Sewing Day - And A New Skill

I didn't do any quilting again today, but I did do something new and interesting. Some years ago I bought a book called Make Your Own Patterns by Rene Bergh. I had run onto it without knowing such a thing existed, and grabbed it on a whim, assuming that it would be extremely useful, especially for SCA garb. It languished on my bookshelf for years, but now I have occasion to use it.

I'm in this new-garb-making mode this year, but I'm sick of purchased patterns - one, I can rarely find any I like, and (b), it's extremely difficult for me to get commercial patterns that fit properly. I've managed the unfeminine feat of being about two and a half different sizes between my neck and my knees. Commercial patterns require so much fixing, I may as well make my own - and in fact, without that knowledge, didn't even know how to fix the commercial patterns.

I want to make a special outfit for an event in May, and I couldn't find any type of pattern even close to what I had in mind. So I finally broke out Rene's book today.

Well. It took me all day, but I did in fact get a pattern made for a bodice and skirt. I made the patterns on the white side of some Christmas wrapping paper that was laying around upstairs, not put away. It was a perfect thing to use ... it could be unrolled to be as big as I needed it to be, it's heavy enough to be sturdy, but not so heavy as to be difficult to work with. And it's festive!

I made a mock-up of the bodice out of some muslin I had. The first run through had a few minor issues, so I adjusted the pattern, and made a second mock-up, which fit much better. The only issue I didn't get resolved today is the neck opening ... for some reason, in both tries it came out way too small. Not sure what I did wrong there, but I'm confident I can fix it.

I also made the pattern for a four panel skirt, which I can use for a variety of purposes in SCA garb. But I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to try actually sewing a mock-up of that.

I am really impressed with this!! Having a garment pattern that is custom fit to my body is the most amazing thing. It looked really good, and it was very comfortable. I highly recommend this book to anyone who sews and has some knowledge of putting commercial patterns together, and has trouble finding commercial patterns they like or that fit well. You do need the knowledge of sewing with patterns, because the book only teaches you how to make your own - not how to put them together.

I chose a basic bodice and skirt for beginnings, because they are highly adaptable to anything I want to make. They can be combined into one dress, or used separately for different things. With some trial and error and some creativity, I should be able to design some cool outfits this year.

That's the plan, anyway. Photos as the garb (hopefully not garbage) gets created.

Yes, I embroider too. Is there such a thing as too many hobbies?

Oh wait, I'm in the SCA - no, there isn't. Hobby overload is a requirement.

It's kind of funny ... for most of my life I hated, detested, hand sewing of any type, including embroidery. Some years ago, after I joined the SCA and began making my own garb, and my boss discovered this information, he began to ask me to sew his son's Boy Scout patches on his uniform. (Why didn't his mother do this? She's a freak). Although I hated hand sewing, it got me out of the office (I was allowed to stay home to do this work, and got paid my usual hourly wage for it), so I did it. But a funny thing happened ... over the course of sewing on patches, I became interested in hand sewing and embroidery. It's really odd, because I really hated sewing on the patches ... it was difficult to get them on straight and in the right place, it was basically a huge pain in the butt. But regular embroidery - creating pictures with thread - began to fascinate me about this time.

I only mention this story because I know sewing on those patches really is what got me interested in embroidery, and it just seemed so odd to me, because now I'm borderline obsessed with this hobby as well. Go figure.

Anyway, I decided I want to start decorating more of my garb with embroidery, and decided to start right off the bat with the new pirate shirt. I designed the embroidery pattern for the front myself - well, not that it's so terribly original, I'm sure it's been done before, and I've probably seen it before - but I mean, I didn't copy it out of a book. I drew it out freehand, then traced it onto the shirt using my light box. The original idea revolved around swirly lines, then when I drew them out, I noticed that they formed something reminiscent of ocean waves. I thought that was terribly appropriate for a pirate shirt, so I went with it.

It's not turning out quite as nice as I hoped - I mean, I'm a perfectionist, and this is a little sloppier than I would have liked. But basically, I'm learning as I go along. Much as I like embroidery, I haven't done a whole lot of it since my obsession kicked in a few years ago (a fact I blame on lack of free time - what with the knitting, sewing, and all the other stuff).

One of my worst habits has always been impatience, and wanting to rush through things. There are some things - many, I dare say - that just don't lend themselves well to rushing. Needlework is one of them. I probably should have / could have spent a little more time getting the pattern drawn well, getting it transferred to the shirt better, and embroidering more carefully. Well, live and learn ... this is, after all, a pirate shirt, not a liturgical vestment, so it'll be good practice, I'm having a blast, and it will all turn out looking great in the end, I'm sure.

I'm embroidering in split stitch with two strands of DMC floss, one purple and one green (as those are my colors in the SCA, and most of my embellishments end up containing some combination of them).

As Promised... Sewing Stuff (and some blather)

Fiber Arts Stuff

I didn't do any quilting Sunday, but I did make some garb - yes, garb made in February - amazing. It's a pirate shirt. Everything's done now except the buttons and buttonholes. My new sewing machine has a special buttonhole maker, but I wanted to wait to try it out till I wasn't tired from 4 or 5 hours of sewing, and had time to experiment on some scrap fabric first.

Oh, and fixing that opening in the front ... I forgot, this pattern is designed for men, and that front slit needed shortened for me. But since I forgot to do it, it goes halfway to my belly button - a little more revealing than I'd prefer. I am going to add something or do something to it to close it up a bit. And I have to fix a slash I managed to cut into the back near the shoulder. Ooopsy. I didn't intend to make a pre-slashed pirate shirt, but it's kind of funny that the first time I wear it, it'll already be patched.

My plans for this shirt are to add some embroidery - probably on the cuffs, front placket and collar. I can't decide what I want to embroider on it ... not leafy vines and flowers, on a pirate shirt. I haven't found anything I particularly liked in any of my embroidery notebooks (where I scavenge stuff from books and the internet, and put it in three-ring binders). I'm thinking I'll have to make up my own pattern, and either draw it on free hand, or find some way to transfer it to the fabric. (there's that problem again).

I'm glad I got this done in one day ... any garb sewing project that has to sit for awhile tends to lose its hold on me, and I have a hard time getting back to it. Also, knowing that I can make one (relatively simple) project in a day gives me more motivation to start new ones.

I've also been working steadily on the log cabin blanket. It's getting large and unwieldy already, and it's probably not even half the size I would like to make it. Wow.

There is one thing I'm very confused about ... how I managed to get a dropped stitch in the middle of a patch, but then seem to close up the hole without fixing the problem.

I didn't know how to fix this, so I ended up just chaining up through the fabric above it. It doesn't look very good, but ... it's fixed, and this is a 'utility blanket' - not something I wanted to spend an entire day trying to fix a square inch of mistake.

I think, to fix it, I'd have had to drop several stitches from the needles down to the problem. Had it been stockinette stitch, I'd have been more likely to try it - but I can't seem to figure out picking up a dropped stitch in garter. Shouldn't be that hard, I kind of get it in theory, but just seem to have a hard time doing it.

Blather

In other news, I had a great day Saturday. My truck antenna has been broken since I got the truck, in 2002. It's not 'clear broke,' but it was sticking out of it's little opening at an odd angle, which looked goofy and always bugged me. I had it back to the dealership once to fix it, and they said something was broken inside, and they'd have to order a part. But it fell through the cracks that time, and a second time I had the truck there as well, and never got fixed. I kept putting off taking it yet a third time, because I figured even something that simple was going to cost a couple hundred bucks.

I like to wash the truck by taking it through the automatic car wash, especially in the winter, but the last time I did that, it pulled the antenna even further out of whack, and for over a year I've been afraid to try it again, for fear it'd rip it out entirely. But Saturday, while out running errands, I decided the hell with it ... the truck hadn't been washed in way over a year, it looked awful, and I didn't care about the antenna - I kind of hoped it would just rip it entirely out and I'd be done with it.

So I took it to the car wash, and when I came out, I saw that the car wash hadn't ripped it out entirely, but had skewed it even further than it had ever been. It was sticking out at an alarming angle. I thought, "This is bad. I can't leave it like this." I thought I was going to have to drive up the road to the dealership and make them fix it then and there, regardless of what it cost. So I got out to mess with it a little bit, and while pushing on it ... it suddenly just slipped right into place. Perfect! It's exactly where it's supposed to have been but hasn't been all these years. This is the first time since I bought the truck that it's been 'right' - and all for going through the car wash, which I'd actually avoided for over a year. So now my antenna's fixed, and my truck's clean. Too cool. I know, I know - who cares. Well, it's a really big deal to me, because that has been bugging the crap out of me all these years ... and to have it miraculously fixed so easily, especially by doing something I'd purposely avoided doing for over a year ... well, I thought it was pretty darned cool.

The only thing I have to find now is a replacement for the little rubber gasket that fits around the antenna base and covers the hole it comes out of ... that blew off in that last car wash escapade over a year ago.

Then I went to get new memory for my computer (we got a new program that required 512 MB and I still only had 256), and it was on sale, so it only cost $22. I thought that was a pretty grand deal. So now my computer should, in theory, be running a bit faster. (I say 'in theory' because I haven't seen a noticeable difference, which was disappointing - but at least I know it's better than it was).

So all in all, Saturday turned out to be a pretty great day. And Sunday was sewing all day, so it was a good weekend. Today (Monday) I'm taking a vacation day to take my dad to an appointment. His doctor referred him to a congestive heart failure clinic at the local hospital, and today's his initial appointment. Since he doesn't hear well and seems to have a hard time understanding new things at first any more, I thought I'd go with him to the first appointment, to get things all sorted out. Then when he has to go back, he should be able to go on his own. I don't know how often they'll have him come in, but the idea is to monitor his condition so they can catch fluid building up early, before it lands him in the hospital. I hope it helps.

Hi, Wren!

Hi, Wren - thanks for the comments! I know I've been incommunicado for awhile now, and since I know you don't check email, but you've been checking the blog, I thought I'd say 'hi' here. I'm sending you a letter one of these days - snail mail, I figured that would work. (Wren is one of the original Mootstockers I met online 11 years ago, and lives over in the Sandusky area, where they actually have weather on a regular basis - not only snow like this, but tornados, floods, and I think last year there may have been a hurricane. She has a pack of Shih Tzus who greet you at the door and surround your feet, forcing you to adopt a manner of walking to get into the house that has become known as the Shih Tzu Shuffle. She also inspired me to finally learn to knit.)

Tyler gets a 'snow beard' because he likes to play submarine - he sticks his nose down in the snow till only his eyes and the top of his head are showing, then runs around like he's tracking something. I don't know what he'd be tracking under 16" of snow, but ... he's a dog, what else can I say? Probably some cat that crossed the yard six months ago.

Well, it's Friday - and I promise to have more 'fiber artsy' reports and pictures by the end of the weekend. Things have just seemed to fall apart the last two weekends, for various reasons, but this weekend I swear I'm getting some stuff done ... quilting, working on garb, knitting. I've gotten a lot done on the log cabin blanket, just haven't gotten any new pictures taken.

Speaking of knitting ... I've got some time before I have to get ready for work, I think I'll go knit. A great way to start the day.

Yep - That Was Weather

A little more fun in the snow ... I'm tellin' ya, it was arse deep on a Poo!

That awesome boyfriend o'mine noticed that the almost-flat porch roof, piled with more than a foot of snow, was making some discouraging noises, and he climbed up to shovel it off. Which left a huge pile of snow beside the porch, and ... well ... it went something like this.

Then the Dread Reverend noticed that after piling all the snow by the porch, Tyler didn't have a way to get off the porch ... so he made er I mean discovered ... yes, explored and discovered this.

V-Day; S-Day; FA-Day

Happy Valentine's Day. The Dread Reverend (the coolest boyfriend in the whole world) got me, not cut flowers that'll die, but a beautiful miniature rose plant. That I can kill. Just kidding ... at least I hope I am ... I'm not very good with plants, but I'm going to work on keeping this alive.


So how cool is my boyfriend?? Way cool. ILY, DR.





S-Day = Snow Day! Wow - we got weather. We didn't get as much as we might have, but way more than we're used to. And wonder of wonders, I got a call from a co-worker this morning who told me she'd talked to our boss, and we didn't have to go to work. Considering they never plowed my street, that was nice.

Unfortunately, I got a second call from said co-worker later with a message from my boss to make sure we all knew that we had to make this time up ... ergo, working extra weekday hours, or going in on the weekend. Whatta guy.


I beg the indulgence of those who often deal with this type of weather in the winter. We don't. We only have a snow like this maybe once every 10 years or so. But I've never yet had this problem ... snow actually drifted across the back door (which is under the covered porch). The snow in the yard was higher than Tyler's belly, but he was no fool ... after the first tumble off the porch, he refused to leave it. This could be a problem later in the day, when he really has to go.


FA-Day = Fiber Arts Day! Enjoying my unexpected break, I've been laying around all morning indulging myself wantonly in fiber. I knitted for awhile; I did some embroidery; I looked through the new Patternworks catalog; and re-browsed my tattered copy of the Keepsake Quilting catalog - really loverly, that, I just haven't decided what I want to order from it yet.

Pleasantly exhausted from all that, I may just have to rouse myself enough to straighten out the blankets on this nest of a bed I've been lounging on all morning, and take a nap. Ahhh ... winter snow storms. If you're going to do it, do it right, and get me a day off. (I just won't think yet about having to go in this weekend).

Ooopsy

The weekend was a complete wash - I got absolutely nothing done. No quilting, no sewing, nothing. Okay, I tell I lie. I got a little tiny bit done on the log cabin blanket. And some reading - I finished the current medieval mystery, "The Sempster's Tale." It's too bad that I need to wait for weekends to do any quilting or sewing, but by the time I get home in the evenings, I really don't have the brain power left for the concentration or thought. Knitting comes much easier to me (even following a pattern of some sort) so that's my weeknight brain-dead activity.

Well, I'm sure I'll get back to it ... it's starting to get to be that time of year ... when I want to start working on garb for my SCA events this summer. I have new things I want to make this year, and in some cases even already have the material ... all I have to do is get up there, cut out patterns, and sew. I like to start garb early, because what I've done in most other years is not started it until about June. The big event of the SCA year - Pennsic War - has been taking place the first two full weeks of August every year (except this year they moved it up to start at the end of July), and by not starting till June, I'd be spending ridiculous hours, every night of the week, sewing garb. I really hate the last minute rush, and would much prefer to start things earlier and have plenty of time to do a nice job. In fact, I'd even like to do some embroidery on some of my garb, and since I embroider by hand, and I'm crazy slow about it, I really need to start that now.

One may wonder, if I go to these events every year, and have been doing so for about 5 or 6 years, why I need yet more garb. Variety of reasons. First, it's a disease. No matter what garb you made last year, there's always more to make, something new to try. It's funny - in 'real life' I couldn't care less about clothes. Not a 'typical' girl in that regard. I'm a minimalist. I managed to simplify my dress code over the years till all I ever wear, work or weekends, is jeans and pirate t-shirts (black jeans for work, blue jeans for weekends); a cardigan over the pirate t-shirts at work, or in the winter a pullover sweater; and sometimes a sweatshirt on weekends. For evenings, pj pants and whatever t-shirt I wore to work that day. Simple.

Not so with garb. There are so many different things I'd like to try. Making clothes that are, or pass for, authentically medieval, often without a pattern, is quite an interesting challenge. Another valid reason is that very unfortunately, some of the stuff I made those first few years no longer fits.

In other news, we're about to get buried ... big winter storm hitting today. Where I live in northeast Ohio I've dubbed the Valley of No Weather, because usually all of this type of stuff passes us right by. I live just south of the snow belt, and while they can get 6", 8" or a foot of snow a couple miles north of us, we might only get a trace ... nothing more than a "coverlet to cool a hobbit's toes." We also manage to avoid the majority of the severe weather that sweeps across mid-Ohio in the spring and early summer - it always seems to skate just to the north or south of us.

But this time it doesn't look like we're going to get overlooked. NOAA is calling for between 8" and 16" of snow even here - inconceivable. When I went out to take the garbage down to the curb this morning it was already starting, but it was sleet. Sleet is far worse than snow - deep snow doesn't worry me since I have the 4-wheel drive truck now, but sleet and freezing rain scares me. Well ... we'll see how the day shapes up.

List Day

Lists are hot. Lists are big. People like to make lists. There is "100 Places To See Before You Die" (and variations on the theme). There is the current blog thing going around, "6 Weird Things About Me." Top ten lists, to-do lists, shopping lists, wish lists. Listmania. Well ... the list goes on and on.

I'm a list freak. I bought a PDA a few years ago (affectionately named Paddy) just to organize my many lists. (While I had a hard time justifying the purhcase at the time, it has become invaluable since I started going to my dad's four nights a week cooking him dinner ... I keep my recipes in Paddy, in Word-To-Go format, so I never have to worry about remembering to tote my recipe book back and forth. I keep my 'menu of the week' in there, so I know what's for dinner every night, and my grocery shopping lists. Life-saving.)

Anyway, I'm in a list mood today, so here's a couple.

Five Places I'd Rather Live Than Here
1. Lincoln City, Oregon
2. Kilkee, Ireland
3. Chateaubelair, St. Vincent
4. Gruissan, France
5. Lindisfarne, England

Five Careers I Wish I'd Pursued Twenty Years Ago
1. Writing
2. Running my own business
3. Music
4. Archaeology
5. Environmental Sciences / Wildlife Preservation / etc.

Five Things I Wish I Had The Courage To Do (but don't ... yet)
1. Parachuting
2. Backpacking (backcountry, wilderness, that kind of thing)
3. Diving
4. Finishing any piece of writing and actually submitting it to someone
5. Quitting my (safe, secure) job and embarking on a new career

Five Things I Ought To Be Doing Instead Of Sitting Here Making Lists
1. Figuring out what I'm going to have for breakfast
2. Getting dressed for work
3. Feeding the dog
4. Doing the dishes
5. Getting in a little stealth knitting

It's Only Thursday?

My dad got to come home from the hospital yesterday. That's good news, I just hope it works out ... so often when he comes home, in a day or two he feels horrible and is right back in there. I think it's just that often when he's in the hospital, they change his medication in some way, and then it takes some time to get it adjusted right. I realize with the insurance companies being how they are, they can't keep someone in the hospital for a week now just to monitor them through a medication change. And he hates being there, so he wouldn't be happy about that either. But it's hard, for him and me both, to come home, go back, come home, go back over and over. But over the last year, it seems like when he ends up making these multiple hospital trips, the third time's always the charm - usually after three stays, things level out. So hopefully this last one will be it for awhile.

Otherwise, it's back to the routine - tonight I'll be going over to make dinner (meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas, I think). At least the weather isn't quite as cold as it has been - I think it got up to 10 degrees yesterday, which feels quite bearable after temperatures around 0 and wind chills far below that.

I did work sporadically on the log cabin blanket this week. Progress is slowing as it gets larger, obviously. I looked at it the other day, and thought, "This is going to take far longer than I expected." It's only about a third what I plan to be it's finished size. But, it does move quickly when I have a chunk of time to work on it, and the good thing about garter stitch is that I can watch TV more easily doing this. Some time ago, while working on something else in garter stitch, I began to develop the ability to knit at least several stitches without looking. I've heard of that skill, but never thought I'd be able to do it. Turns out I can, a little - I just feel the next stitch with my finger, and know where to put the needle. Like I said, I can only do a few at a time, but it does make knitting and watching TV easier. And with the weather being what it is, I watch a lot of TV in the evenings. Hopefully I'll have it done in a month or two.

This weekend I definitely plan to get back to work on the quilt - I've really missed it. I could have worked on it during the week, but it just hasn't worked out. Most nights I've been exhausted, although I'm not sure why - with dad in the hospital, I wasn't going over and cooking dinner every night, so it should have been easier. I still think I'm fighting off a bug, though - last night I had a relapse of Sunday's symptoms, feeling light-headed and just wanting to sleep. It's either a bug, or just stress. Either way, it's almost the weekend, and a couple days of rest and creativity will surely do me good. I want to work on the quilt, but I also want to start working on some garb for this summer's SCA events as well. So there's plenty of creative projects to amuse and distract me this weekend ... I can't wait.

Who moved Ohio to the North Pole?

No quilting this weekend. My dad went back to the emergency room Saturday. This time they kept him. They said it was a flare-up of his congestive heart failure, and his potassium was too high. Why didn't they notice all this the day before? Anyway, he's been doing much better since Sunday, and they are probably sending him home today. I hope they know what they are doing - I know he hates being in the hospital and would rather be home, but it does no good if in a day or two he feels awful again, and ends up back there.

On top of that, Saturday night I began feeling sick, and I felt pretty lousy all day Sunday. After a brief trip to the hospital Sunday morning, and to my dad's to pick up his paper and Saturday's mail, I went home and slept most of the day. So, no quilting this weekend. I probably won't get a chance to get back upstairs now till the weekend.

Although I didn't go to the emergency room this time, while sitting at home waiting for news, I reverted to knitting on the new dishcloth. It's not done yet, but it's going very fast, so if I get back to it this week, it won't take long. Otherwise, I did a bit of work on the log cabin this week, and it is coming along nicely. I'm going to love this blanket when it's done ... it's going to be warm. Too bad it wasn't done now - we've been having this hideously cold weather, temperatures below zero in the morning, only a high of about 7 yesterday, wind chills between -15 and -25. Of course, the log cabin is large enough now that even just working on it, it covers me up nicely, so that's a bonus.

They've closed all the schools in northern Ohio. I wish bosses had the same consideration ... I really don't want to go out in this, and I have to get gas in the truck. Ugh. Well, I'm off to finish cooking Tyler's breakfast, and then to get ready for work.

Discovered: Perfect ER Knitting

In the "Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse" category ...

My dad called me on my way to work yesterday, telling me his heart was 'acting up.' I asked what he meant by that, and he said it was just beating way too fast, and erratically. He said it had kept waking him all night, and he felt awful. He just wanted to go have a lie down and hope it went away. I, on the other hand, panicked.

Last fall when he was in and out of the hospital for several weeks, the doctors told me that his heart was very weak (only at about 10%) and was in a very fragile state. So hearing that it was acting like that really freaked me out. I called his heart doctor, who said he should get to the emergency room. I talked him into calling an ambulance, then I left work and met them there.

They ran tests for about 4 hours. My portable knitting happened to be the dishcloth I'd started at the Irish music session in Sharon last weekend. I'd only gotten about a third or less of it done then. It turned out to be really good ER knitting. It's small and easily portable. Since I had a simple pattern, it required just enough attention to keep me from chewing through the chair arm, but wasn't so difficult that I'd bugger it all up (too much ... only a couple of minor rip-backs). And I was able to finish it in an average ER room wait.

They let dad come home. Turned out it wasn't his heart, exactly. He has a viral infection which caused inflammation in the lungs, which then caused his heart rate to go all wonky. They said all his tests turned out good, gave him a prescription for antibiotics and sent him home. I'm really glad it was a false alarm.

I'm not terribly happy with the dish cloth ... I just picked a random pattern out of one of the Barbara Walker stitch books. When I first started it, I tried doing two repeats across, but it was too big. I had ripped it out and tried just one. The pattern doesn't look as good with only one repeat, and it turned out a little too small, so I added a couple extra strips down the sides. But ... I'll use it. I do like the yarn, and there was half a ball left, so I started a second dishcloth. Hopefully I won't need to go back to the ER to finish it.

It's inhumanely cold here this morning - like, 2 degrees. I wish I could just stay in bed, but I have to take Tyler to the groomer's at 8:30, go in to the office for a few hours to make up for missing yesterday, go to the grocery store, and stop at dad's to take him his prescription. Once I do all that, I can hibernate in the house for the rest of the weekend.

What A Long Week

Not much new to report this week. Here's the log cabin progress. I didn't get much knitting done this week, with dad in the hospital. He's home now but it was a busy night over there, I cooked dinner for tonight (stuffed peppers) and dinner for him to heat up tomorrow when I'm not there (tuna casserole), took the garbage out, did a load of laundry, and refilled the weekly medicine box.

I'm starting to have a hard time choosing colors for this thing. I thought it would get easier as it got larger, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be. On the flip side, it doesn't seem to matter what I choose, it always looks good. Maybe it's just one of those things ... you can't screw it up. Definitely my kind of pattern.