Wool, wool, and more wool.

Thanks for your comments on the Burda patterns. I also like 8018 and it was actually the one I set out to purchase until I started browsing the catalog and found the others. But I'm not making that one...yet. I want a jacket with a lining and feel that I don't have the time or experience to make a lining without having the pattern pieces and instructions to guide me, so I chose to make 8020. I found the perfect wool in my stash - 3 yards of a mid- to light-weight Pendleton wool I purchased from Fabric.com about 5 years ago. It was only $2.95/yard. Can you believe it?

And while browsing my stash I found another wool that will be great for Burda 8030. It's 60% wool, 40% alpaca and is both plush and soft. It also looks good on both sides, so it would work well for this coat. I'd also like to make this pattern in a sweater knit, but just think it would be a great use for this wool too.

And that's not all. I'd like to make Burda 8018 in this lovely Pendleton wool I also bought at Fabric.com - not at the same bargain price as the other Pendleton but still pretty good at $9/yard. It's been "aging" about 4 years in my stash.

But do I need all these coats/jackets? I already have the wool and it's better to be out and enjoyed and put to use as opposed to packed away in a plastic bin (hopefully not being eaten by moths - that would be SO awful!).

Last night I moved on to stage 2 of the jacket project: preparing the pattern. I chose to trace all twenty-something (!!) pieces instead of cutting them out. I didn't want to risk choosing the wrong size. These patterns aren't 99 cent McCalls or Simplicity patterns. I've started to cut out the muslin so hopefully I'll be able to check the size and get going on the real thing. In Burda I fall between a 42 and 44. I've made some tops in 44 and thought they came out too big so I started making 42 instead. But something told me to go with a 44 for this one. I want to be able to wear this over more than a thin shirt and measurement-wise I really should be a 44. So a 44 is what I cut. We'll see.

How do you use those feet?

Not the ones you walk on, but the ones you sew with?

I keep my presser feet in a small plastic box next to my sewing machine and find the ones I most often use are the edge-joining foot, the zipper foot and the regular foot. I have many others - pin tuck, fell foot, ruffler, hem stitch... but I hardly ever use them. Mostly because I don't know how they work or haven't taken the time to experiment with them. Still, I feel like I should buy every specialty foot there is.

I just recently heard about this website that has a video* for every type of Pfaff foot. I just happen to have Pfaff so that's ideal for me, but I think all sewing machine manufacturers have pretty much the same type of feet. Now maybe I'll actually try a few more presser feet from my box. And judging from the list of videos, there are a few feet I don't have. Of course, do I really need those other feet?

*not sure if there's supposed to be sound. There wasn't for me, but my computer might be a bit messed up and the videos might not be playing correctly.

In search of a coat

Why is it that despite having over 300 patterns (yikes!) and at least five years of Burda World of Fashion magazines (double yikes!) I do not have a coat or jacket pattern that I like? But the new Burda Fall 2006 styles contained some that I do like and a few other patterns that caught my eye. Here are the new additions to my pattern stash (click picture for larger):

Burda 8015:

Burda 8018:

Burda 8020:

Burda 8026:

Burda 8030:

I especially like 8030 in the knit...and I have plenty of knits in my stash from which to make this and also 8026.

And speaking of knits, I have just about finished my top-down sweater. I need to seam the hood, make a cord and weave in loose ends. Yippee! First adult-sized, sleeved sweater that I'll be able to wear (because the first adult-sized, sleeved sweater I knit is still in pieces waiting to be blocked and seamed). I've already started on another project and it's coming along well. This one's a scarf out of Malabrigo merino yarn (colorway is Stonechat) using this scarf pattern. I've already gotten lots of compliments on it at my knitting meetup and also at my sewing guild meeting on Saturday.

I had a busy sewing weekend but I didn't get any sewing done. I had my sewing guild meeting and then yesterday I met up with some internet friends for an afternoon of chatting, fabric and pattern swapping, and eating. The pumpkins I've been working on are still sitting unfinished at my sewing machine and I'm anxious to start a coat. I'm leaning towards 8015 but haven't decided whether to make the long coat or the short jacket. I'm pretty sure I have some long lengths of wool in my stash. But 8015 is so cute and I like the lines of 8020 (view B).

The lazy way to clean

We bought a Roomba. We had thought about getting one and paused by a Roomba display at Costco the other night when a guy started telling us how great they were. I thought maybe he was a sales rep but no, he was a customer there buying a second one for his 2-story house. So we bought one. After all, we have 4 cats, 2 full-time jobs, hardwood floors that show off the dust and dirt really well, and a lot of other things we'd rather do than vacuum. I found that overall the reviews for this little robot are positive, but some people report having duds and others say it doesn't do what they want or they don't like how it bumps around or makes noise. The best review I read summed it up nicely by saying not to give up your primary vacuum. What this will do is sweep the floors daily... and provide entertainment for the cats at the same time. It doesn't do thorough cleaning of carpets and won't get into tight corners and of course it has to vacuum around your shoes, the laundry basket, and the toys strewn about (in our case, cat toys).

This machine is also not a "set it and forget it" type of tool. It requires frequent cleaning so that the sensors don't get too dirty (and cause it to miss seeing the steps and take a fall). You also need to keep the wheels clean so they don't get bogged down with hair and string - a very possible scenario with 4 cats, my long hair and fringe on our rugs. So we'll see how good we are at keeping up the maintenance. I still think that will be easier than vacuuming the whole house.

So last night in between going to the door for the few trick or treaters we had, we played with our new toy. The model we bought has a docking station, remote control, and virtual walls - devices that emit infrared while the Roomba is on and keep it from entering places you don't want it to go. We have hardwood floors in our house but in the living room and dining room we have large oriental rugs with fringe. Roombas "eat" fringe, just like other vacuums - and they'll also get hung up on cords and drag them...and the object attached to the cord, so you do have to Roomba-proof a bit. The Roombas do much better on hardwood and tile than on carpet and since our carpets quickly get covered with cat hair, we're better off using our Miele in those rooms. Our main use of the Roomba will be to sweep the floors of the kitchen, hallway, family room, and our bedroom. We'll keep it out of the sewing room/office because of the oriental rug in there and the plethora of threads and pins it might encounter. Besides, it's small room and the Roomba would spend a lot of time bumping around and I worry it might not get out of there and find its home base when it's done.

The Roomba does do a lot of bumping - it's kind of funny to watch it and guess where it will go next. When it finds a straight path it does a tiny wiggle from side to side as it goes, kind of like wiggling its hips if it had them. When it finds a lot of dirt, a blue light comes on and it goes around in circles, almost as if it's gleefully doing a dance. The cats do not know what to make of it. It is a bit noisy and beeps when it turns on, beeps when it's time to go home to its base (after an hour of cleaning) and it also beeps an "uh oh" and shuts off when you pick it up. So far we haven't seen it get stuck. It's gone over small rugs and the transitions between tile and wood without too much trouble. It did try to "mate" with the base of our fan but it finally got itself back on level ground and went about cleaning. It does pick up quite a bit. The dust bin is small but that's probably both to keep the size down and also to make you tend to the device regularly.

It'll be nice to have the rooms swept of cat hair, cat litter (ugh!), crumbs, and other grit and dust bunnies while we're away at work. Hopefully this little guy will keep working away for a good long time because I think we need him!

Scenes from Iceland

I finally uploaded some photos from my trip to Iceland last July. Click here to view all of them on Flickr.

Quilts

I went to the Pacific International Quilt Festival last weekend and the quilts there just blew me away. The workmanship and the artistry were just amazing. Here's a sampling of some of my favorites:


(Click for larger picture)

Here's a closeup of some of the detail on this quilt --

In addition to the local competition, they had a display of quilts from Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany, Norway, Italy, Japan, Brazil, and South Africa. This one is from Britain:

This one from Japan was considered the "Best in the World":

It was an amazing selection of quilts and wearable art. I'd gone to this show about five years ago and it's now double in size. There were vendors of course. Oh yes, there were vendors. There was something for every type of quilter. I bought some fat quarters and some patterns. I actually spent two days at the show. I went on Saturday and shopped and attempted to see all of the quilts, but I didn't have all day because I first stopped by the grand opening of Purlscence Yarns in Sunnyvale. By the way at Purlescence I bought some lightweight Socks that Rock yarn in the Smoky Topaz colorway from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and some Merino wool from Malabrigo. Yummy yarns! I was exhausted by the end of the day but since my $12 entry fee on Saturday was good for Sunday too, I decided (with a little persuading from my husband) to return. This time I took the camera and leisurely enjoyed the quilts as if I were in a museum. And it really was like an art museum. Such talented quilters!

Sewing Dreams

Last night I dreamt that I was sewing. It must be on my mind.

Where has the last week (or two) gone? Oh yeah, I was away on a business trip last week. I used all that boring airplane time to knit 1/2 of a sock. I'm using a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks that makes a mock cable. You start with a basic 3 stitch rib but every third row you K2tog the first two knit stitches of each knit portion of the rib but before you take the stitches off you knit again into the first stitch. This makes a little twist. It also makes the whole sock twist a bit, which I hope is not going to cause a problem when I wear them. I turned the heel so right now I'm on the gusset decreases where I have to keep track of decreasing every other row but also keep track of working the pattern stitch every third row. This is too complicated to do without paper and pencil, so the socks are not a commuter-knitting project. It was amusing to watch my airplane seat mates glance at me (out of the corner of my eye) every time I'd whip out my notebook and make a note. They probably wondered what the heck I was doing. I was squished in the middle seat for all of my flights so knitting kept me sane...and kept me from fidgeting. I am a terrible "fidget-er." It's a wonder that I'm not thin from burning calories fidgeting (and a darn shame!). I guess I still eat too much.

By the way, on United flights of more than 3 hours they will sell you a box of snacks for $5. It's actually not too bad because unless you bring food from home, it'd cost more to buy snacks at the airport. I tried the "Right Bite" box which was OK if you don't mind stinky tuna and hummus that's a bit thin. On my return flight I tried the "Mini Meal", which I didn't like as much. The salami was greasy and there weren't enough crackers to eat with both the salami and the cheese.

While I was out east I visited my mom and we did a bit of shopping in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. It was a lovely day, even a little bit warm, so we enjoyed a nice lunch and stepped inside a few stores. One we visited was Chico's. I'd never been in one and have only heard of the store through its catalog, which I know a lot of women use for inspiration for sewing. I was impressed with at least this Chico's store in Alexandria. The people responsible for the store's displays did a fabulous job of putting together outfits and pairing them with jewelry and accessories. If I didn't have the "I can sew that" bug in my ear, I might have made some purchases. I made a note to check the website when I got home but I have to tell you -- ho hum. Not impressed. I was hoping to find the same great looking outfits...and I admit, use them as inspiration and probably not buy anything. But to me it just looked like any run of the mill online store. They showcase each item on a model, pretty much by itself. It doesn't even look like the stuff I saw in the store. I mean how much more unattractive could this be?

While in Old Town, I also checked out some shoes and boots. I desperately want some brown leather boots in a low to medium heel. But I have large calves. I like to think of them as shapely but unfortunately most boot-makers don't account for shapely calves. I check out Zappos.com almost daily hoping for a new shipment of perfect brown boots that will accommodate my ample lower extremities. So far nothing has come up to my liking. I tried some boots on last night at Bloomingdales. Oh they were luscious and I wanted them to fit, but the zipper only went halfway. It's not fair, this discrimination against the fat-calved. I've also found that some boots only accommodate large calves in the wide and extra wide widths. My feet are not wide, only my calves are. I did find another online source for wide-calf boots, which I may try. Silhouettes deals in clothing for larger women and also carries wide-calf boots. I never considered that women who wear large sizes in clothing also have a problem with finding boots to fit. Welcome to their world, I guess. I'm eyeing a pair there and may order them but I keep hoping Zappos will come through for me because I soooo love their free shipping and free return. I despise having to pay shipping to return something that doesn't fit. Edited to add: drat - the boots at Silhouettes that I wanted are on backorder until January 2007. Oh well.

I hope to get back to sewing this weekend. The brown tiered skirt is still in pieces. I'd really like to finish it...and wear it with some fabulous brown boots. Sigh.