Lemonade, indeed

What am I going to do NOW?  What started as a provisional, "get me through till the machine is fixed" diversion...well...

I'm now totally obsessed with knitting.  OBSESSED.  Love it.  I can't get enough of it.  Lately instead of "craving" the feel of fabric and pins and the smell of the machine...I just gotta have some needles & yarn in my hot little hands.  What is going on?  What is this?

It's perfect, is what it is.  I can't sew in the car, or at the doctor's office, or on the couch watching TV, or during playgroup, ...but I can knit, baby. 

My first project: 
OK, yeah, it's a dish rag with two inexplicable holes in it.  But it's cool!  And on its maiden voyage, it didn't all fall apart - SCORE!

 

check out the binding off job - not too shabby for a first timer

My current project - a Swiffer cover.  (Sigh, I know.)  But this is the stuff that it's OK to make mistakes and learn on so I can move on to more delightfully delicious projects such as....

 

http://www.purlbee.com/toadstool-babyrattle/

and 

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alyshas-flower-hat

and other adorable things.  

I wonder how my sewing machine must be feeling.  It miraculously reset itself after a few days - I was literally about to walk out the door to drive it to G'burg, when I thought, "I'd better turn it on one more time" and lo and behold, it was working like new again.  Would it be wrong to use it to sew a knitting needle roll-up bag?  ;)  Ha.  Of course not.  The two can learn to coexist.  I've got sewing projects lined up as far as the eye can see, too.  Today: new hat & mittens for my little guy.  Here are the ones I did for Abby a couple weeks ago:

 

Nolan's getting a boy version today - army colors & salamanders - just in time for our next Nor'Easter.  ;)  Then, an Easter dress for Abs, some spring/summer tops for moi, a purse or two, (a knitting bag - ssh), then...we'll all just have to wait and find out.

Making Lemonade

Sigh. 

Just...sigh.

My sewing machine is broken.  There's something wrong with it.  Something mechanical. (doesn't that sound bad?) I don't even know exactly WHAT is wrong, but it's not a common issue (I have googled the thing to death), and I have a feeling it's not going to be cheap.  No Bernina dealers anywhere around...so Mr. H & I will be making a journey to Greensburg, post-haste.  Actually, probably not until Thursday, as we will likely be snowed in (again) by tomorrow morning. 

Sigh. 

It's such a long and boring story that I won't even tell it here.  Just know that I am completely aggravated.  I was mid-project when my trusty machine went el-fritzo last night.  Now, I have to face the next day or two of being snowed in (prime sewing time!) with no machine.  Argh!  Blerg!  Ack!  Crimony!  Great coogly-moogly!

BUT, a thought came to me...what a perfect time to try to learn....

 No, not "how to cut off your cat's head with pretend scissors"

Nothing mechanical about knitting!   And if anything breaks, I'm pretty sure it's under $5 or so to fix.  Nice. 

MOPS preview for March

This cost a total of...less than $2.  LESS THAN $2, people!  SWEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!  I think our moms are going to love it!!!!

It's dangerous to google "how to make your own piping"

Apparently there's a whole wealth of info out there for potheads.  Good to know, just in case.  (kidding, Mom!)

But there were an equal number of SEWING links, and I was relieved to find that it's super-easy to make your own piping.  I've been sewing for too long not to know this.  It borders on downright shameful!  But for most of my "sewing life," I've stuck to the very easy, basic, simple, straight-line, "a kid could do it" sort of things.  I don't know why.  Intimidation, probably.  But it has been so much more fun now that I've branched out in the last year or two.  SO much more fun.  All those things that I thought would be really difficult, and would turn out horribly if I ever tried them...are actually NOT that hard, and they actually (usually!) turn out pretty decent.   Zippers, ruffles, bias binding, PIPING...it really is amazing to me that it took me so long. 

So here is a cushion that I sewed for a lovely friend, who has a gorgeous house, and decorates in a style worthy of her gorgeous house.  :)  So I was worried that my cushion wouldn't stack up.  But I think it came out pretty nicely...

 

  

First time doing piping...not that difficult.  It came out nicely.  Not as perfectly as I wanted it to, but there was nothing egregiously wrong...just not perfect.  But I have the feeling that I could sew for another 20 years and still feel that way about the stuff I do.  So I try to cut myself a little slack.  Besides, with fabric that beautiful, who's going to be looking at the little stuff?  I love that fabric.  It now sits on a black bench by the kitchen door of their house, and I'm told that, in addition to looking nice, it makes an excellent baby doll bed for their 1 year old.  :)