Tag Archives: sewing

What happened to November?

Posted on by
8

Well, I got really, really, really busy with several projects: knitting, sewing, refinishing and reupholstering a desk chair, sewing, knitting, sewing, knitting, and getting ready for a new addition to our home.

I finished (finally) the November socks for my daughter. These socks seemed to take forever. I put them on hold while I was helping my sister recover from surgery, then one of her precious greyhounds got involved, our two closest grandkids moved to Michigan, my birthday happened, and the list could go on and on. Here are the socks in all their glory.

November Socks
November Socks legs
Closeup of leg and truest color shot

I love the colors and it’s really hard to capture how pretty they really are. The honeycomb pattern was fairly easy but I did have to concentrate on those rows.

My sister gave me some fabric with a plate and silverware design so I made six placemats for my daughter.

These two chairs have been sitting in my basement since I rescued them from iPad aunt’s garage in 2015. I stripped one chair, refinished it, and put on new upholstery suede fabric. I took lots of pictures during the process but I’ll just show you the before and after. If you really want to see all the work-in-progress pictures, let me know and I’ll try to make some sense of them for you. Personally the before and after pictures should be enough. I plan to redo the other chair but that will have to wait till next spring as I have to do some of the work outside.

Before…..
After…..

This quick sewing project took about an hour or two. I made mesh laundry bags to send with all of the socks I made with the hand-dyed yarn we dyed in June.

The Karate Kid’s socks were next on the project list and I finished them in record time (for me at least). I used this Syncopation Sock pattern that I’ve used before. The pattern is written for toe-up socks but I made these from the top down. I love the colors and wish I could keep them for myself! They deserve a post of their own so I’ll just show the finished project for now.

All of the socks I knit for my three grands and my daughter along with the mesh bags and placemats will be boxed up and sent to Colorado ASAP.

Another quick and easy sewing project was this leash. The fabric is a heavy brushed cotton that looks like a patchwork quilt. I had everything in my sewing stash so, in less than 30 minutes, it was done.

I just started this sweater (I’m just using one color) the other day and have a deadline of December 16 to get it off the needles…

…because we are getting ready for a new addition to our family.

A female miniature schnauzer puppy! No pictures of her right now but I will soon. Very soon! For the next several days puppy-proofing the house will be our #1 priority!

Gifts

Posted on by
6

I’m at my sister’s house helping out after her hip replacement surgery. Along with sending her the walker bag, last month, I brought some other gifts for her.

The Double Moss socks, a handmade satiny pillowcase, an amazing lotion stick, a towel for her hair, and some tinted lip balm (not pictured).

We haven’t seen each other in person for three years so we get sidetracked with talking instead of watching the clock and getting her moving around. She is doing very well but I need to dig deep and find the Nurse Ratchet** in me. As with any recovery there are challenges as well as celebrations. I’ll be helping her out until Thursday.

I brought some knitting with me but haven’t done much.

On another note…my hat’s off to all you fellow bloggers who post from your phones or tablets. I have posted on the road before but mostly post from home using my desktop computer. I hope this post is readable, the links work, and the photo is visible.

** One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest reference

Later…

I need to change this image. I got new glasses!

My Secret Sewing Project

Posted on by
14

I haven’t done anything with the Karate Kid’s sock, not even ripped it back into a ball. I will need to do that before I make the ball into a skein to redye the yarn.

I have finished my secret sewing project though!

What is it?

A walker caddy for my sister who has a hip replacement scheduled in a couple of weeks.

I purchased this pattern and made some modifications to accommodate a walker.

It has tons of pockets plus some zippered pockets for more secure storage.

Here it is in action…

I had to put on my thinking cap to change the pattern to my wants, such as lining the pockets with white fabric, adding binding where none was used, adjusting and adding the straps, eliminating zippers, and making slip pockets.

It was worth it when I received this text from my sister:

Now back to my yarn…

Patti

May update

Posted on by
8

May marked my 11th year of blogging. It just seems like yesterday when I published my first post. I need to do some housekeeping and clean up some of the headings and pictures.

Well, the Bamboo socks are finished. I l-o-v-e them.

These are my first ever toe-up socks. I started to knit a different pattern and after the first several rows, I realized that I didn’t like it so chucked that pattern and found this bamboo sock that was also a toe-up sock.

There are pros and cons to toe-up vs. top-down socks.

Toe-up Pros: No picking up stitches at the gusset.

Toe-up Cons: Starting the toe. Loosely binding off. Plus it is new to me.

Top-down Pros: Easy to cast on. Familiar to me

Top-down Cons: Picking up stitches for the gusset. Kitchener stitch for the toes.

I’m not sold on the toe-up construction but I’m willing to give it another try. The cast-on for the toe was a killer so if you have any suggestions or techniques to help, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Details: Needle size US #1. Used 68 grams of hand-dyed yarn. Bamboo Sock pattern.

Since my sock needles were empty, I decided to knit a pair of shorties with some ribbing around the arch. I have a pair of commercial socks with ribbing around the foot. They really support the arch and make my feet feel good.

I’m making this up as I go so once finished, I’ll decide whether or not to knit the second one or rip out this one.I’m carrying the pink up the ribbing section so I can rejoin that color for the rest of the sock.

The last update for May (and I don’t remember if I did this in May or April) is a sewing project. Our front porch furniture needed new cushion covers. I made these covers in 2014 and the fabric faded and just would’t get clean. The print was large and busy.

I tried to order some new fabric in June of 2020 but with all the craziness happening in the world, my order was cancelled in August and wasn’t available anymore. Mr. Aitch suggested a solid red. I like the color but the fabric is slippery and was very difficult to sew. However, I think it will hold the color and clean up well. And the hummingbirds like the color, too.

Oh, one more thing… Brood X cicadas arrived about 10 days ago. We’ll be listening to their lovely (?) mating song for about another month. Then we won’t see nor hear them again for 17 years. This one is sitting on my giant-leaf hosta and is about 1.5 inches long with red eyes.

More next week…

Patti