Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

Ummmm.....hi.

2023-01-02T21:51:58Z

Been a while. Cynthia died at the beginning of June, and I just haven't felt like posting. :sigh: Anyway...

1. The husband demanded we get a new dog less than a week after I lost my Loki. He's a 1/2 Husky-1/2 Shephard, 1/2 Husky - 1/2 Blue Heeler, and his name is Mishka. He's nuts...and Not Mine.

2. Himself bought a cow. His name is Stew, and he will become...well, stew. And brisket, steak, tacos, etc. I did the math - it's actually cheaper - by a LOT - to raise it ourselves.

3. Himself has allowed me to knit socks for him. I just finished pair #2, and will be starting #3 soon.

3a. I finished a pair of mittens for Herself, and a hat for me. Not much knitting has occurred, as I'm sure you can understand. Sewing has happened; I now have an almost completely hand-made wardrobe.

4. I have a Steam Deck! I love it so much, Himself and I went in halves for one for Herself for Hanukkah. It's....a very awesome piece of tech, and it has made it much easier for me to play with the kids.

5. My Russian lessons got derailed, but I started them back up again. I'm going to try to finish the course this year, then start another language.

5a. Himself wants to learn French, so he'll be working on that soon. The plan is that I will learn Russian, he will learn French, then we'll switch and help each other. Then we'll move on to 2 more languages and do it again. Herself wants to learn Japanese, but she's not motivated right now.

6. Herself and I are gearing up to do stained glass finally.

7. We lost Iroh. The vet has no idea what happened.....we're still in shock a few months later.

Not sure what else to list.....I'm not sure I'm going to post regularly. I'll try...but...the desire is gone. :sigh:

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RIP My Sweet Loki

2022-03-28T22:11:46Z

2014 - 2022

We adopted him 11/5/14, and he was my heart-hound. About 7 months ago, we took him to the vet because he had hurt his back. The x-rays showed some white spots on his spine, but we weren't too concerned as he recovered quickly.

Last Wednesday evening, he started breathing "funny". I thought he'd reinsured himself, so I gave him a gabapentin, and watched him. Thursday, he was fine, but a little swollen. Friday evening, he quit eating, and his throat and jowl was horribly swollen.

The husband took him to the vet this AM (I couldn't - my best friend/other mother is in the hospital and needs someone there to advocate for her. :sob:).......it was lymphoma, among other things.

Since his kidneys had decided to start shutting down, and dialysis isn't really.....an option, I had to make the decision.

This is not a good first quarter.

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is this thing on?

2022-01-28T14:56:05Z

Long time no post. :shrugs: Been living my life, unhampered by illegal mandates and life-threatening injections.

I've revamped most of my wardrobe - my embroidery machine has been earning it's keep lately.

I finally decided to fulfill a life-long dream - I am now learning Russian. Why Russian? Because I don't trust the news media to correctly translate. Plus, it's a beautiful language, and even more beautiful culture. (Cyrillic was VERY easy to learn to read, BTW. I can puzzle out the *sounds* of words, but I need a lot more learning before I can call myself fluent. Fun - and it keeps my brain active!) I started with the free Russian Made Easy Podcast, and their "Cyrillic in 3 Hours" (it took me....much more than 3 hours!), then signed up for the paid Russian Accelerator Course. I also have an Udemy course, but I don't like the instructor's style of teaching - at least it was on sale! :shrug: I caught RA on sale, so...I'm happy with it. The kids are helping me - they have me try to translate some of their video games, and Himself has gotten really into Slavic Folk Music. He wants to start learning Russian, too, but doesn't have the headspace for it right now.

Himself has become interested in Tailoring - he has self-drafted a few shirts for himself, and even sewn them up! He's now dabbling in cordwaining....it makes a mother proud!

Herself is on self-drafted casual lolita dress number....6? 7? She's also done a nice Goth-Loli. Not my taste, but she's done a great job.

I have finally come to grips with some of the intricacies of my Embroidery Machine. I finally stitched out a multi-hoop project; it isn't perfect, by ANY means, but I learned a LOT. For example, I didn't know that my machine could shift the hoop over to perfectly align a pattern - I had been manually removing the hoop, readjusting the fabric, and trying again. (To be fair, the manual has 1 small paragraph about this - no details, and neither of the books I have mention it. :sigh:) I'm in the middle of multi-hoop project #2, and...well, it's going VERY WELL. очень хорошо! :lol:)

Life is good - G-D has watched over us. As He promised He would.

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Quick FYI

2021-08-27T21:50:46Z

So, the FDA has approved Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine. This is NOT the one currently being administered (that one is Biotech), but it doesn’t matter.

According to laws on the books, Pfizer's full authorization should void all emergency use authorization for other vaccines, since a fully authorized alternative now exists. Emergency use authorization can only be given when no safe and effective alternative exists. Since Pfizer's COMIRNATY has been deemed safe and effective, it is now illegal to administer any other vaccine that has not. BUT! The FDA's approval of COMIRNATY is itself illegal, since it did not follow statutory requirements for a finding of full approval, including the completion of trials. Stage three of the trials has not even begun yet, and stage two was compromised by lack of control groups. In addition, the proper panels were not convened to study evidence: they could not have been convened since the evidence is not in.

So, ANY mandate (which isn’t a law, and can NOT be legally enforced) is non-binding. Any attempts to force someone to get jabbed are illegal.

I and my kids are not going to get the non-vaccine. They STILL have not isolated the virus, which means these jabs aren vaccines (yes, they changed the definition of vaccine to now include genetic manipulation. Changing online dictionaries doesn’t change the real, traditional and scientific definition. I prefer to be part of the control group, instead of being part of an uncompensated medical trial. YMMV.

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July Update

2021-08-04T13:10:46Z

I seem to be on a once-a-month update schedule here.......:shrug: Works for me. We got quite a bit done this month - mostly sewing. I have filled most of the holes in my wardrobe, and am now working on Mom's. Herself is slowly filling her closet - I think I've created a monster! :lol:

Let's start with Herself's new clothes, shall we?

First up, the Lobster dress:

This was her 2nd dress, her first BY HERSELF. She bought the collar pattern off of Etsy.....the blouse is the only thing she didn't make herself.

She then tackled the "Little Betty" dress by Tea & Treadle. Yes, I am naming names. This pattern.....is NOT well-written. Steps are confusing, and the underskirt instructions are wrong. (This is the same vendor we attempted before - that dress is still wadded up, because the yoke does NOT fit in the bodice. It's 2" too tall.)

This is the dress-from-Hell. It took both of us to figure out what we were supposed to do, and honestly? We ended up winging a lot of it. The resulting dress is cute, but......yeah, we're not buying from her again.

I pulled out a tam pattern for her; I think it makes the outfit. :lol:

This one she JUST finished (it gets its first bath today!). It's a mash-up of the Simplicity pattern she's been using, and the McCall's "Mannequin" pattern. I think it turned out beautifully!

She's going to work on a matching bonnet for it today.

Now, moving on to my sewing....:lol: I bought some fabric from FabricMart, and went to town:

This is the Vintage Shirtdress from Sew Over It. I had enough fabric left over that I made a Libby Shirt (also from SOI)

Because I was on a roll, I made Mom a Vintage Shirtdress, too, from some gingham she had dropped off:

(no back photo...but ehh. It's the same as mine, but gingham. :lol:) I DID put buttons on it - I forgot to snap a photo after it was finished; this was an in-progress shot for Mom.

I then decided to try StyleArc's Vivienne dress:

(front is for Mom; the back is mine. I...don't know why only have one side of each, but.....:shrugs:

This is an interesting pattern - there are no side seams. It's.....different. Comfy, but...I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I then tackled the StyleArc Montana dress.

It's...OK. I'd like more swish in the skirt, but it works. I have enough fabric left for something - maybe another Vintage Shirtdress? I dunno.....

And, last up is a "work" shirt I whipped up. I, um....made the design decision that the embroidery looked better on the wrong side of the fabric (IOW, I screwed up when I hooped the fabric. :rofl:)

I went back and added some waist ties to the Montana, and also to the Nova and Clementine dresses from last month. It pulls in the waist just enough to give it a bit of shape. Also, none of these dresses have pockets :gasp!: because the fabric just isn't hefty enough to support them. I want wearables, so having unusable pockets makes no sense.

I need to make a few more simple woven tees, then I should be good. I need to start on pants for Himself.....I have the fabric, just need to sit down and sew.

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June Recap and Photo catch-up

2021-07-05T00:53:30Z

Because I've been a busy little Fiberaddict. :lol: I can't remember when I actually sewed up some of these, so I'll just post them. I do remember the order, so.....:rofl:

Anyway. Barn destruction still on-going. We have the office/tack room almost finished - 6 more floorboards to go. The plan is to then move to the roof...we'll see....

Because the husband got a job! Praise God! With Amazon...in the warehouse. He claims to not know/not believe the reports of worker treatment.....and he thinks this will give him an "in" if an IT position opens up. I've tried to tell him that the job market is MUCH different than he realizes....but he told me I'm stupid and don't know what I'm talking about. :sigh: Oh, well - he can't say he wasn't warned........(the kids and I have a betting pool going. Herself thinks he'll last 2 weeks, Himself gives him 6. Me? He'll last a few months, at least, just to show me how wrong I was. :bangs head:)

Moving on to more...pleasant things:

Knitting! I FINALLY finished my....April? socks! May I present the Lotus socks, by Kulabra Designs:

Yarn is Franklin Natural from Webs that I dyed up in Avocado and Lilac. I LOVE this pattern - it has haunted me ever since I first saw it; I just didn't get around to knitting it until now. The pattern is (what I assume to be) typical of Russian designs - it's the charts, only. The knitter needs to know the basics, and be able to plug the chart into the item.

I have started another pair - this one a basic Monkey - but have only made it halfway down the foot of sock #1. I've been sewing instead of knitting...

Sewing! LOTS going on here. We started last month with StyleArc's Clementine blouse. I made the first one for Mom:

Once I knew it fit both her AND me (our measurements are pretty close!), I grabbed my white linen and embroidered 2 more, 1 for me:

and 1 for her:

then I grabbed some Rayon and did another for me:

(for some reason the back of this one didn't show up....hmmmm. Oh, well - you get the gist! Same flowers, only in pairs - 1 at each corner)

Still in an embroidery mood, I dug thru the stash and found some blue voile....it became a StyleArc Melody:

While digging, I found some handkerchief-weight linen, so I decided I needed another Melody, but this time Celtic:

At this point, I figured I had plenty of tops, so I started to fill in the hole in my pants drawer. I didn't get photos of all of them, but...oh, well. I started with the much-needed StyleArc Emma shorts. I have 5 pair: blue, green/white plaid, natural, denim and pink, but only got a photo of the pink pair:

I then made up 3 pairs of StyleArc's Ethel Designer pants: Denim, Brown, and Green (the green is green/black iridescent, which is very hard to photograph)

The next items....well. Last year, since I was sitting a home so much, I spent a lot of time evaluating my wardrobe. I decided that I need to totally revamp it - graphic t-shirts just weren't "me" any more (I kept all of them......some day I'll turn them into a quilt.) Menopause has done a number on my body.....my weight is almost the same, but the distribution.....knit tops aren't flattering. At All. :sigh: So.....even though I am not a dresses-girl, I realized I really NEEDED a few in my wardrobe, for the hot, hot Summer days (this year, it's been a HOT Spring....:sigh:) It's been hot enough that I don't want ANYTHING around my waist....and it's only going to get hotter. Loose dresses that only touch at the shoulders/bust sound SO nice.....

I started with the Clementine dress. Since the pattern is set up for a VERY dropped waist (the waist sits at the fullest part of my hips - NOT a good look!) I chopped 4 inches off the hem of the top before adding the skirt. The fabric is Rayon I got with the Cashmerette Harrison Shirtdress kit I ordered on launch (before realizing that the payoff (the finished dress) wasn't - to me - worth all those princess seams. Live and Learn!

I like the dress....but. It feels too '80s for me, so for the next one I did a StyleArc Nova dress in a cotton I got from Supreme Fabrics before it got hit by a tornado (in 2017....I tend to let fabric age a bit. :lol:)

I sewed it up as designed, except I made a much deeper hem - 2" instead of 5/8" (I'm 5'4" if I stretch. StyleArc designs for 5'6". I didn't want an ankle-length dress.)

I.....like it, but.......the bodice is a bit......boxy. I thought I was done...but Herself needed to go to Hobby Lobby. While she was browsing, I hit the 50% off fabric...and this lovely cotton fabric jumped into my cart. It feels a lot like lawn.......

This time, I used the Clementine bodice (but hacked 6" off the hem to bring it to the Nova's length) with the Nova's tiered skirts. We won't discuss the screw-ups (i ended up piecing 2 of the tiers because I can't read, apparently), but I LOVE the finished dress:

I have 2 more lengths of fabric that I think need to become maxi/midi dresses - one is lawn, one is poplin shirting. I just need to get over the fact that *I* want to wear dresses first. :lol: StyleArc seems to design a lot of......loose fitting dresses, which works for me, even though they feel a bit.....um......how to put this.....frumpy? I mean.....I don't *feel* frumpy/stodgy/old-ladyish when I wear them, so that's a plus, but they *look*.....:sigh: I think I'm going to make some clips for the backs, to pull in the waist just a titch to give them a little more shaping. (2 alligator-type clips, connected by self-fabric covered elastic. 1 clip on each side seam, and voila! Shaping!)

I have the StyleArc Bob pants to sew up (similar to the Ethel, but longer) - and yes, StyleArc is my new favorite pattern company. Their patterns fit right out of the box, and right now that's what I need. The directions are sparse - but honestly? I prefer that. I HATE patterns that want to hold my hand the whole way - maybe I have my own preferred way of doing sleeves, so don't tell me I have to do it your way. And please, let's stop with the 20 pages of pictorial directions, with photographs of EVERY. SINGLE. STEP. Really, I know how to press a seam - you don't have to show me. Every seam. Really!

Herself has made 2 lolita dresses, but I'll save those for later. This post is long enough. :lol:

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May Roundup...

2021-06-10T20:27:07Z

:whew!: It has been a very very WET month! I didn't realize that we now had monsoon season......but, we do. So, not much time spent tearing down the barn due to weather. I did, however, get a bit accomplished!

1. Cyn's brother moved house. He called her, and said "Hey. I have 5 boxes of fabric. Think Fiber would want it?" She said "Yes. If she can't use it, I'll have her donate it!" The she called me.

A few weeks later (see: Rain, above) he deliver *10* boxes to her house; we went a picked it up a few days later (See: Rain, above, again). I have been slowly going thru it, washing what I can use/plan to use, and reboxing what I won't/can't. It's......vintage. About 1/2 wovens/ 1/2 knits (most are the ~wonderful~ late '60s/early 70s double knits :wrinkles nose:). So far, I have made myself 1 pair of StyleArc Ethel pants, 4 pairs of StyleArc Emma Shorts, Mom 1 pair of Emma shorts, and Himself 1 pair of boxers from the woven offerings. I have a HUGE pile of stuff for Herself, a smaller pile for bags/utility items, 3 pieces of yardage for Himself (at least 1 shirt-length), and a small pile for me. I have 2 pieces of a nice *knit* for a dress for me - I think it wants to be a StyleArc Kim. We'll see - knits intimidate me. :lol:

2. Sewing! I have been busy. Besides the aforementioned items, I knocked out 4 StyleArc (hmmmmmm, I'm beginning to see a theme here!) Clementine tops (2 me/2 Mom; 3 of those were embroidered!), 3 pairs of boxers for Himself, 4 more bras (2 for Herself, 1 for Mom, 1 for me) and.....2 StyleArc Melody tops (me, embroidered). Plus a few bags. Oh! Also 4 pairs of StyleArc Ethel pants - 3 for me, 1 for Mom. I need to make a few more for her......

3. Herself made another dress! This one is lobsters, with a sailor collar. Same pattern as her bat dress, but a bit....toned down/casual. She's got plans for more- which is good. Lolita fashion isn't cheap (even "cheap" brands like Bodyline are $40+......for just the dress. You need accessories to have a full co-ord, which, of course, adds to the price. Fabric for the dresses is...at least $40, even on sale, but it's better quality, will actually *fit* my tall, leggy girl, and will have enough scraps to make matching accessories - the total cost *is* cheaper.

4. Husband is still out of work. He's managed 20 applications....in the 2+ months. :rolls eyes: No, he's not seriously looking. Yes, I am pissed. He has emptied MY savings account (I was stupid. I fell for the guilt trip. No more.) so I have to come up with $5k by December to pay the property taxes (he claims he'll repay it, but honestly? At $600/week he barely had enough to pay HIS bills (not ours - HIS), so how, pray tell, does he plan on repaying me $3,800 by December, when he's not working, has no prospects, and isn't seriously looking? :bangs head:

4a. I haven't seen a job I can do with my wrist/leg. I can't stand for long periods of time, and keypunching is nigh impossible. :sigh: Plus - I will NOT leave Herself alone with him. He has made it plain that he doesn't like her, to the point that both kids noticed. May I remind you both kids are Autistic? And bad with social cues? If THEY noticed.....yeah. Not leaving her alone to be verbally abused. :big sigh:

4b. I do have some nice saddles to sell, and some collectables. Not $5k worth, but it'll help. We've revamped the shop, and I'm working on sewing up more things to go in it, so.....:shrug: At least I'm trying. /no more belly-aching

5. We lost another goose. :sob: Herself forgot to lock them up one night......now the kids and I remind each other to check on them at bed time. The 4 remaining geese are silly, loud, and obnoxious - which is fun to watch.

6. Himself made a pair of pants! Mostly by himself! He's avoided the Studio ever since, but I have hopes....:lol:

I think that just about brings us up to date. I need to try and do a photo dump, but no promises.

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April Showers bring...

2021-05-11T20:45:31Z

May thunderstorms. Or something like that. :lol:

No photos this month, because my April socks consist of one (1) sock and a partial leg. :sigh: I have a GOOD reason, though! We are demolishing a barn 2 towns over - the owner posted an ad on CraigsList for free tin. Since I have goats that think barn destruction is a sport.......yeah. I NEED tin. (Plus I need a Honk Hotel...the geese aren't getting any smaller!) (Although we did lose 1 to the dreaded bobcat. :sigh: The fledgling area is now wired on top, and I left a present for the cat in it's feeding area. I have NO remorse - my neighbor reported that his neighbor got cornered on her porch by the bloody thing, so....yeah.)

Anyway. A 30' x 60' barn, built in the 1930s or '40s. I've gotten enough tin so far to rebuild the "love shack" (the breeding shed) - which is now a small pile of rubble - and the buck barn. Maybe enough to rebuild the hay barn (both buck and hay barns are going to be moved; the current spot will become the Goose Garden. :lol:). I *think* I have enough for the hay barn, too - but there's still a lot to pull down. Fun, but exhausting times!

I haven't spent my down time just sitting, though. I just finished bra #6 for me; with the 3 I've done for Herself - wait, 4; the first didn't fit AT ALL - and the 1 for Mom, that makes 11 bras in 2 weeks. :blink: We all need them, though.....

IF you want to start sewing your own, take my advice - buy a kit for the first 1 or 2, to figure out the fabrics, then get thee to Fabric Depot post haste. I picked up a value pack of their medium-to-heavy weight powernet ($35; there's $90 worth of fabric!)(granted, you get a mix of colors - I finally have NON-white bras! :lol:), a yard of tricot, and....something else, for about $100. They also have great prices on elastics (by-the-yard) and rings and sliders. If you don't mind Aliexpress, you can get a 50 pack of closures for $15-ish - since most kits run about $30, you'll be saving a TON.

Also, I found out that the finding kits I have can be dyed with my wool acid dyes (even the rings and sliders!). :lol: I have PLANS, y'all! (I already made a Valentine's bra (red findings, white cups, red lace, white frame and back)and I just finished a Tuxedo bra (black frame and back (value pack), white cups and lace and findings)...and I have a Chocolate and Cherries set almost ready to sew (brown powernet (from the value pack), red cups, red lace and red findings). The tricot cups and lace dye pastel with acid dyes, but Rit now has "dye everything" bottles that, well, dye everything. :lol: I hate Rit, but......a little goes a long way.

The husband was laid off mid-March, so I've been dealing with a grumpy jerk (sorry not sorry) for the past 6 weeks. The barn demolition is helping....sorta...but STILL. :sigh: Himself is trying to balance the scales by being super-guy; he's been baking more, and he's about to build me a firewood rack. (He helped knock the love shack down, and helped me run fence for the does Sunday. If it would quit raining for more than a day or 2, we'd be working on the new and improved love shack.....:big sigh:)

I need to rest my wrist - I kinda overdid it today. I *really* wanted to get that blasted bra finished......the lace was a pain. Basting spray is wonderful, but.....:sigh:

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March Madness....and a little April, as well

2021-04-05T13:20:59Z

:whew!: It's been a bit busy around here.......LOTS going on. Let's dive in, shall we?

We started March the usual way - by picking up a load of chicks. We started with 20; lost 2 the first few days. That's normal....actually, it's better than usual. Day-old chicks spend their time looking for ways to die. :sigh: Any way, we have 9 Sapphire Queens, 4 Silver-laced Wyandottes, and 5 Cinnamon..something or other. They've grown quickly, and we are planning on moving them out today/tomorrow.

As well as the......geese. Um, yeah - the feed store got in 16 goslings, and...um.......we ended up with 6.

They're cute, but BOY HOWDY are they MESSY. And huge, comparatively speaking. So far, they are sweet...we'll see how long that lasts. :lol:

This explains last weekend's project - I built (with a little help from the husband) a fledgling hut. We'd been using dog crates, but.....they were not going to hold 24 birds. One of the mobile homes down the street has been sold to a flipper; the rehabbers told me I could rummage thru their trash pile if I wanted. I scored some skirting (tin!) and 2x4s.....after a quick trip to pick up some used pallets, I was set. It took all day Saturday, and a couple of hours Sunday, but we now have a fledgling hut (or, as we call it, the "Fluffly Butt Hut". :lol:)
Total out-of-pocket expense: $60.

I have more than enough pallets left to build a goose hut - I need to get more skirting first. For now the goslings will live with the chicks.

Last week, Zoe lost her kids......5 weeks early. I've been trying to bring in her milk, but it's just not working. :sigh: Hopefully the other does will carry to term - we need the milk!

It hasn't all been work, though - I've been knitting as well. I already showed you the Birds of Paradise mitts, now I give you: Dreidle Socks! The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL in the color way "Dreidle"; the pattern is Cookie A's Cubist Socks.

I then knit up a pair of mitts for Herself - another pattern by Kulabra, this one called "Frozen Songs". I dyed the yarn to Herself's specifications - Soot and Fire, and........here are her Firebird Mitts:

I was over the pattern halfway thru the first one.....:lol:

I've started a pair of socks, but you'll have to wait for photos. Since I actually started them in April, I'll save it for the April posting. :lol:

One more photo - this one is the resident Dragon King, Iroh. Herself made him a hat......he is NOT amused:

Today is grocery day, then we have to fix the run so the chicks/goslings will be safely contained. I'll try to get photos of them outside.......

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February Round-Up

2021-03-10T20:56:44Z

So...I've been on a knitting kick lately. And a Dyeing one, but I have no photos of the newly dyed yarn. :lol: (What? I spent all of Snowvid dyeing up yarn for socks....and a pair of mittens. It was quite productive - I think I ended up with 9 sock kits and the mittens!)

Anyway. After I finished my Windmill Socks, I pulled out a skein of self-striping yarn from Brazen Stitchery. The name is "Captain Tight Pants", which is a Firefly reference. I decided to just knit a plain vanilla pair of socks - no pattern, no thinking. :lol: The only thing I did was try to match the stripes - normally I don't, but I wanted to up my game. I think I did OK:

I then grabbed a set of yarn I had just dyed. The purple was exactly what I had in the mind...the "green" was supposed to be "wheat". It was....off....but when held up to the purple put me in mind of grapevines. So....it was a match!

This is Piccolo Mondo Antico. The pattern was relatively easy, but non-repetitive. I was pretty much over it before I finished sock #1; sock #2 was a bit of a slog.

The closeup shows the colors really well, I think.

I finished these on March 1, so not quite within my February goal. Oh, well! :lol:

Then I grabbed the mitten kit - 3 colors of Cash-Merino yarn. In less than a week, I had these:

They're my first attempt at Norwegian/Latvian mittens. The pattern was pretty easy - the charts were a bit much to keep up with, but not too bad. The pattern is "Birds of Paradise" by Kulabra Designs - I have a LOT of her patterns, and now I REALLY need to knit them up! :lol:(Some of the yarn I dyed is for more of her designs). I started them on 1.5s, but when I hit 75% o the first mitten I admitted it was a bit snug...so off to the frog pond I went. :shrug: I should have listened to my gut - it kept telling me it wasn't right, but I wanted to KNIT, dammit! :rofl:

Herself saw these and ordered 3 pairs. :sigh: I'll be dyeing up the yarn for them this weekend. :lol:

I'm currently working on a "plain" pair of socks - 1 yarn, but in a textured pattern. I started Monday; last night I frogged it because, while it fit, I wasn't happy with how stretched out the pattern was. I'm now back on size 1.5 dpns (I started on 1s, because 1.5s are a little loose. Oh, well. Socks are small, so it's no big deal!)

Anyway, back to it. I want to get this pair done, and get at least 1 color work sock done before the end of the month. Or maybe mittens.......:shrug: We have a bobcat problem again, though, so....we'll see. :Sigh: Sometimes I HATE country living!

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OK, so it seems people can't do their own damn google searches...

2021-02-25T13:59:50Z

You know my last entry, about how my BS meter was going off about the TX power outages? Well, I got a comment:

"The temperatures went low enough to freeze gas/oil lines. Without gas/oil can’t produce electricity. Texas produces 80-90% of their energy from oil/gas."

I had intended to reply earlier, but every time I read the comment I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt. PLEASE, folks, don't just parrot the official lies back to me, OK? Because....

Natural Gas has a freezing point of -270 degrees F. That's 270 degrees BELOW zero. The lowest we, personally, got was -3.....which is a FAR cry from -270. (For funzies, I looked up the freezing point of oil.....-70 degrees F. Again, we didn't come CLOSE to that.)

"Oh," the commenter will say, "but but but WATER VAPOR in the lines!" Yeah, no. First off, if there is water vapor (or ANY contaminants) in the lines, the distributor should be fined and possibly shut down for quality control review. Water VAPOR has molecules that are spread apart, far enough that gas can still flow. If there is enough water to cause ice dams....well, we have more problems than just that.

Plus.....AK never has this problem. Or MI. Or ND. Or NE. Or - Freaking CANADA or RUSSIA.

Now, according to what I've been able to dig up, this was actually about "deregulation" (which isn't, really). See, in TX you can purchase your energy from a lot of companies - none of whom actually *produce* OR *deliver* the product. For example, Cirro Energy. Or Green Mountain. They purchase the energy from the "big boys" - Atmos and TXU (and probably others.) The energy is delivered to you in the SAME LINES it was delivered to you when you were with Atmos/other big boy. (What? You honestly didn't think that thru, did you? A lot of people don't - did you think Cirro was going to run a new gas/electric line to your house? No? Then.....who's actually PROVIDING you the energy?)

From what I've been able to gather, Cirro et al was/is buying electricity/gas at wholesale rates from Atmos (or maybe ERCOT itself - I can't tell if ERCOT is involved in the actual production, or just oversees it for a cut.), then turns around and sells it to the consumer for less than Atmos does to it's consumers. It looks like Cirro et al were charging around $0.02/kWh (from what some people are saying, anyway - we're on a Co-op, and all electric, so I have no dog in this fight).....until the storm hit, at which point the Public Utility Commission mandated a $9.00/kWh rate for "conservation purposes". The moment the storm lifted, the rate was dropped BACK DOWN to the $0.02/kWh.......

This has caused a lot of the "independents" to file/think about filing bankruptcy, because when you have consumers tied in to a rate of $.02, but you are being charged $9.00.......you legally can't pass that on. (And, again - it's the same damn gas. If you lost power, but your across-the-street neighbor didn't, you need to ask WHY. And who they pay. Because....the gas lines are owned/managed by the SAME DAMN COMPANY. You can't have frozen gas in your line when your neighbor doesn't.........)

(An aside, I don't fully understand kWh.....I was in the Industry for 20 years. Natural gas is bought/sold by the MCF (Million Cubic Feet), not kWh, so I am lost. Prices varied, in that 20 years, from $0.90/mcf to $5.00+/mcf, for the record. I don't understand the conversion, so.....:shrug:)

Also, I was told that I never lost electricity because I have solar. Um...sure, but none of my neighbors have solar, nor does my mother, and THEY never lost power. PLUS......solar can't be used directly from the panels, you have to have an inverter, which requires electricity to convert the solar produced power to "usable" power. It's why off-grid systems have storage batteries - to make sure the inverter can work. We aren't off-grid, we are grid-tied, because the difference in price was more than we wanted to pay.

Please, please, PLEASE people - use some common sense. If someone says the official story is setting off their BS meter, actually look into it (if you disagree) instead of just parroting back the media's spin. You can ignore the more "out there" stuff (HAARP, for example. I don't know anything about it, I don't feel like going down that rabbit hole, so I disregarded any mention of TX being HAARPed. May be true, may not - don't care. I researched the freezing point of natural gas first, then went from there. It didn't take that long, either.)

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State of the Fiberaddict.....

2021-02-19T15:26:21Z

We are OK. We never lost power, or water - our hot water heater froze Monday evening/Tuesday morning, but Herself dry-fired her kiln (to cone 5, for those that know these things) and it thawed it out. We did lose internet Sunday, and it was intermittent until Wednesday. Yes, we are Blessed, Thank G-d!

Here's the thing I don't understand......while we mostly have mild winters, ice storms and sub-zero temps are not unheard of. Our grid is separate from the rest of the US (the more you know....), and it is set up to handle streaks of 100+ summer days.

So...why, then, did this shut our grid *down*???? Because......the normal excuses don't wash. Normally, the excuse for rolling black/brown outs is because the grid is stressed under more load......only.....:deep breath:

In previous cold snaps, the strain on the grid was blamed on "more people are home, drawing power"...which is BS. Ignoring the plandemic - because people have been working from home for a year, now, leaving corporate offices closed (and thereby NOT drawing excess power!) - most people don't drop their thermostats in the winter when they leave the house. So......there's NO excess power being drawn to keep their homes at a steady temp. :scratches head: (They try this excuse in the Summer, too, when we hit 100+ - I still have a problem buying that, because.......Texas. This is normal for our Summers - and, again, I don't know anyone that actually changes their thermostat drastically when they leave their homes. Pull the other one....)

Also.....the water issue. I've been told ALL MY LIFE that when cold hits, you need to keep your faucets dripping. This time? We're being told to NOT let them drip......and the water companies are shutting off water. Um. Either we need to drip water to keep the lines from freezing, or we don't. It can't be drip one year, and magically NOT drip the next. That's not how it works!

I live on a farm. We have lost the outside water line - I heard it explode Saturday evening (the pipes were empty, because we drain them year-round, just because) but it was a 19 year old PVC pipe, that is exposed. (hmmmm.... I think the husband was the last to use it - he isn't in the habit of actually draining the lines like the rest of us are. :sigh:) We're hauling water...but the buried water lines are still intact. I don't understand how city water - in underground lines - would be affected......since I assume those lines are below the frost line (about 36"), and should be stouter than my cheap PVC lines. There shouldn't be any "extra strain" on the system, because, AGAIN, people have been working from home for the past YEAR. The system should already have been adjusted.

And since the water companies turned OFF the water with very little warning, people didn't have time (or the forethought) to drain their lines......which is what I am assuming is causing the broken pipe issues I'm seeing online. And.....if our rinky-dink little water supply company can manage to keep the water on, SURELY the big city water suppliers can, as well. (I have issues with our water company, but this isn't one of them. They have kept the water flowing here, and I am very thankful for it.)

I honestly don't know what to think. I'm trying to stay away from politics or conspiracy theories, but it's kinda hard when we're having all these problems, but OK, KS, etc seem to be doing OK. It makes no sense........and my BS meter is pegged.

:sigh: It's just odd. I have no problems with the stores being under-stocked, because I wouldn't want to drive an 18-wheeler on our un-treated, icy roads. (What? This is Texas - we get, maybe, 3 ice days/year. We don't have the infrastructure for treating icy roads, at least not in the rural areas. Heat, now - heat we can deal with. Ice? Causes us to lose our ever-loving minds and hunker down at home. :lol:)

Anyway. Our little slice of land is OK. Cold, but we have acres and acres of deadwood that I have been collecting for the wood stove. The stream is iced, but running deep. The ponds...I haven't checked. Probably one is an ice ring; the other is spring-fed and should be running under the ice. I need to head out soon and try to shop for Mom - hopefully the stores have pet food and milk!

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Um....guys?

2021-02-08T18:08:36Z

I finished a pair of socks...which is normal, and normally I'd wait and have a few to upload all at once, but this pair...well....

Pattern is "La Mancha's Giants", I've had it in the queue since at LEAST 2015 (that's when I dyed the yarn for it), and, well - I am very very very pleased with them. Herself picked out the colors, I dyed the yarn, and then it sat until I was ready to knit them. :lol:

Pattern was relatively easy. LOVE how they knit up!

I just had to share.....off to work on my current pair (Plain vanilla, no pattern - just knitting.)

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It's Photo catch-up time!

2021-02-02T19:48:35Z

Mainly because, while it's beautiful outside, it's also nippy. I...don't do nippy very well any more - my wrist and ankle don't like nippy. :sigh: Oh, well - at least I've been productive!

This is going to be very picture-heavy - I've been busy! I'll put them under a cut to save my (non-existent) friend's pages. :lol:

( Cut to save space! )

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Yarn Review and Laughs....

2021-01-25T19:47:41Z

Hoo boy. Last year, woke knitters heads exploded when Hobby Lobby (that evil corporation whose owner has the audacity to impose his personal beliefs into his company, how dare he???? Oh, wait.....) introduced their take on hand dyed yarn with their house brand, Yarn Bee (in 100% super wash Merino fingering/sock and chunky weights. They also have a 75% super wash Merino/25% Lyocell fingering/sock, but I haven't used it yet.) Immediately, there were wails of "how dare they price hand dyed yarn under $20/skein!" and "they aren't paying a living wage!!" and "100% wool won't last!" and - my personal favorite, "they stole my colorway!"

:sigh: Let's discuss this, shall we? (I waited until now, because I wanted to actually knit up some of the yarn in question, and see how it held up to my use. Actual review at the end!)

1. The price/living wage thing. This yarn is sourced in Turkey. I don't have a clue about the cost of living in Turkey, but I'm *pretty* sure it's less than it is here in the good ol' USA. It's priced at $14.99/skein, but you can either use a 40% off coupon OR catch it on one of their bi-weekly 30% off sales (pricing it at $10.59/skein or thereabouts). The full price is good for hand dyed sock yarn (not sure about the chunky) Previously, I thought $18.99/skein for commercially dyed sock yarn was good - $14.99 for hand dyed? Sign me up!

1b. Some knitters immediately exclaimed that the *sniff* knitters *sniff* that purchased this were NOT the market that would buy from exclusive indie dyers. Um...most of the indie yarn I've purchased over the years has started at $20/skein, and gone up from there. (My most expensive skein is a cashmere blend that starts at $35/skein.) This price is a bit steep for most of the people I know. I won't say it's overpriced...but I DO dye my own, and.........let's just say the profit margin is pretty nice at that price point. In this day and age, most people don't have the disposable income that they used to have; if it comes down to buying yarn at Hobby Lobby for $11 vs no yarn, well..........

2. The durability. This one.......:sigh: Wool has been the go-to fiber for centuries. Nylon didn't come around until 1927, and wasn't commercially available until after that (1935?). Before that.....it was wool all the way. Some spinners might have blended it with cotton or linen, but from what I can tell, it was mostly used by itself. Yes, Merino *is* a less strong breed, but it still holds up. AND....this yarn is marketed as fingering weight, not sock weight. Yes, sock weight IS fingering (for the most part), but.....you can knit other things out of it. Hats, mittens, and gloves (or sweaters, even!) don't get the abuse that socks do, so....this argument is really a non-starter. (The main difference is that sock yarn is usually spun tighter, to make it more durable. Not always, but.....and modern sock yarn usually has that nylon component, while fingering doesn't. You can either one in any situation where you gauge matches the pattern. :shrug:)

3. "Stealing color ways". Ha. HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Um.....this one is too stupid. There are only so many colors, and only so many ways to combine them. Yes, that number is high, but.......the indie screaming the loudest didn't invent the color way to begin with. The yarn in question is dyed......OK. I don't have a photo, but I have what I think is the original tutorial from 2013. (Yeah, so the shop in question claims to have been in business from 2011. IF this was her invention, she would have shut down the poster of this tutorial way back in 2013, right? I mean.........and she'd be screaming about JoAnn's, too.)

The color way is known as "unicorn farts"....basically, you have half the skein in a solid color (usually black/gray), and the other half is dyed in a rainbow. When you knit it up, you get flashes of color against the solid background (in the Hobby Lobby yarn, you get a rainbow spiral around the sock. It's fun!) LOTS of indie dyers have this color way in some form or another - it's not unique by a long shot.

Speckled yarn - the other "contested" color way - has been around even longer. I have books in my library from the early 2000's - when the indie hand dye scene was in it's infancy - that tell you how to do this. None of this is rocket science! (I, personally, don't like hand dying my own yarn. I prefer techniques that involve plunking the yarn in the dyepot and pouring the dye solution over it. These other techniques, while giving really cool effects, are - for ME - too labor intensive. Long time readers might remember my Yaakov sock dyeing experiments. I LOVE the resulting yarns, but the procedures to get there....aren't my cup of tea. I'll do it as a one-off, for particular projects, but I don't like the mess and multiple steps to get to the fun part - knitting the yarn. :shrug: Different strokes, right? Also, these techniques used to be called hand PAINTED, which makes more sense to me. Again, whatever. :lol:)

To be so conceited that you think that a corporation "stole" a dye technique from you.....I can't even. :shakes head: I guess I should be upset that Hobby Lobby has tonal skeins, huh, since that's what I usually dye up myself. :rolls eyes: A LOT of indie dyers have the same types of color ways - heck, JOANN'S has hand dyed yarns now - but you don't see anyone throwing a fit over *that*, do you??

Anyway. I have.....a few skeins of the Hobby Lobby yarn. I've knit up 3.5 (the .5 is currently on the needles) - 2 in the chunky weight, and 1.5 in the fingering. I'll get photos up later - I don't feel like messing with uploads right now. Let's do a proper review, shall we?

Yarn Name: Yarn Bee Hand Dyed, by Hobby Lobby

Colorway: Multiple

How Knit: Hand

When Knit: 2020/21

Specs: All the skeins I have are 100% super wash Merino, in both Chunky weight and Fingering.

Hand: All the skeins are soft and bouncy, which you'd expect from Merino. Very slight elasticity.

Care: Not sure what the tag says, I machine wash, hang dry. It's super wash, which means it's been chemically treated to not shrink or felt.

Longevity: My finished pair of socks is currently 1 month old, and has been in constant rotation since it came off the needles. There is NO pilling, and no visible wear. (At this point, they've been worn 4 times. No, it's not a lot, but I've had some socks pill and start to fall apart after the first wear. I'm *hard* on socks - I go around sock-footed all the time, even running outside in them.) They were knit on size 1.5s, and the resulting fabric is nice and sturdy. You can't see thru it very easily (socks should be knit tightly; if you can see thru it like you can a screen door, it's too loose and you need to go down a needle size or 2.)

The chunky has been knit into arm warmers. Both pair have been worn for 3 weeks, alternating pairs each day. It's pilling a bit - which is to be expected from Merino. Merino is short-stapled wool, and should be spun into a fine yarn, and tightly plied. This looks like it's a 2-ply; both plies are rather loose. It's a VERY squishy yarn, and warm when knit on both size 8s and 9s. (The 8s made a slightly dense fabric, the 9s is nice and fluid.)

Notes: I am quite impressed with this yarn. All 4 skeins that I've used have been dye fast - no crocking. (Not even the lovely blue chunky yarn!) There's been no splitting while knitting, and it feels good in the hands - not too stiff, or rough. The colors are clear.

The sock currently on the needles...the "unicorn farts" color way (Techno Tribe is the actual name)....it started off spiraling nicely, but when I got halfway down the leg it sort of......exploded into a pool of rainbow. I don't mind.....but I would prefer that it continue in the neat spiral. I don't expect perfectly consistent patterning in hand dyed yarns, but this is a bit.....different. I'm not far enough into the 2nd sock to know if it'll repeat - but I'm used to fraternal socks, so it's all good. (Oh, and it turns out I'm not knitting these socks for me. I finished the first one last night, tried it on, as one does, and realized it wasn't "right". I handed it to Herself, who grabbed it and immediately tried it on, and...yep. It's hers. I should have realized it sooner - ever since I started the leg I had this niggling thought that it wasn't me. :lol: She doesn't get the orange-based version, though - that one's MINE. :rofl:)

At this price point, it's a good way to knit up some of the more common types of hand dyed yarn. If you don't like the resulting fabric, you haven't lost a lot of money. Also, if you can't afford the more pricey indie dyed yarn, this is a great way to get in on the trend without having to decide between yarn and more important (*gasp*! How dare I!) purchases.

I need to get back to it - I have thrown out 4 pairs of socks in the past 2 weeks. It's not a problem - all 4 were over 10 years old (yes, you read that right - *10* years old!), so it's about time I start refilling the sock drawer. My plan for this year is to try and NOT repeat a pattern. I do have plans to knit at least 1 pair of Monkeys (even though I have 3 older pair), because that pattern works with all types of color ways. I've got so many patterns - it's time to test knit them!

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Shower thoughts....

2020-12-30T15:44:25Z

because it's me. :heh:

So. A few weeks ago, the husband and I were discussing all the empty office buildings around, due to "WFH", and the implications for the economy. (Sucks to be a commercial landlord right now....if everyone is working from home, they have LOST a ton of money. Ex: My former employer had a very, very small office space in a strip mall (800 s/f, IIRC)....$1500/month rent, + insurance, + utilities. They're shut down, now, as are EVERY OTHER OFFICE in that building. 30 or so offices. We had the smallest office space....do the math.)

Anyway. I was thinking about that this AM, and realized something. EVERYONE currently working from home.....IF they are using their own, personal computer, are, technically......CONTRACT LABOR, not employees.

This should.....worry you. Because, as a contractor, the company does not pay their portion of Federal withholding (including Social Security and FICA), nor are they required to pay for insurance. Or vacation/sick days. A smart accountant.......well, switching over would save the companies a ton of money.

IF you bought a new laptop/are using your own computer - and the company didn't reimburse you; and
IF you are not being reimbursed for the extra electricity/water/use of your WFH office space/office supplies...

you are, TECHNICALLY, a contract worker - NOT an employee.

This......has a bunch of implications for you, the worker. IF the company realizes this, and decides to *act* on it.......

You will owe 100% of the federal withholding, instead of the 50% you currently have withheld from your paycheck (the employer pays the other 50% and gets to take the write off.) IF you don't pay quarterly, you will owe penalty and interest.....:sigh: It also means you can be let go with no reason - they just drop your "contract" - which doesn't have to be written, BTW. Husband is a contract electrician....he can be let go at anytime, with no repercussions. He can also quit at any time, with no repercussions. He has no written contract - and I never have, either.

Honestly, I'm surprised it took me this long to think of this. IF a company can make a profit without having to pay rent/taxes/utilities on their office space......why wouldn't they? IF they can also save money by using contract labor instead of employees....again, why not? From the company viewpoint, it's cheaper to use contractors instead of having employees that will expect things like: IRA's, 401k's, vacation pay, sick pay.....health insurance........from a fiscal standpoint, it makes sense. Save money - which is what every CFO wants, because saving money = increased profits.

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Updatey-thing

2020-12-04T19:57:27Z

So. Thanksgiving was great - Himself did most of the cooking! 3 pies: Pumpkin, Chocolate Cream, and Pecan (YUM! The bourbon was a nice touch....), plus the bird itself. He helped me with the green bean casserole (from scratch; no cream-of-anything soup here!), mashed the potatoes, and shaped the bread. I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast....Mom brought the stuffing. It was a good meal!

The kids and I have been slowly cleaning the goat barn - it's been 2 years. :sigh: We're having to remove 20" of packed in muck....it's dry, so that's good, but it's pretty solid. We're all getting a good workout! We do about 1 hour/day, 2-3 days/week; we've done about 1/4 so far. It's getting there!

We've also been gathering firewood. It's been COLD recently - 31* yesterday AM! Too cold for me - even Loki has needed a sweater lately. :lol:

I've been busy in the Studio - my contract job is gone, probably for good thanks to the 'fraidy cats. (C'mon, the CDC has all but admitted that flu numbers are the driving force - that's why they are no longer counting flu cases. It doesn't take a genius....add in the fact that NO politician is actually following their own rules......:rolls eyes:)(OH, and don't tell me you actually believe death certificates - they are fudged all the time. FIL died of "COPD"......in reality it was a heart attack. MIL died of "congestive heart failure". Nope - it was a combination of acute renal failure and an allergic reaction to morphine. DH#1 was homicide; it was first ruled suicide, then changed to accidental. Yes, we have evidence pointing to homicide. I gave up fighting the system when it was changed to accidental. My point is, cause of death isn't always what's on the death certificate. When you add in free money for every Wu-flu case...well, it doesn't take a genius to see what's gong on. Look into the vaccine.....there's evidence that it might cause fertility problems, as well as genetic problems due to the fact that all 3 current ones are chimeras. LOOK IT UP, people! If you're a Believer, check out Revelations.....yup, the masks fit the Mark - it doesn't say that the mark lasts forever. HOWEVER...any vaccine related issues will show up 6+ months after injection. And will last....well, forever. And vaccine companies are immune (sorry!) to lawsuits. IF you have a reaction, too bad, so sad - you have no recourse.)

ANYWAY. I was in a mild panic - yes, G-d will provide. Thing is, *I* have to participate. I was concerned....until I woke up one morning last week *knowing* I needed to put my sewing machine to work. So.....we are adding plushies to the shop. I have 2 nekkid chibi plague doctors ready to be dressed, and 1 more needing stuffing, and 1 more cut out and embroidered. Then 1 Alien Child ready to sew.....plus a bunch of hip holster purses. I need to get over myself, get photos, and get them listed. Wish us luck!

Not much else going on. The Lord has provided us with a full freezer, and I have a buck in with the 4 chosen does. My embroidery machine is humming along nicely - things are good. G-d is Good!

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Whee! What Fun!

2020-11-15T21:12:35Z

I've been a busy little fiber-addict lately! I finished a hat for the gift box, have 1 sock almost done, and have started another gift-hat.....but the big thing is:

I have actually sewn 4 bras! 1 of them fits almost perfectly, 1 is slightly too big, 1 is.....well, the pattern is.....a disaster, and 1 is drying (haven't actually tried it on yet.) This was emergency sewing; last week I realized I had 1 working bra - and it was on it's last legs.

I went digging thru my patterns.....I have a.....um....few bra patterns. Most are for wired bras - I do NOT do wires. Nope - don't try to convince me, I have yet to find a wire that actually fits my bust. I've tried - back when I was working I spent a few months buying up bras from every vendor I could find that had my size, most of which had wires. Inevitably, the wires were removed within a month due to pain. :sigh: So. NO wires. I didn't feel like trying to convert these patterns to wireless, so I went shopping. (Before I go any further, I have sewn 2 bras before. I didn't finish them - 1 was obviously not going to fit, the other I misplaced the top elastic. Still, I have SOME experience.)

I found a source online who had pdf patterns. She had just released a new wire-free pattern....after a bunch of dithering, I plunked down my $17 and printed out the instructions. I spent a good 30 minutes measuring myself (every designer has her own system, and requires various measurements. No big deal, right?)....and then couldn't figure out WHICH file to print. I emailed her:

"So. I am a 40 F/G (let's go with G for now),with a bottom curve of 6.5". I go into Adobe to print.....and there is no 40 G. There are layers at 101, 133, etc......ALL of which have size 40. How do I KNOW what size to print?

I printed all of them, in color, and decided to cut just the 40. But...on the cradle, the colored lines do NOT match up - the bottom curve is no where near 6.5". I even cut the bottom curve out, laid it on top of the pattern...and it's off."

Her reply:

"Please follow the measuring directions on the Instructions. My patterns do not use standard Bra sizing for more accuracy.

The patten is based on a mix and match concept. You may need one size for the cups and another size for the cradle. So many of us do NOT have breast measurements that fit the RTW standard. Cradle size is based on your breast root trace - not ready to wear size.

You can be assured the patten has been thoroughly tested. Remember that the pattern has seam allowance included so the cut lines may not match but the sew lines will. Perhaps include a photo of the issue you are encountering? "

Not very helpful AT ALL. :bangs head: I finally figured out her...system: You have to take your HH (bottom curve) measurement, in CM, and remove the decimal. So, for me? I had to open the file named 165. That's not confusing, or anything, right??

:Sigh: It only got "better" from there. 1 of the pages in the pattern has to be printed landscape, the rest are portrait. I had to dig down into my printer options to find "Automatic page" so that I could just hit print.

Then I sewed it up. It......doesn't fit. The cups are loose and wrinkly, meaning they are TOO BIG. (And I went with what appears to be size F, not G, because I had feelings....) The band....oh my. The back band is 8" tall. The finished bra looks like something designed by NASA engineers on their days off - it's quite industrial.

It also damn near killed my beloved machine. It did NOT like sewing the elastic to the bottom of the cradle. AT ALL. It made all sorts of clunks..........and this is my beloved 1960's era Singer. The machine that laughs at 3 layers of denim. Granted, I am using what I have on hand, so this bra is 1 layer of lycra and 1 layer of light-to-medium weight power net......she has you double up the cradle, and enclose the seams of the back band - so at that point I am sewing thru 5 layers......of fabric that will NOT lay flat, even after being hit with a steam iron and clapper.

I went back to etsy and grabbed Merckwaerdigh's e-course on bra-making for $22. BEST $22 I ever spent. It's clear, it's concise, and when I emailed her to see if I could use it to make a wire-free bra, she quickly responded with "YES! Just make sure the cups go up far enough to contain all the tissue!".

I used the same fabric on #1 as I did on the disaster. The cups are a bit too big, so Mom gets to try it on. I then switched to a different knit (sort of a thin t-shirt type, I think), with powernet in the cups, sizing down 1 cup size. Wonder of wonders, it FITS. Almost perfectly - the bridge isn't flush with my sternum - but a quick web search informed me that on wireless bras that's not unusual. :happy dance:

This morning I made another - this one I used cotton lawn (woven) on the cups and cradle, and lined them with swimsuit lining (I know, but it's what I have on hand. I have about 1.5 yards of the powernet left, and I NEED that for the back and for lining the cradle.) A quick try-on showed it fits, but I didn't take the time to evaluate it - I had spray-basted the lining to the cups and it was too stiff to get a good fitting.) My goal is to perfect the fit, then knock out a few more. I have 4 more finding kits (I bought a bunch from BraBuilders.com at the beginning of the year - $7 for all the elastic, straps, sliders, rings, and hooks and eyes you need for 1 bra is NOT a bad price!), and 1 kit. I don't want to touch the kit, though, until I KNOW I have the perfect fit.

Next month I hope to have enough "spare" funds to hit Fabricdepot.com - they have the best prices on powernet and stabilized tricot I've found. I'll be able to whip up a few more bras, then in January I can pick up more finding kits and get them finished, THEN I can start on perfecting Herself's fit.

Bras are relatively easy sews, and fast - I can go from picking out fabric to dropping the finished bra in the washer in 3 hours - including waiting for the basting spray to dry a bit before sewing! A bit fiddly, but nothing too difficult. The hardest part - so far - is getting the fit right.

Sorry about no pictures....but I'm not really comfortable showing the entire world my underthings. :lol:

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It's Picture Time!

2020-11-03T12:27:34Z

Again. Because......well, I've been busy. TOO busy, but that's all on me. :sigh: I.....fell back into the addiction. Yarn fumes are dangerous. :nods:

Why do I say that? Because.....well, here:

I started these the minute I finished the hat, and finished them last Friday. Photos were taken Sunday, when the socks were nice and dry.......um. I immediately cast on another pair (this one is textured, so 1 yarn only. Easy-peasy.).....but had to set them down shortly after. I, um.....well, I'm halfway down the leg of #1, and can *feel* it, so......

I started a new hat yesterday, to take the edge off. It's on larger needles.......but.....I need an intervention. :lol:

Anyway. These are the Cherry Dream socks. I've had the pattern for years, even dyed up the yarn and "kitted" it 3 or 4 years ago. I just didn't need cherry socks - but Herself, now - Herself wants to sew up a cherry-themed Lolita dress. So.....she now has socks to go with. :lol:

Pattern was easy. But! I have apparently become a much looser knitter - my normal is to use size 2s.....this pair? Size 2s were HUGE. I went down to size 1.5 - which for color work has NEVER worked for me. Now? They are a wee bit loose - on ME - but work. The plain sock I started? I stuck with the size 1.5s, but reduced the stitch count from 72 (my "normal" for years and years!) to 64.

AND THEY FIT. :gulp:

This opens up more patterns for me, but...it boggles my mind. ALL the other socks in my drawer are size 2s, on 72 stitches for color work, and size 1.5s on 72 stitches for plain/textured. This.....is an interesting departure, but I'll roll with it.

I think I'm going to put the socks in time-out, and knock out a few hats. Hats are on larger needles, with fatter yarn........but I don't need a lot of hats. The current one goes in the present box, but.........

Anyone need a hand-knit hat? :seriously: Wool only (but willing to dye up some of my special base yarn - Cashmere/Merino blend - if you need scratch-free. Seriously - there is BUTTER out there that is scratchier than this yarn!), prefer color work (to keep me intrigued)........I am willing. Otherwise I might drown in hats.....:lol:

Yes, this is a serious offer. I have....well. A bit of yarn in the stash. In.....a few colors. And I have......a few patterns. :lol: It'll keep me amused, out of trouble, and help rehabilitate my hand/wrist. I will TRY to knock them out before the holidays, but please remember I'm dealing with recovery here. :smile:

So. Hat, anyone???

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I seem to be on a roll....

2020-10-16T20:13:34Z

because I just finished something I started on Sunday evening - well, finished it yesterday. Photos today - I had to wait for it to dry from it's bath and block. :lol:

This isn't for me; it goes into the "present box" that is woefully empty this year. Normally, I stockpile things for gift-giving.....this year, since I couldn't knit, I couldn't think of anything to gift. I'm trying to make up for lost time......I just started a pair of socks for Herself. Again. I started yesterday, but that little voice told me "too big! Abort!"....I measured it against a pair of my socks, and yeah - it was about 2" to big. :blink: I haven't been that far off in...well, years! I went down a needle size (from 2 to 1.5....:eek!:); this time the cuff looks a bit more reasonable. I'll be restarting the color work in 6 rounds, so we'll see then.

I did bugger up my wrist this AM......I mowed the back yard. I don't use the self-propelled part of the mower, because I figure mowing is the best form of full-body cardio I can get. Normally, it hasn't been a problem. This AM however, I ended up with a weird.......tingly feeling, almost like how you feel when you bounce your hand on a trampoline. The kinda......"sproing-y" feeling, with a bit of pins-and-needles thrown in. Really weird and off-putting. It's still kinda..weird feeling now, almost 8 hours later, so I don't know what's going on there, but I'll watch it. :Sigh: I just got my knitting back, too!!!! :pout:

I need to get dinner going - tonight is spaghetti night. The challah is done and cooling, now to start the sauce.

Have a great one!

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It's Photo time!!

2020-10-12T14:50:07Z

I know, I know - this is the lazy way out. But....I finished Himself's scarf last night!!! And - AND! Herself actually sewed an entire outfit!!! 95% by Herself!!!!!!

:deep breath:

Let's start with Herself, OK? I'm SO proud! (OK, so it's not a style or fabric *I* would have chosen, but that's OK. She did a pretty good job!) ETA: the blouse is bought; we haven't found a good pattern yet.

Dress pattern is the infamous Simplicity 8444 ("infamous" because a bunch of Lolita's got their petticoats in a twist; seems that a large company can't put out a Lolita dress pattern without "stealing" it. Um. Yeah. Whatever. :lol:). The pattern is OK, the instructions....are a little bit obtuse. Herself didn't want to "wing it" - she wanted to follow the instructions. She ended up winging part of it, because neither of us understood what the instructions said. I knew what we were supposed to end up with, so I talked her through, and I serged all the edges (my serger intimidates her.) We added the waist ties; she cloned a pair from one of her purchased dresses.

The major difference in ours and the pattern, though, is that I did a rolled edge on the underskirt ruffles. The pattern wanted a 1/8" hem.......right. MUCH easier to simply let the serger roll it. Also, the pattern doesn't have you finish the raw edges of the TOPS of the ruffles......:shrug: I did a fast serger edge and we went from there.

The hat is from Choly Knight; it gave her a bit of trouble, but she did ALL of it herself.

Why yes, I AM a bit chuffed! :lol:

Now, for my turn: a closeup of Himself's finished scarf!

Pattern is the by now ubiquitous among knitters "Irish Hiking Scarf". Yarn is something-something Shepherd's Wool I got at Tuesday Morning a.....few......years ago. It's nice; not super soft, but bouncy. The marbling kinda hides the cables, but it looks really, really nice.

All 7' of it. :blink: When I picked it back up, I was at 24", maybe. I think.....I think I got back into the rhythm of it pretty quickly. :lol

Oh, and one more photo of what I had to put up with this morning while heading out to my Studio:

ALL the dogs had the "zoomies" this morning. I was able to capture the Dunnelstan in full zoom. :lol: I spared you the joy of having him AND Chloe running into me......THAT was fun. At least I didn't fall!

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You Guys!!!!!!

2020-09-30T15:10:14Z

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Here, have another!

2020-09-07T19:38:28Z

Because machine embroidering is FUN! :lol:

I forgot to give the details last time, so:

Pattern is Style Arc's Melody blouse. It's very similar to the Twig & Tale Breeze, but it has a back yoke, and it's looser all over, with a hi-lo curved hem. The sleeves are supposed to be 3/4 with elastic, but I *hate* elastic (it's a necessary evil in undergarments, but outer clothes? I prefer gathering and cuffs/binding, thank you very much!) It's supposed to have a collar, but I like the look of the stand by itself.

Fabric is another piece of the Irish Shirt-weight linen from Fabric Mart, this time in lavender. It's gorgeous fabric, and the motifs seem to fit. Herself picked out the embroidery thread - she has a good eye for color.

The front embroidery came from Royal Present embroidery They have *beautiful* stuff, and an etsy shop - the files are actually cheaper on etsy than they are on their own site, for some reason. Most of the files are larger - at least 5"x7" - so you have to make sure your machine can handle it. The back and cuffs came from Emblibrary - I LOVE their stuff! They have such a huge selection, and the prices are competitive - especially when they run sales!

I need to work on some household stuff next, while I wait on bra straps and elastics to come in. Fun times! Machine embroidery is addictive stuff, I've found - I have to keep telling myself that everything does NOT need embroidery on it. :rofl:

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I made another thing!

2020-09-04T18:06:46Z

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!

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I told myself I wasn't gonna talk about this again...

2020-08-13T21:19:50Z

but then I ran across of 2 very, very interesting websites. :sigh:

The first website breaks down how much Federal grant money (NON-repayable; basically a free handout) each State gets per case - NOT confirmed, case, just case.. In Texas, it's $184,000.

The second is direct from the CDC. It's how much individual providers have received, SO FAR, as "provider relief". I've been reading it.......please explain to me why orthopedic doctors, or CHIROPRACTORS, or gastroenterologists can claim funds. They do not deal with *respiratory* viruses. Which this, supposedly, is - again, coronaviruses are the medical name for *the common cold*. Respiratory.

Follow the money, folks. This has never been about saving us common folk. The death rate has never been as high as the media reported - Canada Health even reported that they inflated their death rate by *50%* per their own website - page 3, specifically. I could understand 10%, maybe 20%, but *50%*????

Once again, I have to ask - if this....."pandemic" really were as deadly and as infectious as the powers that be have been claiming, such that we MUST shut down everything.....WHY are they inflating the numbers??? I know that a few weeks ago, the San Antonio Health Department walked back 3,500 cases that they had overstated.......seriously?

I just....I can't even.

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