Disaster!

Remember that hat that I was knitting for a friend? Well, the hubby has now inherited what's left of it due to my stupidity.

I had it finished, but wasn't quite happy with the way the brim was going. So, I couldn't find the end where I had woven it in because of the damned tweed - everything looked like an end. Out came my trusty little baby fingernail clippers that I keep in my knitting bag and I clipped what I thought was the end. Um, it wasn't. Not by a mile.

I ended up with a QUARTER size hole in the front of the hat! I mended it as best I could, and if you don't look very closely, it's fine. In my opinion though, this can no longer be given as a gift. Damn again.

I couldn't get a good pic of where it was fixed, but here it is unblocked and being modeled by the Eldest:



After looking at it, I think I'll make another Jaunty hat instead. I know it's unblocked and not in it's proper shape, but I just don't think I like it quite enough to make another.

Oh, and this time when I make it, I'm going to hold a strand of black yarn in with the gray tweed. The color needs more depth I'm thinking.

Here I am already in a crafting crunch that was going very well, and then this had to happen. Ack!

Partial Hat and Supervising Cat

Evidently this is not the week for daily blogging, but every other day blogging. Sorry 'bout that. The two year old has caused all sorts of crisis this week, up to and including slugging his teacher at school! Not good. He got into a world of trouble, I went into embarrassment and depression and well, there you go.

But! All better now. I hope.

When a friend of mine requested a hat, I'm pretty sure he had no idea he would actually be getting it. I cast on two days ago and here's the results so far:

Oooo, String!

Have you ever noticed that when you try to take a picture of any woolly object, the cat comes out of the woodwork to help? Not the dogs, the cats. Why? What causes this? It's not like they're interested in helping, just supervising.

I tried to get her to smile in this one, but she wasn't having any of that "nonsense".

What can I say? She (along with the hubby) is a scrooge. Did I tell you that I got a whole lecture about how I shouldn't spend money on presents? That I spent too much on the kids and that he didn't want any presents himself 'cause we don't have any money? He does this every year. We've been married twelve years and I have gotten similar speeches every single year. Now wouldn't he be disappointed if Santa didn't bring him anything to unwrap this year!

Like I said, What a Scrooge.

Jewelry

Today was a day for making Christmas presents for both my sons' teachers as well as a little something for my best friend.

I packed the kids off to school and then hunkered down with a whole pile of beads and chains and these are the results:

First (and my favorite) is the BFF's necklace:

Glass Beads on antiqued findings - browns/blacks/bronzes

Second and Third: Bracelets for the Eldest's Teachers:



Fourth and Fifth: Bracelets for the Youngest's teachers. These two ladies actually deserve real gold for what they've had to put up with. But since I can't afford it, this will have to do.





Sorry for the blur in the last two. My camera hates me. But that's okay, it's being replaced on Christmas day. (A little Elf told me.)

State of the WIPs

Now that I've had a nice break knitting little things, it's time to get back to the two large projects on the needles.

First, the Zara Cabled Tunic:

This project is taking an eternity to knit. This pattern is not for the faint of heart. Really, I'm not kidding. There are a quadrillion cables to work through and it becomes quite tedious at time. Oh, and the gauge/pattern issues are not so good either. I'm working on it, albeit slowly. I have finished one whole sleeve:

In order to combat boredom (since for all intents and purposes is the third sleeve I've completed even if it is the only one I haven't frogged) I'm going to work on the Horizontal yoke section next. I'll get back to the other sleeve later when I have the stomach for it.

Edited to Add: I forgot to mention that the wrist pain that this project was causing me has been greatly reduced by finding a new way to hold/tension my yarn. I'll try and demonstrate it soon.

Second, The Thermal Vest:


This has also become tedious. Waffle stitch, even if it is done in dk weight instead of fingering, is still boring. The color is killing me now too. Winter is not the time to work with dark gray. However, the alpaca is so soft! This is coming along fairly well now, thanks to school car pool line knitting. I'll be sitting around on every monday night during my son's basketball practices from now until March, so I'm expecting this project to really take off (although I really shouldn't jinx myself by saying that.)



The good news is that a friend of mine has requested a hat, so before Christmas, that will have to get done. That means, whichever of the two projects above are bugging me most will be put down very soon. I suppose that's good news.

The bad news is that I've got Rogue waiting in the wings, but can't start it until one of these two big projects is finished. sigh.

Booga Bag!

The Booga Bag is complete!

Project: Booga Bag
Needles Used: Size 6 circs.
Yarn: Cascade 220 (black and turquoise), Noro Kureyon (184, 209)

Modifications:

Cast on 50 instead of the 34 recommended. Unknown number of rows completed. Basically I went until the bag looked in proportion.

Used two different types of Noro that compliment each other. Also using some black cascade 220 and some turquoise cascade 220. Used the turquoise for the handles because I only had a tiny bit of Noro left.

Used grommets for the holes where the handles feed through. Please remind me not to use grommets again on the next one of these I make. Grommets and I do not mix well. I think I wasted about 10 grommets on this project. I used the little kit with the plier type tool. I think I would have been better off with a hammer and tap tool. I do think that the grommets give it a classier look though.

Misc:

To give you an idea of the size of the bag, and since I don't have dimensions handy, it's a larger purse size. I stuffed four skeins of yarn and a partial knitted project into this and everything fits perfect. I could probably get a fifth skein into it with no problems.

This is a simple, fun project to do and as long as I stay way from the grommets, I plan on making more of these again later.

Magazines!

Okay so I didn't get the bag finished, but I do have these lovely little magazines that I found over the weekend to show you:

I found these in a Salvation Army Thrift Store and got them for a quarter a piece. It's
Workbasket and Home Arts Magazine. This was the first magazine that targeted crafters. It is so awesome. I can't tell you how thrilled I was/am to find these. I had never heard of this magazine before. The publication ran from 1935 to sometime in the 1990's. The ones that I have ran from 1965 to 1984 and I do not have all of them from those years. The 1970s are predominate in this stack. Which is actually pretty good for a laugh. Check this one out:

Click to Enlarge

Oh Yes, your eyes do not mislead you on this one. That is indeed a very long Granny Square skirt. First, I can't imagine how drafty that would be and Second, what would you do for undergarments? Also, if you absolutely had to have a granny square skirt, wouldn't it be much cuter as a mini-skirt?

Besides the occasional laugh from horrible fashion, these little mags are priceless. They have patterns for knitting, crochet, needlepoint, embroidery, cross stitch, even tatting! They also have recipes and how-tos on plants.

Can you believe the shopping weekend that I had? It's taken me all week to tell you about it.

The other thrift store finds? I scored a lambskin leather skirt (feels like buttah) for $6.99. Sweet huh?

Almost done

So I've finished knitting my booga bag:


It's been felted and is drying now. Hopefully, barring any delays in my life with potty training, I'll be able to show you a finished project tomorrow.

Here's the cute little thing that is not allowing me to accomplish much of anything for the past few days:

Potty Training Cutie

He absolutely insists on taking his blanket and pacifier with him to the potty. I figure that whatever keeps him there is a good thing. Plus, the blanket keeps naked little legs warm!


I promise to be away from kiddie stuff and back on to the knitting stuff as soon as humanly possible. :)

Check this new toy out.

Look what followed me home from an antique store on Saturday:


The tag said "String Holder". I have no idea what the official name is for one of these, so if anyone knows, please leave me a comment! Basically, you put the ball (small one) of yarn or string or crochet thread in the center and feed the end up through the hole in the top. It keeps the ball from rolling around the room as you knit or crochet. You could actually have several colors in it theoretically, as long as they are small.

I was so excited to find this thing. It was totally a fluke, too, as I wasn't even remotely looking for something like this. Very cool. Oh, and I got it for $19.95 too. I would have paid more for it, it's such a neat item, so I was happy to pay that price.

Please forgive the lateness of this post. We're in fully potty training mode at the House Of Shea. Over the Thanksgiving Holiday the Youngest decided he was ready and that was that. On the one hand - Woohoo! On the other - running to the potty every two seconds really sucks the big one. Pray for me, I need all the help I can get!

The Holidays

Thanksgiving at the lake was fabulous. I've got all sorts of things to share with you this week because of my trip. We had a typical extended family reunion type get together at the lake. There was family, food, police activity, you know, the usual stuff that holidays are made of. And no, I won't explain about the police activity, you'll just have to wonder.

But, before I left for the holiday, I got another case of start-itis. This, in turn, caused me to pick up some Noro out of the stash and sling it on the needles. So, I now have an in-progress Booga Bag:


I've modified it somewhat. I want a bag that's a bit bigger than the pattern calls for, so I cast on 50 stitches instead of the recommended 34. This picture was taken in poor lighting and wrong side out and just does not do it justice. The colors are fantastic. When it's closer to finished I'll get a better pic for you.

When we got to my folks' place, my mucho talented Mom had this to show me:

This is an incredibly soft black stole that she purchased and then needle felted the design on. It's not completely finished, but it's close. This is such an elegant stole and would look incredible with evening wear. She took a stencil that she found from JoAnn Fabrics and marked the design on the fabric. Then she laid down wool yarn on the design and needle felted it into the stole. So simple!

When I got back, this was at my door:


Three pounds of Corriedale fleece (still in the grease.) It's very smelly and needs lots of washes, but is very nice. What makes it even nicer is that it came free from Colorado! All I had to pay was shipping. Can you believe it?

More about the holiday to come!

Away for the Holiday!

Just a quick note to let everyone know I'm away for the Thanksgiving Holidays. See ya' next Monday!

My current complicated project somewhat explained.

It's the Late Friday Edition of All Things Shea!

I'm still knitting, but the pics don't look that much different than I showed you last time. Dividing my time between the two sweaters is not helping progress.

The waffle stitch vest is just tedious, but the Zara Cabled Pullover is something else.

It's quite complicated. I'm doing the cables without a cable needle which is indeed faster, but the pattern can be a little daunting. It's extremely easy to get lost if you don't have a good method of marking it. For those of you planning on making it, perhaps my method of doing this will help you.

I would encourage anyone making this to make good use of a pencil. Let me give an example of how I'm doing it. I'll explain it first and then show you a diagram after. Due to copyright stuff, I'll only show you a part of the pattern, enough to make my point.

I started with the sleeve portion (I dread starting the second on, by the way) to make sure my gauge was right without investing too much time in the project (yeah, right).

There are several places where I am having to place tick marks currently.

1. Small cable

• The pattern is only four rows long. So I place a tick mark as I finish each row. However, I group the tick marks in fours so I can just glance down at the sheet to know which one to do next.
• The tick marks are done in this section not to know which row I'm on specifically, but to know which part of the stitch pattern to do next.

The diagram here combines the small cable and large cable stitches. I've drawn a line between them. You can see how the small cables are grouped in fours and the large grouped by fives.

2. Large cable - I group these by fives to make counting where I am (which row #)in the pattern easier. ( See above.)

Separate marks are placed by each group below on the pattern.
Like so:

• Sleeve row a (where a denotes rows 1-58)

• Sleeve row b (where b denotes rows 59 - 85)

• Sleeve row c (where c denotes 86-108)

• Sleeve row d (where d denotes 109-137)

3. Sleeves - general

• I place a tick mark for each row number that I'm on in general, also grouped by fives:
  

And guess what? I get to start all over when moving to the next sleeve and then again every time I move to another section of the sweater.

I told you it was complicated. But if you don't mark the pattern somehow? Oh Boy.

I hope this helps someone else with this pattern. Just know that there is always madness in my methods! :)

Day Labor

I've been a busy bee today. I did a little spinning in the a.m., but for most of the day I've been working on the kitchen walls.

This was a project that began in the summer and is still dragging on, mainly because my husband refuses to help me with it. But that's okay. It's my project and I'll have to do the work and I can do it in my own time. If he was helping he would demand that we get it all finished in a weekend. Doing it this way, I can do a little here and a little there as time permits. Well, today it permitted.

I've already gotten the two layers of wallpaper that I'm going to do off. So today I sanded and patched up the rough spots, getting ready for a coat of primer.

But. I ran into a major (for me) snag. See the crap below the outlet in the pic? That's where a rubbery caulking has been laid over the wallpaper. I cannot get this out. This is a place where the hubby is going to have to get up off his bum and help me.

Our 5 in 1 tool has walked off and that left me to cobble together a bunch of useless tools to get this job done. It didn't work of course. I used a flathead screwdriver, box cutters and this wicked looking saw thing that I found in the drywall supplies in the garage. Nope. I really needed the 5 in 1.

I spent most of my day sanding and trying to pick out nasty caulk. yuck. Then I wiped everything down and started spackling. I think I dropped more on the floor than I got pushed into the small holes in the walls.


See that nasty blue counter? We're planning on getting rid of it too, but it will be a while before it goes.

I'm pooped now. Might go knit, might go fall into the bed. We'll see what happens first once the kiddies are sent off to bed. Whew!

Why yes, those are my children

I was a bad girl today. This is the time of year when you are supposed to buy things for others than yourself, right? Well...

I might have let my van take me to the yarn shop today. And I might have unzipped my purse and let my wallet jump out while I was there.

Look what came home with me:

Cascade 220 Heathers in colorway 9452 - a beautiful turquoise and gray combo

And this dove headlong into the shopping bag as well:

Noro Silk Garden - colorway 211

Oops.

*****

Why yes, those are my children. Why do you ask?

Fraternal Twin Mittens

Pattern: EZ's Mitered Mittens
Author: Elizabeth Zimmerman
Book: Knitter's Almanac

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden #270
Needles: Size 6 circular

Mods:

Cast on 40 sts. instead of the recommended 48 (for a size women’s small) on two circs. instead of dpns.

It's very simple to convert this pattern from using dpns to circs. I you don’t know how, here's how I did it:

First, split your cast on stitches between two circs. Then, On one circ. do the part where EZ says needle 1 and then follow that immediately with the needle 2 section of the pattern (do all of this on the same circular needle). Repeat the whole process that was done on the first needle for the second circ. Then follow up with the knit for one round of the pattern.

Mods:

1. 5 rows of garter stitch instead of ribbing.
2. Did 17 rows of pattern before beginning gusset.
3. Gusset Section:
4. Used instructions for the gusset from http://www.kathrynivy.com.
5. Increased to 14 gusset sts. instead of 15.
6. After Gussett:
   
7. Stopped when 12 sts. remained to reduce the pointy-ness of the fingertips.
8. Thumbs:
   
9. Picked up two stitches where thumb meets the palm. 16 gusset sts total.

Next time instead of doing M1s in the pattern, I’ll do kfbl to eliminate the holes that the m1 makes. They bug me no end.

This pattern was the first pattern by EZ that I have actually liked. Of course, there were changes, but even still. These were fun and really quick to knit. Took me two days to do them and that was with constant interruptions. I could've had them done in a day if I didn't have children. :)

Cuteness Overload

This weekend was just overloaded with disgusting cuteness.

First, we were baby sitting my parent's dog, Minnie Pearl. I caught her sound asleep with a toy in her mouth:



And if that wasn't enough, look who I caught trying to spin yarn:

He was honestly trying to get the roving attached so that he could work the pedals and make yarn like Mommy. It was so freakin' cute.

And here's the new project that jumped on the needles this weekend:

This is just the first half of the Mitered Mittens. I'll hopefully have the other half finished (I've probably just jinxed myself) by tomorrow and can give you all the details then.

Artsy-Fartsy Day!

Raise your hand if you live in Canada, China or in Antarctica and you heard me scream this afternoon. Go ahead, I'll wait. Yep, thought so.

Why?

It all started innocently enough with this:



A pale pink scarf, some foam, a pile of Cotswold Curls and a nasty piece of mischief called a felting needle.

You see, today was officially Artsy-Fartsy day at the House 'O Shea and I wanted to play around with the above tools. I had seen some of this done at SAFF and thought it would be fun to give it a try. Try to make an odd felted scarf that is.


One of the first things I managed to do was to stick one of those barbed needles almost all the way through my finger. I now have a great respect for the felting needle, let me tell you.

When you heard me scream, did you also hear me censoring myself? I had an almost three year old at my side at the time and this is the one that thinks he's part parrot. You cannot under any circumstance cuss like a sailor in front of him and expect him to go back to church on Sunday with a clean mouth. Not going to happen.

So there was lots of motherf***&^*&%&$^$^%!!! and SH*^*^T! and D^#^-IT! and so forth and so on.

Anyway, the weird scarf thing now looks like this:

Very artsy-fartsy indeed. And it looks better if you click on the pic. It's not finished. I'll add another layer and then probably wet felt it just for fun.

I have no purpose for this thing. Don't really want it. But I have to say that except for stabbing my middle finger to death and covering it up with a Sesame Street Band-aid, it was lots of fun to do.

Think maybe someone will buy the d*mned thing?

Knitting pics and a recipe!

Here's the progress on the first sleeve so far. It's moving slowly as usual. I'm afraid that I won't get more added on tonight since I've got choir practice though. Oh well.


And check out this beautiful loaf of Beer Bread:



This tastes so yummy and is very easy to make. It's a quick bread, but because of the beer still tastes yummy. Here's the recipe for you:

3 cups self rising flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 12oz. bottle or can of beer

Mix first two ingredients together in a large bowl, then add the beer and continue to mix. The dough will be very sticky.

Pour into lightly greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes.

Before baking I sprinkled a little oat bran on the top just for appearances sake. You could also do this with oatmeal as well.

Enjoy!

A Walk In The Fall

I know I promised knitting pics today, but I'm about to leave to go to a cub scouts meeting with the Eldest and don't have time to take them.

What I do have is some pics from a walk at Kennesaw Mountain that the Youngest and I took today. It was absolutely beautiful there. It was about 55 degrees and sunny and perfect for a long walk.


I discovered that this is the perfect way to get a child and dog ready for naptime. Both were exhausted when we got back. The kid went down for a nap and the dog curled up and didn't move an inch for two whole hours. Wonderful!


Forgive the over pixelated pics. Camera phones are not the best. I do like the look though, makes it kinda artsy, don't ya think?

Spinning Question and Knitting Start Overs

Remember when I built my DIY Hackle? Well, I got a great question about the differences between Hackles/Combs and Hand Cards and wanted to share the question/answer.

The question was:
I found a link to your site from yarnzombie's blog--I just wanted to say thanks for posting such great pictures and infomation. I am a way new spinner and have been looking for a way to build wool combs with hair picks. I just have one question and it sounds kinda dumb-- what's the difference between wool combs and a hackle? Actually I guess I have two questions....does this process replace hand carding? I have mohari from my own angora goats and I think that the combing/hackle processw would work better as it is a longer staple. I will have to look up your page on ravelry. Thanks again and have a great weekend!


First, let me say Thank You for the great comment on my blog. You made my day yesterday when I read that!

Now, on to my answer:
Combs and Hackles are essentially the same thing in my opinion. They are both for dealing with long staple fibers, so it should be perfect for your angoras.

I would not say that they replace hand cards though.

Both hand cards (or extra large dog slicker brushes like I use) and hackles/combs are great for blending fibers. But here's the differences:

1. Hand cards would be better for shorter staples, hackles/combs for longer ones.

2. Depending on how you want to spin, the method that you use to straighten out and separate the fibers makes a big difference. Hand carding makes the "mini batts" or rolags that are great for woolen yarns and hackles/combs are great for the worsted yarns.

Of course, there's absolutely nothing stopping you from ignoring any of the above and doing things your own way. There are so many ways to spin yarn. *You* are the master of your spinning and if another method works better for you, go for it.

Please remember that I'm not a spinning expert by any means. I'm still new to the hobby myself! I feel I've learned so much already, but I'm years away from being proficient at producing by own yarn. While I am not an expert, I could absolutely be considered an addict. :)


I re-picked up a knitting project that I started back in April before I got de-railed by all my Summer knitting deadlines. Remember this?

Well, I picked it back up and spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out where I had left off in the pattern. Then I remembered that there had been a problem with gauge. So I got out the measuring tape and the completed sleeve and went to town measuring. Turns out the sleeve was way too long and I decided that it would really bother me if I didn't re-do everything.

My reasoning for ripping out everything that I had previously done was this:
1. It was going to bug me forever if I didn't.
2. Row gauge in this pattern is going to be critical!

• I really don't want sleeves that long and stopping early in the pattern wouldn't look right.
• Also, when I get to the yoke part, the way I was going was going to add a good two inches around my shoulders making it not fit right up there at all.

So. The hours and hours of knitting disappeared in about 15 minutes flat. Oy vey or whatever the saying is.

I am now 3 inches into the first sleeve, again, but this time I'm using a size 6 needle instead of a 7 and my row gauge seems to be spot on. My stitch gauge doesn't seem to have been affected at all.

If you tackle this sweater, I wouldn't suggest doing a swatch in stockinette as the pattern suggests. You're not going to get the same gauge as what you would get when you do the cables, it's just not. going. to. happen. But that's just my 2 cents for ya.

I'll have another update with pics for you tomorrow!

It's happened again

Damn and Double Damn. It's happened again. Yes, I'm talking about the alpaca vest done in waffle stitch.

I've come to the conclusion that the waffle stitch hates me. The yarn may like this stitch, but it's not reciprocated.

There I was, booking along on this vest, watching tv, happy as a clam. Until I looked down and saw this:

It's difficult to see the mistakes, but you'll notice the red arrows, I'm sure. Below red = good. Red and up = bad. Just look at all those purl stitches clustered together like a bunch of old biddies that shouldn't be clustering together. I don't know for the life of me what I'm doing differently than on the yellow side, but now I get to rip for the second time in a week and just about the same amount. Damn.

I may go back to spinning more yarn instead knitting it.

Spinning!

Way back in July I got this really pretty batch of roving which you can see here. I am still working on spinning it up. Yes, still. There was/is a ton of it. Part of the reason that it is taking me so long to get this finished is that I am having to card it up to get the various and sundry tangles out of it. On my little dog slicker brushes, that is taking a while. The resulting rolags are tiny.

I picked it up again yesterday and finally found a workable system. I card some, spin some. I had been doing all carding and then all spinning and both were getting tedious. I think that I prefer spinning stuff that has at least some color changes to it. The yarn that I am getting is pretty, but the spinning of it leaves much to be desired.

Here is what I did last night = it's still on the niddy noddy:

Click to Enlarge

I really like the results I'm getting. I just wish it wasn't taking me so long to get it done. I really, really want to play with the fiber that I got at SAFF. I'm trying to be good and finish it first though.

*****

By the way, You know it's getting cold when...

...Every single time you sit down at your desk you get a lap full of cat:

Have you voted?

Did you vote today like a good American? The hubby and feel it is our civic duty to cancel out the votes of my in-laws. :)

It's not like my vote is really going to count anyway. The electoral college is where the President is picked, the popular vote doesn't really count. If you don't believe me, look at poor Al Gore's run for President. Bush = electoral, Gore = popular. Who got to be President? Not that I voted for Gore, mind you, but I actually thought my candidate would be a good choice. oops.

Knitting news - I have ripped back the vest and am now trying to get those stitches made back up. I'd show you, but didn't you see more progress yesterday? Looks worse now, trust me.

If you haven't already voted- do so! At least let yourself believe that you have a say.

For you in foreign countries - sit back and enjoy the show of the elections!

Knitting & Halloween, but not in that order

Halloween is such an exciting time for the kiddies. They get dressed up in their favorite costumes, argue because they want their sibling's accessories, and fun is had by everyone except Mom and Dad. Right?

This is what the first half of the evening looked like:

Woody really wanted the Evil Paladin Knight's Trident. It's tough being a good guy sheriff all the time. Sometimes you just want to get on 'Ol Bullseye and wave a trident around instead of a gun. The Evil Paladin Knight wasn't having any of that nonsense though and so there were many, many tears and screams of anger from Woody. Mom's hair garnered a few more grays in the process. Not that I needed any more highlights.

'Ol Tex seemed to get over it alright though, but Bullseye got left at home:

Evil Demon kitty did too. We didn't want to frighten the neighborhood youngsters:

I am heartily sick of all the candy. I have no willpower when it comes to Snickers and Twix and Milky Way and, and, and... I have eaten my weight in chocolate, my pants seem to have shrunk and my face is breaking out. But anyway, That's enough of Halloween!

On to Knitting now:

When last I spoke of knitting I was on the way to SAFF, I tried really hard to make this beautiful gray alpaca yarn become the Honeycomb Vest, but it would. not. succomb. My wants and wishes were ignored. The yarn just didn't want to become that vest.

Well, I still wanted an alpaca vest. So it was back to the drawing board. I picked the Thermal Vest instead. And guess what? It's working:

Sort of. See the third row down? Yep, mistake. I get to go and rip this back now and fix it or it will bother me forever. But still, the yarn likes the pattern! Yay!

Happy Halloween!

I broke out of my crafting comfort zone yesterday to do a little sewing. From Scratch. That's right, no pattern! I don't have any problems making clothing out of yarn. If I mess it up, I know that I can go back and start over. But with a sewing machine? If I mess it up, there's no real fixing it. Once you start in with the scissors on the fabric, if it's cut wrong, say sayonara to the project. So I'm quite proud of what I was able to accomplish in a couple of hours this time.

I grabbed a tutorial off of ThreadBanger about making a hoodie based on a fitted Tshirt that I already owned. This is a great little tutorial. I absolutely love this kind of stuff - Inexact, guess as you go projects. I'm not sure why I was unafraid of this, I'm usually terrified of sewing clothes. I can quilt, but sewing is not my forte.

So, I started with some black velour fabric out of the stash that my Mom donated to her favorite charity, me, and with a fitted Tshirt out of the closet:



Added in a little help from my Mom's Westie:


And eventually got to this:



A cute little shirt for just a few hours of time.

Please excuse the blurry pic and the dirty mirror. (It's hard to photograph yourself in a dirty mirror wearing black velour when your usual photographer is at school being studious.)

I did mess up one part though. The all important hood. It's just not a hoodie without one of those, ya know? Somehow, and I don't have a clue how, it came out too small. So Widget the cat now has her witchy costume (or would that be her Widgey costume?) for tonight:


And let me tell you, she's just thrilled to pieces about it. Can't you tell?

Tummy Troubles

Well, we now have a name for what's been ailing the Eldest. Poor thing is suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. He got it honestly from family members. At least now we can concentrate on minimizing the symptoms from it.

I've been scrambling all day. I ran to the store to get last minute Halloween costume accessories, then it was off the to first doctor to get lab results. Next came checking the kids out of school and then running to the new doctor.

The Youngest is not at his best at this point. He had a 20 minute nap, a lunch that was two and a half hours late and now he's at the manic stage that all two year olds hit after a day like today.

In a couple of hours I shall be dumping the whole load on their father and racing to choir practice.

One day I might have time to knit again. I did do a few minutes of spinning this afternoon, but there's not much to show for my efforts. :sigh: Maybe after Halloween is over...