It’s not always cloudy in Portland
19 Feb 2012 2 Comments
Downtown Portland, OR view courtesy of the Portland City Grill. Yum! Layovers=work=not so much craftiness.
Not so much with the progress
14 Feb 2012 4 Comments
in Paulie Cardie, Sew what, Stripes
In an effort to disguise how little I’ve actually knit, I shall present my projects as a group. With so much to look at you may not notice that they don’t look that much farther along than when last you met.
Top left: It’s Valentine’s Day so I present you with some pretty tulips.
Top right: Paulie as seen from the back. I love this cardie and knit on it here and there. I don’t travel with this project as it’s too large and suitcase space is precious, but there’s no reason I can’t work on it more. I shall try harder.
Lower left: Color Affection. I love this pattern and was sooo undecided how to place the colors. I thought I’d start with the gray then work to the blue then red. I changed my mind last minute and started with the blue. I hope this looks ok when the red hits the mix.
Lower right: I finally decided which skirt to make with some lovely stretch babycord that accidentally came home with me from the den of pleasure I call the Stonemountain and Daughter’s half price room. It’s a good solid steel gray and feels like velvet. And it was half off. So it took me ALL DAY yesterday to decide which pattern to sew (I have massive jetlag so this is actually pretty quick). A-line 70s style skirt with pockets. Should be nice right?
Miami
12 Feb 2012 3 Comments
Today’s layover eye candy is courtesy of downtown Miami. It’s warm and the food is good. I’m set!
Second time lucky
08 Feb 2012 9 Comments
in Uncategorized
After the last Renfrew top sewing trouble, I tried again with this lovely striped 99 cent/yard cotton. Oh yes, Fabrix has a “sale” table even though their prices are super cheap to start with. This time around there was no wiggly seam-age. I properly adjusted my serger to sew wave free seams and changed the topstitch to a stretch stitch on my Bernina. I used the one that looks like honeycomb, for lack of a more precise description.
This fabric has much less stretch than the magenta fabric in the previous top. It’s a bit less comfortable to wear, but it doesn’t look like a mess. Tradeoff. I have tons more fabric that is super stretchy and more tissue-y. Clingy stuff, so we shall see if that’s a disaster.
The only problem I’ve got with the top is that I wore it out to eat and got burrito guts in the collar! I know, that collar is a crumb catcher – or chicken mole catcher in this case! I keep washing the top hoping the spots will fade, but I may break down and go buy some laundry spot treatment. I like the top and will make many more iterations. I hope you won’t get bored, but it’s fun for me to make stuff I actually wear.
Cherry Blossoms!
04 Feb 2012 3 Comments
in Uncategorized
As I was driving through San Francisco yesterday, I prayed to the traffic light timing gods to let me stop in front of the pink cherry blossoms. I’ve seen white ones, but these are the first pinks I’ve seen and to be honest they’re my favorite.
Here’s the crappy cellphone pic taken with the amusement of my fellow drivers. Enjoy the pic and I’ll try to take better ones! It’s my favorite time of year peeps!
P.s. There are three lanes of traffic between me and those blossoms so it’s telephoto iphone pic. Trust me, they’re gorgeous.
Surf’s up
02 Feb 2012 4 Comments
in Sew what
Ok. I like to think I’ve got the sewing thing down. Sure, there’s stuff I don’t know how to do, but I get how to make a T-shirt! Why oh why can you explain the crazy waves I got putting the bands on the Renfrew top?
Is it because gremlins blew on the fabric as I was sewing it and caused waves?
No.
Is it because I neglected to change my serger’s feed dogs to the differential feed setting for stretchy knits? Yes. It was. Is that a hard operation to perform. No. You literally turn an exposed knob 3/8″. ARGH!
So my dork-handedness has resulted in a very pretty, well fitting sleepytime t-shirt. I have more material and will make this again WITH THE PROPER SERGER ADJUSTMENT! At least I know it fits nicely. I have found no other upside.
My only excuse is that this fabric is interlock. What does that mean? It’s a stretchy fabric that may not be suitable for this pattern (or for me for that matter). It has no “wrong” side in that it’s knit as 1×1 rib. Super stretchy. Bad choice. Super cheap though. It’s dead to me.
Stripes on the brain
01 Feb 2012 5 Comments
in Cardigan love, Paulie Cardie, She can cook too, Stripes
I think I’m stripe obsessed. I’m knitting the Paulie cardigan – it’s striped. I’m dreaming of making a striped Renfrew top but I washed the striped material with some magenta fabric and now it’s got a few blotches (jetlag and laundry don’t mix). It’s waiting for a hot wash to see what happens.
And then I see this pattern! Stop already.
How can I possibly resist such striped loveliness?
Today is a dreary, foggy, cloudy day – perfect for crafting and studying. (That’s for my work thing next week – must pass or no FAA certification…) Luckily I can study and knit simultaneously. I plan to sew a bit on the brightest magenta Renfrew top to blow those clouds outside away. Spring is here, I saw trees flowering in San Francisco on Monday. No pics as I was driving. Happy to see the blossoms though.
If you’re more interested in crafty pursuits than making dinner, I can point this Sweet Potato Chili recipe out to you. Easy and delicious, no one will know it’s so freaking easy to throw together.
Happy February!
Play nicely
23 Jan 2012 4 Comments
My football team did not win, we shall not talk about that. What did happen and we can discuss is that I ripped out the beginning of my Paulie sweater because I flucked it up, majorly.
Even a casual glance at the beginning of my top down raglan cardigan would show that those raglan lines are too short. Did I mention this is supposed to be the point where I take the sleeve stitches off and work only body? Wha?! I knew my gauge wasn’t that off so I reread the pattern that I was SURE I understood. Guess who forgot 2 rows out of every 6. Yes, I left out 1/3 of the rows and did not notice. Argh! Plus I don’t think raglan lines should be pointing straight at my triceps. Not really the fit I was hoping for.
Of course that horror was ripped and I began again adding in the rows that should be there. So far so good but I’m getting a bit over garter stitch. Plus I want to start the stripes! Sadly this won’t be a travel project so it’s gotta chill for a week while I’m out shaking my money maker. Don’t they look sad?
Well, we went big
16 Jan 2012 7 Comments
in Sew what
If you don’t like (American) football skip down to the next paragraph. Yup, my team won (go 49ers!) in one darn crazy, nerve wracking game. But they won and I drank some wine and calmed the hell down. My friends knew not to call, so the texts I received were of the “go 9ers” and “you must be pissing yourself” ilk. AND it’s all happening again on Sunday. Must get more wine…
Lest you think I’m a football watching yahoo, I like to craft while watching football, though crafting was nigh impossible during the aforementioned BEST GAME EVER. But I did make a tunic – there were 3 other (boring) games this weekend. I saw Mariko’s tunic last week and knew I wanted one too. I chose Burda Style 08-2008-118 as my tunic. Mariko made her own pattern to copy one she’d seen in Japan. I am lazy so I used a pattern I already had. The only change I made to the tunic pattern was to make it A-line (I added 2 cm to the front and 4 cm to the back side seams – blended to nothing at the waist). I sewed the seams with a narrow zigzag first then serged. Hems are finished with serger then twin needle. It took an hour to make the pattern and half a boring football game to sew it up.
The fabric used here is ponte di roma in a lace pattern. I’ve never used ponte di roma before and I love love love it. I want a whole wardrobe from it. I overstate, but that’s how I am. I’d used ponte before, that is kinda nasty double knit that you get in cheerleading outfits and pants with a sewn in front fold and elastic waist. No thanks. Ponte di roma is still poly but has one way stretch and is magically made soft, has a warm hand and doesn’t look like poly. Though I could park my car on top of this tunic and it still wouldn’t wrinkle.
But why am I looking like a dork in the photo above. It’s because of ponte di roma. When cutting this tunic, my scissors really felt dull. Mind you these are the very same scissors from when I was an FIT student one billion years ago (well the mid 90s but whatev). Gingher G-8 8-inch Knife-Edge Dressmaker Shears. I had to get them sharpened asap, like you do. The sharpening guy was at the Marin Farmer’s Market that very morning. I had him sharpen my scissors, which he complimented on their superior scissor-ness-itude, not like that cheap crap some folks bring in I’ll bet. I wandered the market while I waited and bought organic butternut squash and beets. While taking these very photos of dork-facedness, I was actually wondering if my roasting squash needed turning. It is a very superior squash I purchased. Hence ponte di roma caused me to buy a squash and cook it during my photo shoot and I am making a dork face into the kitchen window. Clear, that.
I shall leave you with a closeup of the tunic that so very clearly looks like an homage to Muench’s The Scream. Too bad I didn’t do it on purpose.
More info in my pattern review here.
Go big or go home
14 Jan 2012 7 Comments
in Uncategorized
Today is football day. I mean American football for those international sorts among us. After nine years of not-so-good-ness my fave team (SF 49ers of course) are in the playoffs. Honestly it’s been so long since last post season we all don’t know what to do with ourselves.
Me, I finished my red cowl which coordinates nicely with the team colors. It’s still way too warm to wear a cowl, unless you get up at 3am and go to work. I’m not doing that today since it’s football day. Pay attention. I just made up this cowl figuring I wanted it about 40″ around to fit over my head doubled and be snug and warm. I knit up a gauge swatch and then did the math. 180 stitches for ribbing (3×1), decrease 4 stitches after 2″ of ribbing. Knit stockinette for 3/4″ and begin the very simple Latin Star motif from Walker’s Third Treasury. Then do the other stuff in reverse and voila! Cowl.
In hindsight, I could have just done 2×2 rib for the whole shebang since you really don’t see the motif when scrunched up on the neck. I shall have to remember that when next I want a cowl. Sizewise I’m pleased with the 40″ circumference and the 9.75″ width works too. My fabric is rather scrunchable and drapey which helps the overall wearability. There’s more info on my rav page if you really want to know.
Next up will be a pot of tomato soup for football watching enjoyment. Red soup will coordinate nicely with the team uniforms…Me, I plan to be in my pajamas all day. Fingers crossed!
