2016 Year End Totals

I don't want to talk about whether or not 2016 was a good year. I thought it was better than 2014 (among others), but apparently just letting that idea cross my mind jinxed me and now we're dealing with "new ways to have fun" that will probably take us well into January. So I'm done with the score keeping and comparing, at least when it comes to good and bad luck. 

It's probably better to think of bad moments instead of bad days or months or weeks or years... (That idea comes from this post by Sandra Dodd. A lot of the things she has to say about parenting also apply to just living life as a human being.) 

Now let's get on to the happy and productive things that happened in my sewing room this year! 

I mostly conquered my fear/hatred of zippers by making a bunch of different bags... 

I made another seventeen pairs of socks...

Three of these pairs were "competetive sock knitting" which meant following the pattern exactly as written while trying to either meet a deadline or beat other knitters. Trying to learn a new cast on, especially one with beads, on a deadline was scary and fun and I'm sure I'll be signing up for both Sock Madness and Super Sock Scarefest again in 2017.

There was also a shawl, and 1000 yards of old green acrylic that I knit into squares for a Minecraft inspired afghan that got abandoned along the way.

I did a little bit of quilting...

There were two other baby quilt tops that didn't get quilted because when I tried the Janome threw a hissy fit. I started some new quilting projects that I'm still excited about.

I can't wait for the Row by Row Experience to start up again next summer. The plan is to head up into Washington to visit some shops we haven't seen before.

Final Stash Report of 2017

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 30 1/4 yards (+4 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 24 yards

Yarn used this Week:  0  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 7950 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9518 yards
Net added for 2016: 1568 yards

Those numbers are NOT bad. For years I've been thinking I should try for a year where I used more stash than I bought. Don't look at how much fabric I used, that's just sad. Look at how little I purchased! It would have been even better if I hadn't bought five yards of brown print for a quilt and then chickened out once I took a closer look at the pattern.  I'm happy with the yarn added because what I did buy was good yarn at great prices and I've been burning through my yarn stash like crazy. (If I'd finished that afghan and the pair of socks I thought I'd have done by the end of the year, it would have come out almost even.) 

What can't you wait to do again in 2017? Are you starting new projects or finishing off the UFOs? Buying new stash or playing with what you've already got?

Dark Red Socks for Christmas

The holidays stress me out...knitting soothes my nerves...I've got another pair of new socks...

Yarn: Drops Fabel Dark Red/Bourgogne  

.One of my readers asked if Drops yarns were only available online. They've got a store finder on their website. For those of us here in the United States, it looks like the only one is in California.  I bought mine from Nordic Mart last spring when it was on sale for $2.00 a skein. The price and colors seemed too good to be true, so I "only" ordered enough for a dozen pairs.

Now that I've knitted with it, I'm hoping that it will go on sale again and I can snap up the rest of the colors. Even full price, it's super affordable. I've finished three pairs with it so far and while I haven't worn them enough to form any opinions about their durability (I like knitting socks much better than I like wearing them) I haven't run into any trouble with the yarn itself. It's thinner than other brands I've worked with and maybe not as soft...but it was also two dollars a skein. And did I mention how amazing the colors are?

Ugly Purple Socks

I have such mixed feelings about this pair of socks...

Pros
They fit well.
The yarn, Knit Picks Sock Landscape in Rocky Mountain Dusk,  is warm and thick.
The pattern, Express Lane, was fun to knit.
If the colors had to do something obnoxious, at least they did the same thing on both socks.

Cons
The yarn flashed and pooled and did obnoxious things.
All of that flashing and pooling  completely hides the pretty stitch pattern (which says that it's good for multicolored yarns and has plenty of pretty pictures on Ravelry to prove that it's true.)
There were three badly spliced spots in the  first skein and one in the second.

 

Now My Pens Are Safely Hidden

I'd forgotten that non-Crayola felt tip pens were a thing. Now that Pinterest has reminded me, I'm absolutely in love. Those little white stars at the top of the cap make me happy and conjure up vague hazy memories of red pens in my dad's desk at work.

To keep my pens mine, I needed a little bag to keep them contained in my bigger bag. The fabric choice kept stopping me in my tracks. I've got all kinds of cute novelty prints, but they're all sewing themed and that didn't seem right for office supplies. I'd finally settled on the American Jane ruler print and has the pieces cut before it registered that these are not rulers...

I'd say "oops" if  this print wasn't an even better choice for a pen bag. Measure twice, cut once, and actually look at the fabric you're using!

Even Faster Socks

I can't think of a name for this pair. In the skein it looked like Halloween colors, but as  socks they're just bright and fun and kind of indescribable. I can't find the yarn tag, which didn't have a descriptive color name anyway.

They were fun to knit and I like the way they look -- and do normal people name their socks at all, let alone worry about naming one particular pair?

This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Crazy Mom Quilts, Wrap up Friday  

Fall Night Socks

My last pair of socks took forever. Two months, even if I adjust it for the time I spent knitting the September Scare. (For comparison, it usually takes me around sixteen days to knit a plain stockinette pair.) 

Yarn: Regia Arne & Carlos Fall Night  

This pair, which I finished on Thursday night, took me around ten days. I wasn't pushing myself or racing the calendar, but it sure feels good to finish a pair that didn't take an eternity. It might help that the yarn is a lot more exciting. I liked the Lavender Mix, but it didn't make my heart go pitty-pat. It was supposed to be boring-in-the-car knitting, but I wound up not knitting on the trip and then I was stuck with them.

The yarn for the next pair is so pretty that they may go even faster.

Yarn Swift Storage

I've been meaning to sew a zipper bag for my swift, especially because it spends much more time in storage than it does in use. It takes a few minutes to wind a hank of yarn into a ball and a couple of weeks to knit the project. And most of the yarn I buy isn't in hanks to begin with. 

This is one of those tools that proves the "if you haven't used it in several months you don't need it" rule wrong. I don't use mine often, but when I do it's worth having. I've also used the rear view mirror of my car, my own knees, and a kid's hands to wind yarn. The swift is much easier! 

If you're not a knitter, here's what it does when it's expanded -- 

The top spins as you wind the yarn into a ball, either with a ball winder (have one, never use it) or your hands. It makes the job much faster and helps to avoid a hopelessly tangled mess of yarn. Although I've managed that even with the swift.

The bag is as simple as it gets, with three seamed sides and a long zipper. I decided a long time ago that when I did this I didn't want to be sliding the collapsed swift into the end of a long tube. All of those little ends want to  get caught on everything -- that's why it needed a storage bag in the first place.

I didn't make a lining or box the corners or anything fancy, even though it makes me feel like I'm cheating. Lier over at Ikat Bag makes a pretty convincing argument against unlined bags. It's a good thing that I skipped the lining though, because I wound up adjusting the length and width three times before I was happy. Figuring out the proper size to make a bag for an oddly shaped thing isn't one of my strong points.

The fabric is one of the oddest things I've found in my scraps to date, yellow calico spinning wheels. Just why? I like it because it's old and quirky but I'm not sure what I'd ever want to use it for besides a swift bag which won't see the light of day very often. (The bits that were left over will get chopped up and sewn into a scrap quilt so I can point at them in years to come and talk about the calico spinning wheels. They should fit right in with all of the other random bits of novelty prints.)

This post is linked to Bag It and Crazy Mom Quilts.

The Socks That Took Forever

I still don't understand this pair of socks. I cast them on before the Sedona trip, assuming that they'd done in plenty of time for me to cast on a pair with Fall Night and knit on those in October.

Two and a half months later, they're finally done. I can't explain why they took so long. Two weeks is usually plenty of time for a plain pair of socks like these. Nothing went wrong. I didn't have to rip back and start over. They just dragged on forever, to the point that I think my fingers haven't quite remembered how to knit yet.

But now they're done and I've cast on with some yarn that I really love and I'm hoping things will get back to normal.

Ever have a project like that?

Zero the Ghost Dog

Pattern: Zero the Ghost Dog from Knitted Toy Box 

Just a cute little project that I found on Ravelry and thought I could whip up with some stash yarn. It's an unlabeled nubby cotton that I got for free at a yard sale, double stranded in an effort to give it a bit more substance.

This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday  

I Refuse to Block This

Pattern: Pumpking

Do you block your knitting? Except for lace shawls, I don't. Some of my socks might benefit from some gentle blocking, but they're going to stretch on my feet and I don't have that kind of patience. 

I'm definitely not blocking a dishcloth just so I can take a picture of it looking pretty and flat. It'll be wadded up in the sink soon enough. 

This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday  

Vinyl Zipper Bag

I've wanted to try sewing with clear vinyl for a long time now, but never took the plunge and bought any of it.  The more I look at zipper ideas on Pinterest, the more intriguing possibilities I stumble across.

I had enough advance notice before I lost my car last week to pick up a yard of the vinyl and decided to see if I could pull this project off without a teflon presser foot. It turns out that I could, since all of my sewing was through the fabric on the outside of the vinyl. The most fiddly part of the whole thing was making my own bias tape.

This is a mish-mash of a few different tutorials.  I'm not happy with all of  the little details, but I'll be giving it another try soon.

This post is linked to  Bag It over at Elm Street Quilts. 

September Scare Socks

Pattern: Jack or Not

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll  

It took me a full month, but I got the pair done before the first Supper Sock Scarefest pattern was released. I'm a little surprised by that, and very happy!

As I type this on Friday afternoon, there are at least seven hours to go until the next pattern is released. So now I'm on pins and needles, waiting to see if the socks are based on a horror movie that I actually like. Last year I couldn't bring myself to knit Babadook socks. I didn't enjoy the movie and I don't do much colorwork. But I did do The Fly and The Wicker Socks and a couple of pairs from earlier years.

Vintage Blackboard Quilt

I'm not usually a fan of anything that's too school-ish, especially not flashcards, but it was love at first sight when I saw this novelty print. For years it sat in my "too good to cut" stash. I used a little bit for a bag that didn't turn out at all well, then a bigger piece for a rice bag. Seeing the way it looks when I cut it for the rice bag made me decide that the busy novelty print would be great as a wide border.

But a wide border for what? I couldn't decide until I saw an Irish Chain quilt that someone had made with a black background. That made me think of chalkboards...and then I found this fabric in my stash. It was intended for a different project, but with its dusty black color and the paler flecks it was the perfect background. That other project will have to use something else. 

I didn't write down the measurements I used, but the nine patch blocks seem to measure 1 3/4" and the finished quilt is 16" x 21"ish.   don't measure tiny blocks after you quilt them - it's not even remotely accurate.  

I'm loving this little quilt so much that it's currently hanging over my sewing machine in the space that Strawberry Fields had been in since 2011. I'm always pinning little blocks up there and I figure this one is better suited to be a sort-of bulliten board. 

Going back to the picture at the top of the post, the bell belonged to Great Aunt Molly, who taught at a girls' boarding school.  I'm told that she used it in her classroom. The Bobbsey Twins books are from the library bookstore where I scored a huge stack of them for fifty cents a piece. I was never a big fan of that series, but I couldn't leave them behind...not at that price. And once Grandma saw them and told me those were the ones she'd read as a girl, there was no way I was going to part with them!

This post is linked to Crazy Mom Quilts

Triangle Bag

I'm not sure what I'll keep in this oddly shaped little bag, but I love the way it turned out! 

The pattern is Triangle Bag, a free tutorial from Elm Creek Quilts and the fabric is from a black and white scrap bag I bought while we were doing the Row by Row experience. (The original plan was to make a Zentangle quilt, but I've got more than enough fabric to do both.)

Instead of the 2 1/2" squares the pattern calls for, I used 1 3/4" strips. I also adjusted the construction a bit because I was feeling too lazy to try something new.

This post is linked to Elm Street Quilts,  Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday

I Hope She's Being Careful!

Looks like Thursday is the "try not to set your dress on fire" day of the weekly chore schedule. (If it makes you feel better, I found an article that says death by setting her dress on fire wasn't actually the number two cause of  death for Colonial women and another that  says women didn't dip their hems in water to keep them from igniting.)  

What I didn't find, probably because I didn't look, was a foolproof method for coming embroidery and applique. The vintage pattern I found online didn't have any instructions and the method I did use wasn't a success, probably because the details of her hat and sleeve are small. 

See the interfacing that's visible along the edges of her hat? And the way her hat looks like a sleeve but her arm is coming out of her waist? I've seen some weird quirks in vintage embroidery patterns, but I managed this problem on my own. The pattern wasn't like that. 

That's probably the best thing about projects that are destined to be used up and worn out. It doesn't matter if my results aren't perfect. It'll dry the dishes and make me smile just the same.

Not the Baby Quilts I had Planned for This Post

I was hoping to have two new baby quilts finished this week. The tops were done, the batting was chosen, I had time set aside... And then I wound up in Urgent Care covered in red welts. Twice. Whatever shot they gave me on my second visit worked wonders and I can move my hands again. (Look -- typing!)

So instead of pretty blue baby quilts you get to see the mittens that I finished last week. I was going to wait until I had a few more pairs done to post pictures, but this will work.

They're destined for the annual mitten tree at the public library.  The yarn I used for the center pair is left from a pair of fingerless mitts I knit for myself back in 2008. The other two pairs are from a skein of Red Heart Strata that I bought at an estate sale for fifty cents in (maybe) 2009.

It feels good to use up really old yarn, doesn't it?

This post is linked to Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Summer Night Socks

Self-striping sock yarn is just plain fun. There's something really entertaining about just knitting away and watching the yarn work its magic. I've said that before, but this pair of socks made me need to say it again.

Yarn: Shachenmayr Regia Design Line by Arne & Carlos, Summer Night

I wondered how hard it would be to get my socks to look like the one in the advertising. Turns out it wasn't hard at all. It was a lot easier than sorting out the problems with my yarn order! And I love the socks so much that the taint of poor customer service no longer lingers on the rest of the yarn. As soon as I finish the pair of Fabel socks I'm working on, I'm going to start a pair with Fall Night. That should be just in time for some October knitting. 

A Purse Fit for the Big Top

Four days before we were due to leave for Arizona I decided that I absolutely positively had to have a new bag for the trip. I like the purse I've been carrying  for the past couple of years, but I can't hike with it and I hate leaving it in the car and I won't go two weeks without some kind of purse.

On our last two trips, I carried my wallet and  camera in the Nancy Drew bag. It worked, but I don't like having my wallet in an open top bag. Even though I know it's not likely to fall out on its own (it's hard enough to dig from the bottom when I need it),  I still wished I had a zipper.

What I really needed was a lightweight bag, about the size of my red purse, with a strap long enough to wear across my chest. So I made one.

The first battle was to choose fabric. I knew I wasn't going to have time to include every detail I wanted or to learn new tricks, so the fabric I'd already chosen for my dream purse was out. I did some digging and some thinking and wound up using the one fabric I'd absolutely ruled out as a potential tote bag.

I measured the existing red purse and added a couple of inches on each side to make up for boxing the bottom (see -- I learn from my mistakes!) Then I made myself a zippered pouch and boxed the corners a bit. There are some elements I love and some that didn't turn out quite right (especially the way the zipper lays) but overall it's not bad for a couple of hours of work.

After living with it for two weeks, I'm absolutely in love with this circus print. It got soaked completely through at Montezuma's Castle and covered with cinders on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and still did everything I needed it to do. The strap is wide enough not to dig into my shoulder too much, even after a couple of extra water bottles put an end to my "keep it as light as possible" strategy. I can tie a knot to shorten it for hanging on a chair back.

Not bad for a spur of the moment project that I made up on the fly!

This post is linked to  Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts 

Another Towel That Can't Run Away

Having a kitchen towel that's stuck to the stove makes life in the kitchen much easier, especially now that I've learned the trick to making one that doesn't rely on velcro or buttons. 

The other night, I went through eight towels while making dinner. I can't explain how that happened, but it did.  Every time I reached for it, my towel was gone. I need more towels with big buttonholes in them. They're not a fool-proof system, but at least it's a bit of a hint that I AM STILL USING THIS AND DO NOT WANT YOU TO WALK OFF WITH IT...

After a trip to Hobby Lobby and a trip to Joann's, I used a coupon and bought myself a flour sack towel. Then I found another one at MECCA  for fifty cents.  When I got home and unrolled that one from its tightly taped little bundle I  found someone else's partially finished embroidery on one corner. Dang!

It was a free-hand embroidered circle with flowers. Definitely not my style and I couldn't have finished it if I wanted to, so I lopped off the stitched corner and did my own embroidery on the opposite end.

The iron-on transfer slipped and gave the spoon double lines. It doesn't show up as badly now that it's finished, but it sure was hard on my eyes while I doing the stitching.

Now I'm eyeballing my other store-bought towel and wondering if I'd rather gamble that my hand will stay steady while I trace a design or that my vintage iron-ons will do what they should.

Edited to add -- in a Facebook discussion that had nothing at all to do with embroidery, someone said that Target sold flour sack towels for a buck a piece. I got this four-pack for $3.57. They're not as huge as the ones I've bought in the past, but they're big enough to do the job. I'll let you know how they hold up.

And what I decide to stitch on them.

Taffy Socks

I wish that Sock-Ease came in more colors. Now that this pair is done, I've only got one more skein of this stuff left in my stash to play with. I coveted this yarn and saved it in my stash for years and I should feel glad that I've used it all up for its intended purpose, but part of me (the part that isn't happy with pretty comfy socks) is sad that it's over and done with.



Ever since I finished reading The Crepes of Wrath, the first in the new Pancake House mystery series by Sarah Fox, I've been dying to make some of the recipes that were included. Churro Waffles and Bacon Cheddar Waffle just sound soooo good! Although the main character was sometimes too indecisive for my taste, I'd like to visit the Flip Side Pancake House again in future books.



Seven Skeletons by Lydia Pyne introduces the reader to seven celebrity fossils. Some -- like Lucy and Piltdown Man -- I already knew by name, and others I sort of vaguely remembered hearing about. I was curious to learn more about the subject and hoping that it wouldn't be too dry a read -- instead it's filled with endless fascinating details. The man who discovered the Taung Child sharpened a pair of his wife's knitting needles and used them to careful remove the material that filled the skull. (Later, she left the skull and its protective box in a London taxi.)  The seven skeletons of the title are covered in chronological order and explain how the methods of sharing information between museums have evolved from stereoscopic slides to modern scanning methods -- and how museum displays and public awareness has changed over the centuries.



Toto's Tale and True Chronicle of Oz by Sylvia Patience tells the original story from the dog's point of view. It's been years since I read the book (the last time was as a read-aloud on a long road trip when my oldest was a toddler), but from what I can remember this book follows the plot and style of the original writing pretty closely. My favorite part was the beginning, which tells the story of how Toto became Dorothy's dog. If I have any complaint about this one, it's that I wanted more previously untold details from Toto. (And I might not have needed to know that he peed on the witch!)

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday  Keep Calm Craft On