bekka

clearing out wips & spreading knitting virus

Getting through next week will be a miracle. We're leaving for Florida on the 28th. I'm envious of those bloggers who spend their time away from work at exotic locales like Scotland, Cape Breton, and all points West Coast. Just seems like there's no place all that exciting in the southeast.

Florida. Again. Ho hum. But really, other than the price of gasoline, it'll be an affordable trip. And honestly, I enjoy any traveling we do; there's always something new to explore. We're staying at Daytona Beach Shores, just south of DB, with Ian's parents, who we invited along. It is their time share, after all, but we truly enjoy their company.

I look forward to getting away, taking in sand and surf, swimming a bit, knitting a bit, reading a lot, and playing cards with the ILs. Oh, and possibly sleeping late and taking random naps throughout the day. Probably won't do our usual exploration of lighthouses. Doubt I can make it up and down one safely with my expanding girth and swollen ankles and feet. Ian kidded me the other night about staying up so late. He asked if I was priming myself for staying up longer to accommodate those lengthy bouts of game playing with his parents. Mostly, I've been reading mysteries late into the night, way past my preggy-enforced bedtime of 10 o'clock. Not sleeping so well anyway.

Really gonna try to knit some this trip. Looked through my Ravelry queue to figure out what to take and what to finish up so I can then move on to the more baby-oriented items for my own dear little one-to-be. I'll finish this new cardi, for sure, Mick's Placket neck sweater, this carrying bag, and the Clementine shawlette. That may do me.

Scoped out wireless options in Daytona and it looks like Panera, Starbucks, and B&N. Eh. Will strive to be a good blogger and keep the content coming. There is a yarn store nearby in Ormond Beach, Threads of Time. Went there last time was in the area and bought a few skeins. But wasn't overwhelmed. Anymore, it seems like it takes a lot to whelm me when it comes to yarn store. Must be jaded. Sigh. Used to be I'd appreciate anything. But my trip to Hobby Lobby the other day left me wondering why people love those fuzzy novelty yarns. I'll always choose simple, standard yarns.

Last night I taught Rebekah to knit. She took to it like a horse does carrots. Real natural like. I left the needles and ball of yarn with her, told her she could make a coaster and I'd teach her to bind off next Thursday. And she evinced curiosity for how someone ever decided that using two sticks and some yarn in this manner would result in a piece of cloth. Completely a thought I've had on many occasions. I mentioned books about knitting history she could read and something about seamen and net repair, but that was all I knew. Looks like evidence of knitting may have occurred in the 11th century, but wouldn't it extend back to cavewomen time?  Jim encouraged Laura and I to meet with Traci and several of the young women who work at his farm on a regular basis to share our love of knitting, sewing, quilting, and craft. Besides my knitting bag I brought pizza, a drink, and pie. Didn't leave with any of it. Pretty gratifying.

I knitted a few rounds on the Placket neck sweater, but didn't want to do too much since I can't remember what size I'm making, whether I've lost a stitch marker, and exactly how much more to knit lengthwise before changing instructions. And, I got Laura started on knitting socks on two circular needles. When she bought the yarn and needles from our LYSO, LYSO looked sort of incredulous when Laura told her I was teaching her to make socks. Laura thought it was not so much that LYSO doubted my skill level and teaching abilities, but maybe thought Laura wasn't quite advanced for that. And Laura bought the Susan Bates circular needles. LYSO said that she'd be back for the pricier Addis for her next pair of socks. Those SB needles were trickier to use.

The yarn didn't glide from the tube to the needles smoothly. Had to shove several stitches along to where they needed to be. But I have a few pairs of Susan Bates myself. Before I knew how to knit I bought two or three sets of them. Don't use them much, but have in a pinch, and they're okay, just not as smooth and sexy as Addis. Actually, two of my current projects I'm knitting on bamboo circulars, so see, old knitters devoted to Addis can adapt and knit on bamboo after all!

She wanted to make man socks from Closely Knit, which I gave her for her birthday. She asked for sock yarn at LYSO, but didn't have her book/pattern with her. And so LYSO gave her sock yarn, but to follow the man socks pattern, she really needed a worsted weight yarn. I started her on knitting a gauge swatch and she grumped about that. Don't we all, in the beginning? It's such a standard part of my knitting anymore that I don't begrudge its necessity. Determined her gauge and then after a few quick calculations, I told her to cast on 80 stitches and then we began. Fettig's Man socks are ribbed, and Laura didn't understand that part, so I told her to just knit in the round completely, that she didn't have to make them ribbed. Totally think that she finds the concept of knitting in the round especially groovy. It's my preferred style of knitting.

Next Thursday will be the "official" first time our group meets. Rebekah already wants to make a quilt completely by hand. So Traci and I are bringing our quilting books so that Rebekah can decide which pattern to make. Laura promised to pick up some orange and white yarn for Rebekah because they thought she should knit an aluminum can coozie for her boyfriend's upcoming 21st birthday. Brian, Traci's fiance, watched us, almost hungrily, I might say, and I offered to teach him to knit, but he declined and said that his mom taught him to crochet when he was younger.

a quilting we will go

Hands down, my favorite quilt pattern is log cabin. I dug out a few squares I made at least ten years ago in my first quilting class ever. Still haven't completed the project. Think I have two more squares, if I can find them, and then perhaps, I can revamp/refashion those into something snazzy. Yet I have an appreciation for all sorts of patterns like fans,  sweet simple nine patch, crazy quilts, Georgia rattlesnake, double wedding ring, grandma's garden, dresden plate, shoofly, the lively pinwheel pattern, yo-yos, maple leaf, and cathedral window. 

But Jacquie's tutorial made log cabin seem a bit more doable, within my grasp, and on my own. Let me tell you, that class I took ten years ago? Oh, I'm sure that I tried my teacher's patience. There was lots of action on my behalf with the seam ripper. What was so unusual about the class is that I was the only one, besides the teacher, who spoke English as her native language. There were 3 or 4 other women, all whose spouses worked for Siemens, and so one was from France, another from Holland, and perhaps the other two from Germany. But anyway, Jacquie's tutorial eases my mind because it contains lots of great photos, tips, and step-by-step explanations. And so, somewhere down the line, I'll try another log cabin project.

Gag, this seasonal table runner has me down a bit. Seems like I'll never get it finished. I worked on another flying goose strip Friday night. So maybe that is 2 I've completed? Out of a dozen? At that rate, it will take me another two weeks just to finish that phase of the project. But, I've learned something about paper piecing process and what works best for me. 

The way Linda taught us to approach the work reminds me a great deal of scientific management, or Taylorism. One of the tenets of Taylorism is developing a "science" for every job/project that includes regimented steps in the process. When Taylor went into a factory, he broke down a task and looked for the most efficient way to improve it.

So with the paper piecing method Linda teaches, it's very mechanized. You do the same step 8-12 times, or however many pieces you have to sew together. You fold your paper, trim the edges, match fabric to fabric and then stack the paper pieces one atop another. Once you've completed that step, you take your stack and run them through the sewing machine one by one by one. Then you slip the threads between each of those pieces and take them to the iron and iron your pieces the proper way.

I tried to love this method, but I do better with a bit more instant gratification.  I fiddled around with Linda's process and decided what worked best for me was not her method. I work on one piece at a time. Fold the paper, trim the fabric, sew it together, and then iron those pieces. Then on to the next step on that particular paper piece. In the end, I have one completed section rather than twelve pieces that still require a lot of work. It works better for me that way. I feel more productive, I guess. Or more satisfied.

Last night our quilting class met, and it whips me every time. I'm exhausted by 9 when I'm pulling together my notions and rotary cutter to go home. So instead of toiling away on my geese, Linda showed me how to put together that third, and last bit for the runner.  And there were only two pieces, which I completed in class, hooray. Now just those geese to finish up. Diane had much of her sections sewn together and so Laura and I watched as her runner reached completion. Linda showed Diane how to cut strips on the bias for its binding, and I'm sure Diane selected a backing, too.

Laura and I are supposed to call Linda in a few weeks, or maybe two months or so, when we're ready to assemble everything. And by the way, I told Linda how I'd shucked off the process for paper piecing that she showed us in class and she smiled and said something to the effect that eventually I'd return to the method which she showed us. Just don't know. I'm still skeptical.

Took a while for me to get Laura's loaner (my circa 1980-something Singer) working. Winding its bobbin always winds me up. But the problem last night was that the bobbin I tried was defective. Ugh. Was upset with the machine at first because it's the first time I've used it since retrieving it from the service man. So glad to finally get it working for Laura though.

Seriously though, quilting and sewing really appeals to me at this point in my life, much more so than does knitting, and I cannot understand it. Maybe it's that I've got a languishing knitting project that I've had several problems with. Now that I've developed the negative association with the project, I don't ever want to work on it again for fear that I'll encounter more problems. Does that ever happen to you? I know, I should buck up and not let those possibilities inform my knitting so much. Perhaps I can motivate myself to get my mind right and enter a phase of No Fear Knitting!

The other issue I'm dealing with at this point is my back. It aches almost everyday. That's not conducive to any type of creativity, unfortunately. All I want to do is recline and read. Getting lots of reading done, that's for sure, but my other projects are rather wasting away.

And, I'm seriously contemplating yet another quilting project. As I mentioned in a prior post, Quiltfest is next month. Linda had samples of the quilts/projects that each class would work on hanging in the shop. Diane is taking the Strips & Curves class, and the project sample is gorgeous, but I decided that choosing fabric for that would be beyond my ken. Besides that class, Linda suggested that two others would be good for beginning quilters: Big Tumble and Bamboo & Pinwheels.

not my den, but an idea of the color to complement w/project

There's a space in my den, on the wall that encases our fireplace's back, that sorely needs something hanging there. The color is called Jalapeno or maybe Hot Pepper. At the Glidden site I found Hot Pepper, but it looks a lot more yellow and brown than the color on my wall. I've never hanged anything there because when we use the fireplace, maybe 2-4 times each winter, that wall gets quite hot. My concern is that whatever hangs there could ignite and fry us in our beds. Simply removing the item while we've got a fire going seems like the best solution. Anyway, I think that the project I begin during Quiltfest will be the one to hang on this wall.

Big Tumble, lovely as it is, has a distinct Optic effect. Reminds me of Qbert in the days that I spent the whole of my $5 weekly allowance at the Gold Mine, our Mall's arcade. And the thing about Bamboo & Pinwheels is this: You get two quilts for the price and effort of one. You stack and sew and the pieces you use in the quilt/wall hanging come together. But then your remainders are also sewn together into a throw, or another wall hanging if you so desire. Seems like a good deal to me.

Now it comes down to color choices, and of course, signing up for the class. You chose dark, medium, and light tones in your fabric/patterns. I'm thinking brown, orange, and yellow or blue. Just don't know which will please me and suit my room. And the sample is made with Asian-inspired fabrics, but I probably won't do that, either.

got geese, er one goose strip

Whew. Finally learned how to make the second part of my seasonal table runner, the flying geese aspect, last night. Finished up my spikes a few weeks ago. Four will be sewn together to form the center of the runner, actually three vertical centers. And then flying geese will enclose, or fly around the spikes. And then there's one last part to piece before I start sewing it all together and then finishing this runner up. I'm not certain I love my color choices and even wonder if every time I use this table runner whether I'll cringe at my extremely bad taste. At least I got to use some of the green. I'm so tired of the black and peach, or almost-peach, whatever this putty-like color is.

Surely I'll find time this week to make the other dozen or so rows of flying geese. Surely. That's my goal. Don't have anything planned any evening this week, and so it is doable. That is, if I'm not feeling lazy and decide to knit by the television. I know, how ironic is that? My last baby post was very anti-tv and here I am talking about knitting via tv. Maybe instead I'll turn on XM and listen to BBC for a few hours, remain true to my values and all. Or, better yet, I can convince Laura to let me teach her how to start her flying geese and we can work on the project together and I can hear all about her fascinating trip to Amish country, Ohio.

I'm actually pretty stupid when it comes to putting together projects. If not for Linda, there is absolutely no way that I could follow the pages and pages of dense instructions included in my pattern. Read a blog entry the other day at Sew Mama Sew about how people approach patterns differently depending upon their learning orientation. I have no idea what my learning orientation is. When I taught myself to knit via a book, my techniques were corrected by my LYSO the first class I took with her. I wasn't knitting exactly right. Was twisting a stitch, or something. So really, I work best when someone sits down and shows me how to make something in real time, in person.

Normally, I love to read, so being a Print-Oriented Learner is most natural to me, but that's when I'm reading for information, only. My approach to putting together furniture or anything that arrives with instructions is to disregard those from the start, examine the parts, nuts, and bolts, and try until I get it right. That falls into the Tactile-Kinesthetic Learners category, the last on the page that Kristin mentions.

Last night at quilting class, I learned a fair amount from watching Linda teach another class that met at the same time as ours. When she has really slow learners, such as me, she keeps letting them come in to class, so oftentimes one class overlaps another. Two women were finishing up a wall hanging and another was basting the layers together in a different Judi Niemeyer quilt. So now that I've almost got the hang of this paper piecing down, dare I contemplate trying another of her quilts? Tennessee Quilts offered a Japanese Fan class last year, and I so wanted to take that, and make that, but I didn't. It's probably my favorite JN pattern of all.

Basically I learned that I'm going about my quiltmaking the wrong way. When you plan on handquilting, you're supposed to baste the layers together instead of pinning with safety pins because attaching your hoop to the layers is made more difficult by closely placed safety pins. When machine quilting, safety pins are the best choice because you can navigate around them easier.

I half-listened as Linda told the Diane and Betty how to finish up their wall quilts. She suggested making your own binding from your fabric. And then showed them how to do that. I didn't listen closely to mitering their corners, because I'm good with that already. But she did say something about sewing the binding together at 45 degree angles to make the binding. I didn't watch, but feel I could probably replicate that on my own.

The non-quilting conversation was interesting. Betty just returned from Taiwan where she accompanied her daughter on her quest to adopt a toddler boy. She loved Taiwan, said that the Taiwanese were delightful, happy, helpful people. There was a 6.0 earthquake while they were there. Her daughter turned to Taiwan because their endeavors to adopt in China ground to a standstill when she was told it would be another eight years before there would be a child available for her to adopt. I count my blessings everyday that I was able to conceive. The extreme expense of adoption made that an impossible option for us. We we lucky.

So my method of binding is to make the backing an inch or two larger than the top. Then I fold it over twice and then sew it to the top. But, I know that's not the "right" way to do it. Linda uses her rotary cutter and squares up everything before trimming away the excess.

Another thing I've mentioned before is that Linda uses the green Papermate felt tip pen to mark her quilting patterns. But I didn't realize that you marked before you basted or pinned. Duh. Oh well. Linda said that if you use chalk to mark your quilt top that the humidity here causes it to evaporate too quickly. And, that if you want that antiqued crinkly look to your quilt after washing it, you should use cotton batting which will shrink, thus causing that effect.

What else? Oh, I asked her about pre-washing and drying before cutting and piecing your quilt together because that's one of the requirements for this Doll Quilt Swap 4 that I'm doing; already know my partner's name and blog, and I'm seriously considering exploring this flying geese pattern to the hilt on her, unless I discover that she'd absolutely hate that. Linda usually doesn't pre-wash if the quilt is an arty one to be displayed on a wall. But if it'll be washed and used often, she pre-washes. She said that normally you don't have any problems with batiks since they're sun-dried and have the wax treatment on the surface as well. But there was this one time that a customer used a red batik and when they went to soak the quilt to remove the markings, it bled horribly. Linda chalked it up to an inferior batik fabric that she no longer carries in her store, but eventually, they were able to get most of the red smears out of the quilt, though Helen (I think was her name) said that there were still a few subtle spots.

Spending all this time around quilts and quiltmakers makes me want to take a class or two during Quiltfest. My gosh, I have no idea how long it's been going on, at least 10, maybe 20 years? From time to time I take note of it, but have never taken any classes. One offered this year is the Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag.  Another I'm sort of interested in is the Civil War Sampler. I'm sure I'd enjoy any one that I took. And would no doubt learn scads of new skills, but how to choose? Silly me, I asked Linda about whether they had the classes at different venues around Jonesborough and she kind of laughed and said they had not done it that way in years. The event actually takes place in JC, my town, at Millennium Centre. They've booked ten big rooms to hold classes in. It's sad the festival is no longer in Jonesborough. It's so quaint and the cafes are yummier than anything nearby in JC.

sucker for swaps

Can't recall the last swap I made. Sort of wrote them off for a while. Not so much bad experiences, but just grew tired of having lots of deadlines and keeping it all orderly and in the correct compartment in my mind. In the next 2 or 3 months I'm doing Doll Quilt Swap 4. I participated in round 2, I believe. And I keep coming across the most amazing quilts that participants make and send to their partners. Wowie. I want a piece of that action.

Then there's Kelly's Favorite Things Swap, where you choose at least three objects that you love, or just like, to send to your partner. What I like about this one is that it can be as much time and effort as I have at the moment, you know? Can be store-bought or handmade goodies.

And the one I'm super excited about is the Bend-the-rules-sewing swap. I missed Round one, which was the Pleated Beauty Bag from the eponymous book. But Round two is Place Mat & Napkin Set.

Mostly what I love about swaps is doing the detective work, especially if it's a secret swap. Blog-stalking and anonymous comments and getting to know my partners likes and dislikes. I'm ready for a bunch of that. Cause once baby comes in November, well, I may be out of the swapping loop for some time. And  the worst thing about baby's arrival is that it's smack dab in the middle of my favorite swap all year, the Holiday Ornament Swap. Sigh. What to do? Last year sign ups ended on 9 November and groups were assigned by 12 November, so maybe, possibly, I can make ornaments and send them off before my 20 November due date? Just don't know. Don't want to over-extend myself.

baby steps to quilting for baby

Finally got off my expanding arse (watched Notting Hill a few nights ago, got arse on the brain) and popped into baby's intended room/sewing room to look through fabric stash in closet for an appropriate backing for the quilt I'm making for baby. Settled on this lovely orangy-dotty thing. Really loved it when I bought it; still do. Maybe have a half a yard left after cutting off what I needed for backing. I hate it when fabric manufacturers don't identify themselves on the selvedge; Robert Kauffman always does. Because now I'm sad that I won't ever find any more of this fabric. My memory of buying it is gone, so anywhere within the last 10 to 15 years I found it and made it mine.

After adequately sandwiching quilt top, batting, and backing--and that was more difficult than you might think given the batting's exceptionally clingy character--I attached those layers together with about 8 or 10 safety pins I managed to round up. And I used to have scads. Somehow they're missing. Disappeared into that same universe as the extra dryer sock.

better perspective of how backing complements quilt top

It's stable enough, but later today I'll buy a 50-pack of safety pins and secure the rest of the three layers so that I won't worry when getting down to the real thing, the dicey, the daunting, the hand quilting. And I may get down to that dirty business tonight. I call it dirty, but really, is it? Most hand-quilting I've done was minimal, consisting of smaller-than-normal quilt squares prepped while teaching school children the rudiments of the art while dressed as a person from the 18th century; but at least I spoke modern English.

quilting queue

Naturally, being surrounded by fabric took its toll on me. But I ended up only buying almost 8 yards of plain white fabric at Tennessee Quilts Monday. See, I have this appliqué project in mind and I need a lot of plain white fabric on which to appliqué my design.

I have lots of red fabrics, and green fabrics, and my design only includes green and red. While I'm mostly set with what is already in my fabric stash, I found a few other reds that I liked and a yellow, that has nothing to do with this long-term appliqué project, that I had to have. Yellow is one of my least favorite colors. It surprises me when I cannot say no to it.

This aqua and red plaid-like fabric at the bottom of the stack will be the quilt's sashing. I'm sure I bought enough. At least, I hope I bought enough. Maybe come pay day I'll return to the shop and buy the rest of the bolt. No reason to let anybody else have it, right?

Also couldn't resist an intermediate quilting book called I Can't Believe I'm Quilting: Beyond the Basics by Pat Sloan. I grabbed it because the projects were so beautiful. I want to make most of them:

This one

and this one

and this one, too.

what i learned at the quilt shop

Linda is a wealth of knowledge. She's teaching Laura and me (and two other women called Diane and Lori) how to make this Seasonal Table Runner. Really, all the women who work there have so much knowledge to share. There's a lot that comes through in class, like when she reminded me the best way to use my rotary cutter. But most of the information I learned I got by asking specific questions.

Like, I asked Linda if she had any trouble with shoplifting at the store and she said not really. Then she went on to explain how one time she found an empty bolt and suspected that someone pulled the fabric off the bolt and tucked it into her (surely it wasn't a he?) pants or waistband of her skirt. Who'd steal 7 or 8 years of fabric. What kind of story would that be? Shocking, no doubt.

They only go to quilt market once a year. Of late, every other quilting blog shared fabulous photos of quilt market booths. I have such market envy. I want to go to quilt market and yarn market, and most of all, that national stationary show.

Another thing Linda shared with me was this: The best way to mark your pattern for quilting is with a green Flair Papermate felt-tipped pen. She said when you put it in the wash, that you may think that the green ink won't come out, but it will. Linda admitted that chalks come off too easy, especially if getting around to quilting those outer corners may take a bit of time. And other markings fade, like pencil. I planned to use a pencil to mark my quilting patterns on the baby quilt I'm making, but may try her suggestion instead. Linda used the green felt pen on a quilt that it took her ten years to complete. So you can see that some kind of permanence was imperative to her task.

Then yesterday, Memorial Day, Linda was not there, but several of the other women working in the shop popped upstairs intermittently to cut fabric at the extra table. Whooeee. Being surrounded by so much fabric and so many quilts and so many quilt kits was tough stuff. I want it all. And it's super easy to be inspired to do something else; to jump from project to project to project. And to buy yards and yards of fabric.

Laura and I quizzed them about their sewing machine preferences. Seems that most of the ladies at Tennessee Quilts prefer Pfaff. I've never used one. Laura is using one there and I think she likes it. When the needle slips down to sew the fabric you can barely hear it. I told her not to get too used to it. She's looking at buying an inexpensive machine in the $100-$300 range. I knew the Pfaff was pricey, but then the woman said the machine Laura uses cost about $1400, several years ago.

So for quilting, all those women like Pfaff. Another quilt store staff person admitted she owns five machines: A Kenmore, 2 singers, and 2 Pfaffs, because you need a different machine for different tasks. I told Laura I used a Bernina a few years ago at a purse making class I took in Asheville and was so impressed with it that I've lusted after one ever since. She asked what a Bernina was. All I told her was "It's Swiss-made." Then we likened Berninas and Pfaffs to the Mercedes of sewing machines and relegated my sweet little Singer some Ford Pinto status.

Hey now, I'm especially fond of Pintos. Both metal and mammal.

Surely my own "addiction" to gathering as many sewing machines into my bosom as possible is not so much an aberration after all, in light of this information from serious quilters. Sunday I added a Hilton to the fold. It's circa 1969, the first machine my mom owned; she was 16 and newly married. It's all metal; very heavy. I'm not to lift it. It's been in Mom's attic since the 1980s. She made dozens of baby through toddler through chubby pre-adolescent clothes for me with it. And sewed her own clothes, too, at least through the early 1970s. Don't know how she learned to sew, whether it was a home economics class, or from her mother. Seems like I remember my mom saying that if she went into something other than nursing that she thought being a home economics teacher would be right up her alley.

Part of my collecting of machines has to do with my acquisitive nature, but there is another reason. Jim asked Traci and me to teach a regular sewing/quilting class at the farm this summer. Traci and I still have the details to work out as far as projects, but we'll need all the extra machines we can get so that our girls don't have to wait around forever and ever to touch a machine. I may ask around work to see if anyone has any older sewing machines that I could borrow.

Silly, I know, but I feel like I'm down one from the get-go. Ian's mom loaned his first wife her sewing machine and when Ian and she divorced, she kept Barbara's machine. It should have passed on to me. I'd like to call and ask ex-wife to please return the machine, but that would be almost as tacky as she is. Little barb here and there at the ex-wife's expense is therapeutic, no?

spikes ahoy

An idea of how it will appear when sewn together
Finally finished those spikes, just the first of three sets of paper piecings I must complete before sewing them all together into the form of Seasonal Table Runner. Meant to work on them through the week. My class meets each Monday. From Monday to Monday I could, I should do my homework. I have not.

I've watched too much TV and it's all in the name of finishing that blasted baby carrying case I started knitting ages ago. Sorry, no photos; not until it's done, I suppose;l don't want to bore you with an amorphous-looking garter stitch project that is difficult to make heads or tails of. But I'm almost done with the drat thing. Have one of the front panels to complete. Then picking up stitches for the hood. Then sewing it all together. Hope to finish in a week or two. And I must say I'm very upset with that Debbie Bliss. This pattern is so frustrating. Just at one point, that is. Maybe I didn't read it well enough. I'll try to explain:

First you knit the back and then you cast on both sides for the sleeves. This carrying case is essentially knit in one piece, which is good. Once you come over the shoulders to the front and work on the chest/front pieces, you're to stop at 16 inches. Only, when I compared that to the length at the back it didn't match, so I kept on knitting, regardless of the 16 inches instruction. There was no differentiation between the 16 inches and the next step. Basically, you stop at 16 inches, leave your needles in there, and go back to the shoulder and begin knitting down the front on the other side. Once you reach 16 inches on that front side, you then join both front panels and knit the last 10 or so inches as one wide panel. If that makes sense.

In theory, I can unravel those inches on the first completed front panel and then do it the right way eventually. I just feel so put upon; lied to, almost. The directions just are not that clear. There should be more steps, more explanation to what I was supposed to do. Otherwise I'll have to mattress stitch up those last 10 inches and still have to find a suitable zipper. Not so sure I'm stoked about hand-sewing a zipper into my bag.

Right, so instead of working on quilting homework, I've been knitting, and watching movies. P.S. I Love You was much better than I expected. And Into the Wild, was a bit dreamy, a bit philosophical, but I liked it. I read the book soon after it was published; I'm always up for new books, mostly memoir, about Alaska. While watching the film I tried keeping in mind that while Alexander Supertramp was barely surviving outside Fairbanks, I was slinging frozen and fresh fish twelve-plus hours each day on a slime line in Sitka, AK. For many years I considered the year I spent in Alaska the best year ever. Now, I'm not so sure. The romanticism of it has faded. I'm in touch with very few people from that part of my life, so the memories fade, too. Still, I yearn for Alaska and dream of returning, someday. Silly to wish for retirement to Alaska, right? Since everyone else is headed south to Boca.

Anyway, I'm eager to start some other knitting project. Actually, I want to finish this and then solely concentrate on quilting. I'm hesitant to knit too many darling objects for my baby because figuring out whether she/he could wear this at that age and that time of year is rather mind boggling; too much planning ahead and guesstimating. I can't really do much with my table runner at this point because the next section are Flying Geese, and I want instruction from Linda, our teacher on this project, before proceeding with those. Last time I proceeded ahead, thinking I knew what I was doing, I ended up ripping out at least four of my spikes. Then when I appeared at Tennessee Quilts Monday morning I discovered Laura made the same mistake as did I the previous week. Luckily I was there to help her out. And now, she has all her spikes complete, too. So next Monday, or possibly this Saturday, I can get more help from Linda regarding those Flying Geese.

paper piecing pain

Monday night's quilting class was rough. I understood just enough of what our teacher explained to be dangerous. Rather, I understood the concepts, if not the exact techniques.

First, there was all this standing and cutting. Cutting through 10 and 12 layers of fabric and then cutting out paper quilt piecing pieces. Way too many p's. This could be a tongue twister.

We spent much of the evening cutting out pieces and only in the last ten or fifteen minutes of class did we haul out the sewing machines and begin sewing. Ahem, piecing. But even trying this so-called "gentle art" my back ached. I crawled into bed as soon as I arrived home.

This class, this project, is way more involved than I imagined. And I roped Laura into it. She's never used a sewing machine before in her life. I planned to loan her one of my Singers, but I took in the circa 1984 one to have it serviced, almost two weeks ago and the guy hasn't called me yet. That means that he hasn't gotten to mine yet. Ho hum. Luckily the shop had an extra machine that Laura could use. It was a Pfaff, and was pretty nice.

My circa 1997 Singer was the loudest machine going. Rat-a-tat-tat. Sounded like a machine gun. I was embarrassed to sew. Felt like I was working-class piece-sewing factory girl, even though those are my origins (fyi: Grandma, Aunt Donna, Aunt Ruthie, and even my Mom did stints as piece-work sewers at Industrial Garment of Erwin, Tn.),  toting in her industrial strength machine. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Just that everybody else's machines were super-subtle and quiet, which I think equates to high-end, expensive machines.  My complex surely lies in my librariaish nature: Quieter is better.

Anyway, the class was supposed to be just this one. Was I naive? Yup. Silly Rebecca thought we'd whip out that table runner in three hours. No way. No how. We stayed until about twenty of 10:00 p.m., believe it or not, just to make it through the rough stuff. I think our teacher was Linda. She said we'd meet at least two more times, possibly a third.

I'll need that help. I tried working on homework tonight and fear I fudged it up real good. I can always start over, with some close supervision and guidance. But ripping all that out, and cutting out more pieces. Sigh. I didn't have enough yardage for one, maybe two parts of the project anyway, and there were other women from the quilt shop who helped me select exact yardage I'd need according to my pattern.

So, lots of cutting. Come to think of it, the cutting was sort of fun. Then we set aside certain piles of fabric into specific plastic bags. That's another new technique I've learned. Is it a technique, or merely an organizational trick? Whatever it is, surely it foretells the difficulty ahead.

Linda said she'd be in Saturday that we could come in for help. Yup, I may very well do that, if the day is yucky and I can stand being inside.

I assured Laura that if she mastered this technique that doing normal quilts, like the simple square pieces in a square block that Traci showed us, would be a snap for her. I can't wait to finish this up so that maybe she and I can take on a really simple one like a Nine Patch or Picket Fence or some such.

spreading the joy...of knitting

Friday night I taught Laura to knit. She's my Saturday riding partner. Isn't it amazing how quickly you can become friends with someone if you have just one thing in common? We'd talked about having a knitting & baking night for several weeks and Friday was the night.

She has a cuisineart breadmaker that she received as a wedding present; she's still a newlywed at one year. And the only time she used the bread machine, her bread was a fiasco. Not certain she read the instructions. We started on making the bread straightaway, decided on Cinnamon Swirl and substituted dried blueberries for raisins.

Then she popped in Annie Hall, her Netflix selection, which neither of had seen, because of a lobster scene reference that a local band, Catbird Seat, threw out in their set a few weeks ago at a show we attended. Didn't watch Annie Hall. Even turned it off. Guess the 1977 cinematography was very ugly, distracting, even, from our beauteous knitting lesson. Then we popped in Namesake, my Netflix selection, and mostly ignored it, too. Because I was teaching her to knit.

Actually, to make a slip knot. I went really slow. And that she still didn't get it. Who knew that making a slip knot was such a chore? We spent twenty minutes, at least, on that. Finally, I decided to cast on a few for her and let her just play with knitting and not bother with the casting on. Also brought a set of clover straight needles and a set of Addis so she could decide which felt better in her hands.

When I taught Kellie to knit, I mistakenly gave her straight needles to use and she never got over the awkwardness of them in her hands. And to this day, I doubt she's ever finished that scarf we started. Laura picked the Addis. I brought several yarns and said she should choose between a scarf and a washcloth/dishcloth. She chose the latter and a variegated cotton yarn.

Occasionally there were breaks to go peek at the dough in her machine. There was a false start, too. Didn't have the bread container attached properly to the bottom and the dough wasn't moving. Wasn't being kneaded. Sigh. Had to unplug the machine from the wall a few times to get it back to start.

Mostly though, Laura's fingers didn't want to work in that way. She claims she never learned to play guitar because of her lack of dexterity; that's why she played baritone for all those years (in Virginia Tech's band, too! Go Hokies!). So by the time I left her house Friday night, my tummy filled with hot bread, I wasn't sure she'd take to knitting at all.

Then Saturday, after riding, we went to my LYS. Ostensibly to see our PCP, whom we learned we have in common, who is also an inveterate knitter, so that Laura might get a scrip for cough syrup. But anyway, she was amazed at the variety of yarn. And we looked at books. I took several over to her house for her to browse at her leisure the night before, but didn't have a good intro knitting book to share with her. I suggested Stitch n Bitch. Then I asked C., my LYSO which book she'd recommend, and she concurred with me about SNB. We both valued it highly for its reference abilities, plus there are "Edgy" patterns, there, too.

Then we went to lunch. Then Laura and I spent way too long at Tennessee Quilts, selecting fabric for our class on 12 May. Way too long. I've never had such trouble deciding which fabrics to use for a project. The ladies at TQ strongly urged us to select batiks for the Seasonal Table Runner that we're making. Apparently, having not ever worked with batik before, they're perfect for the quilting technique we'll learn because it doesn't matter which side you use.

Paper piecing. That's what we're learning. I'm sort of excited, sort of cautious/skeptical about it. And instead of Laura going out and buying a new machine, her first machine, on a whim, she's using one of mine. See, I'm such a bad influence on Laura. Getting her into knitting and quilting and who knows what all else. And causing her to spend money. What kind of new friend am I? Introducing her into this world of sewing and quilting and knitting and all. What a bad, bad influence. But, the best bad influence, right?

Later on Saturday after we parted ways I ended up stopping back by her house to retrieve my purse. And she made me come inside to see what she did. She taught herself the long-tail cast on method from the SNB book! I was so proud of her! Then the next day she texted me a photo of her progress. Her only complaint is that it takes so long to knit a row. She's knitting far too tightly. She asked if she was supposed to be in pain, and I told her no, not unless she'd been knitting for 6 or 8 hours. Had to tell her to relax, relax her shoulders, just like Jim does when we're riding.