Project Updates

I finally got around to updating my Ravelry Page with some pictures today. It suddenly dawned on me that I have 5 projects started and no pictures of any of them. Well 3 down, 2 to go.

Here is what I have on the needles right now.

1. Calypso Shrug - It will have long sleeves and button in the front.

The colors are much brighter than in the picture, though. This is my 4th try at knitting this yarn into a shrug. I've frogged the project (ripped it out for those of you who don't know the term) 3 times, because I didn't like the way it was looking. I'm pretty happy with the way it is going right now.

2. Felted Colorwork Bag - I wanted to learn how to do 'stranded' knitting, but since I was worried about my tension, I decided I would make a felted bag. Then no matter what my tension troubles may be, once it is felted (shrunk) you would never know the difference.
I'm half way done knitting the 4th repeat, which is supposed to be the last one. However since felted items shrink more from top to bottom than they do side to side, I'm thinking of adding another repreat. I don't want the bag to be too short once it is done. Also, the top is supposed to be bound off with ribbing, but I'm going to do an I-cord bind off to give it a little more stability. I'm also planning to put non-knitted handles on it. I haven't decided whether I want leather or wooden ones yet though. Leaning towards the leather, but it just depends on what I find.

3. Sandy Hoodie - A.k.a. Susie Hoodie. This is a Hoodie Jacket.

It doesn't have buttons or a closure, but I'm toying with the idea of adding some. Maybe 2-3 in the chest area, to hold it closed when it is cooler out. I thought it would go faster, but with 251 stitches per row, it's taking about 30 minute to do one row. And if I get distracted by the TV, that time goes down. Right now I'm averaging 4 rows per night, which doesn't seem like nearly enough.

Busy Busy Bee

That is exactly what I have been over the last couple of weeks.

I have discovered that who needs a TV in the sewing room when you have access to Books on CD! Only 1 channel comes on the TV anyway. Although I do have a new 'homemade' antenna that works great, but I have to figure out a way to mount it somehow. I'll discuss that another time.

So far, I have listened to 3-4 books on CD while sewing my little heart out. My poor machine doesn't know what hit it.

I mentioned in a previous entry that I had stayed up until almost 4am one night sewing while listening to "The Keepsake" by Tess Gerriston. Well I have since finished: "Terminal Freeze" by Lincoln Child, "Silent Thunder" by Iris & Roy Johansen, "Dead Silence" by Randy Wayne ... (crap forgot his last name). And I just started "Deep Storm" by Lincoln Child on the basement CD player and "The Artic Event" by James Cobb in the car CD player. OK, I admit that I do occasionally read more than 1 book at a time, but the reason I have 2 books on CD going right now is that I was just too lazy last night to go out to the car for the 'current' book.

OK, so while listening to all of these very interesting books, I've been doing some serious sewing.


This quilt started out as a charity quilt project. It was only the striped center. Then I got the wise idea that it needed something, maybe a border or 2. Well non-sewers might not realize this but 'good' fabric is not cheap. I spent too much on the borders and binding (little bit of strip fabric peaking on the bottom right corner) that I don't like giving it to charity. I'm thinking of giving it as a gift to an un-named relative at this point. Don't want to blow the surprise ya know. I have other stuff at home that I can use for a charity project.

Then, while shopping for the border fabric, I saw a pattern for an apron. I've been wanting one, but haven't found one I want to either buy or make yet. This pattern was called "Four Corners Apron." Sorry don't know who it was by, because I didn't actually buy it. I looked at it, thought hmm that's just a big old square set on point. I can do that. So I went home fiddle around with some paper and wallah. I have made 2 so far and have 1 cut out. I have fabric for several others picked out also. Can you guess what everyone's getting for Christmas this year?!?




In between the quilt and the apron, I made this tote bag.

I bought the pattern and a charm pack at the Topeka Quilt Show. It went together very well, however I have discovered that I really do not care for the charm packs. Even though they say each square of fabric is 5 inches, it is NOT. I had to supply several of my own squares for the inside pockets as I was a few short and there was a noticeable difference in the sizes. I did like how the pattern used fusible fleece to stiffen the bag.

I like it so much in fact that I decided to make myself a purse using it. My friend Kathy got a Vera Bradley purse as a gift. The style was exactly what I had been looking for, but I'm sorry Vera's prices are just a bit out of my price rang. Especially for a purse that I will be be 'using' and not just admiring. Anyway, I made this purse patterned after Kathy's purse. It hangs across the body and sits on the hip.


I love knitting, but I really love the instant gratification of sewing. I never could have knitted all of these projects in 2 weeks.

Bowling and Sewing

Yeah I know the 2 don't really go together but that's how I occupied myself last night. Lest you think I am really multi-talented, I must confess that I didn't do them both at the same time.

I met up with Lily and her young friend Paulie (9) last night at the AMF Bowling Alley in Mishawaka. They have $1 Tuesdays. Almost everything is $1; bowling, hot dogs, pop, beer. Shoe rental is $3.75, but everything else is pretty cheap. I wasn't really enthused about going at first. I was having an "I hate the world and everyone in it day" (Aka PMS) and didn't really feel like going. But I hadn't seen Lily in a while and we had to cancel the last couple of bowling nights because she was sick. I did have a good time once I got there. I am a terrible bowler, but that's OK since so are Lily and Paulie. We played 3 games, I won one. The only downside to the night was that I ate too much junk food. I had some onion rings, a hot dog and 2 hot wings. And boy does it show on my face today that I ate too much deep fried food last night; Zits galore. I did find out that you can bring in your own snacks and they don't say anything. So next time, I will bring my own stuff.

Then I went home and sewed on a bag that I had started the night before. Last May, when I was in Georgia I bought a pattern for a mesh bag called Screen Play, designed by Nancy Ota. It is a tote bag made using window/pet screen. I had only seen the pet screen in black, but when I was at Sweet Home Quilt Co. in Conyers, GA they had some in HOT PINK. I loved it and just had to have it. Of course then the stuff sat around for almost a year before I did anything with it. Does that happen to other people too? So I dug out the pattern and the screen on Monday night. Then it took me an hour to find the right combination of fabrics to sew on my Hot Pink Screen. I made few changes: mine is a little taller than the pattern called for and I used belt webbing for the handle instead of mesh. I thought it would feel softer. Here it is:

And another picture with a picture of the pattern front included, so you can see what it looked like.

Here is a close up of the inside seams. This is the first time, that I have had any success with the 'pre-made' bias tape. It was used to cover up the raw edges of the seams.

The funny thing is that when I bought this pattern last year, my Mom and I thought it would be fun to make some for our Georgia/San Antonia family. I wanted to try the pattern out first, but when we found the perfect fabric in Kentucky on our way home we decide we had to have it. I went ahead and bought a whole role of the black pet screen at Lowe's to go along with our Mexican Loteria (bingo) fabric. Now that I have tried out the pattern, we have to start cutting out the fabric and screen to make 10 more totes I think. It won't be as hard as you think though, because they will all be identical. Can you say "assembly line" sewing?