Sunday, June 30, 2013

No Longer Mouseless

Finally got a new mouse for my netbook computer, Bluet. Yay! Right before I knocked poor Bluet on the floor and gave it a concussion! My excuse was I that I was mostly asleep when it happened at 4:30am. It wouldn’t finish going through startup which was making me very nervous about lost data, another expense and general dismay at breaking my little blue buddy. Happily T-Man used his Mr. Fixit Skillz and got it working fine again whereupon I immediately went off and backed everything possible up on the big backup drive. Whew! Crisis averted. This time.

So anyway, I love my new Blue Mousie. Isn’t it pretty?

BlueMousie

It’s a Logitech M325 in the colourway Blue Sky. So cute! The USB connection is really small and much more out of the way than the old one. Plus the scroll wheel is super-sensitive. It actually took me a little while to get used to how fast it whizzes around. Like riding a skateboard on one wheel! I’m happy now.

TankiniPatternSo what have I been up to? The tankini swimsuit I was trying to make is not going well. It’s too big on the top even though I chose what I thought was my size carefully and there is no way the straps are going to stay up on this thing. That’s a huge problem I’ve always had with just about every swimsuit I’ve ever owned – not to mention bras or anything else with narrow straps! I thought the style would be OK for me but I should have known better. Pooh. I’m going to have to rethink the design perhaps with another keyhole above the fastener in back? Luckily I’ve only sacrificed half of my lining fabric so far. I didn’t cut into the main fabric yet.

On the other hand, I do have what I think will be a good pattern for the shorts-style bottoms. Not the one that came with the original Pin-Up Girls Tankini pattern however. I tried to trace that one several sizes smaller than the one I should have but it was still going to be too loose and baggy. Hmmm… What’s with that? Probably the same reason why the top is too loose too, huh? Both pieces should have quite a lot of negative ease except, of course, over the tummy. I’m just about ready to give up and make just the shorts. And probably several pairs in various knits to wear as jammie bottoms while camping as well as “chub-rub protectors” when I’m wearing a skirt or dress. I can always wear a t-shirt or a sports bra or something if I actually go swimming. That doesn’t happen often because I’m super-sensitive to chlorine. I only swim in the ocean or a lake or paddle in a shallow river. Maybe run through a sprinkler.

I also need to sew a few more t-shirts for this year’s big camping trip. I’ll be doing another one of my production sewing bees starting very soon. More on that (and the planned trip) later.

Meanwhile in my knitting world, I’ve been packing as many projects as possible to take along. Ones that give a lot of knitting time for a minimal amount of yarn, both simple projects that I can work on while we drive and more complex ones for quiet time at the campground. I’m allowing myself only one tote bag plus my usual knitting lunchbox which sits beside me and travels in my backpack. All my patterns are in PDFs in Ruby, my iTouch, with a printout in a binder for backup. We can easily charge Ruby (or T’s iPhone, his MacAir, and my netbook) as we drive. As long as we remember all the assorted cords and plugs of course! Spare rechargeable batteries, charger, camera battery chargers (his and mine are different, doh) and whatever other little electronic gadget we can’t live without. Like his FitBit. Then we’ll know how far we walked and how many hills we climbed. But not how far we drove. The odometer is busted in the old VW van.

And I have a Finished Object! Actually two but the other one is still drying.

Zigzag Anklets

ZigzagCuffSocks

(Did anybody notice that I forgot to post the photo? I think my brains are fried in the heat. Also, the colours aren’t that accurate. Sigh.)

For:  me (Have you noticed I’m indulging in a lot of selfish knitting lately? Or is that totally normal? Heh.)

Begun:  June 5, 2013
Completed:  June 18, 2013

Yarn:  Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Cotton Print, 59% bamboo/29% cotton/16% nylon, 182 yds = 50g, 2 balls.

Needles:  aluminum dpns, 1.5mm; Blackthorn carbon dpns, 2mm.

Pattern:  Zigzag Anklets by Pam Grushkin, from the book Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn.

Mods:  I like my socks tightly knitted so I chose the largest size and used smaller needles. I stopped actually following the pattern past the cuff and ribbing sections. I knit the plain section after the ribbing a little shorter and then went with my usual sock foot, using an Eye of Partridge stitch on the heel flap.

Comments:  This yarn has the reputation of being splitty and it is! I managed to bend my fine aluminum sock needles somewhat in frustration. And made lots of mistakes with the zigging and zagging part. Next time I should just go in one direction, whichever is easiest!

These are very nice and cushy so it was worth all the fussing. They are very cute. However they take days and days after washing and hanging to actually dry. The first time I ended up taking them camping with me wet and left them to dry on top of my suitcase. The second time I left them in the hot sun which worked really well but I’m sure it would fade the colours if I did it too often. Plus finding hot sun around here more than occasionally is problematical.

Right this minute it’s hovering dangerously near that temperature which I refer to as Stinkin’ Hot. It’s much too warm to hang out up in the studio unless I dig out the big swamp cooler fan. We suddenly got summer after several weeks of alternating rain and sun. And no, I’m not complaining. Since it’s the Canada Day long weekend I’m sure the advent of real summer is well-appreciated by the citizenry. Partying is happening – at least by those who didn’t vacate the city. There will be fireworks tomorrow night. I’m not a big flag-waver really but I am most definitely a proud Canadian. I wonder if I can find something red to wear that isn’t too hot! More anon.

OHHHH CANADA!!!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mouseless In Vancouver

Well, I still don’t have a mouse. T-Man breathed life into the poor thing a few times but it kept dying again. Sad really. I’ve had it as long as I’ve had this netbook. As I said, I hate-hate-hate-a-dee-hate touchpads! This one at least is awkward and annoying. It’s been raining so we haven’t gone for a walk yet to buy a new one. However, I persevered with this stupid thing and although I don’t have as many photos to show as I’d like, at least I can share my shopping. Because it’s very cool. You’ll see.

But first, I might not have a mouse but I do have a rat!

Flat Rat’s Girlfriend (aka Flatti)

Flatti2 For: me (finally!)

Completed:  June 23, 2013

Yarns:  various sock leftovers

Flatti Needles:  Blackthorn carbon dpns, 2mm. Crochet hook (not sure of the size, just the one I keep in my knitting box for emergencies!)

Pattern:  Flat Rat by Susan Glinert Stevens (aka Fleegle)

Comments:  Since T stole permanently borrowed my first Flat Rat, I decided to make a second one. I used mostly the same yarns except for the ears and tail which are orange instead of red. She turned out slightly slimmer and more girly! Probably because I used the carbon fibre needles which allow me to knit somewhat tighter than bamboo and a smaller crochet hook. She turned out just as cute as the original.

Here they are at their first meeting:

Flatti and Flat Rat

I think it was love at first sight!

In other knitting news, I also finished my Zigzag Anklets socks but I don’t have a photo yet because they’ve already been worn for several days and are in the laundry. The next pair of short socks I’m knitting are from the pattern by Wendy Johnson called Toe-Up Socks With A Difference. It’s a toe-up sock with a flap heel and a gusset which shapes under the arch. I used Judy’s Magic Cast-On for the toe and I needed to check the notes for that because I forgot how to do it! So far they’re going well but I’m going to have to pay attention when I get to the even-more-unfamiliar bits. I’m knitting these out of leftovers so I hope I have enough yarn. I was only making ankle socks so I should be ok with a ball and a half of Kroy.

Back to the reason I started this post. (Awkwardly, with no mouse! sniff!!!) The ANWG conference in Bellingham. So why didn’t I register and take the seminars, watch the fashion show and the keynote speech and actually participate? Well at the risk of sounding like I was bragging or something, I’ve been doing this stuff for a very long time. It can be fun to hang with people who understand my lingo (setts, epi, mordants, cable-ply, itajime…you get the picture). But I don’t really get that much new knowledge out of it anymore. If I haven’t done it already, I probably know about it but am not interested in actually doing it. A lot of the subjects that I am interested in are presented at a beginner to intermediate level. Which is great for most people – but for me it’s just a rerun. Even the keynote speaker I’ve already heard at least three or four times! The social aspect is lovely of course but I don’t have enough in the household budget right now. So instead I spent a little in the vendor’s market and checked out all the exhibits (including the fashion show garments up close!) and had a little relaxing holiday.

The guild booths were rather small this year, except for the Portland guild who managed a larger walk-in display. They were quite well done despite the limited space. Here’s ours:

GVWSG guild booth

The only part I did was some of the needle-felting on the map. I didn’t even get to help set up because by the time I got there, it was all done! Nice. The conference theme was “crossing borders; crossing threads” so you can see yarns traveling from the woven or felted piece through the loom to the country of inspiration.

Of course I had the most fun with the vendors! I had a little list of items I was looking for, not all of which I actually found. I was disappointed that Newton’s Yarn Country didn’t have the sock yarn that I love for everything but socks. I finally used up the last of the 4 huge skeins that I got at the ANWG in Spokane 4 years ago. Scratch one item off the list. I should have known they discontinued this yarn when they didn’t have any on their website.

At the Eugene Textile Center’s booth I got some of the Habu stainless steel and silk in violet and brick and some crepe twist wool in wine:

HabuYarns

The wool is definitely weaving yarn at 940yds per 28g cone but the steel/silk (311yds = 14g) can also be knitted, usually with another yarn. There are some very cool projects on Ravelry to inspire! I also have a cone in black that I got as a gift ages ago and never used. Yet. I also got the new Spin-Off magazine from this booth.

Next I went a little nuts in Giovanna Imperia’s booth. She has the coolest yarns – kind of like Habu only Italian! I went for the “active” yarns. Here’s my take:

GiovannaYarns

Yes, they are teeny 1 oz cones but the yarns are so fine there’s a lot on them. From the left: elastic silk (silk and polyurethane) @ 1800yds in brown and red, ramie elastic (ramie and lycra) @ 860yds x 2 in nero (black), Italian linen crepe @ 800yds x 2 in white, and linen elastic (linen and lycra) @ 700yds x 2 in fiamma (flame red). I plan to have a lot of fun this winter experimenting with collapse weaving. I should at least get a few scarves or something out of this lot!

And finally, my former teacher and friend Shirley Berlin was there with her delightfully subversive braiding equipment. While T-Man had a great chat with her husband Peter who turns lovely marudais (braiding stools) and bobbins, I perused the goodies while catching up with Shirley. I also found this book which Shirley had edited with her fellow braid enthusiast, Ruth MacGregor, and that Shirley had brought all the way from Britain in her carry-on luggage:

BraidingBook

Threads That Move: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Braiding is published by the Braid Society and is a series of articles on a number of different techniques with illustrations and diagrams. It even has one by the aforementioned Giovanna Imperia on kumihimo with wire! I plan a more in-depth review when I’ve actually had time to read it all.

There was of course a whole lot of other good stuff to buy in the vendor hall but I left it for somebody else! Super-soft alpaca fleece, BFL-silk roving, yak down, light-reflective yarn, giant mohair skeins, Swedish temples (stretchers) in every size, natural dye kits, sparkly handpainted sock yarn, hemp yarn, tram silk…so much yummy stuff, so little money.

While we were in Bellingham we went into the historic district of Fairhaven which was right between our campground and the university. It’s a popular tourist trap area with lots of eating places and a nice wood gallery which of course we had to check out. Along with the amazing Eclipse Bookstore:

EclipseBookStore2 EclipseBookStore1

This second-hand bookstore has piles of books everywhere! Apparently there is some kind of order to it but I had trouble figuring it out in the short time I had available. I did find the craft books (at least the ones on the shelves) but they weren’t anything I wanted. I was thinking though that my studio/study rooms are going to start looking like this very soon if I’m not careful…

I did a little more stash enhancement in Fairhaven at the Wool Station. Just because I felt bad about not finding the sock yarn I’d wanted, of course. So I got these:

SockYarn

Those are skeins of Cascade Heritage Handpaint sock yarn in the middle which I’ve never tried before but it seems like nice stuff. Hopefully as durable as the Lana Grossa Meilenweit balls since the Cascade is even more pricey. I plan to test it out on my next pair of socks anyhow and it gets excellent reviews on Ravelry.

So that was my shopping experience. I’m done for the moment. It’s taking me all day to post this thing. I miss my mousie. I’ve been promised a replacement tomorrow. Yay! I have to go out anyway, rain or not, to get my hair cut. Later, gators!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Technical Difficulties

I’m back! We’ve been gallivanting down to Bellingham, WA and the Western Washington University to the Association of Northwest Weavers Guild’s biannual conference. We camped out in the old VW van at Larrabee State Park in the pouring rain with the trains running by day and night. It was actually fun except for the part where everything was totally damp.

I went shopping on the vendor floor (not that I need much in the way of stash enhancement) and we checked out all the exhibitions. I didn’t bother registering for the conference. That way I could actually buy a few things! Right now though my netbook computer’s mouse is broken and I hate-hate-hate this dang touchpad! I’m editing my gazillion photos on the big desktop. Until I get a new mouse (very soon!) there will be radio silence in Damselfly’s Pond. Be back asap.

Oh, and in case I forget later – HI MARLENE!!! (She’s one of my Secret Readers who very sweetly stopped me to tell me in person. I love that!)

Friday, June 14, 2013

Sewing For The Man

Hope you aren’t tired of my T-Man yet because there’s more of him in this post! (Does that sound odd somehow?) Anyway, I finished his cardigan:

Newcastle Cardigan

NewcastleCardi_front For:  T-Man

Completed:  June 13, 2013

Fabric:  Soft fleece knit (one fuzzy side and one smooth knit side), unknown synthetic, dark gray, 56” wide, 2.4m. (Could probably have gotten it out of 2m or a smidgen more. There were leftovers but not big enough for anything else.) Very stretchy in both directions. Fusible knit interfacing.

Pattern:  Thread Theory’s Newcastle Cardigan, size M.

NewcastleCardi_back Mods:  We chose the narrower collar version and the decorative yokes from self-fabric fuzzy-side-out. (They’re really the exact same colour but look darker because of the pile surface.) I took out the waist curve and chopped 2” off the sleeves before adding the cuffs. I interfaced the facing pieces, the front plackets and the upper and lower collars. I didn’t interface the yokes or the cuffs – but probably should have, at least on the cuffs.

Comments:  This jacket fits quite closely! I was glad I gave it a few inches extra at the waist since T’s waist measurement brings him up to the next size and it has to fit over all the extra stuff like belt, wallet, cell phone etc. There were a couple of anomalies in the pattern where the instructions didn’t quite match the reality: the placket pieces are missing from the interfacing layout and the instructions for sewing the placket says that it is shorter than the body piece but it isn’t. Nothing a reasonably experienced sewer can’t handle.

The interfacing stuck fine to the fleece but the results are quite thick. I was very careful to grade the seam allowances closely and I made good use of my wavy blade rotary cutter for much of the trimming. The neckline seam particularly consists of 5 layers of fleece and 3 layers of interfacing!

The fabric was really spongy so accurate stitching was difficult, especially topstitching. Lots of pins helped, even though I sewed over a few and bent one badly! I used a 1.5 differential feed on my serger and went to a 2 on the hem to prevent stretching. When I was sewing the buttonholes I used my regular presser foot so I could make use of the walking foot to prevent distortion. I was glad I made a couple of test buttonholes first so I could adjust things for the best look. The buttons were very thick and just barely fit under the presser foot. Otherwise I would have had to sew them by hand.

I was pleasantly surprised with how the instructions have you fasten the facings at the shoulder seams and the plackets. It stays in place pretty well though I'm thinking I might hand-tack the facings down to the yoke seam as well. As the instructions suggest I did make a cute little tag and stitched it right through the back which really helps to hold the neck facing in. Otherwise it would be annoying for sure.

T really likes his new jacket and says it’s very stylin’! Of course now he probably won’t have much use out of it until it gets cooler again but oh well. Now he wants me to make him more things to wear.

PB-2020 Tankini I’m kind of at a loss as to what to sew next. Not like there aren’t several dozen options! For starters, I just got a package from Bra Makers Supply so I finally have all the bits and bobs for my tankini swim suit. This is the Pin-Up Girls Princess Tankini from BMS and has a built in bra. I got the swim cups and the clicker for the back in this shipment, plus some more bra-making supplies for later. No point in only ordering a little when a lot will still fit in the package, right?Naturally I have to make the pattern fit me first! Sigh. I’m a little disappointed in the pattern instructions included. It’s not very detailed and it’s almost like they are trying to encourage you to take a class. Too bad I live several thousand kilometres away, huh? Hopefully I now have enough experience sewing elastics and such to bumble through. The tankini will be brown and I think I’ll go for the bike shorts type bottom. I know. It’s a first effort sonevermind. Besides, I like brown. Think dark chocolate. Yum.

However, first I would like something simple and quick to sew. Do I have anything that doesn’t need pattern adjusting first. No? Sigh again.

Meanwhile I’m knitting on a pair of ankle socks which are giving me fits.The Crystal Palace Panda Cotton Print yarn is soooo splitty! The pattern is fine but of course I had to go down in needle size but up in pattern size to get the tight fabric I like for socks. I actually used a 1.5mm metal needle set (Boye) to knit the cuff and ribbing. That’s teensy. So teensy that I bent a couple of the needles a little. Oops. Shows how stressed out I was, huh? Now I’m back to 2mm bamboo and plain knit so it’s going better. I made the plain area below the cuff shorter than the pattern called for because I want really short socks to wear in my shoes. I’ve now done the heel (I did an Eye of Partridge stitch) and am on the gussets. I think I need several pairs of short socks but even though these are cute, I doubt I’ll make another pair with this pattern. Or maybe it’s just my yarn choice? Apparently the Panda holds up well and is comfortable to wear (bamboo, cotton and elastic nylon) so in the end it’s probably worth the annoying knitting. No idea where I can get more of this stuff anyhow.

Hey, maybe I need to knit short socks toe-up? That would be a challenge for me. Not that I haven’t done it before but I have to actually follow a pattern because I don’t have it memorised like I do regular top-down plain socks. Must investigate this. More anon.

Monday, June 10, 2013

‘Cause He’s Worth It

I just wrote a nice long post and zapped it completely when my netbook computer lost its plug. Grrrrr…

Let’s try again, shall we? The battery is in now for extra security.

I know it’s been awhile. I got sucked into lots of walkies and even more gardening. Gotta do it while it’s nice out, right? We have about 9 months of dreary weather around here so any sunshine we do get has to be savoured carefully. My garden is looking pretty nice. I’ll try to get a photo for next time. We’re eating something out of it every day: salad greens, parsley, chives, basil, kale, gai-lan, rhubarb, onions, etc. Garlic scapes are appearing and the peas and tomatoes are finally flowering. Cabbages are starting to set teeny cabbages. Yum.

Yesterday I spent some quality time up in the studio pasting together the Newcastle Cardigan pattern from Thread Theory. It printed out very nicely with sufficient borders to actually print properly on the bottom edge where most patterns get cut off due to the whopping .7” no-print zone on my old inkjet printer. The pieces went together pretty easily. I bravely chopped out a size M for T-Man though I eliminated the waist curve because he…er, doesn’t. I think the sleeves are a little long too but I can adjust that later. Easier to cut than add fabric!

I was a little disappointed that the design used a facing which is usually kind of floppy in a knit. This time I went with it as drafted but we’ll see how it performs. I might eliminate facings and substitute a more streamlined binding if I make it again. We also discussed it and T decided that he wanted the more shallow shawl collar. He didn’t want to look too “grandpa”. Snort! (The grandkids might disagree.) Or too Mister Rogers. No chance. Nice that there’s the option to make it both ways.

The fabric is an unknown synthetic. (Dressew’s labels often leave a lot to the imagination!) It’s a dark gray and fuzzy on one side and smooth knit on the other. It washed and dried like a dream and cut like butter. Or maybe that was the new Olfa blade? Whatever, I went with a nap layout but didn’t follow the one in the directions because a) I couldn’t see it on the printout and b) my fabric was only 56” wide, not 60”. Come to think of it, I never follow the layout diagrams! Now I still have to experiment with various interfacing options. I’m not sure if fusible will stick to the fuzzy side which will be the interior for cosiness. The decorative yokes will be with the fuzzy side out just because I can. I think it’ll be cool. No idea how it presses or sews yet. It’s pretty thick and very stretchy. Wish me luck.

I also finished T’s next pair of socks:

Natura Socks

NaturaSocks For:  T-Man

Begun:  May 13, 2013
Completed:  June 7, 2013

Yarn:  Zitron Trekking Pro Natura, 75% superwash wool/25% bamboo fibre, colourway 1600 (browns and gold), 100g = 420m.

Needles:  Blackthorn carbon dpns, 2mm

Pattern:  Damselfly’s Plain Socks on 68sts, 9” before heel, 8.25” before toe dec.

Comments:  This ball of yarn has been in the stash for quite awhile waiting patiently. The bamboo is apparently not the “rayon” version but the real retted bamboo so hopefully it will be a good substitute for the usual nylon content. It’s a nice idea environmentally speaking but we’ll see how it wears over time.

I just chucked out a pair of his socks that were worn down to the nylon content on the soles and completely pilled. They were pretty old (predating my 2007 Ravelry membership) and were knit in hand-dyed Sandnes Garn Sisu which doesn’t hold up as well as some of the other sock/fingering yarns. It’s only 3-ply and not as tightly twisted. I used it because I could get it in white for dyeing from the old Birkeland Bros Wool. (Before they sold and moved out to Abbotsford. Sniff!) T won’t wear bought socks anymore – only hand-knitted by me. Yes, he’s spoiled! Rotten.

Since this is becoming the T-Man post, I did promise to show you his new Cigar Box Guitar that he made at Lee Valley Tools:

CigarBoxGuitar

That’s a real Cuban cigar box, Romeo y Julieta. We call her RJ for short. No, he didn’t smoke the cigars first. Yuck. Even if they are the same brand popularised by Sir Winston Churchill. However he did cut out and assemble the parts and sand and polish it all nice. It’s a 3-string fretless tuned in G, played with a glass slide and a pick – you know, in case you care about these things. Yes, it’s reversed from the usual guitar direction. T’s left wrist doesn’t bend properly so he has trouble playing the neck with the left hand. Nice thing about making something is you can customise, right? It sounds deeper than you might think and not at all like an ukulele. He now has a cable and gear to connect the electric pickup to his computer or iPhone too. Can an amp be far behind? Umm…he might want to learn to play it first maybe…

mickeyguitar_color

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Sunny Days & Stormy Dress

We’ve been having fabulous weather in the last few days: sunny but not too hot. For me that is perfect! I can tell everyone else is enjoying it too because people are smiling and being friendly while basking on outdoor patios, steps and lawns. It’s quite a different vibe to the surly attitude that’s inspired by the usual sodden rain. Gardening is also a popular pursuit and I’m planning to get out into mine today. But first, a Finished Object!

Stormy Dress

Completed:  June 2013

Fabric:  rayon/linen (from a bolt gifted me by a friend), natural light beige, hand-dyed by me with Procion MX Black.

Notions:  non-woven fusible interfacing, medium-light weight. 9 buttons. Sewing and serger threads.

Pattern:  Marcy Tilton Vogue 8876, View A with cap sleeves and button front.

Mods:  usual gazillion fitting alterations, starting with a size 12 at the neck and shoulders and morphing to a 14 at the waist and down. It’s loose enough though that I could have gone with a 12 all the way. The shoulder needed taking in about to a size 8. Further tweaks to the above-bust area were needed mostly, I think, because the fabric stretched some on the bias. Unlike the pattern recommendations I cut doubled front yokes and interfaced the centre fronts.

Comments:  This dress was a lot of work but I’m very happy with the final results! It was most definitely not an EASY Vogue though especially with all the pattern pieces, seams and hand-finishing. I did some things differently than the pattern directions and finished the front facings by folding under the seam allowance and slip-stitching. There was an awful lot of slip-stitching here, including the front yoke facings and the hem facing. It does finish off the inside nicely! Some people have mentioned that this dress is short. I didn’t adjust the length at all and it comes right to my knee. But then I’m under 5’4” so YMMV. I only had 9 buttons instead of 10 so I re-spaced them and luckily that put one right at the bust where it’s needed.

The pockets didn’t hang quite right due to the floppy nature of this fabric. I added a piece of iron-on straight stabilizer to the top of the finished pocket and then tacked them to the seam allowances where they overlapped. This helped a great deal and I was glad that I didn’t just whack the pockets off in disgust! I like pockets.

There was a lot of seam ripping going on as I tried to make everything fit smoothly. Debbie Double was a big help too as she held still while I fussed and pinned. Then I double-checked the fit on myself before stitching everything more permanently. I had a bit of a wrestling match trying to turn the spaghetti tubes inside out for the tie neck. I was trying to do it as one long piece but it was easier to do in two pieces and tuck the join inside the channel. I used my hollow brass rods from the hardware store and they worked really well, though I bent them a little. Oops. These are much cheaper than the tools available for sewing and you can have a number of sizes on hand right down to teeny-tiny. (Doll-makers use them for doll fingers.) And in varying lengths as well. To use them you put a larger rod inside the tube which is stitched across the top end, press a thinner rod onto the top of the first rod at the seam and push the tube up the thinner rod. Pressure on the seam keeps it from blowing out. It’s a bit fiddly to get started but usually flows quite well after that. If this doesn’t make sense I’m sure there’s a video out there somewhere.

Unfortunately the photographs don’t really show the fabric very clearly or with the correct colours. My camera had trouble rendering them in the light from my studio window and no amount of messing about in Paint Shop Pro would help. Because the substrate is a natural light beige (white rayon crossed with natural linen) and the black dye broke into gray and navy when I scrunch dyed it, it’s a really subtle patterning. Stormy!

I happily discovered that my Marcy Vest fits over this dress nicely and the collars kind of interlock in a pleasing way:

StormyDress and MarcyVest

Another combination is always good! I can also get a light T-shirt underneath if I want more warmth.

diamond-body In answer to a few questions that I’ve had on my fitting of these patterns, I have to remind you that I have small bones and very narrow shoulders so things fit me differently than someone else with a more “normal” body shape. In assessing my own body shape I used to think I was a pear because my hips are wider than my shoulders. No. Pears have waists and I don’t. They also have their widest part quite low down. I do have somewhat heavier thighs but my hip begins a short way below where my waist would be if I had one, and I don’t get any wider. My weight is all in my middle and my arms and legs are quite thin. Not to mention the fact that post-menopausal hormones tend to cause more fat to be deposited right where I don’t need it! But I’m not an oval/apple shape because the average of my hip, tummy and waist measurements is larger than my bust. Ovals are more proportional and the fluff is distributed more evenly everywhere. I think the diamond body shape is not very common at all. And it usually gets dumped in the apple box.

So why do I care about the body shape label? Because I think it helps me with fitting issues and why my body seems so much more difficult to work with. All the fashion advice out there isn’t particularly relevant to my age and life-style but there are a few tips that can be helpful. And I just like knowing why I’m so darned frustrated with ready-to-wear! It just doesn’t work with my body type. Moving right along…

We took advantage of the lovely weather yesterday and went for one of our marathon walks downtown. 12.2 kilometres! I had to be bribed with Toble gelato just to make it home up the last hill. We got to see the new Star Trek movie (really good!) and also visit my favourite fabric store, Dressew, for some fabric and buttons for T-Man’s Thread Theory Newcastle Cardigan. Wouldn’t you know it? I didn’t have anything suitable in stash! We got some slate-gray fleece, smooth knit on one side and fuzzy on the other. There was just enough left on the bolt too. I hunted for something interesting for the yokes but decided that just using self-fabric with the fuzz on the outside would look nice. The buttons are thick plastic and look like slate – an exact match. I love Dressew’s fabulous button collection. So much fun to hunt through.

While I was at it, you don’t think I could get out of there without something else for me, do you? I found some brown/black crinkle nylon/polyester which should make a nice vest with a little bit of water resistance for walking/hiking. Don’t know if I’ll have enough time to make it before our Big Trip in August, but we’ll see.

More anon! I still have to show you T’s really cool cigar box guitar that he made. It’s not quite finished yet but we picked up some glass neck slides, picks and a cable and gear to attach it to his computer. Yes, it is acoustic/electric! Funky.