Take Two

My sewing machine is in the hands of the Sears repair people now. I dropped it off on Wednesday. I miss the little bugger. I hope it comes back as good as new next Thursday. I appreciate it even more so after I tried to use my mom's sewing machine over Thanksgiving. Let's just say that little Singer and I didn't get off on the right foot. I got it all tangled up and it wasn't nearly as user friendly as my Kenmore. I didn't end up getting any sewing done. It was just an exercise in frustration.

That being said, I'm in the mood for welcoming more testy machines into my life. Any recommendations on sergers? I'm looking at the Janome and Husqvarna brands and then going from there.

In any case, I really did get to practice my knitting since my sewing machine is out of commission. I found Knittinghelp.com to be an invaluable resources--thank you Karyn! I watched the cast on video about, hmm, 20 some times. I finally got it. I was missing one last loop through, but now I am completely confident is doing the long-tail cast on. And I can do it fairly quickly. For the life on me, I don't know why the session at Stiches East taught some cumbersome needle cast on method. This is so much easier and it has such a natural rhythm. I even got my knit stitch down fairly well--I think--I need to double check the video. Look what I did just this morning. It's pretty much my second real attempt.

I'm so proud of myself! For those of you that missed the previous attempt and don't understand why I'm so proud, see here. I'm going to give myself the most improved award! I know I still have a long, long way to go, but I'm going to shot for a scarf by mid winter. Plus, these a lovely new yarn shop in Hampden, Lovely Yarns that has some classes and a sit-n-knit.

I also learned how to make pom-poms. So I'm making a bunch for a Christmas garland for the mirror above the fireplace. I'm hoping the curious kitties won't be able to get up there.


Tomorrow I'm at Bazarrt at the American Visionary Art Musuem from 10am-5pm!

I think it's dead

I think my sewing machine is dead. I cleaned and oiled it just yesterday and it seemed to pull through but my tension was just getting worse and worse. Then after a decent test run I started on a bag and bang--it's a mess. The bobbin thread isn't catching at all resulting in a huge mess of thread and lots of clunking noises. I need to be good to it and take it in for a tune up. I've had it for two years now and I put it through a lot. It's just, once again, horrible timing. I specifically took off all week to get some work done for yet another show this Saturday. I hardly got anything done yesterday since I was swinging between babying the machine and yelling at it. Well I did get a lot of cutting a pressing done--but now all those pieces of bags will just be sitting in my chilly little sewing room.

I'll be calling Sears tomorrow to see how long and how much this is going to cost me. Ugh. More expenses. This little biz of mine just barely pays for itself. Any profit I was going to make on my next two shows is not probably going to be eaten by the sewing machine repair fund. And with the holidays fast approaching and Thanksgiving already here, how knows when I'll get my poor little machine back. Maybe it's the cosmos telling me to take a break from sewig a focus on knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it. I already did some preliminary baking and cooking today to take to my parent's house for the main event. I made some extra cranberry apple relish because I love it so. And George and I are also warming up our stomachs by making Butternut Squash and Bacon Baked Pasta tonight.

Handmade Arcade Report

Pittsburgh hosted the Handmade Arcade this past cold and rainy Saturday. And of course, it was almost 70 degrees here in Baltimore! I think we missed the last randomly warm weekend of the fall. George and I drove up on Friday and met up with fellow Baltimoreans Rachel and Phil of Red Prairie Press fame. We tore Pittsburgh up. Well not really, but on the recommendation of a friend of mine we went to The Church Brew Works, a brewery in a real live church. They were celebrating their 10th anniversary so we got to enjoy the roving polka band in lederhosen! Sorry, no pics.

The next day we set up for the Handmade Arcade. There were a lot of vendors there. I got to walk around a little bit, but I feel like I missed a lot. I did treat myself to some hot chocolate soap and some body wash from Squeaky Queen. And of course I had to say hi to Ann from Mogo who was without Dabney!
Here's a pic from behind my table over towards the larger half of the set up.

And here's my table, complete with my new rack for hanging all of my scarves--which were a hit as gifts for older women!

No, I'm not licking my scarves, just sticking my tongue out at George. If you look closely, under the rack in the record bowl is this year's ornament. George designed a little winter snail with a hat on his shell and pursed lips blowing out some chilly air. I'll try to put up a pic of it. I'm going to try to get the new inventory up on my shop site this week.


Next up: Holly Fest at Baltimore Friends School, this Saturday 10 am-4 pm!

PA is a happening state this weekend

Besides the Handmade Arcade going on this Saturday in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia is lucky enough to have a brand new crafty-type boutique opening up. The Conspiracy Showroom's grand opening is also this Saturday.


Three craft ladies, who also founded the Philadelphia Craft Mafia are opening up the shop in Northern Liberties. I have sent some of my bags and pins to be part of the shop and I'm really excited to see how it goes. Opening a real live brick and mortar shop has to be a huge undertaking and I wish the ladies of Conspiracy Showroom the best!


The knitting saga continues--I sat down with my yarn, needles and instructions last night all ready to practice, practice, practice and I couldn't even get past casting on. Wah! I couldn't remember the steps for casting on that I learned with the needles. The little drawings on only three steps was not helpful. I think I figured out another way to cast on winding the yarn around my fingers, thanks to Martha Stewart's Holiday magazine which I succumbed to at JoAnns. But I'm not sure if I actually did it right and then once I got to the knitting stitch it all fell apart. Poo. Anyone know of good webcasts for knitting?

My first ever attempt at knitting

As noted below the big Stitches East convention was here in Baltimore over the weekend. I went on Sunday with a friend and signed up for the learn to knit session. I was pretty excited. I certainly didn't think I was going to bust out some perfect sock in an hour long class. But I've always been good with my hands from sewing to origami. And hey, I know how to use chopsticks. But nothing could have prepared me for how poorly I faired at knitting. I never even held knitting needles in my hands before Sunday. No women in my family knit. With all of that knowledge, here's a look at what I did in an hour.


Prepare yourself.


It's not pretty . . .


Turn back now before it's too late!






That's it--an hour's worth of work! Other people were turning out neat rows and there's my crazy mess of a knot. There are parts I totally botched past the point of no return. I propped the needles against my belly to try to hold them steady as I knitted. I learned to cast on, knit and cast off. Most of the class got to purling. Not me. I came home with a needles and a whole skein of yarn so I'm going to practice. I need to try it tonight because I'm afraid I'll forget or I already have.

Fabric stash additions

Last weekend I made a trip to a big hospital rummage sale which always yields some good fabric buys. Plus, I picked up some sweaters for scarves. The washer made it through a full felting session and then broke. The appliance guy from our rental company says it is indeed dead and we need a new one. Who knows when we'll get it. Not great timing. But I digress. Think happy thoughts--like fabric!
When I was checking out the little old lady volunteer clearly spotted I was a sewer and almost whispered that she thinks they get stashes from estate sales. I think so too. There was a lot of large swatches from the same company. I'm very pleased with my haul.




I won't be able to dive in right away, first because of the washer situation, but also because I'm finishing up pieces for my first holiday season show, the Handmade Arcade next weekend in Pittsburgh.

In other news, I'm trying to expand my fiber experience. Tomorrow I'm going to the big Stiches East convention. I had no idea this even happened until Friday. I figure it should be inspiring and there's a free learn to knit session. I also found a weaving guild in Baltimore. Their fall classes just finished, but I'm hoping to get in on their next session.

Mr. Pink had a little exploration mishap this morning. I'm still not sure what he got into but I'm pretty sure it was somewhere in the laundry closet. I tried to scrub him down in the shower but he wasn't having it.

And those stains are greasy and hard to get out. Poor guy. He's still stained.