worthwhile textile

The sky has been so beautiful this week, as the weather shifts decidedly into autumn territory and the rains increase.

In the very early hours, the clouds take on a rosy cast.

Then, touched by the sun, they turn golden.

Every morning brings a heavy dew and lovely fog.

While it's still warm enough, we're both out doing yard work.

Borga loves to assist...

...and be rewarded for her "hard work."

In defiance of our chilly nights, many flowers are still blossoming in the garden...

...but I see much more of this.

I have to admit that I love seeing little bits of vibrant life out there.

The goldfinches are even more frantically and systematically stripping seeds.  Can you see all three in this photo?

I am lamentably late with my Halloween decorations, but at least I got the porch decked out with loads of pumpkins from the garden.

The windows are always cracked to let in a delightful bit of chill, and I'm frequently curled up under a quilt with a textile project.  I'm making nice progress on my red snake tapestry (design by Japanese artist Yumiko Higuchi)...

...despite Tabitha's "help."

I'm really excited about my current knitting project, a pair of cozy gloves by Scottish designer Ysolda Teague.  The circumference of my palm is usually a full two inches smaller than patterns for a "normal" adult woman's hand, so most of the gloves that I've tried to knit are floppy oven mitts on my hands.  It's not as simple as going down a few needle sizes, as smaller needles are flimsy and hard to work with, and end up painfully cramping my fingers.  I'm loathe to change a pattern, because I don't have an intuitive sense about how stitches that I make will translate in the work.  I took a chance on these gloves, though.  Instead of casting on 65 stitches with a size 2 needle, I cast on 48 stitches with a size 1 needle.  I knitted about a third of the mitten...

...but realized that it was too small.  It fit my wrist, but the design got distorted out of shape when I pulled it over my thumb.  I'm so easily discouraged that it would be normal for me to toss the project aside at this point, but I doggedly cast on again, this time on a size 2 needle.  I'm just past the thumb now and it's a perfect fit!  I can't wait to finish them up.

In summary, we are absolutely loving these chilly, rainy fall days and are making the most of them, both inside and outside.  Each of us in our own way.  :)

Have a great week!

Knitted sweater and better weather!

I have curtailed my baking quite a bit, but one of my favorite baking websites is Sally's Baking Addiction.  She has a monthly baking challenge that I just started participating in, and I love it!  The September challenge:  piping sunflower cupcakes.  I bought my ingredients and set aside some time, only to discover that I didn't have the right leaf tip needed to pipe the cupcake petals.  ARGH!  I substituted a different tip, but between the incorrect tip and the near-90s temps, my petals were a little droopy.

Todd's office still liked them!

I also made one of my old standbys, half chocolate chip and half chocolate cookies.

And now that it's basically PUMPKIN SEASON (despite the forecast of, you guessed it, near 90s again by the end of the week), I'll be baking a lot more.  Next up, oversize pumpkin muffins with crumb topping and browned butter oatmeal pumpkin cookies with cinnamon chips.  Hooray for my favorite season!

Despite my sore fingers, I'm knitting on.  I started knitting a pair of gloves, but chose a yarn that contained silk.  Silk doesn't have any "give" (like cotton) and kills my fingers.  So I quit halfway through...

...and re-knitted in green wool.  I knitted the right glove in the Portuguese style, but my fingers hurt so much by the end that I used my old "clutch and throw" method for the left glove.  As you can see, it's significantly smaller, but fits so much better.  The right glove is a bit too big but will work (I'm thinking about layering with those small, tight gloves from Target).  I blocked the left glove after this picture was taken to make it a little bit bigger, so the difference is less noticeable.  Layering gloves will be fine because my hands are always so cold!

I also finished my sweater...hooray!  I knitted it to be two sizes smaller than I am currently, but since I knitted it in the Portuguese style, I think it's only one size too small.

I had a friend at the gym model it (she's a size S/M) so that I could at least see how the neck laid on the shoulders.  Taking into account both poor lighting and a poor fit on my model - I love it!  It's all blocked and waiting for cooler weather.

I have been working on my Snails quilt, but very slowly.  Our cats are very pleased with this development.  If I leave a piece of fabric out too long, a cat will claim it.

The same goes for quilts.  My Snails quilt has been in the machine so long that the cats think I've really been making them a giant bed.

I've finally had to admit to myself that while I love choosing and cutting fabric and love the actual piecing of a quilt, I despise the actual quilting of it.  I've practiced and practiced...

...but despite the addition of a quilting table, special gloves, and a slippery surface to quilt on, I stink. For my Snails quilt, I chose to quilt a giant concentric circle.  I thought it would be really easy.  But you're constantly rotating the quilt, shoving it through the tiny throat space again and again...such a pain.  Also, when quilting concentric circles, you have to stop and start (when adjusting fabric) every few inches or so.  When you start quilting again, your needle jumps, leaving an obvious jag in the line.

I was ready to pull my hair out, but thankfully someone advised me to "pool" the fabric around the needle before starting to stitch again, and that does minimize the jag.  Todd suggested that I bite the bullet and pay someone to do my quilting - it costs around $130 - but so far I'm stubbornly sticking to it.  I'm forcing myself to put in 30 minutes a day and hopefully it will be done within a couple of weeks!

Speaking of cutting up fabric, I got a package of fabric scraps through the Random Acts of Kindness forum on Ravelry.  I *love* receiving random scraps of fabric.  I took a couple of hours on Saturday and cut them up into common fabric sizes:  2", 2.5", 3", 3.5", 4", and 5".  I also have 1.5", 2", and 2.5" strips.

I would probably never purchase, say, watermelon-print fabric...but it's going to be so fun to use in a scrap quilt!

We're slowly sliding into fall in South Carolina.  Cooler evenings mean Scrabble time by the pond.

Todd is finally able to do some home improvement projects in comfort, like digging a water-diverting trench around the house.

Here's hoping for more cooler days ahead - SOON.  Have a great week!

Craft Attack

Work has slowed down a little, and it's been hot/humid, so I've spent a lot of time inside, working on craft projects.

I traced the image of a marigold from an art book and hand embroidered it.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out and now it's framed in my office!  Marigolds are one of my favorite flowers.

I finished knitting myself a pair of vintage-style Scandinavian mittens.

I have small hands, but these mittens are still very slim-fitting.  I really like this traditional feather-and-fan pattern.

I've been trying to practice both precision and color-matching in sewing, so I tried this sample block.  The blue is a little bright, but it exactly matches the flecks of blue in the white fabric.  There's still room for improvement, but with practice comes more precise points! 

I bought a new dress pattern that's modeled on traditional German dirndls, with a laced-up midsection.

Here's a sketch showing more detail:

Really looking forward to making this!  Speaking of garment making, I had a real breakthrough this week.  I'd picked up a pattern on clearance, forgetting that pattern dress sizes have no relation to actual clothing size.  So, the size 6 - 14 pattern I bought actually went no larger than 28" for the waist. 

I studied the schematic and figured that I could measure the space between sizes and increase it until I found my own size.  I used a big roll of thrift store paper tablecloth to trace on...

...and then made my toile, or practice garment, out of some old sheets. 

It's just pinned or basted together with large stitches, but it seemed to fit well enough.  I used my enlarged pattern pieces and cut my fabric...

It all came together in one rushed afternoon and IT FIT PERFECTLY!

I learned so much by making this.  More practice at putting in zippers, and my first time doing gathers (those tiny pleated folds beneath the waistband).  First time making a toile and enlarging a pattern, too.  I also learned to pay attention to fabric type:  I dutifully cut, sewed, and hemmed a wide piece of fabric on the bottom, but since it doesn't contrast with the original fabric, it's not even noticeable on the skirt. 

I love the fabric and the skirt looks pretty, but I won't be wearing it.  Another great learning experience:  learning what does and does not work for my body type.  This design is just not a flattering fit.  The wide top panel accentuates the waist and stomach, and a set of gathers starts just above the widest part of the hips, accentuating THAT part too.  So I'll just chalk this up to a great learning experience, recycle the fabric, and try again! 

I finished a baby cardigan for a friend.

It's really more like a little coat, and the first time I've put a lining in a knitted garment.

I was torn over which fabric to use...

...but in the end, I went with the plaid.  It was so easy.  I just cut a big rectangle out of an old plaid shirt of Todd's (cut on the bias, or diagonal, to give more stretch), pinned it into the proper shape, and whip-stitched the edges.  It didn't take any time at all!

I will definitely be lining more cardigans!  It was good to get my rubber stamps out again, too.  I've been feeling a little guilty for my vast supply of card-making tools that I haven't used lately.

Tabitha was a huge help, as usual!

I can always count on her to lend a helping hand or "supervise" the job.

Hope you've had some time to craft lately...have a good week!