New Year Plans

In looking back on the past year, I feel pretty good about completing 80% of the Take It Further challenges on time.  I had a few personal criteria: the projects couldn't cost a lot and I had to have fun doing them.  I also wanted to try different techniques across a number of different crafts, and I wanted the monthly projects to be useful in some way if possible.

I can definitely attest to the having fun part.   The only two challenges I didn't complete came at the end of the year when I had some family issues to deal with.  As a result, not much of anything was fun, so I just set aside the final two TIFs for a later date.  I plan to do them - just not in the timeframe of the 2008 challenge.

Most of the projects used both stash and new materials, so on average over the year, I didn't spend much more than the $10 I allowed myself at the start of the challenge.  The exception was the fabric and batting I needed for the Elvis quilt.

The best project from someone else's point of view:  the Barbie clothes that resulted from the January TIF and the Elvis quilt (September).  The most personally wrenching:  the Alzheimer's clutch purse and bracelet from the February challenge and "Fear of Pretending" (April).   The most fulfilling from a design and execution point of view:  the fabric book pages I completed for the challenges in March, May, June, and July.

Only one TIF challenge didn't work out the way I had planned.  It was the teapot block in October.  I eventually ripped about half of the block and re-stitched it to coordinate it with another larger project.  I also haven't done anything with the fabric book pages.  I am thinking that I need to get some color cohesion going, so I'm setting them aside until I determine how best to put the book together.  

I've joined the 2009 Explorer project, and it comes as a relief actually.  I can concentrate on embroidery again and I have decided to make a companion piece to the 2007 TAST sampler.  It will be the same size as the 2007 piece, and the plan is to have 12 panels - one for each month of the project.  I've mounted and blocked out the 14-count Aida canvas and gotten my supplies together so I'm ready to go when Sharon gives us the first assignment.  I've even found the remaining Moleskine notebooks, so I'll record the sampler progress the same way I did for TAST.

My personal goal for this challenge is to be less constrained by how a stitch was used in the past.  I want to explore and experiment more.   I am going to use the panel size as a suggestion and see how each assignment develops as I work the stitches.   To help me get my mind ready, I'm reading Constance Howard's "Inspiration for Embroidery" (Anchor Press: Tiptree, Essex, Great Britain, 1976; first published 1966).  There are so many great examples of how to use stitches in designs that it's definitely getting me in the mood to get down to business and play! 

No Progress for TIF

It occurred to me last week that I had not posted my progress on the TIF challenges in almost three weeks.  This has been due to the fact that there has been no progress.  So, there.  Which is not to say that TIF has not been on my mind.

I looked at the December challenge and thought, "Well, I can always buy something for the 'Toys for Tots' campaign."  I could say I addressed generosity and be done with it, leaving me only the November challenge to catch up on before the end of the year.  But I jettisoned any thought of spending money on non-essentials since my husband lost his job two weeks go and probably will not find employment again until well after the presidential inauguration.

Needless to say, it's not been the happiest of holidays around here.  But I've forged ahead on some projects I dragged out of my stash.  With apologies to my Tulsa sister, I have my "hairy" sweater almost done.  My sister hates sweaters that have eyelash fibers, glitter, and other thingies hanging off of them.  I, on the other hand, love them.   So, I started the Concerto sweater I blogged about briefly on November 23, and now it's substantially done.  I just have to sew the sweater pieces together and finish the edges. (Okay, I can hear some of you laughing, given my November posts, but really, I do plan to get it sewn up by the end of next week.)

I've also been busy with other craft-related activities.  This is the time of year I always want to clean my house and change the decor around.  Starting the new year with an orderly living space has always been a sort of tradition with me, and in the last couple of days, I've been occupied with a sort out and throw away.  I actually can see my work tables, I have found some UFOs that got buried under new projects, and I have been reminded of projects not yet undertaken but for which I once held a great desire to do.  The latter was like meeting up unexpectedly with an old friend - we got reacquainted, paused for a few minutes to reminisce, and parted with promises to do it again soon.

Which led me to thinking:  When will I have time to do some of these formerly-buried projects?  How do I see 2009 shaping up for craft projects?  So, I am off to ponder my goals for next year in light of the materials I have on hand, the projects that arose from the dead, Sharon's plans for the 2009 challenge, and the time constraints I face given that I'll be working full-time for the foreseeable future. 

SOX, not TIF

I must now officially confess to the TIF community that I have not done one thing on the November challenge project I developed, other than to plan the design and gather the materials.  Normally, I would feel very guilty about this state of affairs, particularly since I am just two months from on-time delivery of the entire challenge.  Last I heard, though, Sharon is not giving out medals, imaginary or otherwise,  for getting to the finish line, so "winning" is all about my personal victory in this, not some certificate of completion.

However, looking back over the month, I have been more productive in November than in any other during the challenge.  Having several days away from my paying job contributed mightily to this.  But if I have to blame someone for this state of affairs it's Jane.  You see, at the start of the month, Jane had this fabulous idea to draw up a monthly to-do list for projects.  It was such a good idea, I copied it and drew up my own list.  Trouble was, the TIF project never made it to the list.  Oh, all right.  It was totally my fault and not Jane's.

But don't for a minute think I didn't try to get the November challenge out of the starting blocks and down the track.  I carried that foolish quilter's hoop and the rest of the materials between my home and the capitol all month.  This alone should have kept the project on the front burner as they say, since given its size it always needed to be carried in its own bag.  I even placed the bag in my line of sight when I arrived at my destination so it was never out of sight.  I just put it completely out of my mind in favor of other projects for the last two weeks.

One of these projects was a fabric basket.  I took a class on November 16th to learn this technique.  The basket is substantially done, except for embellishments to gussy it up a bit.  I am thinking of making a few more to give as Christmas gifts.  I also made my husband some socks, also for Christmas.  So, see?  It's not like I was just sitting around eating bon-bons.  I just wasn't working on the TIF challenge.  Plus, I started a sweater using fiber I purchased eons ago in keeping with my stash-busting resolution.

So, now I am conflicted.  Do I just give up on the November challenge and start fresh with the December one?  It would sure be a help if Sharon selected a challenge like "warm feet" or "organization" or "pick one on your own" for December.  Then, I'd simply swap out one of the November projects I've already completed for December's and do the November challenge next month.  I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow evening to see what she's got planned for us.  I can't see how I'll get two challenges done in one month, but then stranger things have happened.

Just thoughts

All of the economic news is bad, not just for my own little corner of the world, but for most of the rest of the towns and countries across the map.  So, my thoughts naturally turned to the value of my IRA - my craft IRA that is.  I figured it was time to take stock of what I had in savings, otherwise known as stash.  I suspect that there won't be a lot of unrestricted money in the coming weeks and months to fund purchases of fabric, yarn, and notions so it would be useful to itemize the materials on hand and get down to actually using them.

It's been a useful exercise, this inventory taking.  I found a Concerto kit I purchased at Stitches East when the conventions were still being held in Atlantic City,  some hand-dyed merino I bought to make a kimono jacket, vintage Banlon I picked up at Tuckers (Allentown) to make a retro sweater or two, plus all the wool I still have left from the Harvard sheep (town, not university; enough 100% wool for at least 10 sweaters, from fingering through bulky weights - maybe I was waiting for heather shades to come back into fashion?)...  Well, you get the picture.

All of this taking stock was further spurred by my husband's birthday gift to me - all four volumes of Barbara Walker's "A Treasury of Knitting."  As I sat Friday night paging through volume 1, I realized how many beautiful stitch patterns were available to create one-of-a-kind garments if I just took some time to be creative and write my own patterns.

Now, I am terribly remiss when it comes to actually reading the craft books in my library.  They generally end up being eye candy, good for inspirational viewing.  Sometimes, they serve as a quick reference when I hit a snag on a project.  What would happen if I actually treated these volumes as textbooks?  What if I actually stopped being Plow-ahead Peggy or Little Miss Know It All?  What if I take Jane's idea of a monthly project list and make a year-long list?  A New Year's resolution to read one craft book a month and work up one item from stash related to that craft book?  Heaven knows I have craft projects I'd like to do lined up since 1975.  If not now, when?

This plan will do little to help the economy.  But it certainly makes more sense to use the fibers now  rather than have my family put $250 worth of merino hand-dyed yarn in a yard sale for $10 after I'm gone from this earth.  I can just see that yard sale table now!  The mental image alone is enough to make me seriously consider this de-stashing plan for my New Year's resolution.  And it will be a lot easier to do than giving up chocolate.

I Am Not Cleopatra

My TIF challenge for the month remains undone and this weekend blogging exercise reminds me that I had better get going if I want to get even one letter done on the piece I designed.

What I did spend time on was the layout of the teapot squares for my lap quilt.  It turned out the concept was interesting - teapot, teacups, and dishes of petit fours all from different fabrics, but the result was less than satisfying.  Oh, all right.  The results were horrible.  Each block was just darling all by itself, but together, they fought with each other like mad.  I spent a total of ten hours over the course of a week moving the completed blocks around, trying different fabrics for the blocks still needing completion, and generally trying to get a cohesive whole using the five finished blocks.

At some point in this futile exercise, I remembered something an instructor in a knitting class once said.  The class's topic was correcting knitting mistakes.  The instructor asked us how many times we reached a point in our knitting where we looked at the evolving garment and thought it might be too big/too small/pattern off/etc.  but we keep going thinking things would work themselves out?  We all raised our hands.  Now, this is a hilarious state of affairs.  If you think something isn't working, why forge ahead?

So, since my name is not Cleopatra (Queen of Denial), I ripped out most of the work on the first five blocks and started over after accepting the problems and fixing them.  They were:

• too many fabrics in each block and in the nine blocks together - Each block is more effective if the teacup and saucers are cut from the same fabric and the trim of every item in the block  is the same.   The blocks work together if a least one of the fabrics is repeated in either the teacup or the teapot section;
• two palettes too many - Some rose shades were blue and others brown.  They needed to be in the same color family to tie the blocks together.  And some "pop" colors (purple, for example) were just too strong for the quilt as a whole.
• too many embellishment types - I jettisoned the multicolored beads and funky flosses in favor of gold beads (to echo the gold in the "wallpaper") and floss and tiny ribbon rosebuds in the same color palette as the fabrics.  I have a bit of lace on hand, and will see if that can be incorporated without making the design look junky.
  

Here is one of the blocks waiting to be appliqued.  The only thing remaining from the original block is the petit fours.

And here is another block, with just the teapot remaining.

And finally, here are the nine blocks together.  In this photo, the corner left and top center blocks need to be cut, but I completed that step on Thursday evening before I packed up to head back to Aiken. 

 

I suppose I should accept the need for more do-overs in mid-project because my knitting instructor was right.  Why waste time forging ahead when you have a gut feeling that a project is not working out?  I am much happier with this layout.  The fabric content isn't quite what I wanted, but I don't have enough fabric in my stash to bring my mental vision to fruition.  This is a good compromise because I think the blocks look like they all belong in the same quilt and  the design isn't so busy that your eyes can't settle on a block without being totally annoyed by neighboring blocks.

As to the sashing fabric I purchased for this quilt?  That will be set aside in favor of a solid fabric or one with a very small print.  But I will not make any more purchases until I get all of the blocks assembled.  That will be the time to decide what will go best with the design.  I will be working on this project over the course of the coming six months.  Now that I am done with vacation days, I will have less time to devote to my fiber activities so my output will slow down considerably.  Too bad, too.  I was having so much fun!

Un-fiber, Un-TIF

Ah!  So many comments on recent posts that it's scary.   I am beginning to feel pressure, not only to complete my challenges but to post regularly.  So, since I am still working on that Hanne jacket and I am home for one last weekday, I will blog on another topic:  perfection.

I am waiting for my kitchen floor to dry.  While I was mopping, I got to thinking about Jane Brocket.  Ms. Brocket writes a blog called Yarnstorm.  My Tulsa sister put me onto this blog about two years ago when she said, "You've never read "Yarnstorm?" (in a tone that implies everyone involved in fiber must be reading this blog.)  So, I wrote down the address and got officially hooked.

Ms. Brocket is, I think, England's answer to Martha Stewart, only she is far more insidious.  Martha Stewart complicates every household activity beyond belief and has no shame in hiding that fact.  Ms. Brocket makes it all look easy.  And that is what is dangerous for us "normal" moms.

Whenever I want to visit a foreign land, I plonk in Yarnstorm on my keyboard.  For a few minutes, I get to envision a perfect life in a faraway land.  And not just far away in mileage.  No, far away in lifestyle.  A lifestyle that is so unlike what my son experienced, I wonder if he will sue me and his father one day for the cost of psychotherapy.  He never got homemade blueberry muffins to take to school; he got store-bought cupcakes that I rushed to the store for, cursing all the way about how I was going to be late for work.  Ms. Brocket's children get not only homemade cupcakes, but beautifully hand-decorated ones to boot.  She even takes the time to photograph them!!!!

In fairness to my own competencies as a mother, my son's childhood photos show a smiling face.  And that is why I will not allow into my house Jane Brocket's new book, "The Gentle Art of Domesticity."  Best my son not know there are functional families out there, where the mother not only has time to blog and write books, but make fabulous sweaters for her kids and take them abroad on wonderful vacations.  Better that he thinks he comes from a typical American family that is quirky but normal.  I suspect that, after four years in college, he knows this, having visited enough friends to see how they live.  But why take chances?

So, I guess what I am trying to say here is that I appreciate Yarnstorm and Jane Brockett.  I may actually purchase her beautifully written and photographed book, but I will keep it in my travel collection.  It's a nice place to visit but, all in all, I think I like where I am and where I've been and am not particularly anxious to leave just yet for a town called Perfect. 

The Filatura Sweater

I unearthed another un-pieced sweater yesterday afternoon and had a bonus moment - the shoulders were already seamed and the neck edge finished.  So it was just a matter of stitching up the side and arm seams.  Here's the finished sweater, knit in Filatura di Crosa's "Cambridge" palette #2, lot 0010.

The stitch pattern is a simple stockinette with a twist every five stitches, offset every four rows.  It was just enough of a pattern to keep things interesting but let the beauty of the fiber show through.  Here's a close-up of the fabric.  By some act of the Fates, the colors in this close-up are accurate.

Some of you may be noticing that the design of the three sweaters I've written about is the same for all.  Well, I got tired of making sweaters with commercial patterns and ending up with garments that didn't fit correctly.  So, now I don't use a pattern.  Instead, I select a sweater I like that fits me well and use the dimensions to calculate the number of stitches, bind offs, and yardage based on my selected fiber and gauge.  I make a large swatch (one ball, usually) in the stitch I plan to use for the garment.  I only manage to get ill-fitting sweaters these days when I fall in love with a pattern and slavishly follow it.

Hence, my Hanne Falkenberg disaster.   My Tulsa sister knit a fabulous "Lastrada" sweater using Hanne's kit.  Can't be too hard, I thought, since my sister was a novice knitter at that point.  It's garter stitch and the hardest part would be mitering the corners.  Well, call it the curse on someone using another person's pattern, but my sweater, made with fiber I had on hand from 25 years ago (no, there's no typo), was fit for a very womanly woman when it was finished.  I looked like a little kid wearing her mom's clothes when I tried on the finished garment.

So, I did the only thing I could under the circumstances.  I threw the sweater into hot water, spun it to damp dry, and then put it in the dryer.  Now, if this had been a sweater that fit me perfectly and that I loved beyond measure, it would have shrunk to postage stamp size and at least partially felted.  But not my Hanne disaster.  It shrunk a bit, I'll admit, so that the body wasn't too objectionable, but the sleeves were still down to mid-thigh.   Here's the sweater before alterations:

And here's the sweater after I inserted a lifeline across row 6 of the red sleeve stripes, cut the rest of the sleeve off, picked up the live stitches from the lifeline, and added a few rows to finish off the sleeve to an appropriate length for a pygmy.  

Here's the detail of the revised sleeve.

I guess this is no longer a Hanne sweater - not her fiber and not her pattern, strictly speaking.  But it's wearable now and I will use it on days when I need a lot of color in my life.  Now, I'm off to put a lifeline in the other sleeve while I still have some daylight left.  I only have one more day of vacation and I am trying to make the most of today and tomorrow for the crafts I love.