Month: May 2017

Alabama Chanin · Sewing

Day off

Vicki8 Comments

Yesterday was my usual day off of work, and I decided to do a literal interpretation for a change. No dentist appointments, no banking or bill-paying, no grocery shopping, no dusting, no, nothing, nada.

I didn't get dressed until noon — and, really, only then because there'd already been two delivery men at the door, and also because I'd be warmer. It was overcast and cool outside and… well, just not the kind of day that energizes me!

I never put on shoes and never left the house.

I never woke up my computer nor turned on the light in my workroom.

I watched TV and sewed.

Between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, I'd watched all of The Keepers on Netflix.

I basted the binding on the Alabama Chanin Corset over the weekend but that's not what I've been working on. What's been in-hand lately is the Magdalena A-Line Tunic that I stenciled about a year ago.

AlabamaChaninMagdalenaAline-2

This crazy thought popped into my head: Wouldn't it be fun to wear this in Spain?

AlabamaChaninMagdalenaAline-1

I doubt that I'll finish in time. This is the state of the front — a bit of sewing yet to do, and a lot of cutting — and I'll have to locate the back!

But… I'll never say "Never"!!

Book Bingo 2017

Book Bingo!

Vicki12 Comments

I had an OK weekend, despite aches & major sniffles from a springtime cold. We finished booking most of the transportation and lodging for Spain. We had some family time. I went to bed early…

I'm looking forward to an extra-long holiday weekend and the chance to catch up on some of the other things I'd planned to do last weekend!

Meanwhile, I'm feeling much better today, and am revving my reading engine!! Here's my 2017 BOOK BINGO card and ideas so far:

2017-Book-Bingo

The green-shaded squares are books that are currently underway. I'm nearly finished with Dark Matter, so am making progress with Homeland and Other Stories while I bide my time until the start of Memorial Day Weekend to finish (just a few more days!). I have to determine which of the others will be begged, borrowed, or stolen (haha, not really) (purchased: new or used), and which will be audio, if not already designated by category.

2017-Book-Bingo

That's what I'm thinking as of now! I have multiples for a number of squares and definitely reserve the right to switch things around. The one that's stumped me so far is "ABOUT POLITICS," because ew. Would The Handmaid's Tale work for that one? (Can you believe I've never read it??)

I am open to suggestions!!

Ready readers? Are you working on your BOOK BINGO card? There's plenty of time to pull it together. Mary has all the details, rules, and a link to the card generator!

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Scenes

Vicki9 Comments

It's been a busy week! We had an impromptu get together & cookout on Wednesday… it was so nice outside!

SidewalkChalk-1
SidewalkChalk-1

Rod and his brother came over and began cutting up some fallen trees in our ravine. And while they did that, Rusty did this:

NoxiousWeeds

Two 30-gallon garbage bags full of garlic mustard… and I wish I could say that was the end of it. Terrible stuff.

Allium
Allium

Meanwhile, there's so much blooming right now: lilacs, allium, wild geranium, lilies of the valley, some sweet narcissus from out of nowhere!

I'm hoping to get a handle on my knitting this weekend. All of my projects are so "needy" at the moment — and I refuse to cast on something new! I've been tempted, but instead I've been sewing…

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Mother’s Day Gardening & Crafts

Vicki8 Comments

…or Mother's Day Garden Crafts!! I chuckled pretty hard on Friday when I read about making a Garden Spicer! I didn't really have any intention to make one myself, until I was touring the back yard with Rusty on Saturday morning and spotted the old wooden star ornaments that Kate nixed from my garden. (And high time, too.)

I knew exactly how to repurpose those!! And I made two!! I had a date to take family photos for friends on the occasion of Mom's birthday, and I knew she's love a Garden Spicer!!

GardenSpicer1

There's mine in the barberry bush in front of the house. He's not sitting quite as I'd like, and I rearranged several times before deciding that maybe I should just try another spot… a barberry bush has thorns, y'all!

GardenSpicer1

Here he is popping up behind the vinca!

GardenSpicer3

Scamp's not too concerned…

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So damn funny.

GardenSpicer5

We've had some rain; he's starting to run.

* * * * *

On Sunday, Rusty and I got the potato patch ready.

Potatoes-1

And then I picked up our potato planter.

Potatoes-2

Seriously, other than some spacing issues, the kid has it down!! He was straddling the rows like a champ and loved watering, too.

* * * * *

On Saturday morning, I finally scratched a little itch I've had for a few weeks and cut out an Alabama Chanin Corset.

Petty-1

I'm using a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers concert tee (US Tour 2005) that I picked up at a thrift shop a while ago. I've only finished one other Corset, so far, and that was also from a concert tee (Hootie & The Blowfish)! I made a little modification on this one to raise the neckline about a half-inch.

Petty-2

I accidentally snipped a hole on the back when I was cutting, but used this detail from the sleeve to patch it.

Petty-3

The pieces were sewn together by machine, finishing is being done by hand. I think the felled seams give Tom a sort of Franken-petty look!

It's a little snug, but I love it… incentive to keep collecting those "5" stickers at WW! I've got three, so far, and even though I was up a bit last night… still going down! Ali spent two days (and sent countless exasperated Snapchats) making an Opera Cake for Mother's Day… what kind of mother would I be if I didn't have a piece or three?? That's over now, and I'd like to hit -20 by the time we depart for Spain.

Knitting-Baby

FO: Christmas Polar Bears

Vicki7 Comments

Given that it's taken until Mother's Day to finally finish what were intended to be Christmas presents, you'd think that perhaps there was a real big snafu or difficulty with the pattern.

Bear-3

  • Ravelry Project Pages:
  • Pattern: Knitted Polar Bear by Louise Walker in Mollie Makes, Issue #72
  •  Yarn:
    • Plymouth Yarn Encore Mega – Ecru, Natural, Black
    • A bit of leftover fingering yarn for eyes
  • Needles:  US 13
  • Start to Finish:  October 26/November 7 - May 14, 2017
  • Mods:
    • Embroidered eyes rather than safety eyes.
    • Rather than knitting 12 individual 3-stitch claws for each bear (I'd rather stick a needle in my eye), I cast on 9 stitches for each paw and used it as a base from which to knit them. It was still fiddly knitting, but I think it was easier to position and sew in the end.
    • Ooops! I just remembered that I knit collars for each bear. The head of each bear is filled with polyfil and I couldn't imagine that it would stay there with playing/cuddling/wrestling, so I "sewed" them closed at the neck… and knit a collar for each bear to a) distinguish one (Jun's) from another (Gin's) and b) hide the sewing.
    • Whatever. I'm still calling them FOs!!

The were very quick and quite fascinating to knit. The sewing up… well, that's never my favorite thing, but the finished pieces are so adorable, it's definitely worth it! The fact is, I've already "finished" once but that was quite short-lived as Junah dislodged a "safety eye" in all of three minutes while absent-mindedly cuddling/fiddling with his bear!

Ho-hum. I dithered over that situation for a while. I really loved the way those big fat round safety eyes looked, but they were obviously not so safe when used on a gauge this big and a toy intended to be played with.

They hung around my house for a while — quite comfortably on my footstool, actually — and in the course of the kids coming over, Gin eventually worked out another couple of eyes! They were so big that they weren't really a choking hazard, but still… ARRRGGGHHHH!

The wisdom of blog readers led me to embrace the embroidered eye… I was a little reluctant, but my other solutions involved a lot of un-doing & re-doing, and I hate that, plus I wasn't certain it would solve the problem.

So finally the other day, I sewed a rough outline of the eyes.

Bear-1

They were sitting on a side table by my chair when Junah saw them yesterday and lit up… They have EYES!! He grabbed them and cuddled up on the couch, hugging one in each arm, and I decided that it was TIME!! (How terrible a grandmother can I be??)

I finally located some leftover black yarn and set to work.

Bear-6
Bear-6

They're not perfectly smooth & round, but they are EYES and the job is done… so perfect.

Bear-5
Bear-5

And also loved!

Bear-2

I don't know why it takes so long to get around to things like this sometimes. My mom would say that I get that from my grandmother!

Speaking of mothers, I had such a wonderful weekend full of so many good things — sewing, crafting, gardening, building, celebrating — not to mention cooking, eating, and drinking! A couple of projects are underway… details to follow!

I hope you had a great weekend, too.