Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

I know this probably doesn't mean a lot to most of y'all, but....You Guys. YOU GUYS!!!!!

I can KNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See, I am a Knitter - knitting isn't a hobby, it's a lifestyle. Sounds weird, right? But.....for the past....20+ years, up until the Incident, I had a knitting project on me at all times (except sleeping and bathing, because that would be weird. :lol:) 20 minute wait at the restaurant? No problem - let me turn the heel of my sock. 3+ hour wait at the IRS (ugh) - Cool! I can get the leg finished! Hours upon hours upon HOURS at the Social Security office? Let me work on my never-ending sweater! (an aside - I don't see how there can be a lot of Disability scams - they were VERY thorough on Herself. Multiple meetings, plus 2 hours-long evaluations with their own doctors...it was tedious. And thorough. And something I never want to do again!)

The past year has been very difficult for me - my coping mechanism has been unavailable. I don't know how "normal" people cope with lines and long waits. Reading helped, but....I devour books. (3 250 page novels per DAY. Yes, it's a habit. Yes, I comprehend what I'm reading. I just...read very very fast. Always have.)

Yesterday, I ran out of books. :gasp: Herself has taken over the Studio so sewing is out for now.......and I couldn't play any video games because it was Family Battlefront 2 night. I looked at my knitting...and thought "what the heck - if it hurts, I stop."


It. Didn't. Hurt.

I knit for a solid 40 minutes before I got ouchy. 4 pattern repeats on the scarf that was supposed to be last year's present for Himself. I'm SLOW, but......knitting.

I am SO thankful, y'all. Slow is fine - I don't have to rehome my stash! (Seriously. I have......yarn. Enough that I probably don't have to buy any more for....almost the rest of my life (as long as I only knit socks or scarves. Sweaters...I'll have to buy, because I don't have any sweater amounts in my stash. :lol:)

Just wanted to share.....I can knit again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, more than 1, but I'll spare you the photos. Mostly. :lol:

I finally received my order of Irish Linen from Fabric Mart (it got lost; it went ALL over the Northwest US, almost to Canada 2x before finally realizing that Texas is not, in fact, Up North. :sigh: The first thing I did was sew up a new shirt for Himself, wherein I learned quite a few things:

1. Irish Shirt-weight Linen is, in fact, ultra fine, whisper-thin, and lovely. It takes a steam press perfectly, and is a joy to sew up - and wear.

2. Irish Shirt-weight Linen is, in fact, of the devil. It takes every chance it gets to wiggle off-grain - both before AND after cutting. I quickly came to the conclusion that perfection was over-rated. :bigger sigh:

3. Embroidering on Irish Shirt-weight Linen is.......well. It embroiders beautifully, it's just keeping the blasted fabric on-grain while trying to hoop up and actually embroider that is difficult. After a LOT of back-and-forthing with the designer of the project I'm about to show you, I ended up doing a metric butt-ton of pre-embroidery work.

a. Starching the ever-loving crap out of the entire yardage with HEAVY spray starch, and ironing it 2x, with heavy steam

b. Hooping with medium-weight cut-away stabilizer, AFTER using basting spray to secure it in place (normally, I use medium weight tear-away, and no spray.)

c. Praying. A lot. during the actual embroidery.

The results? Well.....take a look:



The back, before washing out the Crayola washable marker. If you sew and don't use these to mark your fabric, you are missing out. Nice, solid marks that wash out - usually the first wash. (Red/Pink and yellow seem to hang around a bit longer. The rest of the colors are gone. Ditto with Cray-Z Art washables, if you want to go cheap.)









See? No marks! :lol: (You can kinda get an idea of how I set up my files; I mark any seam lines/topstitch lines, then mark the center point of the design. For 2-sided bits, I try to have at least 1 mark go all the way across; on this design I couldn't, because I had to tilt the design to get the effect I was after. It's easier when the horizontal line is the same all the way across the piece.)

The design isn't perfect - the outline still wavered a bit, but it's a LOT better than my first go thru (a t-shirt made from the leftovers from Himself's shirt. Unfortunately, not only did the file not line up correctly, I misaligned the left and right sides of the collar, so it's......wonky. Perfectly wearable as a work shirt or sleep shirt, but.......not what I want to showcase here, y'know? :lol:

*This* is why I wanted an embroidery machine. Back when we did Ren Faires all the time, there was a vendor (House of Dra) that sold lovely embroidered pirates/mens/poets shirts......at a price I could NOT afford (a shirt like this? Would have run - in the 90's - about $175+. The "economy" shirts, with just a simple knot on either side of the neck slit, started out at $75.). I LOVED her stuff....but could't justify the cost. I can see *why* they were so pricey - it's not that easy (for me, anyway!) lining up all the different motifs - I can definitely see the appeal of a much more expensive machine, with a much larger hoop! I'll stick with my PE800, though - it does beautiful work!

I'm working on another shirt now - this one in lavender linen, with an Asian motif (cranes and lotus blossoms. the files are *gorgeous*!). Pics when it's done!

on craft stuff. I, um......got a bit busy in the Studio last week, and now have 3 new shirts. :whistles innocently:

Real quick: Loki is healing. He's still a bit ouch-y, but......we think he kinda likes the attention. Sometimes he'll walk normally, and jump on the couch and bed with no problems, other times he's limping and whining. Now, I've BTDT, so he could still be hurting, but....it's funny. I took him off his pain meds 2 days ago - I don't like giving too many, and I like to keep the extras on hand. (IF he were really hurting, he'd get meds. I'm not a horrible person! I just don't like the side effects.)

( Cut for friends...not quite as pic-heavy as last week, but still... )

I *have* been quite busy, and QUITE productive lately in the Studio. Buckle up - this post is VERY photo-heavy.

For the record, all fabric is from FabricMart, unless otherwise noted. What can I say - they have *awesome* fabric, at *fantastic* prices. Most of these came from the Swatch club......I can say that I have honestly gotten my money's worth from that!

Without further ado, let's do a cut! ( Just to save space - click for photos! )

Borrowed:
It's just a mask?
It's just two weeks.
It's just non-essential businesses.
It's just to keep from overwhelming the hospitals.
It's just until cases go down more.
It's just to keep others from being scared.
It's just for a few more weeks.
It's just communion or singing. You can still meet.
It's just until we get a vaccine.
It's just a few side effects.
It's just a bracelet.
It's just to let people know you're safe to be around.
It's just for the coronavirus vaccine.
It's just an app.
It's just to let others know who you've been in contact with.
It's just a few more months.
It’s just a video.
It’s just an email account.
It's just for protecting others from hate speech.
It's just a few people.
It's just a credit card company. You can use cash.
It's just a few places that don't take cash.
It's just a little chip.
It’s just for medical information and paying for things.
It’s just so you can travel.
It’s just so you can get your driver’s license.
It’s just so you can vote.
It's just for a few more years.
It's just a statue.
It's just a building.
It's just a song.
It’s just a piece of paper.
It's just a flag.
It's just a piece of cloth.
It's not just a piece of cloth.
It's not just a mask.
#boilingthefrog

and HOT!

So. A couple of weeks ago, Himself and I were out walking. I saw a pile of something on the side of the road - we have a lot of illegal dumpers out here - so we slowed down to take a look. It was a pile of granite cut-offs; they were about 1/2" thick, and there were a TON of them. I took a pic and texted it to the husband with the caption "I can use these as a path?"

He called and said "Yes. We'll pick them up when I get home."

Turns out, there was enough there to fill the truck bed up to about the half-way point. :blink:

Two days later, he stopped at the local new construction home division, and got permission to clear out some of the brick debris pile........despite being photographed and reported by a resident, we came home with 2 truck loads of broken brick and Austin stone. I mean, I GET it, we were picking up bricks...but I deliberately wore my loudest and brightest tie-dyed shirt, we were gathering them IN THE MORNING, in daylight, and we weren't trying to hide - we had permission!! :sheesh!: Guess the lack of face diapers made us suspicious. :shrug:

Anyway. We currently have a path from the back porch to my Studio outlined in brick. We filled it in with cushion....dirt (old compost from the buck barn), and will be placing the granite in the next few days. Our only expense (besides gas and sweat) is $12 for the Liquid Nails (holding the bricks together in bunches of 6 or so) and $7 for the landscaping fabric. Not to bad!

In the Studio - current project is a new set of shorty overalls for me. Fabric is from IKEA, of all places! I have the front done, just need to get the back sewn up and the whole shebang assembled. Then it's another shirt for Himself, and on to shorts for me.

Not a lot else to report.
oh! A hen hatched out 5 chicks; they're currently in Herself's Studio. Fun times!

With Himself getting into sewing, I knew I needed to reorganize my Studio. He'd agreed to help, but I have to wait on his depression......so for the past 3 days, I've been working on my pattern problem. Since I know there's a LOT of new sewers out there, I figured I'd whip up a post - it might help someone else (even though I think I have a readership of 3. 2 of which are family.....:rofl:

For the past....century or so, patterns have come on paper, purchased from (usually) a fabric store. JoAnn's (and to a lesser extent, Hobby Lobby), has been famous for running sales - usually once a month, for one week, particular companies were put on sale for $1.99/each.....which is a HUGE savings. (Paper patterns tend to run any where from $9.95 - $20.00+ - being able to snag them for $1.99 each is a Big Deal!)

About...5 years ago? 10? Independent pattern companies hit the scene with print-at-home pdf patterns. I looked at them, and bought a few, but......seriously, why pay $7.50+ for a pattern *I* had to print myself, when I could hit JoAnn's and get a ready-to-go pattern for $2? It didn't make sense to me, because SURELY it cost a lot to print at home, right?

Um.....no. I am ashamed to admit I never did a cost analysis of pdf patterns before Wednesday.....because it never crossed my mind. I mean, I had hauled some files to Staples to print them, because - surely! - it was cheaper to print wide-format and skip the expensive and time consuming step of taping all those (expensive!) pages together.....Staples charges $7.50/page. Or did - Herself bought a plotter for us (which I still need to get up and running; I think I have the correct drivers now on my gaming rig. :shrug: It's actually moot - you'll see...) and we haven't been back to Staples since. (Organization is coming up, I promise!)

OK. So.....I can buy a pdf pattern for $7.50 (or less!). A pack of paper from Wally-World (the closest place to me that carries copy paper) is $3.97/500 sheets. That breaks out to $0.00794 per page. Um......I don't like "messy" math, so let's round up to $0.01/page, to keep it easy. The typical pattern that I buy is 50 pages (36 or so for the actual pattern, the rest is the instructions. YES, I print the instructions; I want them on hand for note-taking, plus you never know when a small company will go out of business.) So: $0.50 to print the pattern....since I rounded up, and since pattern pages don't use a lot of ink/toner, I think we are probably safe in assuming the ink costs are built in. I did a quick online check; regular office printing runs about $0.03/page......again, patterns don't have that much printing per page.

Cost so far: $8. Now we need to tape that sucker together! Scotch brand tape runs $6.47/4 pack (at my local Wally-World) - that's $1.6175/roll. I usually buy generic, but let's run with this. I can usually tape 2 patterns together per roll, so that's $0.80875 in tape per pattern.....let's round up and our total for a print-at-home pdf pattern is $9.

******* $9.00 ********

I won't factor in the cost of tracing paper, pencils and time, since I trace ALL my patterns off as a matter of course. That way the original is safe, and I don't have to reprint it if I decide to change something, like a neckline, sleeve, or length.

ANYWAY.

I have spent the last 3 days sorting my patterns into storage boxes, both paper and pdf. I also took the time to update my pdf organization...which is the main thing I wanted to post about. I have...a LOT of pdf patterns; most free, but still. That's a LOT of files to keep track of.....what's the "best" way to go about it?

Some people use a filing cabinet; the patterns go in there while the envelope/picture from the pdf go in page protectors in a notebook. Works, but......how do you know what you already have when you are looking a patterns in a store/online? You *could* carry a small spiral notebook around, with all your patterns hand-listed.........but that's a LOT of work.

Some people use OneNote. I looked at that......but it didn't click with me. It makes little sense - it might work for you; it does for a lot of people. I needed something else - what I wanted was basically Ravelry, but off-line. Bonus points if it works on both mobile and laptop! Oh, and it HAS to be Mac-compatible, since I am (mostly) Mac-only. (The gaming rig is nice, but......gaming. And some work. Mostly gaming. Plus my phone is Apple, so....yeah.)

What I ended up with is Tap Forms, a database that also has an app. After a LOT of work, I ended up with 2 databases - the mobile version is a list of all my patterns while the laptop version has the actual files attached. (Plus the laptop version has all my knitting pdfs, all my :sob: weaving pdfs, AND finished projects. Plus blank forms for spinning and tatting, so that all my fiber-crafts are saved in 1 spot. It's....nice. VERY nice. If I could figure out how to link the pattern entry to the finished project entry, I'd be set, but so far that's eluded me. :shrug: It's not necessary, really - it would just be nice.)

While I sorted my patterns in the Studio, I made sure they were on my phone. When I got back to the house, I sat down with the laptop and made sure most of the pdfs were also on my phone - I left off some of the free quilting patterns, and a lot of the free apron patterns. I don't care if I download them again - they're free!

All my paper patterns are in, with photos of both the front and back of the envelope - no more guessing on fabric type and amount! (The pdfs are set up the same way...mostly. If I haven't printed them yet, I don't have photos. :shrug: I tend to print them before buying fabric, so....it works for me.) I have tags, so if I do happen across some awesome fabric that HAS to become a hat/shirt/whatever, I can pull up the patterns that have that tag. PLUS - no more duplicate patterns!

The laptop version is basically the mobile version, but with a few less details. I don't have a listing for "box" for example (which tells me WHERE the pattern is located in my Studio; if it's blank then I haven't printed it off yet), nor do I have the fabric requirements/recommendation. I do have the actual pdf attached - which is NOT on the mobile version. I also have any embroidery files attached (on the laptop) for things like plushies - it makes it easier to find them/remember I have them. (Embroidery files are also housed on a separate USB stick, for use at the machine. I don't want to have to haul my laptop out every time I want to embroider something. :lol:)

Himself came out today and started brainstorming a more efficient setup. The serger has been moved, as has my full-length mirror. The embroidery machine desk is going to be replaced with a 4x2 kallax - there will be room for a 2nd machine, should we decide we need one! (Right now, no - but the idea has been floated; the current machine for bags and things, and one with a larger hoop for clothing. I'm in no rush, but having space already set up will be nice.) The current desk will be donated. There's just enough room for a new desk for his machine, where the serger was - we're just waiting for Ikea to reopen so we can give them more money.........every day they are closed is another day I might go to Home Depot instead. :hint hint:

That's where we are right now - my Studio is all 6's and 7's right now, but will be put in order tomorrow. I have a blouse cut out (Love Notions' Rhapsody blouse with 3/4 length Bishop sleeves), then I need to make up a new shirt for Himself.

The husband wants to go get dinner - gotta skitter!

Let's see.....week before Easter, we took the aunt shopping. Got home, Himself and I went for a walk, and Herself ran out to get us - she found a dozen newly-hatched chicks! Helped her get the brooder set up....fun times!

Then, last Sunday (Easter), she came in....with 4 still-wet kittens. She had been cleaning the nesting boxes and had heard something. Went to investigate; in the milkroom (not currently in use, for rather obvious reasons), in the old grain bin, was a dead(!) possum with 4 newborn kittens on top of it.(ewwwwww!) I had her set up a bucket to put them in, next to the can......and we watched. For 24 hours. No mom ever showed, so we brought the 4 wee ones inside, added the heat rock from the lizards' habitat, and tried to keep them alive.

Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. The last one died yesterday - we kept it alive a week, which I guess is something. :sigh:

Anyway. I've been spending a lot of time contemplating my wardrobe. I have sewn a LOT of dresses over the last few years, but I never wear them. Dresses, to me, are - well, Dress-Up, not everyday clothes. I started looking at all the sewing books/patterns I've bought/bookmarked over the past year, and I realized that I really, really like the Lagenlook.....look. :lol: Slouchy, loose-fitting pants under tunic tops, with (a few!) ruffles. I discovered the Tina Givens patterns (freebies!) I had downloaded, and decided to sew up a pair of Plinka pants.

I. Am. Loving. Them! I now have 3 pair, and a pair of Phoebe pants hanging in my wardrobe. With fabric on order for a few more pair.

I have weeded my wardrobe, and am down to a few tunic tops that I love. (Guess I kinda/sorta Marie Kondo'ed my wardrobe......heh.) I have the patterns for a few more, and will be sewing them up soon. I don't plan on over-layering things, but a swingy tunic over the plinka's is a cute outfit.

I seem to lean more toward the Japanese take on Lagenlook instead of the German/American version - I am not interested in 2 or more "slips" on top of a skirt on top of the plinkas; I like the tunic-over-pants look. It's comfy, it's breezy, and - because the Plinkas are so....wide-legged, it's still swishy! :lol: The Phoebe pants are still wide-legged, but no ruffles - I'm planning on wearing them with "louder" tops, and the Plinka pants with more subdued ones. Maybe........I mean, I'm finally over 50 now, so why not? I might even start wearing Red and Purple together - on purpose! (only, not really. I don't like a lot of red....)

I discovered Adelica Patterns over the weekend - simple items, good prices, kinda lacking on instructions. Still, for $4.50/pattern, it's not bad - and, for me, the sizing is spot on. (They're on Etsy as well as their own website.) Today I bought the StyleArc Jules Woven tunic - I have some lawn that *needs* to become this.

I've also made a couple of sun hats - 1 for me (using some leftover linen so it matches a pair of Plinkas) and 1 for Himself (using canvas from my Studio couch slipcover.) We'll wear them on our walks. Herself wants a (few) hat(s), too, so I'll be busy. :lol: That's good, since the world's gone mad.

(I am seeing signs this is winding down - there were a couple of mass-shootings over the weekend. False flags, of course- what, do you think that all the mass-shooters actually obeyed the quarantine? Not. This would have been the ideal time to go shoot up grocery stores, since that's the place most people are congregating, but oh, no - they stayed indoors like model citizens.:snort: The media needs to find a way to exit this gracefully, so they conjure up stuff. Oh - all you Trollus Langleyites that have started appearing in my comments - give it up. My blog is honestly NOT that popular, nor do I want it to be. I can do math, thanks, so I know the media is lying. :shrug: I really don't care if anyone else believes me.)

Not. I did the math - Texas has a popular of 28.7 million. There have been 2817 reported cases - which doesn’t mean what you’d think. EVERYONE that goes to the E.R. is given a test - even if they go for something totally non-related. This is reported as a “pending positive” test.....anyway. Doing the math, the percentage of “positive” cases for Texas is .000098153. That’s not even half a percent.

US numbers: 327.2 million. “Positive” cases: 161,088. Percent: .00049232

US deaths (supposedly from Covid-19): 2968. Percent: .01842471 (of those that tested “positive”)

So. Not quite 2%. Let’s look at flu numbers, shall we? In the 2019-2020 flu season, there have been *29 MILLION* cases in the US. 16,000 deaths. The percent of flu cases: .08863081. Deaths: .00055172

There is a higher percent of death (supposedly) from Covid-19, but a much smaller percent of contracting it.


Here’s a photo from the 1989 edition of the AMA Encyclopedia:



No, I am not living in fear. I am living like I normally do in cold and flu season. The media-driven panic is over the top, and honestly? The “social distancing” and shelter in place stuff is killing the economy. Please tell me how telling people to stay home UNLESS they need to go to the grocery store, liquor store, fast food drive thru, etc. is actually helping. Because if the goal was to ACTUALLY do some to stop the spread, then NO ONE should be allowed any face-to-face contact; everything should be ordered and paid for on-line, with delivery to your porch, and you get it after the driver is safely away. This? Isn’t going to stop much of the spread. And doubling the number of people on unemployment in a WEEK isn’t good......plus the suicide rate is on the rise. But let’s believe the media, right? If it saves even 1 life.....who cares about suicides or domestic violence victims, right? /sarcasm

But go ahead and tell me I’m uninformed (just because I don’t watch the mind-numbing twaddle that is the news doesn’t mean I’m uninformed. I have access to all sorts of news sources, thank you very much.)

In other, actual news: Himself has started sewing. He’s made me a new hip holster (bag - no firearms involved) and is working on a robe for himself. A vintage Folkwear pattern was probably not the best for a 2nd project, but he’s doing well. He inherited Granny’s machine, so it looks like I’ll be getting it tuned up for him soon (he’s using mine right now; I was using hers/his, but it isn’t keeping tension.)

We picked up a pair of heavy lifting gloves for me, to protect my wrist when I get back to the gym. Academy was doing decent business, even with only allowing 25 people in at a time. There was a steady line, so there’s a lot of folk out there trying to live normally.

Off to menu plan for Pesach - it’s next week!

It's NTIF weekend......yippee?!!?

Normally I'd have my wheel, and sit happily in the tent spinning and chatting up kids/adults. This year? I can't spin, so no wheel. No wheel means *I* am on display, not The Spinner...and I don't like it. *I* don't like people - The Spinner does. :sigh:

Add to this that the husband doesn't want to hear about my sore wrist, he's pissed I refuse to spin.....and he doesn't want me to TELL anyone why I can't spin (because he knows HE'S at fault, and more at fault for KEEPING the damn dog......:big sigh:)

Eh. I'm almost not bitter!

The embroidery machine still rocks! I made a new hip bag for myself with Celtic embroidery - if you ignore the fact I sewing the inside in backwards, it's great. :lol:

Well, gotta get ready for day #2. Fun stuff.....:sigh: