Semi-Resolutions

December 31, 2006

Edited to add: This post threatened to rival War and Peace in length so I've decided to do it in two or more parts. This is part One. Who knows when part Two will be written...

Happy New Year, all!
The healthcare provider group that Mr. W. and I belong to is great. I mean, of course there are some things that aren't perfect, but for our needs I can't complain.

Much.

It seems like every time we go in, one of the first things we're told is, "Lose weight and stop smoking." I swear, if I went in with a rotary-cutter-induced arterial bleed, the first thing the ER doc would say is, "Lose weight and stop smoking." But when I/we indicate that we're ready to DO something about losing weight or stopping smoking, we get, "That's great! Sign up for this 12-week cla$$ and when you're done, we'll talk about diet plans or the patch or the gum..." (Stick with me, there's fiber here, not just babble) Well, if I'm ready NOW, why do I have to wait 12 weeks to start doing something about the problem? If it's such a big hurkin' deal, why isn't the doc jumping to give me the help I need right away?

True story: I had a killer case of bronchitis one year. Couldn't smoke anyway, so told the doc I wanted the patch to help me while I was already part way to quitting. His response? "Let's wait until you're feeling better to talk about it." Well, for crying out loud. By the time I was feeling better I had to start all over gathering my willpower. I didn't quit.

When I told a (different) doc about my frustration, she explained that they have much more success if patients go through a support group type experience as opposed to just passing out chemical aids.

Hmph.

I am not a support group kinda gal. Why would I want to spend 12 weeks of my life sitting around with other people who are just there to whine about how hard it is to change a lifestyle or kick an addiction (no offense to 12-steppers - apples and oranges). I already KNOW how hard it is. I don't need other people to help me find even more reasons that it's hard.

Now, here's the fiber part. I teach quilting. I knit (and have begun to teach, but that's probably just a fluke). I crochet. I love fondling fabric and yarn. A great sale on yarn will make all kinds of wanna-do projects just pop into my mind's eye, unbidden. So, I buy. I start things. I make samples for classes, samples for the pattern company.

Finishing is not one of my strong points.

What I end up with is a closet overflowing onto the shelves overflowing onto the floor -



all UFO's, or supplies to make those wanna-do projects and some more stuff just because it's so yummy.

So, my semi-resolutions for this year will focus on lightening the load. Stashbusters is a Yahoo! group that encourages you to use up your (mostly) quilting stash, only making allowances for purchases of the B's - batting, backing and binding - to turn your stash into quilts. A portion of this group participates in the UFO Challenge, intent on finishing those UFO's (you know, finished quilt tops and things that are cut out and/or partially finished).

I joined this Yahoo! group a few years back, and while I didn't "play" in the non-buying game, I did join in on the UFO Challenge for a year or two. And reading the posts about how someone was so proud of themselves for NOT buying fabric and seeing all of the links to projects that would USE UP their fabrics was pretty inspiring. I don't think I'll be terribly active in this group's challenges (again) this year, but I will continue to learn from, sympathise with and cheer on those who are participating. [Hmmm... apparently I was feeling preposition-deprived there for a sec...]

Semi-resolution #1:
Finish 10% of my quilting UFO's by June 1. (10%, I can assure you, is NOT a small amount in my case)

I tend to collect used denim. Mostly from popcorn jeans that have really had it, sometimes when Mr. W. gets a new pair of jeans. I can't bring myself to throw away such a large amount of almost-perfectly good and sturdy fabric. My storage box runneth over. {Maybe if I lost that 10 pounds I wouldn't have so many pairs of popcorn jeans. Of course, all or most of the poundage would need to come off of my inner thighs. Yeah, that's it. Any weight I lose will auto-magically just melt righ off of my thighs. Happens all the time, right?}

Semi-resolution #2:
Find a use for recycled denim and reduce the stash to fit in a smaller container than the one it's overflowing now.

My last resolution regarding quilting is this:

Semi-resolution #3:
Do not buy a suite of coordinating fabrics for a specific project in my brain, no matter how cool and inspiring the intended finished project might be. Remember that by the time I get to that cool project I will have completely forgotten what it was and why I was so thrilled in the first place.

Now, this one will need a caveat: If I am teaching or taking a class, or if I have a pattern drafted, semi-cut and/or partially sewn, I am allowed to buy fabric to COMPLETE said cool project. No fair starting from scratch, though.

Semi-Resolutions part Two will address yarn-ish stuff. What a shocker, eh?

Labels: quilting

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I Don't Wanna Stop

December 30, 2006

I love my Christmas tree. Don't want to take it down. Can't make me do it. Sure wish you all could see how pretty it really is!

There are white lights and blue lights (the blue ones twinkle). There are handmade white Moravian stars, blue foil origami bells, and clear glass balls stuffed with gold tinsel garland. The topper is a huge Moravian star sprinkled with gold glitter, and there's a gold and metallic blue loosely woven ribbon laying along the top of the tree.

And, thanks to Christmas Wish List dot net, I got all kinds of things that I'd been wanting. PLUS I got a couple of Visa gift cards so I can buy myself at least one of the things on the list that wasn't under the tree.

This was a VERY nice Christmas. Pretty low on the stress-o-meter (except for the dinner part... had some timing trouble), very high on the cool-gift-o-meter. With only a couple of exceptions, I've already used each gift I got. At no time did I think, "Oh. Well, it's the thought that counts." I am blessed.

Labels: babble

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What's the Rush?

December 29, 2006

I've been enjoying reading other bloggers' posts about their holidays - what they did, what went wrong, the old and new family traditions, the cool gifts they got and gave. This holiday season has provided quite a bit of blogging fodder in my brain, which may or may not all be coming to a screen near you.

I've been thinking that I need to rush, rush to get these fodder-thoughts written and published, since the hoiday season is coming to an end. Then I thought, "What's the rush? The observations I've made over the holidays will still be valid if I don't get them posted before December 31st. The gifts I got and gave, and the reactions, laughter and hugs will remain long after the 12th day of Christmas." Um. And so on. Maybe this is some profound change in my psyche. Maybe it's just a rationalization for not posting in a while. Either way, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So, for now I'll just share pics and stuff about the felted slippers I made for my mom.


Feel free to ooh and aah over the quilt they're on...






Yes, Virginia, owning a denim wardrobe is apparently a hereditary trait...


The pattern is from Lucia's suite of online pattern generators, using the ugly cute slipper pattern. These slippers were made on the ISM. They're self-lined, custom-fit and wonderfully satisfying.

Other details: I used about 1 skein of Paton's Classic Merino in "Denim" for the slippers. I had made a swatch first and felted it as much as it (the swatch) would shrink, then used the resulting row/stitch count to plug into the gauge fields in Lucia's generator. I needed to stick in a pair of shoe sizers (1.99 at Wally World, btw) to make sure that the slippers didn't shorten up as they were drying, but overall the sizing I got from the generator was pretty accurate. Oh, and I used a little bottle of dimensional fabric paint in denim blue to make some non-slip squiggles on the bottom of the slippers.

I did, as usual, modify the pattern a bit. I left off sections 1 and 6 (shown in the pic on Lucia's pattern page) to make the slippers more slip on-ish.

I think that when I make the next pair (and yes, there WILL be at least one other pair) I'll widen out the tip of the toe a bit. Other than that, I'm happy. Mom's happy.

And it isn't a HAT.

Labels: felting, knitting

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'Tis the Season Bag

December 18, 2006

Here's the project of the month from the Yahoo! Bag-A-Holics group. The pattern was written by Rachel and, though mine looks similar, I changed a bunch of stuff.



Now, as to why I changed those things I did, it had absolutely nothing to do with how the pattern was written. From what I can tell, Rachel did a fine job!

No, the reason I made changes had to do with my stash and my patience level. First off, I had some red Patons Classic Merino literally just sitting out on the kitchen island, waiting to be put away. Since I'm always loathe to put things away, that's what I grabbed for the body of the bag.

Well, if I was using 100% wool for the body (and part of the handles, too), I needed to continue with the same fiber to finish the handles. Fortunately, I had some natural/off-white Patons. That was put away, but it isn't now...

Okay. Got the body and the handles covered. Now to find some eyelash yarn for the band and pom-pom. Oops. Nothing in my stash that qualified. Ding-dang-darnit, need to make a trip to Michael's. Unfortunately, the white Fun Fur was TOO white. The "champagne" Fun Fur was too BROWN. What's this I spy? Some Patons "Divine" in Icicle White. Perfect match with the wool. (Well, whaddaya know - same manufacturer. Coincidence? Sometimes I'm not so quick on the uptake)

After gathering all the materials - okay, true confession here: Of course I didn't wait until I had everything before jumping right in and starting to knit! - the body of the purse was knit, plus the i-cords for the handles (304 rows for each of the three cords - yay ISM!). Wait. I live in the Pacific Northwest. It rains. This is wool. Better give it a short trip through the washer to partially felt it, since that's what will happen eventually anyway!

Now I have a partially felted bag and handles (did the i-cords separately then braided them afterward). Since I wasn't able to follow the pattern's instructions which said to knit the eyelash yarn first then attach the red... psst! that's because I knitted the bag before getting the trim, remember? I needed to figure out what to do with the fluffy band.

Out comes my Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches . I know that somewhere I've seen a loopy stitch. Turns out it was in the Crochet Section. I changed that, too. The instructions call for making the loop (on the WS) on one row, then turning the work and doing a single row of SC, then a loop row again. That wasn't making it fluffy enough, so I figured out how to loop on both the WS and the RS (which, though that sounds weird, puts all the loops on the same side).

Made a 22-stitch-wide band, which I attached at the top of the bag with one row of loop stitch. After that, since I was in crochet mode, I crocheted a (hollow) ball, again using the loop stitch. Both the band and the pom-pom are attached "temporarily" because, yessirree - I have A Plan.

I lined only the rectangle-ish part of the bag (the pointy part is empty). After the holidays have passed, I can remove the white fluffy stuff, add a flap and a button and fold up the pointy part to meet the flap and voila! A rectangular, artsy-fartsy small bag to carry throughout the rest of the year!

I actually sewed the handles on with dental floss, so in theory I could remove and replace those, too. Wow! What genius! I wonder if I'll actually do any of that? Stay tuned, I guess!

Labels: felting, knitting

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Adventures In Felting, Part Whatever

December 16, 2006

In my ongoing search for the Felted Hat That Fits ME, I had the bright idea to take the Fiber Trends hat pattern and modify it. You see, I wasn't enamored of the purl rows at the edge of the brim. I wasn't able to make a large-brimmed version and keep the brim from being too floppy. I wasn't able to get a felted-to-death hat that was large enough for my head, even using the "Large" size instructions (do I have a big head? or is it just big hair?). I wasn't able to create a hat whose crown wasn't too tall (okay, so I have a big, FLAT head?).

So, I took the pattern and cut out some of the "knit X rows even" spots to make the brim a little less wide (but not the small brim version) and to make the crown less tall.

Here's what I got:


Wait. It's black, maybe you can't see the whole design element:


Er.

You know, I thought that it looked a bit like a doily when I tossed it in the washer.

So, what to do? I could cut it up and make java jackets, I suppose. Wait! I just spent a morning making Christmas earrings for J, Mom and myself. How about a display-carry thing?


Why, I can see an edging, closure and handle in the future for this baby (though I haven't thought as far as protecting the wires sticking out of the back yet).


Okay, it ain't sexy. It probably ain't even all that functional. But work with me here, I'm running into so many hat failures that I'm having to be inventive to use up the (fruit-fly laden, spoiled, gooey and smelly) fruits of my labors.

Labels: felting, knitting

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Quilting Update

December 01, 2006

I keep thinking, "I'll write a blog post as soon as the dust settles." Problem is, I can't identify the reason that I think it's dusty (metaphorically, of course. In the literal sense, I know exactly why it's dusty).

Here's a bunch of Not-Made-By-Me quilts from some recent PETaL Patterns:

This is a bordered version Treasure Boxes, made by L:

A graphic Tulip Chase, by L:

A seasonal Dream Stars by L (as a shop sample):

Large Dream Posies, by my most revered pattern tester, JB:

And another Dream Posies by JB, before she read the directions completely!


Did I already show you this? The Star Chase Tablerunner, also by JB:


And remember the Messenger Bags? Here's one done by one of the Vancouver ladies:

I'm still waiting to hear how Otter's doing on hers. Maybe more pictures to come?

And here's a Tulip Chase, by the same Vancouver quilter:


A Dream Posies wallhanging size, from another L (there are a lot of them in my world right now):

Labels: quilting

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