Sewing, knitting, crocheting, TIVO, and Netflix

My attention span is short, so my new plan for my days may not last for more than a few weeks. It's this: Sew in the morning (sew anything!) and then either knit or crochet in the afternoon and evening - maybe both. The idea is several-fold - use up my fabric stash (it's considerable, although I've seen worse), learn something new, accomplish something with my days, and continue to finish old projects. I have a little yarn stash, but it's not really large. The stash to use up is my fabric stash.

As for the yarn, I gave away a couple boxes of yarn a couple years ago - most of the acrylic stuff. Most of what I knit these days is fingering weight yarn that has a high wool content. Socks are most often on my needles, although I'm using my finger-weight sock yarn now to make a little mobious scarf, just as an experiment. This yarn is recycled from the unable-to-identify Fair Isle project which I ripped out a couple weeks ago.

There are several tricks to reducing my stash, at least for me. The biggest trick is to refrain from increasing it!

The best way to avoid increasing my stash is to stay out of the stores! If I don't get in my car, I have that battle mostly won. Getting in the car with Lauren is ok. He doesn't shop, so I don't have a problem when we go out together.

But even a small trip by myself is a temptation for me. For example, I drive myself to church because Lauren usually runs errands afterwards and I generally want to come home. Yesterday, after church, I decided to go to Michael's to browse with my 50%-off coupon, and I ended up with two skeins of yarn suitable for felting. Hmmmm.... But it was only two skeins, and they were on sale, and that's progress. Then I went to Walter Anderson's and came home with some new plants - three succulents, some bulbs, some mums to replace the cosmos which didn't survive the summer heat, and a few other plants. That was a little more than I meant to do. The whole idea was just to get a few succulents so I could play with a container garden over the winter.

I can't count my little trip yesterday as a total failure, though. The good news is that when I was at Michael's, I didn't walk next door to Joann's and browse (and purchase) any fabric. Ah, a little success means a lot.

Two weeks into my plan, and I've made some progress. I bought this black a couple months ago with the idea that it would make a nice light dress for Donna. It's always very warm to hot where they live, and light is a good thing. I ended up with enough fabric to make a dress for Erica, too.

I have no idea when I purchased the patterns. Patterns are priced ridiculously high these days, but I watch for the sales at $.99 to $1.99, which is much more reasonable, and I go through the catalogues and buy patterns that I think I might use some day. I really liked these patterns and was pleased at how they turned out. I like the dresses with no zippers. Zippers are such a pain - not to sew in, but to zip up the back when you're putting something on. The fabric was nice to work with - almost like a handkerchief.


These little bags, part of my sew-each-morning plan, are "green" - not green in color, but green in that they will replace the plastic bags we get from the grocery stores. The one on the left is in its box ready for the Philippines. D&T go to market a couple times a week, and this should be really good to carry their produce in.

The other two, #1 and #2, are for LDR. Why did I number them? Well, it just seemed that I'd like to know which one he loses first. Now isn't that terrible? Actually, I think once he's used these, he will like the idea a lot, and the numbers might be useful for him, too.

I will eventually make a couple for myself, too. They are great bags, made from heavy denim, and they will carry a whole stack of library books.

I modeled the bags after one I purchased for $10 on the McKinley Explorer when we were in Alaska this year. We were without our luggage for several days when we went to Prudhoe (not enough room to carry all of us, along with our luggage), and I really liked the idea of not having heavy things to carry in and out of hotels. But I needed something to stuff my loose things in (the miscellaneous stuff we had), and I found this heavy canvas bag in the shop on the train from Fairbanks to Denali. It was the smartest purchase I've made on a trip, I'm sure.

I was amazed that the bag cost only $10. I figure there's almost $10 worth of fabric in it. Of course, my bag is a little more decorative, but it should be just as sturdy. One of the great things about it is that the straps are just the right length to slip over one shoulder, and they are wide enough that they feel really comfortable even when the bags are loaded with heavy things like books! Another feature that I liked is the sturdy and roomy double-layered bottom.

The concept is simple.

• Take a 36" length of heavy fabric (I've had this denim and some other pieces in my garage storage box for years).
• Cut it to the width you want (somewhere around 20 inches).
• Pin a 12" double bottom on it (center the bottom on the center fold of the 36" length).
• Cut and sew two 42" straps, about 1-1/2" to 2" wide.
• Slip the straps between the double-bottom and pin. The straps make a U-shape.
• Cut and sew a rectangle pocket shape to slip between the straps on the front.
• Sew the bottom, the straps, and the pocket to the bag. Sew the straps to within about 2" from the top edges of the bag. The bag is still laying flat. The side seams are still open, so you are working with the 36" length.
• With wrong sides together, fold the bag in half so you have 6" of the double bottom on each side of the bottom.
• Tuck 1/2 of the bottom bold up inside the fabric, making an envelope type affair. You now have two bottom folds, and one fold (the tucked one) about 3" from the bottom.
• Sew the sides with the bottom tucked in.
• Turn, and sew a strip along the top.
• Done!

I figure I can do all kinds of decorative things with this pattern. On these bags, I machine embroidered the pockets.

I have more denim in the garage. When I saw it on sale, who knows how many years ago, I figured it would make great things that needed sturdy fabric. I had actually made camping pillow cases out of the fabric I used for Lauren's bags, but the fabric was too rough to be practical. Now I've remade them into something that is actually useful. That's a good feeling.

We'll see how long my attention span holds. I hope to get a few more of these made before I tire of them. Ah, resolve!

Somewhere along the line, I found my fingers reaching into my UFO (UnFinished Objects) basket, and I pulled out this afghan that I started some time ago for Mandi (I should learn to use her grown-up name, Amanda!).

The afghan is made of pale yellow rosettes crocheted together with pale cream yarn. The yarn is TLC, and it's a good thing I purchased all I thought I would need when I started it some years ago because I don't see it in stores now.

The pattern isn't difficult, but it's a little tedious because each complete rosette, when crocheted into the afghan itself, requires that I run in yarns at least four times. Multiply that by 16 rosettes for each row, and the numbers add up quickly. However, I find that TIVO is a great assistant. I have watched many, many TIVO'd movies from the Hallmark channel this past week, and the afghan is growing, growing, growing. This is my afternoon and sometimes evening project. I love the afghan. It's really beautiful and I think Mandi will like it when it's done.

TLC yarn is acrylic, but this particular yarn has a lovely weight to it and just drapes over you. It almost hugs you when you're resting. I was so glad to get it started again, and I will feel good about my UFO project basket when I have this one done. It's definitely a worth-while project on several levels.

In the meantime, I have decided not to put any more socks on needles until I've done a little knitting on other things. I got it into my head that I wanted to do a simple mobius scarf.

The pattern is pretty simple, and the discipline is good. It's just row after row of garter stitch (knit, turn, knit) with a little lace edging on each side. In the end, when this thing is about 42" long, I'll twist it and graft the ends together - and it will magically be a mobius! Cat Bordhi has a book out with what she calls a mobius cast on (I think it's her book about Magical Knitting), which I haven't seen and don't understand yet, but maybe trying her method will be next. Using the mobius cast on (MCO), there's no grafting to get the twist. You just knit it right in. We'll see. Trying her MCO method may be a project in the future, if ever at all. First, I just want to get my knitting fingers used to doing something besides socks. I have become way too sloppy and instruction inattentive (unattentive?).

So, what does Netflix have to do with all of this (subject line)?

With my little Netflix subscription, I can watch 9 hours of video online, in addition to my CD shipments. I've watched several videos, including one about John Tyndale (interesting, even if not award caliber, because I knew little about him). Much to my delight, I find that knitting and Jane Austin go wonderfully well together. I am now in the middle of watching Emma, a BBC series, if I remember correctly. Last month (ending September 12), I ran out of video time, so I haven't worked on the mobius since then. However, my billing cycle has renewed itself so that I have 9 new hours to watch. The mobius and Emma will be on again. That's great evening work, very satisfying and relaxing before bedtime.