A time to say goodbye.

I've tried to write this post a number of times this week and for some reason my subconscious has put up barriers each time.

Our friend Diane died this past Saturday after her battle against brain cancer left her too weak to continue to fight. She was at home and surrounded by her family and went peacefully into the arms of God.

Tonight there is a wake where friends and family can share stories of her life and how she touched us all. I'm sure there will be plenty of laughter along with the inevitable tears. It is still so hard to believe that her amazing smile and boisterous laughter are gone from this world forever.

Of course, as everyone has probably heard by now, there has been another senseless campus shooting. This time it was in my back yard so to speak. NIU is just a country drive away from us here in the Fox Valley. My prayers go out to everyone affected by this crime.

I'm feeling a little numb today. Hopefully by next week I will have some exciting news to share about My Eclectic Mess, the craft school and store.

Back Where It Belongs

In the midst of the Big Storm last Thursday, I got the call I'd been waiting for from Terry at The Viking Store. My serger was back from the repair center. Because it was storming and I still had two other places to take the girls that night, I decided to wait until Friday to go pick it up. MiniMe went with me and we also picked out more fabric and patterns. I still had quite a stack of fabric from the last time I let her go to Joann's with me but what harm is a little more?





I've completed two of the tops. The first one was the ivory and grey flannel tunic made with Simplicity 4111 I started it on Saturday morning and it was done in time for her to wear it to her Skit Night performance at the Middle School that evening. Actually it was done by 1pm so she could put it on before leaving for the final dress rehearsal that afternoon. I don't have a completed picture of it because she put it on, loved it, wore it and left the house. I didn't take my camera to the performance for some unknown reason and I haven't had a chance since. She did have it on again this morning so I guess this was a definite winner.

The second one was the Khalia Ali design, Simplicity 3697 made from a cotton knit jersey in olive green. I really liked the fabric but the pattern was a bit of a pain in the butt. I had to rip and redo the neck band two or three times and after messing around with where the bodice and the midriff yoke connected multiple times, I still wasn't happy with the end result. In addition it is also one of those styles/patterns that assumes that all plus-size women are also large busted. When MiniMe tried on the finished garment she voted it a solid no. She didn't like the clingy drapiness of the fabric and the neck-line bust fitting didn't work for her figure. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. I could probably tweak it some more and make it wearable for me. We'll see.

I have another cut of plaid cotton flannel that I intended to use Simplicity 3893, another Khalia Ali design. But seeing as it has similar lines as the last one, I'm assuming it will fit about the same. So I think I'll just use the same pattern that I used to make the winner.

Also in the pile is a really beautiful elastic ruched sheer fabric that we picked up right after the serger went into the shop for the first time. We envisioned a simple broomstick style skirt with an elastic waistband. It was on sale so I got 3 yards plus 3 yards of plain black polyester lining fabric. I started playing with it on Sunday and what I thought was going to be a quick two seam job has turned into a major Project Runway project. First of all 3 yards of already pre-gathered fabric is MORE than enough to make a simple skirt (this fabric is at least 60"wide but I couldn't decide in the store which way I wanted the ruching to go). I debated doubling the fashion fabric instead of lining it but that made it too bulky. Then I had issues with the elastic casing. So at this moment it is just draped over the back of the sofa where I left after ripping the casing seam out yesterday. I've been cogitating ideas for the last 24 hours and may have a solution soon.

One of the last two cuts of fabric are a patchwork cotton plaid intended to become Burda 7948. I have my reservations about the combination of the patchwork plaid and the pleats but I'll give it the old 4H effort and see what comes of it. It was cheap fabric so no harm done if it looks like ass.

The last cut of fabric is a deep purple crinkle taffeta that MiniMe fell in love with after Christmas and wanted a blouse or skirt or something out of. I thought we found a pattern (McCalls 5521) for it but yesterday that got vetoed. I think this pattern (burda 7849) may have possibilities. I just have to muster up the motivation to make it and sell it to MiniMe. (She did pick out the pattern but that means nothing, she picked out the pleated neckline tunic one too!)

It has been a long time since I've done a lot of garment sewing. I'm a big rusty in some areas but for the most part it's like riding a bike. I figured if I intended to start teaching other people how to do this I'd better hone my skills a little. I've never really learned true tailoring or draping but I think I have a pretty decent skill set for basic garment sewing as well as home dec and craft sewing. The true test of my skill will be seeing if I can take what I can do and translate into teaching someone else how to do it too. I think like many teachers, I'll end up learning as much if not more along the way as my students. At least I hope so.

What [strikeout]is[/strikeout] was on my needles

The other day I wanted to start a project that would be uber-easy, interesting, and use up some stash yarn.

I was inspired by the beautiful Brooklyn Tweed scarves being made at Wool & Co. knitters an thought maybe I had some Noro or similar in my stash that I could have a go at one with. But then during my search I found two hanks of Socks That Rock that Blogless Carla traded to me for sewing her rocker cushions last spring.



Monsoon and Rare Gems.

Then I saw this (Ravelry link) Sunday Market Shawl (free pattern link).

So in my usual contrary style, I decided to combine the two ideas and "make it my own" (tm Randy Jackson). I followed the basic pattern recipe of the Sunday Market Shawl but alternated the two colorways for a subtle stripe effect a la the Brooklyn Tweed/Chevron Scarf.

One caveat. I'm very impatient and at times have a strong need for instant gratification. So I couldn't wait until I had knit the entire thing to see what the effect would be after dropping the stitches that make the runs. So a few times as I was knitting I'd just go ahead and drop and run the stitches and then on the next row do YO in the appropriate places and continue on my way. I don't know that I'd recommend this method for everyone but it worked alright for me. There seems to be a slight wonkiness where I did this and I'm not sure if it will block out. But for a soft drapey scarf that will be wrapped around my neck at the collar of a coat, I don't think anyone will ever notice.

This was a very fast knit. I cast on Wednesday evening, worked on it some Thursday and during gymnastics practice while waiting out the STORM OF THE DECADE! (SOTD!) and then again last night while watching LOST. I settled in for a morning of knitting with Ozzy and the Supernatural Boys and finished up right about the time Sam & Dean were finishing off the Demon du Jour. I'll block it out later and try to remember to give a final report on finished dimensions and all that. Heck, I may even get generous and actually update my Ravelry profile and include it in there!

How to spend a snow day.

You know what they say about a picture and a thousand words.

Bathrobe.
Cuddly Kitty.
Knitting.
Perfect.