This Is How It Starts

Well, that disappearance was longer than expected.  I have had a serious lack of motivation after my last post.  I have worked on Lady Gray, but I've encountered a few problems which I will detail later this week, and it's thrown me for a real loop.  Combine that with no longer having a dedicated sewing space and the desktop computer dying, and I haven't been very productive.  But now it's spring, and with the new season, comes new projects. 

You see the green worm?  That's one of the little suckers who eats all my strawberries.

First, Mr. flyskim and I are trying to wrap up some home projects.  What does that mean for me?  Curtains.  I hardly ever do any utility sewing, but I've got some great fabric and a three-day weekend coming up.  And then it's onto a swimsuit coverup for later this year.  


Speaking of strawberries, they're already coming in.

So what's with the caution tape, then?  One of the bigger home projects that Mr. flyskim and I have been planning is landscaping our backyard.  This project actually started last summer, but what with everything going on last fall, we just didn't have the time or the energy to move any further than the planning stages.  Well, that all ended yesterday when we finally broke ground.  When I say "we," I speak very figuratively because other than taking pictures, I haven't actually gotten my hands dirty.  That would be our excellent crew from Dennis' 7 Dees.

This is what our yard looked like on Sunday afternoon before all the work started.  See?  All  nice and weedy.

And here's what we have as of Monday.  A big, muddy pit.  It's hard to visualize now, but it's going to be really pretty back here in a few weeks.  

Here's another angle.  The trenches are for the sprinklers that are going in.  That raised bed along the fence is going to be packed up and saved for later.  We'll be putting in permanent beds as a part of the work.

And we're finally going to have a walkway from our back door to the patio behind the garage.  So that's what's been going on here recently.  Oh, and I got a fantastic deal on a toilet today, but that's another story for another day.

Bob the dragon is very lonely without the weeds.

The Grey and the Blue

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm picking up Lady Grey again, and not a moment too soon because the wind around here is frigid (at least from my perspective; I mean, I know that I don't live on the frozen tundra...or, you know, someplace actually cold), and I would like a new coat to greet what I'm hoping will be snow in February.  I'm currently coming down off a stress-induced shopping high from before Christmas, so I'm not buying anything for a month or two (we'll see how long that lasts), so the only way I'm getting that new coat is to work on something I already have.  Lady Grey is by far the furthest along, so it's the winner by default. 

When we last left Lady Grey, I had just finished pad-stitching the front lapels and was working on fusing interfacing to the back pieces when I messed up.  I forgot to trim the hem from the interfacing on one of the pieces and fused it anyway.  Luckily, I had plenty of extra fabric, but I had no interfacing left.  And that's where we stand today.  Except that I got some interfacing (one of the allowable exceptions to the shopping ban), so I'm ready to go again. 

So, the big question now is, where do I pick up again?  With tailoring the coat back.  Because I'm a little lost at this point (as well as the fact that I've never made a coat before) I'm going to rely on Gertie's tutorial and hope for the best.  Mr. flyskim is playing dodgeball tomorrow, so I've got the whole uninterrupted evening to cut my new back piece and finish interfacing everything.  Maybe I can even get the back stay cut out.  I'll be back with pictures because this is likely to be a learning experience on my end, and pictures will help me remember what not to do next time. 

How's everybody's January shaping up? 

So, This Was Christmas

Wow, is it just me, or did this holiday season just fly by?  We've taken down all of our Christmas finery, but I thought I'd share some of it here before going back to business as usual.

Remember that 9-foot tree?  Well, here's what it looked like all dressed up.

I never quite seemed to get the whole tree in any photo I took.  That's a capiz-shell star at the top.

And here's how many ornaments it takes to fill a tree that large (large-to-us, anyway).

I didn't even bother counting.  This doesn't include the garland or the 1,500+ lights.

I've been collecting ornaments for well over 20 years, and I'm going to have to stop because I've got way more than can fit on any tree that we can squeeze into our house.

I thought my Christmas Eve dinner table turned out really nicely.

Here's the little boy hanging out with the Christmas toys.  He would burrow himself into them for naps, and you could barely tell the difference between him and the stuffed animals.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me in this little detour.  Now, I also made something.  I know, finally.

Please forgive the wonky posing.  This is the picture where the color of the yarn turned out most accurately.

This is the Ruffled Scarf (I don't actually think that's the name) from Sadie & Oliver, and about 1/3 of the way into it, I realized that it was the perfect Christmas gift for my sister-in-law V.  The pattern is simple.  Stockinette stitch with increases and decreases along one side for the shaping.  Here's what the shape of the scarf looks like without the ruffle.

This is the unruffled version that I made for niece A1.

The ruffle is picked up and knitted along the shaped edge and is a plain garter stitch.  This really helps control the edge rolling that stockinette is prone to.  Another thing that helps?  A really soft yarn.  I used Malabrigo Silky Merino, and it's beautifully soft. 

I wouldn't have any problems wearing this next to my skin, but if you're really sensitive to itch, then there could be a problem with the wool content.  I did not block this scarf because reviews of this yarn have said that it grows a lot during blocking due to the silk.  This yarn was lovely to work with and produces a fabric with a soft drape.  It's kind of rough spun and varies slightly in its thickness throughout the hank; however, I also have this yarn in one of the variegated colorways, and there was a big problem with the spinning.  The thickness of the yarn was wildly uneven, and I couldn't knit more than a row or two before I'd either be working with totally unspun fiber or fiber that was spun so tightly, it was barely lace weight.  So really check the hanks out for quality issues before you buy. 

I also need to work on my white balance.  Everything's a little too yellow.

I really enjoyed working on this scarf, so much so, that I'm making one for myself in a light gray.  The increases and decreases on the stockinette make the pattern more interesting than just knitting a rectangle, but it's still so simple that you can plop down with your needles in front of the television.  The ruffle is a pretty detail that isn't too fussy.  This is still in its gift bag waiting for the intended recipient to get back into town, but my brother-in-law assures me that she'll love it.

Anyway, I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday season and New Year and that 2012 brings you all good things.

Oh, and for my next trick?  I'm picking up Lady Grey again after a substantially long break.  Gosh, I hope I remember how to tailor.

Dear 2011:

Well, that happened.

I'm sure that you thought you were a pretty good year, and for some people, you may very well have been.  But as far as I'm concerned, we're just going to have to agree to disagree on that particular issue.  We'll leave it at that because I'm also pretty sure that you took last year's letter to 2010 as a personal challenge even though I was as nice as pie (I don't actually think pie is easy at all, but it sure is nice, especially served warm with vanilla ice cream).

And 2012?  Your reputation has been preceding you for quite some time, so you don't need any additional pressure from me.  You just go and be whatever kind of year you're going to be.  I'll be in my basement if you need me, stockpiling emergency provisions.  And weapons.  Lots of weapons.

Everybody's Waiting For the Man With the Bag

So here at Chez flyskim, we've been feasting on roast beast (ham, this year) and toasting the season as we do every Christmas Eve.  But we wanted to take some time out to wish you a very merry holiday, and may your new year surpass every good expectation that you have for it.  Merry Christmas!

"He knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!"

Is the Worst Gift Fruitcake?

Or is it possibly a hand-knit scarf in a novelty yarn?  Let's hope not, because my niece has been breathlessly waiting for me to cough up with one since she saw me knitting a baby blanket last Thanksgiving and asked if she could have something, too.  My sister-in-law told me that she spent the first couple of months of this year waiting for the mail.  In my defense, I never gave her a timeline, but I don't think that gets me very far.  After all, she's only seven.  So, earlier this month, I buckled down, and this is what I came up with.

The yarn is Bernat Baby Jacquard Florals in the Rosebud colorway.  I picked it specifically to match A's new Build-A-Bear that she was proudly showing off at Thanksgiving.  I think it's really cool how the yarn creates not only a striped effect but also the tapestry-like sections.  Here's a detail:

The pattern is the body portion of Sadie & Oliver's A Little Ruffle scarf.   The pattern is simple, and clearly written.  Just what I needed when working on a deadline.  The main body of the scarf is stockinette stitch with increases on one side to get the shaped effect.  The ruffle, had I added it, is picked up and knit from one end, down the shaped side and across the other end.  I left off the ruffle because not only is the yarn particularly girlie and I feared that the ruffle would throw it over the top but it's not really A's style.  I also made the scarf smaller and shorter than called for in the pattern so that it's better sized for a little girl.  I also made a little garter-stitch scarf for Berry.

Teddy bear scarf as modeled by Manda, who is still very well-loved.

I mentioned A is seven, so I wanted to make sure that the yarn I used was machine washable and dry-able.  The only problem is that it's acrylic, and I have no idea how to block acrylic, so I most definitely did it wrong.  As you can see from the picture above, the scarf is still doing that annoying curl thing that stockinette stitch does.  These are one their way to California as we speak to be opened, and hopefully enjoyed, on Christmas morning.  Personally, I think the teddy bear scarf is the best part. 

I'm also making the full-sized version of the scarf as a gift for my sister-in-law, so I'll have a fuller report on the pattern as written in a day or two. 

A Tree Never Hits a Car Except in Self Defense

Every year, getting our Christmas tree home is an experiment in engineering.  I think this year we have finally reached the limits of how much tree you can fit into the backseat of a Toyota Camry without bending the laws of nature.  That's approximately 8.5 feet, just in case you were curious.  We've tried tying the tree on top of the car, but the last time we did that, it ended up with me hanging out the window trying to keep the tree from sliding into the street because we didn't manage to tie it on tightly enough.  Inside the car works better.

In case you couldn't tell, the Camry is the car equivalent of a senior citizen, so we choose to go the the local Boy Scout lot instead of cutting our own.  I'm not sure what the Camry would do with a muddy dirt road, but I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't be pretty and would involve a tow truck at the end of the day.

We actually got a Noble, but I didn't take a picture of that sign.

So, the Saturday before last, we headed down to our favorite tree lot and interviewed potential candidates.  For the past several years, I've had to pressure Mr. flyskim into getting a tree that's taller than me, so imagine my surprise when this year, he made a bee-line for the 9-10 footers.  Up until last year, the biggest tree I've managed to wangle him into was 7 feet. 

Not that this surprises me in the least.  When we first bought our house, I suggested really neutral colors for our bedroom, bathroom and office (they're a suite of rooms) and then carefully negotiated the yellow in the living and dining rooms by pointing out that the color was actually called Windham Cream, so not really yellow, no matter what it looks like.  The next thing I know, I've got a brick-red accent wall in the living room and an orange kitchen.  And I didn't choose either color.

Here's Mr. flyskim with our tree.  He's 6 feet tall, so you can get an idea of the size of the tree.

We carted off the tree.

And got a fresh cut (very important because Boy Scout trees can be dry).

Then we stuffed it in the backseat.  Anyone else thinking of The Grinch stuffing the Who Christmas tree up the chimney?  The Boy Scout dad who helped us load up the tree was so impressed, he took his own pictures. 

This was the side we had to worry about because we didn't want to cause any property damage on the way home.  Needless to say, we stuck to the deserted side streets. Once we got the tree home, we soaked it for the better part of a week, not because it needed the long-term soak, but because we just didn't have a chance to get it into the house sooner.

And it finally came to rest in the corner of the living room, none the worse for wear.  My buddy C thinks that we could actually manage to cram an even bigger tree into the car next year.  But as you can see from the tree top brushing our ceiling that even if we did get the tree home in one piece, we'd have to cut off part of the tree to get it to stand upright.  So, that was our big tree adventure.  We're still in the process of decorating because we're doing a little each night.  I'll have more pictures once it's done.  Oh, and if you haven't guessed, there's been no sewing going on around here, but there has been knitting with a couple of different finished projects.  More to come on that, too. 

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season.  We're sure going to try.

To Melt Into The Sun

When last I posted, I described our plans for the flyskim dad to move to Portland at the end of November.  The world had its own ideas.  After my dad was released from the hospital, his condition appeared to improve for the first week.  And then it didn't.  And then his condition worsened, and he decided that he was done fighting and elected hospice care.  (My most heartfelt thanks to the great staff at Sutter Hospice, in particular our nurse case manager, Betty.  This would have been impossible without your care and support.)

My father passed away on November 23, 2011 in his home surrounded by family.  Bye, daddy.  I love you.  It was a real blast being your kid.

The Only Sin

In case you were wondering, it's hanging onto the past when change is afoot.  And change is heartily within our midst.  The flyskim dad is on the verge of being released from the hospital, but our usual residences are 653 miles apart.  To say the least, this makes keeping an eye on him while he continues to recover from his bilateral pneumonia a little difficult, not to mention coordinating and being involved in his upcoming cancer treatments.  So, the population of chez flyskim will be expanding by one come the end of November.

It was a difficult decision for my usually independent and active dad to make, but in the end, it makes the most sense for all of us.  He'll have people he can rely on if he needs help in the future, and we'll be able to spend as much time with him as possible.  We understand that there are a lot of stresses involved in becoming a multigenerational home, particularly when our home really isn't built for three adults and two cats, but we're going to make it work.  This is something that Mr. flyskim and I have been planning for a couple of years now, so we're not coming into this without a plan.  And that plan?  Involves a lot of changes to our house.

Because of his health, we don't want the dad climbing the stairs to the upstairs bedroom (currently serving as my sewing room), so he'll take the master bedroom downstairs, as well as our current office space, which is attached to the master.  We hope that this additional personal space will help make the transition easier for him. 

I don't think that there is anything that will make the transition easier for the rest of us.  Mr. flyskim and I will be moving into the former guest room/sewing space.  The room is small and doesn't really have any closet space.  We plan to put up a hanging rack and use as much underbed storage as possible.  We're also going to be paring down our wardrobes.  This move is only temporary, and the boy cat will be overjoyed because there are few places in our house that he loves more than the upstairs bedroom.  It's his room, as far as he's concerned, and now he'll get to sleep there every night with his people.

The rest of the upstairs is a very basic half bath that is large enough to be a full bath and a large but unfinished attic space.  Our plan is to turn this into a third bedroom that will be much larger than our current guest room and to finally turn the half bath into a full bath.  The only problem is that we will have to wait to start this until next spring when the Portland weather improves, so we're in close quarters until then.  Of course, given that Mr. flyskim and I will be camping in the living room once the construction starts, close quarters doesn't seem quite so bad.  We may also have to evacuate the cats to my sister-in-law's basement during the construction.  They already have two cats, three dogs and a teenager, so I'm not sure they'll even notice.

Not our attic, but you get the idea.

So, close quarters, no space to sew, camping in our own home which will be a disaster area, a possible lack of pets and a dad who will be undergoing regular chemotherapy.  They really got it right when they said that living in interesting times is a curse. 
But you know what would be worse?  (Other than my dad not being here to move in at all?)  Fighting that this is what needs to happen (there are a number of factors that I have not explained that led to our conclusion that this is the only workable solution which include, among other things, a 92-year-old grandmother and a twin brother who cause my dad far too much stress, my being an only child, financial planning based on "what if" and not on what is, and additional contributing medical issues).  Just accepting that this is the right decision for all involved makes things a lot less stressful, and it gives me something to plan and do.

The good news?  Since I've been in California, Mr. flyskim completed the window seat staining and did the last few items left on the kitchen remodel checklist, so those projects are officially completed (except for the kitchen curtains which I will begin in December).  Many pictures to come once I get back home to photograph.  And even though my family has really not caught a break in the stress arena since 2010, and 2012 will come with its own set of challenges, it's comforting to go into the year with an idea of what could go wrong instead of being completely blind.

So what's going to happen around here?  Well, sewing on the dining room table, for one thing.  Given all of the changes, I really need a pretty new dress for Thanksgiving.  Either Vogue 1191:

I have a great raisin-colored wool jersey for this one.  My fitting skills may not be up to this pattern

or Vogue 8685.

I have an Anna Sui stable knit that has a birdcage print earmarked for this one, but it may be too similar to last year's dress.

There will also be a detailed view of what happens to a family when they rip the top of their house off in a desperate bid for more space (this is assuming that we can afford it).  Once everyone gets settled and the holidays are over, we'll be hiring an architect and drawing up plans.  Then the work will start and all hell will break loose.  I was just whining about feeling like we always lived in the middle of a half-finished project, and now, because we're positive that remodeling the upstairs will require a lot of sweat equity on our part, my house is going to turn into one giant half-finished project just as two things on our already long list got completed.  Oh, and we're landscaping the backyard.  I could seriously have a breakdown.  I may have to film that because inquiring minds may want to know.  Stay tuned.

Report From The Trenches

Just a quick post, mostly to amuse myself while I hang out in the flyskim dad's hospital room.  He's being treated for double pneumonia, and given that he's short half of his left lung as a result of his cancer treatments from last yefar, it looked pretty serious for a while.  However, his doctors tell me the prognosis is hopeful.  He'll need at least another five days in the hospital before they think he'll be ready to go home.  I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in California, so the fall sewing is on hold for the foreseeable future.  I should have brought some knitting with me, but I packed in such a hurry Monday afternoon that I forgot to pack any pants.   So here I am with four cardigans, five t-shirts and the jeans I wore on the plane.  Maybe some shopping is called for

Whenever I Feel Blue, I Start Breathing Again

So, it seems like forever since I last posted.  Probably because it has been forever (I'm not exaggerating, either.  Five weeks and forever are totally the same thing.).  Life has really been living up to its reputation lately and requiring constant attention which leaves little time for sewing and less for blogging about it.  So I consider it a major accomplishment to have completed Vogue 8615 (a very modified version).

I actually started another version of this dress a year ago, and it's still a work in progress (story of my life).  That version is for Christmas, and I'd always thought of this as a more formal dress.  But then I tried on this dress at H&M, and it was the most wildly unflattering thing on me ever.

The waist was too high.  In order to get some more length in the skirt, I sized up, so the top was too big.  And it was mustard yellow.  Not my best color.  But I became obsessed with the idea of a 3/4-sleeved, full-skirted dress that was warm and soft as a t-shirt.  And then it hit me.  Vogue 8615.  But in a doubleknit.  This is the exact opposite of the advised fabric for this pattern (think shantung or taffeta).  Doubleknit can't even pretend to have the crispness of these fabrics, but having seen the H&M dress, I knew that the fabric would work with this style dress, although it wouldn't look like the picture on the envelope.

I had already done all of my pattern alterations when I started on my silk shantung version last fall.  These included a full bust adjustment, a shoulder adjustment and enlarging the sleeves for my fuller upper arms.  Since I had fitted the dress as a woven, this allowed me to treat the doubleknit exactly like a woven when sewing it.  Well, except for one place, and I'll get to that in a minute.  I'm really pleased with the fit, although I'm rethinking the ballet neck because I'm looking a little well-endowed in all of my pictures.  Trust me, certain objects that you see in the picture above appear larger than their actual size (and I'm not talking about my legs).

And then we get to the back.  I'm really glad that I've been taking pictures of the backs of garments.  I'm going to have to start doing this during the fitting process as well, because I might have realized how badly I need some sort of alterations.  Partly that's my refusal to do a sway back adjustment most of the time (which I really need to get over), and part of it is just my body shape, but there's also definitely something going on with my fitting.

You can also see that the sleeves are a little baggy.  That doesn't bother me so much, and there are a couple of reasons that this happened.  This is a stretchy fabric, and it looks like the sleeves have stretched out because of my elbows.  Now, the sleeve itself is supposed to be really fitted per the pattern, and I can tell you that when it's made out of a woven fabric and lined, it is fitted.  Really, really fitted, and I suspect that this played a part in the drooping as well.  Or more to the point, how I dealt with the fitted sleeve in order to hem it.  Let me explain.

When the dress is made out of a woven, the sleeves are fully lined, and the sleeve hem is finished by sewing the wrong sides of the fashion fabric and the lining together at the sleeve hem.  You then turn the lining to the inside of the sleeve, understitch and hand sew the sleeve lining to the lining of the bodice at the armscye.  Since lining the dress would have defeated the purpose of wearing what is essentially a long t-shirt, I wanted to finish the sleeve by turning the hem under and stitching.  Well, the sleeve is so fitted that it is too small to fit around the free arm of the sewing machine.  Or at least my sewing machine.  So instead of figuring out something that didn't require the distortion of my fabric, I just stretched it around the free arm and figured that it would spring back when I was done.  Now that I see the pictures from the back, it didn't spring back so much.  Here's what the inside of the sleeve hem looks like.

Another thing that I had to figure out when I decided not to line the dress was how to finish the neckline.  I ended up constructing facing pieces using the bodice pattern as a guide.

You can see in the above picture that it's a pretty narrow facing.  That's because the neckline is so wide.  If I'd made the facing any wider, it would have had to have been tucked into the top of the sleeve, and I would have had a much more difficult time tacking it down.  To draft the facing pattern, I traced along the front and back neckline edges and then extended the pattern piece down 2 1/2 inches.  The bodice has seams at both the center front and back, and I wanted to avoid adding too much bulk, so I trimmed the seam allowance from the center seam and cut both facings on the fold.

Because the facing wanted very badly to roll to the outside, even after it was understitched, I tacked it down to all of the interior seams. 

So, all in all, a very successful project.  Will I make it again?  As I mentioned above, there's a half-finished, emerald green silk shantung version up in my sewing closet.  That's for Christmas.  I'd also like to take a stab at this with the v-neck mirrored in the front.  I love a wide v-neckline.  I'm not sure what's next.  I might put together a denim skirt, or perhaps get started on my Thanksgiving dress.  I'd better figure that out soon, because I'm starting whatever it is tomorrow.