Bloggedy blog!

I miss you, sewing blog! It is great fun to hear what you've been up to, Margie. The dresses do indeed look fabulous. Post photos of your quilt when you get a chance!

The only thing I didn't record in the last 9 months is that back in January I took a trip to the LYS, using your lingo, and found some very happy yellow, green, and pink yarn. I started crocheting it into granny squares (for an hour or so), with the idea that it could become a baby blanket or a scarf. The baby blanket idea lost momentum because the person I had in mind turned out to be... not deserving, shall we say. And then the idea lost momentum in general because the yarn is VERY small, and so crocheting for ever left me with a square of about 2 inches. However, it's a very good traveling project, and I have some plane flights in my near future, so I should pick it up again. I also need to return to my quilt; fortunately, football season is upon us!

The other thing I can report is that the quilt of squares (based on the pattern-a-day book) totally stalled out when Evil Twin and I discovered that we really don't know any fancy knitting stitches and the internet was not helpful in teaching us. Perhaps another trip to the LYS is in our future at some point?

Catherine

Woven bracelets

Another draft that was never posted...
I think Christmas of 2011.

Well...

During Christmas break, I didn't do any knitting, but I "helped" the girls with some woven bracelets they had gotten a while back. Not sure just how long I spent on it, but it was at least three hours. Nice, mindless work. And the girls love the results.

I'll have to get pictures shortly.

3 hours for me! (are we doing this again?)

Margie

What, Again?

This is from sometime in early June of 2010.  It's been sitting in the drafts, not sure what date it will be published under!


So I squandered my opportunity to put in some serious stitching time Friday. Smallest was having a playdate with a friend after school, so I didn't have to go pick her up. Instead, I dorked around on the computer and did other random non-productive things. Oh well.

The book club I'm part of met last night. Our book was, "Always Looking Up", the latest Michael J. Fox book that spans the 10 years since "Lucky Man." I had great fun explaining the section on politics, which talks about embryonic stem (ES) cells and George Bush's policy on research with ES cells. We're all going out to dinner on Tuesday, which happens to be my 40th birthday.

After all the events of the day, those mentioned above and those left out, I did manage to get in an hour of stitching before a late bedtime. I'm working on Santa's sleeve, which has a swirly pattern like the one I messed up on the body and had to redo. Of course, it's much smaller, but it was still annoying to complete a part of it and realize I had messed it up. Sigh. More unsewing ensued. The resewing was successful.

Off to pick up Darling at the airport soon. This is the first of his last two trips to Calgary.

Margie

Summer dresses

 

So...here we have Smallest, who is now 8, and Middle, now 11, modeling the lovely dresses I finally finished.  It had been a while since I cut the fabric.  They've worn them to church several times and have received many compliments on how lovely they both look, so that's nice.
 Of course, I think they look lovely all the time, but that's just me.  I will say that the dresses fit nicely, which helps the girls to look extra lovely.

Middle started middle school this fall, Smallest is in 3rd grade (that's Grade 3 in Canadian) and The Boy has entered the world of high school.  It has been quite the adventure for all of us.  The big kids both ride the school bus to school.  Middle gets picked up at 7, so we drive her to the bus stop.  The Boy gets picked up at Smallest's school at about 7:40, which is the same time that Smallest needs to be there too.  Currently I am torturing The Boy and we're all walking to school together (with the dog), we  (I) say goodbye to Smallest where she heads inside, then I walk around to the bus stop with The Boy and pretend I don't know him as he gathers with his friends.  Usually he walks about 5-10 steps behind me, which I find amusing.

I have several new unfinished projects to work on.  Perhaps this weekend will be better than last at accomplishing something projecty.  I have two flannel blankets that I'm working on for a friend's baby, and there's the quilt to finish up.  I'm not entirely happy with the quilt.  I think it will unravel at some of the seams, and that's not cool.  I bought flannel for the quilt batting, and it is not 44" across.  When did they start making fabric that's 42 and 43 inches wide?  That is not right.  Anyhow, I have to sort that out and then finish it and decide its fate.

I am itching to knit something.  I have many knitting projects waiting to work on.  I still need to finish assembly of the white baby sweater, and I've been working on a little blanket for Smallest's dolls.  I don't know why that thing is taking so long.  I think I don't like the aluminum needles with the linen-y yarn.  It's all too slippery.  I'm close to finishing though, probably just another inch or two.  Then I can start on all those other things!  There are scarfs, animals and another scarf to work on.  And I've been looking around at Ravelry and saw some cute things.  Dangerous place, Ravelry.

It looks like Catherine is MIA on the blog, so I will claim perpetual victory until she returns.

I've put in several hours on the various projects, but as I haven't really kept track lately, I'm not going to estimate.  I don't think I have any competition anyhow.  My finished projects will be my only reward...sniff, sniff.

Margie

I love Southwest Airlines

This past weekend, I flew Friday afternoon on Southwest airlines to Colorado to liberate my parents from Smallest.  They all had a lovely visit, but Smallest wants to do everything there is to do, and she talks almost constantly.  She is a good match for their cattle dog puppy, Lucy.  Lucy is very sweet and the darling of the neighborhood and loved playing with Smallest.

The previous weekend, I flew on United airlines to Seattle to pick up The Boy.

I had a frustrating and disappointing experience with United and rather than go through the saga again, I will just say that I hope not to fly on United in the future.

When I went to Colorado last weekend, I decided not to take my book (Clash of Kings) because I knew I would read it the whole time and there was a project to work on.  So I took the bag I'm making and that's all I did.  I worked on it a couple of hours on the way there, and less on the way back as there were games to be played with Smallest.  I'll give it 2 hours total as a safe guess.

Darling and The Boy returned on Sunday from their soccer tournament with our previous team.  Not a lot of success on the field, but it was fun visiting with friends.

Good to have all the kids back in one place.

Oh, I also finished the quilt blocks.  They only lacked one piece to complete the outer square, so I did that Saturday or Sunday night.  That was about another 30 minutes.  Now I need to assemble the blocks.  They are not as square as I remember the previous blocks.  Oh well.  It will all work out.

2.5 hours, 13 hours total.

Margie

I am Bradley Wiggins

Today was the last day for the Tour de France to ride in the Alps.  If you're trying to win the TdF, the best place to attack and gain time on your opponents is in the mountains because sometimes riders have bad days, or they don't have the legs, or something happens and so you finish before they do.  This year, Bradley Wiggins has been telling everyone that he wants to win the TdF this year.  While he didn't attack his opponents in the mountains, they've attacked him and he's responded every time and caught them.  Now that only flat stages are left, it's looking about 99% sure that Wiggins is going to win.

So...I'm taking advantage of Catherine's inattention and travel to build up a lead so that when she gets around to checking, I'll be so far ahead, there will be no way for her to win.
I don't really want to be that far ahead, because then it's not as fun to play, but it's fun to build a lead, and I'm not sure that Catherine's really going to play this quarter.

Anyhow, I worked on the crochet bag for 30 minutes last night and I worked on Log Cabin #2 for an hour tonight.  It was only going to be 30 minutes on the quilt, but I had blocks in different stages and I wanted them all to have three sides of the last round tonight, so that took a little longer than I anticipated.

Tomorrow I'm going back to CO to pick up Smallest.  Originally, I was going to leave Middle here with friends, but no one has responded to my request for assistance, so I'm taking Middle with me.  Smallest doesn't know it, so I think it will be a pretty great surprise!  This time I'm not going to take a book on the plane with me.  That way I'll be forced to work on the crochet bag the whole time.  I'll have to remember to take the instructions as well...

I'm also starting to think about what to take with me when we go to Germany and Belgium in August.  We'll be flying over, then riding around on buses with our soccer group and flying home, so that's lots of time I could spend doing something...but what?  I will have to think and plan.  Not sure how easy it will be to locate shops for supplies over there, although I'll definitely be on the lookout!

1.5 hours tonight, 10.5 hours total.

Margie

Now With Pictures!

Still no Catherine... She did have to go to some conferences recently, so maybe she's been busy.  Or maybe she's submitting to my awesomeness early.

Anyhow, I put in an hour of work on the log cabin quilt tonight.  When I started, it looked like this:

I've been adding the next round of border on and there's one piece on each square, two on some and three on others.  I don't have a picture of the current status, but perhaps with another hour or so all the blocks will be finished.  Then it's piece the top and make the sandwich!

Middle is an only child this week.  The Boy and Darling are in Minneapolis at a soccer tournament (the USA Cup) and Smallest is off with my parents for a week.  I think they will have fun.  It's a real treat for Middle to be the only child.  We're working on making things for the Liv dolls.  Last year it was clothes and this year it seems to be accessories.  At any rate, it's fun and Middle is super creative.  She's getting ideas from YouTube (not the crazy Pullip lady, but some Froggie craft lady instead) and is improving upon them as she goes.  I think she will make some clothes as well, but it's not top of the list.  We're going to make a tent for the dolls and some sleeping bags too.  We are cool.

I spent a lot of time on airplanes this weekend.  I took a book along, Game of Thrones (awesome!) and another project-in-waiting, a crocheted bag.  I had made one for Middle earlier and had another pattern for some other yarn we got, but I didn't like the pattern so much anymore.  Well, problem solved.  When I was looking for a new pattern, I discovered Ravelry which is like Facebook for yarn freaks.  You can list your projects, yarn in your stash, all sorts of things.  They also have a HUGE listing of patterns.  It's cool and highly addictive.

Anyhow, I only worked on the bag for about two hours on the plane (out of 13 hours of flying between Friday am and Sunday pm) because I liked my book so much, but here's what I've done so far:

It has a rectangular base, now I'm working up from the bottom.  In about 17 rows, there are some decreases to make it less tubular and more shapely.  There's a strap and if desired, a decorative flower.  Something good to keep around for waiting rooms and such.

I think that's about it for now.
I forgot to list my hours last time.  I worked on the blocks an hour on the Leetle Squares post without recording that, and I worked another hour tonight.

4 hours unreported, 9 hours total.

Margie

Leetle Squares

I've decided to start with the log cabin quilt (the first one looked like this) as most of the fabric was already cut, and it's a pretty simple one to put together.  I had big plans to take a picture of the current status and post those, but I haven't gotten around to that, but so as to prevent hoarding, I'm going ahead with the post.

I have three little sections of the blocks put together - the little colored center and then the small adjoining block and the block that covers the two of them.  This time I've decided to make all the blocks at the same time, hoping that will seem faster and more satisfying, so they're all at the same stage.  It took me an hour and a bit to go through two rounds of block-adding, and then ironing and trimming.  I figure there are 6 more rounds to go, so that won't be so bad.

I've also decided that I really want a 1/4 inch foot for my sewing machine.  It would help a great deal with my seam placement accuracy.  Must be accurate with the log cabin.

I leave early, early tomorrow to pick up The Boy from Seattle.  I think he's had a great time, and I also suspect that he is VERY tired.  All that fun comes at a price, you know.  From the Great Sorting of projects, I have two little things I can take on the plane, and I'm also thinking about taking stuff to make another crochet bag.  Perhaps take the small projects, and the first book of Game of Thrones, which I've also started reading.

Random fun information: Middle started guitar lessons in January and really enjoys playing.  At her last lesson, her teacher decided it was time for her to learn to finger pick and assigned her The Boxer (a classic Simon and Garfunkel song).  The teacher, Linda Lowe, told her it will take her a year to be proficient at the song, which I think was a good way to let Middle know not to give up if she can't get it the first time.  I like her teacher.

Looking at the picture of the first quilt, I may have to go back and look at my colors, because something will be different between the two here...

Home Alone

Well...
 
Not sure why, but I pulled out the sewing machine last week and assembled the girls' summer dresses for last summer that I had cut and never finished.  They came out beautifully (I will take a picture of my lovely girls soon) and much to my amusement, they fit almost perfectly.  If I had made them last summer, the dresses would have been too big.  I'm so smart.

At any rate, now I've got the sewing machine out and all of my family is gone for the week.  The girls are at Choir Camp, The Boy is at summer school in Seattle, and Darling is travelling and riding a bike in Calgary to prepare for his crazy mountain bike race in a couple of weeks.

So last night I took an inventory of my projects, just because my closet has been bugging me and that meant I could take everything out and put things away in a better spot.  If I don't count all the cross stitch things, then it seems relatively manageable, so I decided to start with sewing projects.  I have fabric for three baby quilts (one of which is the duplicate of the one I made about two years ago, the log cabin one) so perhaps I can get crackin' and make them while everyone is gone this week and no one cares how messy the dining room table is.  I don't think it's entirely realistic, because I leave early Friday morning to pick up The Boy, but it will be fun to try.

Since we're starting another quarter, I will log my dress-making hours and claim the lead.

5 hours so far (I think that's about right).

Margie

Hoarding, hoarding.

Well, although I don't feel too badly about my hoarding, seeing as how Catherine hasn't posted anything in a while, I did think I should report on what I've been up to.

I've been ignoring the baby sweater because I think the sleeves are too long. I solicited suggestions for the Mutant Sweater from Facebook friends, and also showed it to another knitting friend and we decided not to rip out the sleeves, but to remove the ribbing from the body and make it longer working down. I wasn't too confident in how that would turn out, nor in the amount of yard I had left to work with, so I decided to visit my Local Yarn Shop and ask what they thought.

I only recently discovered my LYS, when I took the girls on an Excursion there a couple of weeks ago. I think we were killing time before picking up their brother, so I said they could each buy some yarn if they would come with me. Smallest picked some nice silk/cotton stuff and Middle picked some alpaca/something blend. I've been making blankets for stuffies for Smallest (and a little pillow) with her yarn while Middle decided she didn't like her yarn as it breaks easily. I'll find something to do with hers later. She's already working on a scarf with yarn she bought in Colorado, so one project is enough for now. Of course, I've been working on her scarf more than she has. We made an X pattern with knit/purl which turned out pretty cool. She had started the scarf with the new yarn, but switched when it kept breaking, so I experimented with the cutting and working backwards technique and put a seed stitch/moss stitch band on the bottom. It turned out well. I'll add a picture at some point.

So...I took the girls with me again today to go ask for advice about Mutant Sweater. Their advice was just to finish it and leave it as it is! Wow. I think I like their advice the best! :) I've finished the neck now and just have to bind off and then sew up the side seams. I could be done with it tomorrow! Hard to believe.

Of course, we picked up yarn for more projects while we were there - have to get them started on their yarn stash early - so there's plenty to do as soon as I finish, in addition to the many other things still sitting around.

I'm going to guestimate my time at 6 hours for two blankets, a pillow, sewing in the sleeves and finishing the neck. I didn't keep good track this time.

6 hours recently, 10.75 total. 14 days to go...

Margie

Quick post

We're in Austin for soccer coach training, and while watching New England beat the pants off Denver, I finished the sleeves for the sweater. I do think they're a little long for the body, but I don't think there's enough yarn for me to undo the bodies and add more inches, so it will just be a sweater with long sleeves.

I'll post a picture when we get back home.

1 hr. 15 min today, 4.75 total.

Margie

[insert evil laugh here]

Well, I see that my nemesis, Quilt Girl, has yet to respond to my challenge! I, Knitting Lady, shall continue, uncontested until I triumph over the oppressive fabric coverings and enslave the sheep of the world! All the yarn shall be mine!

In truth, I didn't work that much this week. A little here, and then more tonight. I had a really funny moment though. I was working on the sleeves tonight while Smallest was at her ballroom dance class and as it's time to make raglan sleeves, I thought I was at the point where I was almost done, having reached 40 stitches, so I started on the next stage of the instructions, where you reduce stitches on the right side and the wrong side. So I worked four rows and then looked at the directions again. It said I was supposed to do the reducing on both sides only one time and then I would have 23 stitches (for the size I'm making). Uh-oh. So I looked farther up in the instructions to see how, if I had 40 stitches, would I be able to reduce by 4 and get 23?

Turns out I was supposed to work 40 rows at the end of which I would have 27 stitches. Now it's all making sense. So, I thought for a minute and decided that I would just rip back and move forward from there. Ah well. I also discovered that when one of the sleeves had an odd number of stitches and the other had even, it was the odd one that was correct, so I'll have to fix that too. They're both even now.

It pays to read the instructions carefully. I'm starting to worry though that these sleeves are going to be really long. I have to remind myself that they're raglan sleeves, so I'm making the shoulders right now. I won't have to find a mutant baby with extra long arms to be the recipient of the sweater. At least I hope so.

1 hour today (45, plus 15 at Tuesday choir), 3.5 total.

Margie

Knitting Envy

As I mentioned before, I taught Middle how to knit over the Christmas break. We went to a fabulous yarn shop (Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins - the closest to my parents' house) and we looked at all the yarn and there was lots of touching and admiring. She selected a very nice light minty green yarn for her own and then, rather than settle for the very functional plastic or metal needles, she chose the more expensive wooden needles with fancy do-dads on the ends.

She has been happily knitting away, and was delighted when I could finally teach her how to cast on. I've taught her how to finish her piece, and showed her how to decrease by knitting two together. She's having lots of fun. I'm still trying to finish the baby sweater.

The baby sweater is getting close. I'm working the decreases in the sleeves and only have about 10 more rows to go? Something encouragingly close. But truly, I wander into my closet and look at my stash of yarn and think about all the other things I could be working on. I am ready for a new knitting project. It's good that I've taken time along the way to knit other things, although perhaps I would have finished the sweater sooner without the interruption. Who knows.

At any rate, I'm jealous of Middle's freedom to knit whatever she wants - she had knit an inch or two, and then during recess at school yesterday (where many girls crochet, but only the truly individual knit) she decreased from 35 stitches to 3 just to see what would happen! She ended up undoing the whole piece, but she is unconcerned, because she's not trying to make anything at this point. Fun to explore. (and she gets to cast on again, which not all the knitters can do)

I worked on the sweater for 1.5 hours while the girls were at choir practice last Thursday, and then another 30 minutes during Smallest's ballroom dance lesson.

And when Middle tires of knitting, I'm stealing her fancy needles!

2 hours last week, 2.5 hours total

Margie

The Gauntlet, it is thrown!

Well, after that bold challenge, I will have to be more intentional about my projects.

I did work on the cream baby sweater yesterday after dropping Middle off for choir and waiting for a meeting to start an hour later, so after all the chatting, I'm guessing 30 minutes? At any rate, I'm close to finishing the sleeves and then there's just the assembly and the neck to do. I even have some friends who are expecting a wee bairn and appreciate knitting, so maybe they'll get the sweater.

I taught Middle to knit over the holiday, so now she can start her life of yarn hoarding and incomplete projects too. She already has some incomplete projects, but no yarn yet.

I have quilt pieces to make another log cabin quilt like the first one, so maybe I can find some time to put that together as well.

30 minutes total.

Margie

2012: Return of the quilt

One of my new year's resolutions is to finish my quilt. There - I've said it, and now am accountable. More to come...

In the meantime, I just got a knitting pattern daily calendar for my Evil Twin, and he is excited to learn all of the different patterns. Yesterday's was a basket rib, which we both decided looked more like space invaders than a basket weave. We intend to make 4" x 4" squares of many/all of these, and then use them to make a knit quilt. He made the official square yesterday, but I also wanted to learn the pattern (never having done slip stitches before), so I spent 30 minutes (at least, but I forgot to time it) knitting 16 rows and then pulling them back out.

Watch out, seester! I will have two quilts before you know it.

30 minutes.

Catherine