Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

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:

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! )

for those of you, who, like me, have NO idea of what, exactly, being named an Executor entails. It's interesting!

First, someone has to die and name you executor in their will. You need to cobble together some money (in our example, $1800-ish), and contact a Probate Attorney. Bonus points if he's "local" to you. Find the will, and make an appointment.

Go to the appointment. Discuss the basics of the "estate" with same; be sure to verify you will get back any funds spent by you on estate business (in Texas, yes - you will get back the funds. Otherwise, you'll come out *less* than the other heirs, and that's not fair.) Agree to the attorney's fees, and write a retainer check.

Go home, freak out slightly on the amount of money you will be out until you can liquidate assets.

Wait approx. 2 weeks. Get a letter from the attorney spelling out the date and time you are to go to Court to be officially appointed as Executor. Notice that he wants you to meet with him 15 minutes before the court time, so you can go over your "testimony". Mark date on calendar so that you are SURE you won't forget.

Court day! Make sure you are dressed appropriate to the dignity of the court - NOT in cut-off shorts and flip-flops, or the dirty wife-beater, stained and torn jeans, and tatts that the folks after us showed up in. :shakes head: Because you are paranoid about being late to official things, make sure you leave the house with PLENTY of time to spare. (In our case? Um.....4 hours. For a 1 hour drive. In my defense, SG offered to take me to lunch at a sit-down place that notoriously runs slow. We ended up at Chick-fil-a......and the yarn store. :lol: More on THAT later...suffice to say I *needed* a new project, right then.)

Wait for your attorney, who is LATE. Later than my brother, in fact, who is almost always late. (In our family, I got all the "Must get there on Time" genes, and my brother got all the "don't worry, it's fine, I'll get there when I get there" genes.) Then, remind your attorney of who, exactly, you are (he tried to give me someone else's paperwork. TWICE.)

Go over the "testimony" - basically, you answer yes or no to various easy questions. If you're not totally brain-dead, you've got this. :lol: Oh - be sure you're not a felon, or been declared legally incompetent. :snicker:

Take a deep breath, and go into the Court. The Judge will swear you in, get your attorney to hand him the papers, and then he'll tell your attorney to question you. Pay attention - he might try to trick you by asking "And you swear you are not a felon" and "Have you ever been declared mentally incompetent"...which if you are not listening you might mis-interpret. (No, I didn't. I did sign one page on the wrong line, though....)

The Judge will declare you Executor. You and your attorney will then go to the clerk's office to get the paperwork (he didn't tell me that.....:sigh:) and then you are done and can sell all the things.

Re: Yarn. I had started a new sock last Friday. By Friday evening, I was OVER it. The yarn - which was NOT cheap ($28/skein!) - is riddled with weak spots that break if you look at it funny. Or try to pull a bit out to knit with. I tried to keep going - by Tuesday AM I was at 4", but had 8 grafts. I told the yarn store owner about it - she was horrified and wanted to try and help me; I told her no, the yarn was a couple of years old, it was a highly-spun yarn and it looked like in some spots it was just too highly-spun. Seems that the company is now out of business, so......Anyway. I bought 3 new skeins and a set of needles. She wound 1 into a ball for me, and I sat down and CO a new sock. (SG was at Lowe's, which is in the same shopping center.) I happily knit while I waited for him - AND I had a sock to work while waiting for the attorney. And 2 more skeins to play with, later. :lol: I don't get to the yarn store often, so it was a nice treat. (Photos later......)

Tomorrow at 11 we go to the Title Company. This is almost done.......:whew!:

Because I don't have much else to share right now. It's wet, it's chilly...we need the rain, but we're at a point we almost need an Ark, too. The creek is about 25' outside it's banks right now....we're going to evolve webbed feet soon!

Anyway, photos! First up, the Yaakov V.3.0 socks:






These are "better" than V.2.0, but there's still a bit of muddiness. However, they'll do! (for now :lol:) I have 3 more double sock blanks, so there *may* be at least 1 more pair in the works, but...not any time soon. I have too many other patterns I want to knit up, first.

I managed to finish these Thursday AM, and I wore them to NTIF on Friday. Thursday PM I started these:






The yarn is a Cash/Merino base from Wool2Dye4, and it's SCRUMPTOUS! Lovely, lovely yarn - SOOOOooooo soft and cushy, and it takes the dye really, really well. The colors are...well, this pair was inspired by a Celtic song, "The Orange and the Green". It's about a boy from a mixed family (Irish Protestant (Orange) and Irish Catholic (Green)), and how difficult his life was, having to make both sides happy. (It's a comedic song, BTW. :lol:) I wanted to show that the 2 COULD get along.....so, here we go. If I could count to 3, I'd be past the heel now, but I had to rip back 20 rows because....yeah, I can't count. :lol:

Anyway. That's what I've been up to lately. I need to fix Herself's jeans pattern, and give it another try, and I need to retrace my bombachas pattern and change the tucks to darts. And get rid of some length.

Hope y'all are staying dry!

I, um...wasn't going to post today, but...well, it was a good mail day. :wink: Anyway, I have photos! Let's see...

First up, the UGLY socks:





The yarn is nice, and the colors - in the skein! - obviously looked good, or I wouldn't have bought it (I don't get affected by wool fumes to the point of purposefully buying ugly yarn, and I KNOW I didn't dye this batch. I...don't have dyes in that lichen green, for one thing!). The pattern is Old Shale/Feather and Fan, which usually works great with variegated skeins. This skein, though......

Here's my currently active sock - I give you Yaacov V.3.0:



The muddiness I had yesterday in the pattern portion is now in the bottom of the ribbing. :shrug: It works there, and the pattern is showing up pretty clearly. Can't wait to see how it works up next!

And now....I give you my new serger:



It came in a lovely protective case! The box...was HUGE. The serger was in the case (wrapped in bubble wrap!), then the case was wrapped in bubble wrap, with an old yoga mat wrapped around *that*. The foot pedal and accessories were in bubble wrap inside a shoe box that was *also* wrapped in bubble wrap.



There she is, in all her glory! I am.....intimidated. VERY intimidated! She currently has 3 needles in - she can take 5. :gulp!:



This thing is SPOTLESS. I mean - except for a few scuffs on the outside, it looks like it's never been used! I am.....:gulp!:

I will play with it probably tomorrow....or maybe Sunday. I am.....honestly? I am a little scared of this thing! :giggle: At least it's good timing - I have a pair of jeans to make up for Herself....guess I can practice on them.

I need to rustle up lunch and get back to knitting...the serger can...can wait a bit. :lol: I need to read the manual and hunt up some videos to get my courage up.

because boy, have I got photos for you!!! God is good - and I'll show you THAT in a minute! :lol:

First up, let me catch you up on the sock knitting front. (Because I am ALL about the socks, right? :lol:) Let's start with the Yaacov socks, V.2.0 (which Herself STOLE from me. :humph: :lol:)





Except for the spots where the colors ran together, I am *very* pleased with these. We dyed the yarn ourselves, and it pretty much worked out. I figured out where we went "wrong" (and, let me say that the original socks, the ones in the book, have areas of colors running together. So, in that respect, we HIT it out of the park. *I* however, want a pair with NO or very little blurriness.) You'll note that they match *exactly*, which was also part of the plan.

Herself is totally enthralled with them, so they are still a win. :lol:

Next up, the current sock - I give you Socks to Knit While Bored (aka: Sherlocked!) :lol:



I am...not following the pattern exactly. I know, I KNOW - but...I really, really HATE trying to purl color work. I can do it, but...I don't LIKE it. And I'm not really sure I have enough of the black yarn dyed up to do solid-color heels (the toes WILL be solid, because I think it'll look better.)....so color-worked heels were always the plan. I knit 2 rows....and decided to sub the heel from Maurits (remember the neon lizards? THAT heel. :lol:) You knit the heel flap and gusset AND instep at the same time; you decrease all the added stitches away and get a triangular thing going on on the foot. I think it'll look cool, so....there ya go. :lol:

And now.......well. I browse CraigsList quite a bit, usually just the Free and Arts and Crafts areas. Thursday I hit A&C, and saw an ad for "Free Clay!", so I clicked on it. It was from a teacher about 1 hour away who is moving, and decided she didn't want to move her pottery clay. I called. She said "Well, it's only about 200 pounds of clay, but I just don't want to bother moving it. I'll just buy new once I get settled (? Um.....that's still moving 200 pounds of clay, right? Whatever....). We made arrangements to pick it up yesterday, and Herself got moderately excited.

Well. Um. We got there yesterday AM, and...um....well, here - have a peek:



This, my friends, is "200" pounds of clay. Plus 50 pounds of Air-dry clay, 2 5-gallon buckets of pre-mixed slip, and.....oh my gosh, probably another 10 gallons or so of colored slip. And some tools. And some plaster of paris to make molds. And....I honestly don't know what all else. I just know that the back of my Jeep - which can hold 25 bags of horse feed, or 2 square bales of hay (with some room left over) or a wolfhound, or a full-size pregnant Nubian - is FULL. Today I HAVE to rearrange the Studio - SG is going to bring home a set of shelves tomorrow to put this stuff on - because....well, it can't stay in the Jeep. :lol:

The lady also gave us a lead on a consignment shop that sells artwork; we went and had a good long talk with the proprietor. Herself is......mildly anxious, excited, and scared about this. I have a contract that we are going to look over......this could be good for us. The proprietor is also interested in my soaps and handwovens...so. We'll see. I HAVE to get the loom unearthed so I can get back to weaving...it's been far too long.

Anyway, what a HUGE blessing this is! Clay isn't *that* expensive, but.....it's not super-cheap, either. All of this is the same firing temp as her porcelain, so she can make stuff out of both and fire them at the same time. And the glazes will work on both. :happy dance:

Guess I'd better get to work - we have a LOT of rearranging to do!

:lol: Anyway...

Herself has a week of doctor's appointments next week. Monday is a Gyn visit (to try and figure out WHY the BC pills aren't doing their job of regulating her cycle), Tuesday we have to be at the Med. Center in Mesquite at *8* AM for the start of a test/scan on her thyroid (the endo checked her levels last week, and did some "new" test - low and behold, her thyroid levels were *high*. :sigh:); we have to be back at 2 for the scan, then Wednesday we have to be back at 8:30 for the final scan. Thursday we see her GP.....needless to say, school has been cancelled for next week. :sigh: Glad we homeschool!

Just turned the heel of Yaacov sock #1. My gauge is all over the place - i was supposed to be at 3" and 32 rows.....um. I was at 3" at 24 rows. I fudged it - knit to 30 rows so I can pick up the required 16 stitches on each side of the flap. I tried it on - it DOES fit, thankfully! I am going to push and try to get this pair done this week, so I can take a NEW sock along on Tuesday (I think we'll have to hang out at the Med. center, because it's an hour away - gas is an issue. :sigh: Ah, well - let's pray they figure out what the heck is going on with Herself, because she's miserable. (Oh, and the endo put her on thyroid meds. :sigh: Fun stuff....)

We started Joshua this week (TorahClass for the win!). Looks good, so far. I really like how Mr. Bradford goes into the traditions and culture of the time period, and brings the NT into it. Fascinating stuff!

Gotta run - have a Jedi outfit to finish, as well as a new knitting bag. (What? I found Star Wars fat quarters at Wally-world......and 2 fat quarters are just enough to squeak out a large bag. And......Star Wars!!!!!! :lol:)

:sigh: I have found my knitting mojo again. I had lost it, for a bit, and sewed instead. But...sewing, while creative, isn't as zen as knitting is. It doesn't serve the same purpose.



Last week was shopping. I wanted something mindless to knit - the 2 socks in progress I currently have going are NOT mindless. 1 has charts and beads, the other is an easy pattern, but it hurts to work it. (You YO, then knit 2, then pass the YO over the 2 stitches, basically wrapping them. Easy, but...it hurts my wrists to try and pull the YO over the stitches. NOT mindless, in other words.)

I went to the sock yarn stash, and grabbed the first multi-color ball I saw. I have no idea what yarn this is, but it doesn't matter. It's sock weight, it's colorful, and the yarn will do all the work - I can just knit mindlessly. And I have needed that, this past week.

There has been a lot of arguing, this past week. A lot of angst. Most of it caused by selfishness - but it doesn't matter. This sock has helped me calm down, and stay sane.



It has helped me focus my thoughts, and be able to actually discuss things, instead of screaming about them. These socks have helped me remember that some things, when done, STAY done. And that progress is made 1 stitch (or step) at a time. :sigh:

They haven't removed the stress, but they have helped me deal with it productively.

And they are turning into a pretty colorful pair of socks, to boot. Which is a plus. :grin:

The dress is in time out right now. I have the front and back sewn together, the pocket facings attached and pressed, and the inset sewn to the pocket backs. I started pinning 1 in....but stopped because I'm still not sure it's going to work. I'm letting it think about things....and I am knitting. Slowly, things will improve.

(Oh, and for those of you who have bought into the idea that "true love" means No arguments......wow. Have you got a LOT to learn! (Yes, SG has that mindset. It's FUN to deal with....NOT. People will disagree. It's a fact of life. Put your ego aside and try to see the other point of view. :shrug:)

Back to knitting - I have a sock to finish!

OK, so Herself is moderately better. Doc appt. yesterday was honestly a waste of time - we learned NOTHING. And nothing was done - just "come back in 6 weeks for more blood work" :bangs head: At least she sees a "specialist" on Tuesday....maybe we'll learn something then.

I finished sock #1, and am on the leg of #2. I am itching to dye up some more yarn to kit up yet more socks....but I am fighting the urge. I need to knit more down, first......maybe. :lol:

Tomorrow we go to pick up a sewing machine cabinet/table....I want to move my White (30-ish pounds!) into the house, as I can't sew in the Studio. No room! I found a cheap, antique cabinet on CraigsList - hope it works. (No picture....but the lady is nice, and it's CHEAP.) Not sure where I'll put it.....ah, well. Such is life, right? :lol:

Himself got his forge, and promptly freaked out. :rofl: I'm working on him......

Shabbat Shalom! See ya on the flip side!

I've been promising pictures for a while, so.....here you go! I'll put them behind a cut, because there are quite a few - even though a lot of folks have ditched LJ/DW, I'll still be polite. :lol:

( Pictures! )