Pay it Forward

I love that concept, pay it forward.  I hardly ever participate in this kind of thing, but I saw on facebook my cousin had this as her update:

Pay It Forward for creative people (and by creative people I mean everyone): I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment to this update. They must in turn, promise to post this and send something they made to the first 5 posters on their status. The rules are that...it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2010!

 OK, I'm up for that!  So I signed up, and put this in my own update.  My people:

Lydia (the babysitter) - got an apron.  A too-cute apron.  I forgot to take a pic, but I will definitely be making at least one more for myself, it was so cute...so I'll get a pic then. Lydia is a very creative girl - just turned 16 - and she just got "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" for her b-day.  I thought this would be perfect for her.  

Lorraine (her mom) - a pincushion.  Again, will probably be making one for myself, I love it so much!  Lorraine is awesome, AND she sews!  In fact, she gave me a few patterns that I think I'll be using for Abby this summer.  Very thoughtful!  

 

Wendi (friend) - a big-time baker, will prob. be getting an apron

Molly (friend) - don't know yet!  I'm feeling a summer tote bag.

Amy (friend) - probably the same as Molly...I'll just have to wait till inspiration hits

I won't inflict any knitting projects on anyone yet...the point is to give gifts.   Someday people may clamor for my knitted items, but today is not that day.  I've dubbed my current project "Franken-mitts" because they kind of look all scrappy and pieced together like Frankenstein's monster!  (More on that later, don't you worry!)

A new hobby

Here is a little blurb I'm putting in the MOPS newsletter...sorry no pics but I promise, soon!

I'm sure half the world knows (due to all the whining and lamenting I did when it happened) that my sewing machine went on the fritz - temporarily - about a month or two ago.  It happened right in the middle of all that blizzardry (I love my new word I just made up!) and I was kinda stuck for a few days without my fav hobby. 

I don't know what it is about me, but I always have this need...or maybe desire...or maybe just a compelling feeling of wanting to make something.  I usually have at least one thing I'm "working on."  I have a project list about 10 miles long.  I don't know why; maybe it's in my genes. 

So... stuck in the house, snowed in for 3 days in a row without the use of my sewing machine, I grabbed the closest thing I could find - a pair of knitting needles and some yarn.  Never mind that I didn't know how to use them.  They were there, and I was going to figure it out.  I'd been kinda wanting to for a while...it seemed like everywhere I went, people were knitting.  It seemed like my kind of thing, and it didn't look that difficult.  I dug my "teach yourself to knit" book out, blew off the dust, and got to it.  A friend pointed me in the direction of a website that shows videos of the "how-to's" - very helpful.  Two days later, after a lot of trial & error, I finally had the first two basic things down.  Two more days later, I had the purl stitch under my belt.  I felt like such an expert! 

We now have a dishrag and a swiffer cover, made by moi.  Try to contain your excitement.  I'm currently working on a pair of fingerless mitts.  One is done.  I tried it on and showed my husband.  He said, "I think it's great.  I'm impressed that you made that.  I'm not trying to be rude, but...why would you need mittens that your fingers stick out of?"  ..............[can you hear the sound of crickets chirping?]................  To which I replied, after some thought, "....I have no idea."   We had a good laugh about that! 

I guess the point for me is that my new hobby feeds my craving to create.  It's something I can do while watching TV, in the car, waiting at the doctor's office...wherever.  It's not expensive (not yet, anyway - ha!), it doesn't take up much space, and I'm finding it to be relaxing and almost therapeutic. 

I want to encourage you lovely MOPS moms to find a hobby that is relaxing for you!  After full and often tiring days of being mommies, wives, housekeepers, cooks, chauffeurs, secretaries, personal shoppers, and all the other roles that we take on, it's not only enjoyable to have some "me time," but necessary!  You don't have to be a "crafty" person.  Just find something that you enjoy, or would like to learn, and "just do it!"

Recent Goodies

Fun, fun, fun lately!  A "craft day" at a friend's house last week - the husbands watched the kids ALL DAY, and the girls got together and worked on projects.  I finished two projects start-to-finish because of that day...one, the night before (because I just couldn't stop!) and the other that day. 

My knitting needle rollup:

 

Happy to say that 1. I have more needles to fill it with now.  :)  And 2. This whole thing probably cost me about a dollar to make, if that.  The outside (green) is from a tablecloth I found at Goodwill, and the inside is from a fitted sheet I found at Goodwill.  Greg wasn't crazy about the sheet; he said it reminded him of his grandparents' porch furniture.  :)  I thought that was funny because it reminded me of the same thing, but that's what I love about it!  Look for this pattern in an upcoming sundress for a cute 6 year old we know...and maybe another headband...

And here is my new knitting bag - but I plan on using it for other things too, or maybe just making a few more because it is such a great size...

 

It's an Amy Butler Chelsea Bag pattern.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!  It came together beautifully, no hassles.  I got lots of ooohs and ahhhs when I finished it (which always makes me happy!).  

So speaking of knitting, I'm still totally loving it...mostly doing stuff to practice on lately but I think I'm about to go for a "real" project with a pattern and everything.  We shall see how it goes.  

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.  :)