Not all together...and not painting as in artistic. On Sunday, while my husband was at a friend's house helping to install new sinks in their bathroom I made myself busy at home. Oh and here's a tip - if remodeling, spend the few extra dollars and don't buy the cheapest sinks or you will be replacing them when the overflow rusts out and leaks water everywhere. With the whole day ahead of me I thought about all the creative projects I could do, but as I was cleaning up the kitchen, the wall above the backsplash cried out to me to please finish painting me. Ok, the counter was (relatively) cleaned off so I could get to the wall and the paintcan has been sitting there since we tiled the backsplash in...um...February. So a Sunday afternoon project was underway. I got out the painting supplies, opened the patio door to enjoy the fresh air and singing birds, and finished the painting. I even covered some boo-boos in the adjoining family room. Don't you love finishing a project?
The sewing consisted of working on a second twisty top. You'd think it would be easier to make a second garment from the same pattern and for the most part it was; however my brain, which anticipated that this would be easy, aparently decided to switch off altogether. After a few dumb mistakes I am mostly finished with Twisty Top Two.
As for knitting, I'm working on a new small project. I'll post pictures when it's done, which will hopefully be soon. I really want to start on a real project but do not want to have too many projects going at once, so I should finish the small one first.
This weekend I'm looking forward to getting together with some patternreview friends in SF. We get together a few times a year to chat, swap fabric and patterns, get fitting help, and show off a new project or two. Since our host lives close to Fabrix and Satin Moon, guess where we're going? But I am taking public transportation home so I will have to limit my buying. This is a good thing.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Friday, May 13, 2005
Twisty top
I unearthed the dress form and put away my yarn so here is the completed Burda twist top.
The front:
and the back...
And here's another purchase I made from Kinokuniya last weekend:
Little sheep clips! They'll be quite fun to use as bookmarks in my knitting magazines or to hold a bit of yarn together.
The front:
and the back...
And here's another purchase I made from Kinokuniya last weekend:
Little sheep clips! They'll be quite fun to use as bookmarks in my knitting magazines or to hold a bit of yarn together.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Got gauge?
Let me start by saying that I'm not a very experienced knitter. I taught myself to knit (left-handed) from a book a long time ago when I was in college. There was no internet then and knitting was considered to be something grandmothers and hippies did. I liked it because it gave my mind a much needed rest in between homework and exams. But I didn't have anyone to help me with my knitting or to stress how important it was to make sure you have the correct gauge for the pattern. In my first year of knitting I somehow managed to knit a baby cardigan with matching pants and two adult-sized vests without ever worrying about or knowing about gauge. But gauge did bite me on other attempts. I tried to knit myself a sweater with an argyle pattern across the chest and after finishing the front realized it would maybe fit a child but certainly not me. Later I had visions of a chunky knit cowl-necked sweater in black and white (it was the 80's, ok?). This time I used the yarn called for in the pattern but ended up frogging it (rip-it, rip-it) a few times when it became obvious that the front would again be too small. I can't recall if I checked gauge first - you'd think that I would but I guess I didn't. I recently found the still-unfinished sweater and frogged it once again.
So today I am starting to embark on a new sweater project and this time, I am checking gauge. My first try on US 8s resulted in 17 x 24 over a 4" square. I found a pattern in the latest Vogue Knitting that called for this gauge and began to knit. My gauge changed. I guess I must have knit looser when it was "just a swatch." That was dumb. I tried again on US 7s just to see what I'd get and it was 20 x 28. I couldn't find anything I wanted to knit or had enough yarn for in that gauge so now I'm reswatching on US 9s. This is frustrating. And time consuming. But everything I read now stresses how important the right gauge is - and of course they're right.
But swatching to find the right gauge is at least a little easier now that I have a range of needles. Because I'm not an experienced knitter, I have a mish-mash of needles, mostly cheap plastic or metal ones from the craft store. Oddly, I was lacking in the size 6-9 region. So I stopped at my LYS to buy some new needles but I wasn't sure whether to buy straights or circulars and at what length. At $12-$15 a pair for nice wood or bamboo ones it would be rather expensive to acquire a variety. And then I took my husband's advice. Yes, my husband had advice on buying knitting needles. A while ago he accompanied me to the yarn store where he saw some Denise interchangeable knitting needles. He encouraged me to buy them, rationalizing that it seemed like a good deal to buy all the sizes at once. But I scoffed at them, thinking that a) they were too expensive and b) they looked like cheap plastic. But faced with my dilemma of buying multiple sets of needles so I could do multiple swatches I found myself looking at them again. Three sales clerks saw me pondering the purchase and each gave the set high marks . So I bought them and a) they were not too expensive when you consider it's equivalent to buying only 3 sets of wood or bamboo needles and b) the plastic is not cheap - the yarn slips easily when knitting and they're nothing like the cheap plastic craft store brands like I thought they'd be. So getting gauge is a now a little easier. But just a little.
So today I am starting to embark on a new sweater project and this time, I am checking gauge. My first try on US 8s resulted in 17 x 24 over a 4" square. I found a pattern in the latest Vogue Knitting that called for this gauge and began to knit. My gauge changed. I guess I must have knit looser when it was "just a swatch." That was dumb. I tried again on US 7s just to see what I'd get and it was 20 x 28. I couldn't find anything I wanted to knit or had enough yarn for in that gauge so now I'm reswatching on US 9s. This is frustrating. And time consuming. But everything I read now stresses how important the right gauge is - and of course they're right.
But swatching to find the right gauge is at least a little easier now that I have a range of needles. Because I'm not an experienced knitter, I have a mish-mash of needles, mostly cheap plastic or metal ones from the craft store. Oddly, I was lacking in the size 6-9 region. So I stopped at my LYS to buy some new needles but I wasn't sure whether to buy straights or circulars and at what length. At $12-$15 a pair for nice wood or bamboo ones it would be rather expensive to acquire a variety. And then I took my husband's advice. Yes, my husband had advice on buying knitting needles. A while ago he accompanied me to the yarn store where he saw some Denise interchangeable knitting needles. He encouraged me to buy them, rationalizing that it seemed like a good deal to buy all the sizes at once. But I scoffed at them, thinking that a) they were too expensive and b) they looked like cheap plastic. But faced with my dilemma of buying multiple sets of needles so I could do multiple swatches I found myself looking at them again. Three sales clerks saw me pondering the purchase and each gave the set high marks . So I bought them and a) they were not too expensive when you consider it's equivalent to buying only 3 sets of wood or bamboo needles and b) the plastic is not cheap - the yarn slips easily when knitting and they're nothing like the cheap plastic craft store brands like I thought they'd be. So getting gauge is a now a little easier. But just a little.
Monday, May 09, 2005
I was going to...
I was going to post a picture of the Burda twist top I finished but I can't get to the dress form to take a picture because the room is so crowded with all the yarn I pulled out of storage in my zeal to use my new swift.
I was going to post a picture of my progress on a sweater I started to knit but I realized about 8 rows into it that my gauge was quite different than the swatch I knitted. Much too different. I guess in my attempt to get even stitches on the sweater I was knitting tighter than I did on the swatch. So I need to reswatch and figure out what I can make with this orange cotton/acrylic Di.Vé Cotton Club yarn.
I can post a picture of my first Japanese craft book purchase. Spurred on by the surge in Japanese craft books posted on some crafty blogger sites lately, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. They just looked so cute! I didn't realize there was a Kinokuniya bookstore (and Mitsuwa grocery) practically in my backyard. Almost makes me want to learn Japanese.
Palm Sized Stuffies
I was going to post a picture of my progress on a sweater I started to knit but I realized about 8 rows into it that my gauge was quite different than the swatch I knitted. Much too different. I guess in my attempt to get even stitches on the sweater I was knitting tighter than I did on the swatch. So I need to reswatch and figure out what I can make with this orange cotton/acrylic Di.Vé Cotton Club yarn.
I can post a picture of my first Japanese craft book purchase. Spurred on by the surge in Japanese craft books posted on some crafty blogger sites lately, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. They just looked so cute! I didn't realize there was a Kinokuniya bookstore (and Mitsuwa grocery) practically in my backyard. Almost makes me want to learn Japanese.
Palm Sized Stuffies
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Box 'o goodies
I ordered a few knitting things from Joann's online store last week and they arrived yesterday. I bought some darning needles and some stitch markers but those were just extra since-I'm-already-paying-for-shipping items because this
Swift
is what I really wanted. It's a good thing I bought the swift when I did because it's no longer available on their site. I also scored because I used a 50% off coupon on the purchase. I had to laugh though because the box says it's from Lacis in Berkeley, which is near here (but sadly not near enough).
Before I even changed out of my work clothes I set up the swift and tried it out. All the cats had to come and investigate of course. Yarn! Movement! What fun! I wound a few of the shanks of Manos del Uruguay wool I bought at Stitches a few months ago. Then I thought I'd try out the smaller balls of the baby alpaca yarn from Peru but they were too small. I decided to wind up a ball on the ball-winder anyway, which was a mistake. I always seem to get a tangled mess of yarn when I do this, which is why I wanted a swift. It turns out the alpaca was already in a sort of center-pull "ball" but of course I started from the outside and then the other end worked its way out and got mixed in and...oh what a mess. At least it was a soft mess to detangle. Oh my goodness, soooooo soft! And it kept the cats amused.
I've been meaning to start a decent knitting project, intentionally ignoring the UFOs I have. The too long sock will wait until I decide to a) knit another the same length and give them to hubby or b) frog and start over because I don't like the way the heel turned out anyway. There's also a scarf in the works but it isn't good for TV watching because I have to watch the "yarn" while I knit (it's a funky ladder-ribbon yarn and its slippery too). So I'm thinking about a summery short sleeve sweater. But so far thinking about it is as far as I've gotten. But I would like to get a good knitting project going because...
There might be a fun trip in our future with lots of airplane time. We might be going to the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in France next month. A friend has invited us to his parent's house which is on the race course. We are thinking of flying to Belgium for a few days (where our friends live) and then make our way down to Paris and take a train to Le Mans along with the throngs of race fans. I'm interested in the race but will definitely bring some knitting to do...and ear plugs. The Belgium part of the trip will be great fun since I've never been. Chocolate! Lace! Heavenly. While in Paris I might try to sneak a visit to Dreyfus in Montemarte. It's a huge fabric warehouse of mill ends. Of course I don't need another bit of fiber of any sort but I might just have to make an exception for French fiber!
I worked a bit on my Burda top last night but didn't get very far. I planned to use my serger so I changed it over from coverstitch to 4-thread overlock only to discover that the step 1 of the instructions was to hem the edge of two pieces. AAAARGH! So I changed the serger back to coverstitch. Fortunately it's very easy to rethread my machine. But stitching the hems was not all that easy. The fabric I'm using is very stretchy and the edges curl. I expected the fabric to stretch as I sewed so I compensated by setting the differential feed to gather slightly. That seemed to work as the first piece came out beautifully. The second piece was not as cooperative but it looks ok. At this rate I might have the top done in time for our trip!
Swift
is what I really wanted. It's a good thing I bought the swift when I did because it's no longer available on their site. I also scored because I used a 50% off coupon on the purchase. I had to laugh though because the box says it's from Lacis in Berkeley, which is near here (but sadly not near enough).
Before I even changed out of my work clothes I set up the swift and tried it out. All the cats had to come and investigate of course. Yarn! Movement! What fun! I wound a few of the shanks of Manos del Uruguay wool I bought at Stitches a few months ago. Then I thought I'd try out the smaller balls of the baby alpaca yarn from Peru but they were too small. I decided to wind up a ball on the ball-winder anyway, which was a mistake. I always seem to get a tangled mess of yarn when I do this, which is why I wanted a swift. It turns out the alpaca was already in a sort of center-pull "ball" but of course I started from the outside and then the other end worked its way out and got mixed in and...oh what a mess. At least it was a soft mess to detangle. Oh my goodness, soooooo soft! And it kept the cats amused.
I've been meaning to start a decent knitting project, intentionally ignoring the UFOs I have. The too long sock will wait until I decide to a) knit another the same length and give them to hubby or b) frog and start over because I don't like the way the heel turned out anyway. There's also a scarf in the works but it isn't good for TV watching because I have to watch the "yarn" while I knit (it's a funky ladder-ribbon yarn and its slippery too). So I'm thinking about a summery short sleeve sweater. But so far thinking about it is as far as I've gotten. But I would like to get a good knitting project going because...
There might be a fun trip in our future with lots of airplane time. We might be going to the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in France next month. A friend has invited us to his parent's house which is on the race course. We are thinking of flying to Belgium for a few days (where our friends live) and then make our way down to Paris and take a train to Le Mans along with the throngs of race fans. I'm interested in the race but will definitely bring some knitting to do...and ear plugs. The Belgium part of the trip will be great fun since I've never been. Chocolate! Lace! Heavenly. While in Paris I might try to sneak a visit to Dreyfus in Montemarte. It's a huge fabric warehouse of mill ends. Of course I don't need another bit of fiber of any sort but I might just have to make an exception for French fiber!
I worked a bit on my Burda top last night but didn't get very far. I planned to use my serger so I changed it over from coverstitch to 4-thread overlock only to discover that the step 1 of the instructions was to hem the edge of two pieces. AAAARGH! So I changed the serger back to coverstitch. Fortunately it's very easy to rethread my machine. But stitching the hems was not all that easy. The fabric I'm using is very stretchy and the edges curl. I expected the fabric to stretch as I sewed so I compensated by setting the differential feed to gather slightly. That seemed to work as the first piece came out beautifully. The second piece was not as cooperative but it looks ok. At this rate I might have the top done in time for our trip!
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Next...
I'm working on another Burda top. It's this one from the April 2005 Burda World of Fashion:
This top has been the top to make right now among the patternreview.com gang. The other day I found myself at Hancock Fabrics and some fabric bolts jumped out at me. I couldn't resist buying some trendy-print stretchy knit fabric for only $3.95/yard. But I have set a new record for myself (besides the number of yards of fabric I own). Time from store to cutting table = 4 days! I'm afraid though that the size I cut out will be too small so I tried to leave enough fabric to cut another one in a larger size if I need too.
I tend to have illusions of being smaller than I am. Weird. Most women think they're fatter than they really are. Maybe I'm in denial about my true weight, which isn't bad but I could benefit from losing a few pounds (in fact we're going to get back into our regular gym visits tonight). I get frustrated when I think that I wear a certain size or style and then reality hits when I see myself in the mirror. This can be a real problem when you sew! I try to make test muslins first but it's real tedious to do that and often the fabric I use for the muslin doesn't exactly match the fabric I'm going to use. The other problem and hindrance to my sewing is that I want to save my good or favorite fabrics for garments I'll be able to wear. Sometimes that means waiting until I lose some weight but mostly it's because I want to get the fit right and not waste the fabric on a wadder. When I started sewing about seven years ago I found an online fabric source that had fabric from $1 to around $5 per yard. I thought they'd be great for practicing. However, the fabrics turned out to be really nice...and so a fabric stash was born.
I guess I need to update my fabric tally for the year too. I bought 4.5 yards at Hancock last week and also slipped up and bought 7 yards from fabric.com - the "evil" on-line fabric store that enticed me with their inexpensive yet nice fabrics seven years ago.
This top has been the top to make right now among the patternreview.com gang. The other day I found myself at Hancock Fabrics and some fabric bolts jumped out at me. I couldn't resist buying some trendy-print stretchy knit fabric for only $3.95/yard. But I have set a new record for myself (besides the number of yards of fabric I own). Time from store to cutting table = 4 days! I'm afraid though that the size I cut out will be too small so I tried to leave enough fabric to cut another one in a larger size if I need too.
I tend to have illusions of being smaller than I am. Weird. Most women think they're fatter than they really are. Maybe I'm in denial about my true weight, which isn't bad but I could benefit from losing a few pounds (in fact we're going to get back into our regular gym visits tonight). I get frustrated when I think that I wear a certain size or style and then reality hits when I see myself in the mirror. This can be a real problem when you sew! I try to make test muslins first but it's real tedious to do that and often the fabric I use for the muslin doesn't exactly match the fabric I'm going to use. The other problem and hindrance to my sewing is that I want to save my good or favorite fabrics for garments I'll be able to wear. Sometimes that means waiting until I lose some weight but mostly it's because I want to get the fit right and not waste the fabric on a wadder. When I started sewing about seven years ago I found an online fabric source that had fabric from $1 to around $5 per yard. I thought they'd be great for practicing. However, the fabrics turned out to be really nice...and so a fabric stash was born.
I guess I need to update my fabric tally for the year too. I bought 4.5 yards at Hancock last week and also slipped up and bought 7 yards from fabric.com - the "evil" on-line fabric store that enticed me with their inexpensive yet nice fabrics seven years ago.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Birds
After posting the picture of our winged visitor in Friday's post, I became obsessed with finding out what it was: a hawk? a falcon? After much googling on the internet, I think I have identified it as a Coopers Hawk. The lighting in my picture is not the best and you can't see the tail, but having looked at many pictures of falcons and hawks I think most of the ones of the Coopers Hawk seemed to fit.
The hawk was across the street on the lamp post but we do get a lot of birds in our yard, much to our cats' enjoyment (from inside course). We have a bird feeder and a pond in the back and both draw a lot of hungry and thirsty birds. Our neighbors' yards don't have much in the way of trees let alone feeders or ponds so I joke that the bird migration map shows our house with a big X on it. It's fun to watch the change in types of birds that visit throughout the year. I honestly don't know what they are but they seem to be mostly finches along with mockingbirds, hummingbirds, robins, and many Mourning Doves. The Mourning Doves even set up a nest that was quite convenient to the feeder. Most of the finches have reddish breasts but there are some pretty yellow ones that visit too - usually a male/female pair. One evening Aaron thought he saw an owl fly over. He says it was pretty big. My favorite winged visitor so far has to be the Great Blue Heron. I don't know if he dined on our fish, but the morning I saw him he was standing atop our pergola in prime view of the pond. I was dumbstruck at the sight of such a majestic bird. He just stood there and I just froze at the sight. Unfortunately by the time I got my camera he took off. The quirkiest winged visitor has got to be the California Quail. We've lived here for over 7 years and never saw any quail until last summer when suddenly the quail parades began. I laugh because the quail run around the yard like they're playing follow the leader as they run from yard to yard, hopping up on the fences and rooftops.
It's nice to hear the birds and to see them splash in the waterfall. Perhaps I should dig out the bird book we have somewhere and try to identify them. But no, I'm not going to add birding to my list of hobbies. That's all I need...another hobby!
The hawk was across the street on the lamp post but we do get a lot of birds in our yard, much to our cats' enjoyment (from inside course). We have a bird feeder and a pond in the back and both draw a lot of hungry and thirsty birds. Our neighbors' yards don't have much in the way of trees let alone feeders or ponds so I joke that the bird migration map shows our house with a big X on it. It's fun to watch the change in types of birds that visit throughout the year. I honestly don't know what they are but they seem to be mostly finches along with mockingbirds, hummingbirds, robins, and many Mourning Doves. The Mourning Doves even set up a nest that was quite convenient to the feeder. Most of the finches have reddish breasts but there are some pretty yellow ones that visit too - usually a male/female pair. One evening Aaron thought he saw an owl fly over. He says it was pretty big. My favorite winged visitor so far has to be the Great Blue Heron. I don't know if he dined on our fish, but the morning I saw him he was standing atop our pergola in prime view of the pond. I was dumbstruck at the sight of such a majestic bird. He just stood there and I just froze at the sight. Unfortunately by the time I got my camera he took off. The quirkiest winged visitor has got to be the California Quail. We've lived here for over 7 years and never saw any quail until last summer when suddenly the quail parades began. I laugh because the quail run around the yard like they're playing follow the leader as they run from yard to yard, hopping up on the fences and rooftops.
It's nice to hear the birds and to see them splash in the waterfall. Perhaps I should dig out the bird book we have somewhere and try to identify them. But no, I'm not going to add birding to my list of hobbies. That's all I need...another hobby!
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