Sew Distracted

Avril, final photo

Here is the modeling shot of Avril.  Although fall may be just around the corner it does not feel particularly autumnal outdoors today.

 

The sweater fits well enough, certainly better than RTW, but it is not my favorite of all the things I have ever knit.  I could have knit it a little longer.  This is a length that I frequently wear, and which usually looks good, but the bulky knit at this length is not as much of a success.

 

I also knit most of the body of this sweater last fall, before I started my now standard alterations, namely adding one inch extra length at the center front over the bustline and decreasing one inch from the center back at the waist.  Now that I know how much better sweaters fit with these alterations I find I am less happy with "standard" fit and find myself wanting to tug and pull just a bit.  I'll try to restrain myself because I don't want to reknit this and it is perfectly acceptable.

 

I also don't know why the bottom band curls out.  That I'll have to look at further, although it is not something I notice while I am wearing the sweater as much as when I look at the pictures.

 

 

Summer Landscaping, Part One

One of this summer's projects, the dominant project in fact, has been transforming my nice little haven in the woods into something more welcoming.    Here I present a little catch-up post showing progress so far. Some of these photos have already been posted elsewhere, so if this is a duplication, your patience is requested.

 

The overgrown front yard was really getting to me.  Granted some gardening work would have helped, and I was woefully behind, but more serious landscaping labors were also called for. Here is the before photo, dragged up from last year.  It actually looked even worse than this before work began.

 

It seemed to me that the house reflected my own inner chaos, and although I was pulling myself together, I couldn't get any further until my physical space was in order.

 

A sure sign that help was needed was that everything looked better almost immediately after cleanup, before any new work was done and it was all just clay.  I figure it was very telling that the front door was actually more easily accessible when there was no walkway, just packed clay, than it had been with the original walkway of slate set in clay, the walkway that came with the house.

Well, the packed clay was easier to walk on until it rained, that is.   Luckily for my construction projects, it rained little this summer, at least until last week, by which time the front walk was long since finished.

 

Here is the new bluestone walk, and the completion of phase one of the project, although as you can see work is still being done.  You've actually seen  the new front porch in the last couple of garment pics I have posted.

 

Of course, like any remodeling project, once you fix one thing, you see how bad everything else is around it.

 

I realized that I couldn't fix the plantings until I fixed the walls and did the rest of the hoped-for hard-scaping.  So we entered phase II, which is still in process, although in the middle of a brief interruption of work until mid-September.

After the walk, the mason started working on the north end of the house (the front walk is near the South).   One approaches the house coming down a hill on the north side.  The first thing one was faced was a pile of dirt and rocks with a fence to the pool enclosure behind it, but no landscaping or path leading to the pool gate.

 

This photo is the only one I have of the before scenario. Truthfully I avoided thinking about the area, or photographing it.

 

This next photo is taken from the driveway and shows the view one has of the north side of the house as you drive down my driveway.  The area now contained inside the stone bed is the area with the half buried tank shown in the first photo, and the front wall of the stone bed is the same location as the picket fence on the left side of the first photo.  The top of the stone wall is level with the bottom of the lattice fence behind it.

 

This wall is not complete, and eventually the bed contained within will be filled and planted, and there will be a gravel path and then a series of raised beds going up to the deck and the area in front of that stone wall will be cleaned up and filled with packed gravel leading up to the walkway and planting areas.  There will be no plantings in this area as it is also my primary winter snow repository.

 

Later in the week I will show how phase II is shaping up in the front yard, around that new front walkway.

Fall is just around the corner, or Avril

 It struck me yesterday, as I was grumbling to myself about not being able to get anything done in 10 minute increments, that yes, I could choose to get something done or I could grumble to myself and continue to be unhappy.  Granted not all projects are easily interruptible, but some are, and on days where attention spans are limited I could work on certain kinds of chores and projects, saving the ones that require longer bursts of attention for other days.  In short, If I can't make the world work the way I want it, why not adapt to what I want to fit the world I live in.

Rather than vacuum the house, which wasn't going anywhere because it seemed that I would get the vacuum turned on and immediately have to turn it off to go somewhere and do something else, I realized that I had the perfect opportunity to clean out the bathroom medicine cabinets, something that had been on the list for a while, and which could be easily stopped and started as many times as necessary.

But life is not all about household maintenance and I am determined to work on something just for myself every day, and not waste my time fretting over what I am not able to do.  Obviously pattern cutting was out.  And so was knitting because the getting it out and counting and putting it away again after less than a row was trying my patience. Besides, I am nearing the end of the piece I ripped out and restarted and I will need to start a new project soon, which means I needed to get one of those UFOs out of the queue before I could consign the current project to the sewing-up queue and start knitting something new.  And I need to be able to have something on the needles for that precious hour in the evenings when I wind down and let my mind wander.

Presenting Avril.

She is a bulky sweater knitted in Cascade Venezia Bulky, a silk and wool yarn, using an old Berroco pattern.

The sweater had been sitting around since April waiting for me to set in the sleeves and weave in the ends and it should have been done long ago.  At least now I will have it ready when fall actually arrives.    The sleeves didn't take long but weaving in the ends and sewing on the buttons ended up taking most of the afternoon and by the time I was finished I didn't have enough light to take more photos.

I see I also left the bottom button off.  I can sew that on tomorrow, or perhaps even later today.  After all, it can be done in 10 minutes or less.

Other entertainments

I seem to run in fits and starts.  At times making time to play and write seems easy, at others I fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day and wonder where all my time went.  Sometimes I distract myself as well and end up on completely new tangents.

 I started the weekend looking for a piece of blue knit.  I knew I had it but I couldn't find it and this really ticked me off.  Somehow in the middle of the searching process I decided that it was time to finish cataloging the yarn in the yarn/fabric closet, a job I had worked on extensively last December, stopped for holiday guests, and never resumed.  

The impulse to organize yarn may have also been prompted by the fact that I came home from knitting group with four bags of yarn Thursday night.  My LYS is going out of business and I did my part to reduce the inventory.  I did finish the yarn inventory though, and got everything put away (whew, room for everything!) And I also mentally revised my "to knit" list to fill a few gaps and knit what I think I need now.

The blue fabric eventually turned up, pretty much right where I was originally looking.  I put it on the cutting table where it has been sitting ever since.   It is an inexpensive knit I purchased just for its stretch factor and because I liked the color.  At $3.00 a yard it was a good fabric to play with, to experiment with knits and hopefully learn a little something.  The plan was to test a summer dress and a top or two, items I actually intend to make in other fabrics, but which I am just unsure enough about that I would prefer to make a first version.  If v1 works, at least it is in a color I love, and if it doesn't, no beloved fabric has been wasted.  Somehow though, my motivation got washed downstream with all the rain and the change in the weather.

My work in the fabric closet was more than just an organizational exercise however.  As I photographed new yarns, folded fabric and reorganized I found myself being revitalized with new ideas swirling around in my head.  Although not finding something was frustrating, and at that moment the idea of a stash felt stifling, having it organized and accessible, being able to take out the pieces and let the ideas flow is liberating and inspiring.  

Before my fabric closet foray I was stuck in a rut of a few summer outfits.  I was thinking about what I would make next, but only in a limited way, as a single piece to add into the mix.  Playing with fabric and yarn, and taking inventory, opened my eyes to connections and possibilities I had forgotten.    

The blue fabric and those dresses offer possibilities beyond the immediate. Besides it is still August, and although it feels like fall  now, there are still summer days ahead. So this fabric remains on the table, and I hope to get started on it this week, but that may be  iffy.  We are going up to Lake George on Thursday to see my brother who is up from Texas and on Saturday I am having a passel of the neighbors over for dinner, all a great deal of excitement and interruption to our normally quiet routines.  We'll see how it all goes.

 I'll leave you with a plate of cookies.  I whipped these up last night from this recipe by Aran Goyoaga, who writes the blog Canelle et Vanille, and they are half gone already.

In fact I seemed to do a lot of baking over the weekend.  G had a chocolate craving so I baked brownies, then I baked brownies again. My baking pantry has seen little use of late and at this point I was out of chocolate and cocoa so I needed to make something else.  This cookie recipe had been at the top of my file, waiting for the perfect opportunity.  They are fabulous.  In fact this is my second batch.  Did I mention G has been suffering from a major sweet tooth?  Better him than me.  Anyway the first batch, which I made with shortening, looked more like the original photos in the blog, but mine are darker because I used unprocessed cane sugar rather than regular white sugar.  That first batch was devoured in a day. For this second batch, I was out of shortening, so I used butter.  Butter causes the cookies to spread more, but they are still soft and delicious.  I do love to bake, especially if someone else will eat the goods and save me from myself.

Not only had I forgotten how much potential I had in my fabric closet, I had forgotten how much baking calms my soul and eases stress.  Back in my college days I would bake cakes and cookies and brownies for the dorm before finals.  And I continued to bake for years, until the combination of relearning to bake with gluten-free flours, and just the other stresses of life seemed overwhelming.  This may have been a mistake, luckily one that is easily rectified.

Creepy Crawly

 Am I the only woman in America who feels that the Bazaar cover spread with Jennifer Aniston as Barbra Streisand goes beyond bizarre? I'd much rather have had the newsstand cover.  I had to cut this one off before I could bear to look inside.

Wrapped and Tied

 The Skirt is done.

Blue eyelet cotton skirt, originally made from Simplicity 4186, original version here.  As I took this apart I realized that although I have made this skirt several times, I only actually like the version made from a beefier cotton, which emphasizes the volume of the skirt more. 

The skirt is still pleated and still full, but the shape is different, more of a tulip shape and I am very happy with this version of the skirt.   I worried somewhat about the fullness at the hip, but in the end I like it, and the fact that the contrast tie waist emphasizes the waist, making my middle aged waist appear a bit smaller than it actually is.  Or perhaps the skirt just makes my hips look bigger; if so, I can live with that too, because I feel fabulously pretty in this skirt, and in the end, I think it is how our clothes make us feel that plays the biggest role in how we actually look in them.

 The details:

Pattern:  Burda Style Magazine, April 2010, style #111, tulip skirt with box pleats and a large tie waistband-sash.

Materials:  Blue cotton eyelet recycled from a previous skirt and olive cotton batiste purchased many years ago from www.fabric.com.

 Details: 

This pattern is a "tall" pattern from Burda.  I use the word tall with parenthesis because supposedly this pattern is designed for someone who is 5'9".  I am 5'9" and I added 4 inches to the length of this skirt.  As it was, I shortened the original skirt by 4 inches from the waist to cut the new skirt, and I could not have made the new skirt longer because the top of the old skirt was in rather fragile condition after several alterations.

Because the pattern is cut with a curve at the hem, to accommodate the shaping provided by the pleats, and I wanted the hem to be my eyelet border, I straightened the hem and transfered the shaping to the waistline.

I also underlined the eyelet with the olive batiste before proceeding with the skirt.  Since the pleats were made through the two layers of fabric, my skirt probably has more body than was intended in the pattern, but I rather like the volume of the finished skirt.

I used the waistband from my original skirt rather than the contoured waistband provided by the pattern.  The pattern waistband might have been better, but I had fabric issues.

I also made the tie sash wider than called for.  The original pattern called for a piece of fabric , 8" by 84" (I decided to make a long sash as I am no longer slender-waisted), which was to be folded in half, seamed, and attached to the back waist of the skirt.   Two layers of 8" wide batiste was too much to make a bow as shown in the photos unless I made the sash much longer.  But I like the modified bow effect shown in the picture much better as I'm not convinced that big floofy bows are appropriate on middle aged women.  The sash is also long enough to wrap around my waist twice, creating a cummerbund effect, when I want to be a little more serious.

Boots

If you had told me a month ago that I would be buying green boots for fall I would have laughed in your face.  I wasn't looking for green boots.  I've owned green shoes, but I don't think I've ever owned green boots, and frankly I never really missed them.

And yet, I ordered a pair of green boots, all the while telling myself that I really wanted black boots, that I really wanted seriously dressy boots with killer heels, and that they had to be black, and yet.......

They are perfect.  They are just what I wanted, although I hadn't realized it yet.  

I love the fact that they look like hiking boots, except for that heel.  And the heel is definitely a killer heel, but it is not too narrow, and the platform helps with comfort a bit.  It looks higher than it feels on.  These are shoes I can wear for those "I need a stylish pair of heels" days.  And although they are not comfortable walking boots, I have lots of comfortable, practical, walking boots.  Sometimes the soul just needs a little something extra, a little attitude, a little style, a killer heel.  Yes, it is true; I am rationalizing a bit here, but it doesn't really change anything. 

Although they can be laced to the top, I love them like this, with the tops folded down.  In this form I can even imagine wearing them with a skirt and tights.  I can imagine them with a pencil skirt and a fitted cabled sweater.  In fact they remind me of a cabled sweater I had for 20 years in a deep dark olive, much like this olive.  Unfortunately I felted that sweater last year trying to remove some impossibly recalcitrant stain.   I consoled myself by turning the felted sweater into Christmas gifts, telling myself that the sweater was worse for wear anyway.  But now, looking at these boots I wish I still had it.  

The boots may be telling me that I need to knit a fitted cabled sweater in deep dark olive green.  It wasn't in the plans, but sometimes you see something new and suddenly realize it is just what your wardrobe has been missing.  Fabulous new pieces with attitude are like that; you add them to your closet and they make themselves right at home, making friends with all your existing garments.  But it is not long before they start causing trouble, inviting all their friends to come in to play.  And there you are again -- shopping, sewing or knitting and finding you need things you never imagined needing.  It is quite possible these boots are going to be troublemakers.  If so, I'm up for the challenge.

A Little Change in Plans

Funny how plans change if you allow yourself time to dream and play.

 I had intended to dismantle the blue skirt, and remake it in the exact same style, just shorter and smaller in total girth, but somehow, the more I looked at it, the more evident it became that I didn't want to make the same skirt over again.  

So I found a pattern, traced it off, dithered over alterations and decided to just go for it.    

A shorter skirt, with eyelet over the entire length of the leg, required a different lining than the original skin-tone silk/cotton.  The demands of the new design dictated underlining rather than a separate lining.   As I fretted over lining choices, an olive batiste practically threw itself off the shelf at me.  Olive and Navy is one of my favorite combinations.   It seems this skirt remodel is taking on a life of its own.

A Day in the Sewing Room

 I had a really good day, or partial day actually, in the sewing room yesterday and I am amazed at how much it helped my state of mind.  

First of all, I finished a sweater that I started in April and abandoned.  At the time I was looking for some mindless knitting and since I was working without a pattern, and didn't know if I would have enough yarn for sleeves, I put the whole aside rather than do the math. 

The yarn is a cotton/acrylic/rayon boucle from On-line, now discontinued.  The stripes on the sleeves are in Dolcino, a nylon ribbon by Trendsetter.  I added the stripes to the sleeves when I realized that there was not going to be enough of the original yarn to have much more than cap sleeves.  I really like the way the sweater turned out and it is a good basic sweater that will see a lot of wear.

(if you also read my knitting blog, purlsandmurmurs, sorry for the double posting)

I also got the blue eyelet skirt completely disassembled and had an accompanying "aha" moment.  You see the skirt, as it is now, is too long by a couple of inches.  It ends at mid calf which is not a flattering length.  But I didn't remember it always being that unflattering.   So when I looked back at the original post, in September 2007, I saw that the skirt was slightly below my knee, but not as long as it is now.  It didn't grow so what happened? And no, the skirt is not sitting below my waist now, nor was it sitting above my waist then.

Hips.  The problem is in the hips, and perhaps in the backside as well.  When I first started loosing weight I lost it mostly through the middle, through the tummy and waist, and that pesky full hip measurement did not budge one iota.  Now I'm not complaining about losing the middle,  but I got in the habit of altering my skirts by taking in the waist and upper hips, but leaving the fullness at the hip.  Well as fabric goes out to accommodate bulk, it draws the length up.  Apparently somewhere along the line, my hips started getting smaller too, and I didn't really notice this.   The extra fabric that used to go out over the hips now hangs straight down, making the skirt longer.  Hence the need for complete disassembly.   The final skirt is going to look much like the original, but I need to recut it, removing three inches of length from the waistline.  I'm sure there will be some other reworking to be done as well. 

I also spent some time cataloging and sorting patterns, both knitting and sewing, and finally working through the stacks of patterns and magazines, and piles of clothing and sweaters that I want to refashion.  Now that  I feel I am taking control again, I feel the pressure lifting and a bit of that ability to just play coming back.

Stash Building

 I ordered some fabric.  

And somehow it struck me that I stopped buying fabric somewhere along the way.  Perhaps it was the beginning of the fabric closet reorganization, in which I suddenly didn't need or want any more.  Or perhaps it was something else.   I am inclined to think I saw all these wonderful things I have, each filled with potential that I want to explore and I realized I had enough.

That is until I received some swatches from Michael last week.  They weren't the first swatches from Michael, or from anyone else, but somehow this was the first fabric that tempted me since last April.  

 I don't have specific plans for these so they are just potential.  I do have ideas, but they are not at the top of my list.  I have no regrets even though I will admit that when I was sorting through the fabric closet I thought I had far too many bouclés and tweeds and fabrics with color and texture and not enough basic things. 

 And yet here I am buying more of the same.  Temptation calls.  I was perhaps feeling a little weak and overwhelmed and engaged in a little retail therapy.  I have no regrets.

There will also be a few other pieces coming, pieces for which I have specific plans, plans I hope to execute soon.  Oddly enough, despite having a closet full of fabric there seems to always be some lack.  I shall share with you upon arrival and hopefully creation.  It would be nice if execution immediately follows arrival, but then that may be asking a bit much.