A year of making things

I meant to get to this before the end of 2009 but as we're barely into 2010 I guess I'm not too, too late.

It's funny--I felt as though I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I'd have liked in terms of making things in 2009. But when I went through the photos (and factored in all the things that I'd given away before photos were taken) it turns out that I did quite a lot of sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, beading, and spinning. I made pillows for my couch, clothes for my daughter and myself, and lots to give as well. Seeing all these projects thrown together in a photo collage I realize just how consistent my color sense is--no neutrals for me, thanks!

Here's pattern info for anyone interested in making some of these projects. Top to bottom and left to right:

February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne made with Dream in Color "Classy" worsted. I just finished this the other day but I can't wait a whole year to show it off. I love, love, LOVE it! Also, no surprise here, I love my Romeo, too.

Pixie Hat-- sized for a newborn

A thrifted t-shirt which I embellished with stencils and embroidery. No pattern here--I was just winging it. I learned something cool, though. Fabric paint makes a good stabilizer for embroidering on knits.

Patchwork border skirt. Also out of my head!

Sundress based on the one in Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing though I confess she lost me about halfway through the project and had to figure out how to attach the bodice to the skirt on my own.

Sofa pillows I made without a pattern. I had my talented friend Corby make a new cover for my couch using ikea fabric and realized there was no way to old pillows would do, so I used remnants of the cover fabric along with something I found at Fabric Depot and a lovely Japanese cotton that was given to me years ago and was thrilled with how they came out.

Reverse Applique Swing Skirt--I made this over many months following the directions in The Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin. I dyed the fabric myself and, because the pattern didn't really work for a curvy girl like myself, I added an extra panel and cut the width in order to make it fit without being too large. This was a huge project and very likely the handmade item I'm proudest of.

My second Noro shawl, following this pattern and using 8 different balls of Kureyon and Silk Garden. This is a hard pattern to beat for fun and loveliness.

Some handspun yarn--I can't remember who dyed it.

The Prairie Blouse from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner. I amde this using some lovely linen I had lying around and it wasn't too hard. But now I need to move the bias elastic casing down the body as my little one is growing like a weed!

The Pin Cushion Caddy, also from Seams to Me. This one kind of blew my my 3-D challenged mind but it is a fine pincushion which served me well during the making of the skirt mentioned above.

One of two beaded bracelets I made in a class taught by my friend Catherine. I loved the class, loved the process, and loved the results.

My second ripple afghan, this one is watery blues and greens. This was based on the Pink Ripple stitch pattern in Jan Eaton's book 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns. These are so much fun to make--the crocheting is easy (well, one you've gotten off to a good start--thanks, Sari!) and putting the colors together is a joy.

Last is my first February Lady Sweater which I made with cashmerino yarn that I had lying around. The yarn didn't have enough body for the sweater to hold its shape so it was a big disappointment but the process allowed me to plan for my second of these sweaters which I truly love.

In addition to this, there were the Felicity hats that got away before being photographed, some appliqued banners, a silk scarf for my grandmother, and more. I have a few projects lined up for 2010, but I'm always on the lookout for more, so do feel free to share any great ideas with me.

Wishing those of you that make things happy making in 2010!

Recently Made

My brave daughter finished some truly epic dental work today. Over a few visits she had fillings, sealants, and crowns (oh my!). If you've been reading here for a while you know that I am not a huge fan of going to the dentist so I was miserable at the thought of my poor girl in the chair.

I try really hard not to pass my dental issues on to my kids but I was pretty nervous at the thought of all the work needing to be done. I wanted to give her something to honor what I considered her exceptional bravery and overall good cheer about having people mucking around in her mouth and sticking her with needles. Ideally this something would be small, soft, and smile worthy. Which explains a couple of secretive evenings spent in the basement making.....felt teeth. With faces.

I got the patterns from the book Softies by Therese Laskey which is full of charming little projects. Honestly, these are really pushing the cutesy boundary for me but they seemed to do the trick as Tovah made it thorough both long appointments without even a tear. Maybe it was just due to the skill of my truly wonderful dentist. But I'd like to think my goofy little handmade teeth helped just a bit.

Finished!

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know this was the huge crazy project I started back in July. Using instructions from The Alabama Stitch Book, I worked for months, made a few mistakes, worked a whole lot more, and finally wrapped everything up today. I dyed many yards of fabric before settling on these colors, stenciled each outer panel, stitched the inner and outer panels together (by far the most time consuming part), cut away parts of the outer panels, seamed everything together (twice!), took the seams in to improve the fit and finally added the waistband this afternoon. The waistband is the only part of this entire thing which wasn't done by hand though I ran the sewing machine so that's still me doing the work so it absolutely counts.

I modified the pattern slightly since I'm considerably curvier than your average model. I made this work by making the skirt out of five, rather than four, panels. This seemed like a brilliant idea until I finally got to the trying on phase where I realized that I'm not actually an entire panel wider than the skirt in the book. I spent some time taking in seams and then the elastic pulled it in the rest of the way so that it fits!

I am so delighted to have this skirt finished, and to be able to wear something I made entirely myself, from dyeing the fabric to every one of the thousands and thousands of applique stitches. I may be crazy, but I'm a well dressed crazy, thanks very much.

Next up? I might try my hand at embroidering some Indian style blouses. Or sew some clothes for my daughter. Or start a new pair of socks. Ideas?

Loved

I had great plans to make a complex and spectacular meal for my one and only this Valentine's Day but we found out mid-week that that wouldn't be possible. I have his permission to tell the world that, due to some digestive issues, the doc put him on a 3 day cleansing regimen during which he's not allowed to consume anything other than fruits and vegetables. No protein, grains, dairy, sugar, oils, or seasonings apart from lemon juice. So that planned complex meal followed by homemade chocolate truffles went by the wayside when it became clear that he'd have other priorities this weekend.

Happily I came across a Valentine project that I felt would perfectly convey my loving sentiments this year, thanks to the folks at Sublime Stitching. I think I know my husband well enough to know what would make him laugh, but embroidered intestines are not your average Valentine's gift so I decided something a little less weird might be in order as well. A recent Soule Mama post led me to a dead-simple tutorial for making a simple journal using my own photo for the cover. I take a lot of photos but The Spouse is always complaining because I rarely print his favorites so this seemed a good project, using a 5x7 print of a photo I took when we were out and about on his birthday last spring. I chose not to use the recommended PVA glue after being informed that it was highly toxic and found Golden gel medium to be a good, strong, flexible substitute. I do wish I had a proper paper cutter, though, as the hardest part of this project was trimming the paper to size. I can see making lots more of these in time.

He can't eat chocolate right now, but my sweetie sure knows how to pick it. I was treated to variety of tasty chocolate treats as well as a beautiful hand drawn poppy card from the man I love. The dark choclate covered orange peel is heavenly and I can't wait to try the sea salt chocolate and the different varieties included it the Mini Pyramide des Tropiques. Also I learned that my sweet daughter slaved away for her father to earn some money to buy me the small flexible tripod I've had my eye on. What a kid! I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and am looking forward to sharper pictures.

I hope it's been a day full of loved ones and sweet surprises for all of you as well.

Row 7 and I'm Hooked!

I finally realized my devil-may-care attitude toward learning to crochet was getting me nowhere. I've always heard that crochet is so much easier than knitting--but not, apparently, if you're a knitter first.

It nearly killed me but I asked for help. And got it from someone who is knowledgeable enough explain to explain the pattern, patient enough to watch me screw up, and generous enough to finally do the first row for me so I could get off to a good start. And she was right--one she got the tricky first row done, I was off and running. I've made it to row 7 and my fourth color change. I realize I'll be working on this for a very long time, but luckily I am enjoying it a great deal.

Not a Rant

My writing this week has been rather kvetchy, hasn't it?

So now it's just a public service announcement for fiber people:

Just in case this wasn't already on your radar, The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival takes place this weekend at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. It's a huge gathering of fiber artists, vendors, and furry animals that's become an autumn tradition in our family. I have a small sum of money set aside to purchase a few goodies from one of the many small producers who wil be there but I may end up completely overwhelmed though in a very good way.

Self Portraits?

Not so much. But how about that sweater?

This is my first ever sweater for myself. I run way too hot for sweaters but this yarn is soft enough to wear next to my skin, eliminating the need for an extra layer. It's a simple top-down raglan based on this pattern but given that I lack a cylindrical upper body, I resorted to a bit of completely made up shaping and got lucky because it worked out perfectly. There's enough space where I need it without huge saggy shoulders. The arms are short enough and the waist ribbing is snug enough to keep the sweater from stretching and dragging. I'm so happy with this sweater that I don't even mind having knit it twice.

Iron Artist

I'm not sure why, but I've been in a bit of a slump and feeling like there's nothing new to write, no new photos to take, nothing new to make. Some attitude especially in the middle of a three week break!
I got a bright jolt of color today which might turn things around. The boys were asked to join a friend's team for the Iron Artist competition. The money raised benefits SCRAP which, like the swifts, is one of those uniquely quirky Portland institutions. Each team was given a box of materials and three hours in which to design and build a one-of-a-kind sculpture. Judges offered feedback, handed out demerits, and happily took bribes. It was a wildly colorful day of costumes, music, art, and particularly rich people watching. My camera was in constant use. We all had a fine time and are already looking forward to next year. Big thanks to Babs for inviting us.

Supid, Stupid, STUPID

You know how it feels when you start something big? There are lots of details and loose ends that seem as though they'll never come together. You keep at it and suddenly you realize that your big complicated task might not be so big after all, and things start falling into place. You start to get into the groove, things are humming along, you have visions of your project completed quickly and beautifully and then WHAM! it hits you. You've totally screwed things up and it's back to square one.

Or maybe that only happens to me.

I've been waiting for so long to start a project from the Alabama Stitch Book. While I was busy pulling a bar mitzvah together I enviously watched other crafty types dive in and make gorgeous projects. For me, it's been all about the skirt, a stunning double layered reverse applique garment stitched entirely by hand. I wanted to make it so badly that my fingers twitched in anticipation.

Any normal person would have gone out and bought the fabric and gotten started already, but I couldn't find anything affordable that I liked. My problem was solved when one friend gave me yards of cotton jersey and another friend gave me a bunch of dye so I could just make what I wanted.

And I did. Dyeing was a kick. I had yards of sunny gold and deep almost-cranberry red finally ready to go yesterday. The Spouse was roped into cutting a stencil for me since I'm a klutz and have no business using an x-acto knife. I was ready to start transferring a design on to my skirt panels tonight when I realized that I had cut the panels with the fabric running in the wrong direction.

Since there is a grain line on the pattern and the instructions mention cutting the fabric on the grain I figure this is a pretty important step. Of course I didn't realize my mistake until I'd cut up most of the fabric. The wrong way. I was tempted to just use push on through and hope for the best but, for once, I actually thoguht it through. Because I really didn't want to spend weeks stenciling and stitching this skirt and seaming its five panels together by hand only to have it pucker, stretch, and hang on me like wet newspaper. I really do want to do it right.

So now I have to order more dye and re-dye my fabric. Luckily I have plenty left. But I have to wait. Again. Which I really hate.

In the meantime, a quick fix. I had a plain white jersey dress for The Princess which I threw in the dye pot. It came out a lovely sunny yellow but struck me as just a bit plain. So I gussied it up with a bit of embroidery using the Chinese lantern design from Sublime Stitching. Not the best photo what with all the cream cheese, but the embroidery both perked up the dress and filled a need.

Anyone out there with patience to spare, can you send some my way until I grow up?

Silver Linings

One of the exciting things about becoming a bar mitzvah is that it is the first time a young person gets to wear a tallit in public. Most families we know make a big deal out of the tallit. Either one is specially made after much consideration, or perhaps handed down from a relative. With a weaver in the family (my mother), we expected nothing less than handwoven for The Dark Lord's bar mitzvah. MonkeyBoy, on the other hand, was offered weaving lessons from a good friend and the opportunity to make his own which seemed like a very generous and exciting offer at the time though even then I suspected it would be too much given this friend's often poor health.

The weaving lessons began well over a year ago and MonkeyBoy and his teacher have had great times together. To date I've seen exactly one completed project and became understandably worried giving the rapidly approaching event. I was reassured numerous times that all was well and on track. Then, quite suddenly, with exactly 4 weeks to go, I was informed last night that it would be impossible to complete the project on time. Now I find that with approximately 275 things I need to complete before June 14, I have the added obligation of finding Mr Picky a tallit that would satisfy him. This is the boy who hand colored 80+ invitations so it's safe to say he has his aesthetic standards and takes them seriously. Also, Portland is not New York City or even Los Angeles. We don't have nice Judaica shops where we could browse and compare and we've had no interest in risking mail order.So what's a crafty mama to do? I still have most of the bolt of silk I used to make my tallit years ago and MonkeyBoy found that acceptable. We spent quite some time gathering trims and supplies today and I have to say that I was surprised by the colors that drew him. This is a kid who normally goes for crazy bright colors. The yarmulkes we ordered for the bar mitzvah are purple velvet with silver rickrack, of all things. But what really caught him today was some lovely but rather sedate ribbon with a ginkgo design in slightly off greens. We used that as a starting point and chose accent fabrics and trims accordingly.

There aren't a lot of rules about this particular garment's construction except that it must be 4-cornered, with tzitzit at each corner. The tzitzit are sets of strings tied in a precise formula, kind of a Jewish macrame if you will. These four sets of threads on four corners are the only clearly proscribed element and I've seen lovely variations on this basic idea including elegant vintage lace and exuberant Guatemalan ikat.

While I expect to be doing most of the work on this myself, I realized there was no reason why MonkeyBoy couldn't learn to run the sewing machine and make the corner squares through which the tzitzit will be threaded. Tonight we retired to the cool of our basement for sewing lessons and he did well though I did mention that there was little point in my drawing seam lines on the fabric since he seemed to be ignoring them anyway.While I really wish time wasn't a factor, I am delighted that I get to do this for (and with) my son.

(Maybe) Getting my Groove Back

I might be getting my knitting groove back. Last week I made a quick pair of cabled fingerless gloves for a friend's birthday with no disasters to speak of. This is a quick, easy pattern that I've made numerous times. I always enjoy the making of these and they seem to be popular with their recipients. I finished a pair of Jaywalker socks started way back in June. I don't love the fit but, again, no disasters on my part although the skein of yarn came up short and I improvised with a solid green toe on one sock (and, yeah, it is hard to photograph socks on one's own feet). The too-small Andean style hat started for The Dark Lord will go to a much smaller child for her upcoming birthday. I love how it came out--the crochet trim and braided ties are quite jaunty and it won't be at all too small for her, so a happy ending there.
All this relative success gave me the strength to cast on yet again for The Green Cabled Monster which I will now make considerably larger with the understanding that the gauge specified in the pattern and the stated finished sizes have little connection to reality. It's so hard to know when to trust a pattern and when to rely one's instincts. And a tiny bit frustrating, too, after having to rip out many weeks worth of knitting.

Also, for those following the saga: an update on New Man--after listening to him blurt out every answer to every question for two days I realized that although he hadn't passed my final exam way back in June he'd clearly continued to study English and had learned a great deal in the intervening months. I gave him my basic level final on Wednesday night and he passed with 86% meaning New Man is now someone else's problem student. He's been moved up a level with full warning to his new teacher who is willing to try him out. I sincerely hope the additional challenge will keep him focused.

Lots of Making

Ahh...the joys of vacation. I've been bustling about with all kinds of projects. While we don't celebrate Christmas, many of my family members do and I confess that I really love the Christmas gathering which was moved to today this year to make it easier on those who really do celebrate the holiday (and freeing us up to head out to the holiday buffet at our favorite Indian restaurant on Christmas Day).
I have the prefect excuse to stay out of the holiday retail madness--it's not my holiday. But I love giving gifts as much as anyone. I've come to a point where I really want to give handmade as much as possible, whether food, knitting, or fabric. The kids seem to concur so we've all been busy getting ready for today's "Fake Christmas" family gathering. I printed up and framed a couple of my favorite photos (here and here). There was chipotle hot sauce, fetching little knitted gloves, and lots of drawstring bags which I just learned to make using this tutorial. (I so love that there are so many generous folks out there willing to share what they know in so many areas--thank you!) My boys made up a bunch of wonderful freezer-paper stenciled T-shirts for their cousins and grandparents from their own designs which, sadly, got away un-photographed. And The Princess has been cranking out cards and drawings and complicated assemblage projects like nobody's business. We've all been busy making things and it feels good.

Also, as if I didn't have enough projects to work on, I've started up with a new interest. I've long wanted to begin exploring collage but have been hesitant to dive in. After teaching myself to knit, sew, cook, take photos and more, I'm not sure what I found intimidating but somehow it's seemed like I just couldn't get started. I wonder if it has to do with not having the slightest idea where something will end up. I've muddled through all kinds of knitting projects and flown by the seat of my pants in the kitchen countless times. But starting with a blank page is something new for me, especially when it could go in any direction.

My wonderful husband kept making suggestions to get me moving and I resisted for quite a while but now I find that I am working on exactly what he suggested: an altered book project where I can explore lots of new techniques in a sort of visual journal. Now I find myself thinking about composition and color and am bursting with ideas for new pages. My pockets quickly fill with all kinds of junk (oops, I think the official term is ephemera) which I can paste into small collages. I am playing with paint (phthalo blue! yellow ochre!), learning how to layer colors and give texture and depth to surfaces. I am having such fun, blasting the Bollywood dance tunes in my basement hideaway while I layer, cut, paste, and paint.
Thank goodness for vacation! I so love having the freedom of long stretches of time and a light schedule so I can explore and play.