing this, as I'm not good at drawing, I haven't actually embroidered anything since I was a child and...

..and there are BAD Finishing Fridays.  Let's see if we can guess which one this one was. I jumped out of bed bright and early because I had an entire day of sewing ahead of me.  It turns out that one can actually jump into sewing just a bit too early on a Friday.  This is what can happen when one changes a needle before having coffee. Seriously--the needle (still threaded) just fell out.  Oops.  Today is February 25 and the February Project of the Month, had progressed no farther than washing of the material.  With 3 days to go, it was time to get cracking! At first I thought I might make the pants as well, but when laid out the material that had started out at 61 inches wide, according to the tag I had attached to it, had shrunk to 51 inches wide after washing.  Apparently when they say "line dry," "no heat fluff" in the dryer still doesn't cut it.  Or, I was having a seriously measurement-challenged day when I wrote up the tag. ...

Tonight I am no longer in hand-stitching hell: The robe is done!!!!!  And before it was TWO weeks late!  Of course, in the perverse nature of my crafting, the doll clothes I cut out of the same material: also required hand-stitching, but at least it was much less.  The odd circle is a little doll beret, which has a little 2-inch piece of elastic in it to give it a little stretchiness to help hold it on, which is probably why most berets I have ever owned are knitted and have a built-in stretchiness.  Yarn is MUCH easier to work with than a 2-inch piece of elastic.  Since these are a gift for my niece's 6th birthday, I did try to keep the swearing down to a minimum, but I might not have made it if there had been any more hand stitching to contend with. Projects 22 and 23 DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

There are 5 days left in February, and in order to stay on track with my goals I need to: 1.  Finished the February Project of the Month, which technically hasn't been started 2.  Knit up 1,256 yards of yarn 3.  Use up 6.4 yards of fabric Isn't sleep highly overrated anyway???

I have been working and working and working to get Andy's robe done today so it would only be a week late, but I am still firmly lodged in hand-stitching hell.  The hem is all hand-stitched (which, to be fair, doesn't show up at all on this fabric and does look very nice), the cuff facings were hand-stitched, and the facing that goes all the way around the front is hand-stitched down on the inside.  That's where I'm stuck now.  I now understand why people had about 2 sets of clothing when it all had to be hand sewn.  If I had to hand-stitch all of our clothes, we'd be naked.  I did start the Lotus Blossom tank with my oldest stash: but set it aside in favor of this: because I thought I might try finishing a project before getting side-tracked by a new one.  Hey, it could happen.  Theo found a new love this weekend: A sweater dryer!  I haven't ever used them since we've had him, and he was so excited by the new kitty hammock that he didn'...

Yesterday, Carolyn asked how long the yarn for the new lace shawl ( Lotus Blossom Lace ) had been in the stash, and whether it was "old" stash or "new" stash, which made me curious about the stash in general.  The yarn I'm using was one of my exceptions in 2009.  I had promised my mother a shawl for her retirement gift, and for unknown reasons, ordered THREE 880-yard hanks of Knitpicks Bare Laceweight.  I ended up using just a little over one hank, so the second hank was justifiable, but that third one really smacks of abuse of a yarn-purchase-exception.  Which is sort of why I want to use it up. However, the oldest yarn in my stash might be this one: which I believe I bought before I bought my first house, which I think was 2003.  I also have 11 skeins of it in bright pink, and the only reason it hasn't been knit up in the past is that some rocket scientist at Jaeger yarn company thought it was completely unnecessary to list such useless details as yar...