Happy Sunshine Yeah

In honor of the fact that today has gone from superdarkthunderstormy to sunny and bright, here's what I'm loving right now (in addition to the sunshine).

WEBS



Why? I've been really pleased with their selection, everything I've wanted to order has been in stock, and their prices are really reasonable. Plus, even with normal bare bones shipping, the yarn I ordered late on Sunday, arrived on Thursday. Which is great 'cause I'm just about ready to start my Flutter Sleeve Cardigan since I'm almost finished with...

The Tilted Duster



Why? It's fitting great so far and it's almost done. I'm a little worried about the sleeves being too short, but if that turns out to be the case, I figure I can take the ribbed cuffs out and reknit them longer. No drama.

My New Camera



Why? Because it's tiny, it's got a great anti-jiggle feature (technical camera term, yo), and I just discovered it's got an extraclose macro feature. See:



Mmm... yarn.

Lemon Blossoms



Why? Um, have you ever smelled a lemon blossom? Right after I took this picture, I made sweet, sweet love to that flower with a paintbrush. I'm hoping the babies take after their mother rather than me. Or the paintbrush.

Terro



Why? One word: Effective. Some more words: now that it's all new and improved and arsenic-free, it still works crazy good while being pretty dang safe (the new ant-killin' part is just Borax).

Keds Eleanor Mary Janes



Why? Besides being cute and mary janes and everything, the cherries are flocked. Flocked! (The only thing better would have been if these had ric-rack like some of the other Eleanors.) Plus they were on Sale at Piperlime with free shipping. An flocked!

How I Block

See I do knit... piles of grey yarn. I'm 20 rows from finishing the skirt of my Tilted Duster from last fall's Interweave, after which I just have to do the collar and (ugh) sew in the sleeves. And then I'll have me another warm, 100% wool sweater just in time for spring!

But on to more exciting things: blocking!

For the longest time, I didn't really get blocking. When I started knitting sweaters and the like, I begrudgingly laid out my wet knits on a towel and called it blocking. Then I was faced with the unfortunate Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan results. I would save the project by blocking! I had to step my blocking up a notch with measuring and pinning to a futon mattress. The cardigan was not magically improved, but I made a stride forward in learning to block.

Lately I've been embracing the blocking. It actually really appeals to my anal detail-oriented side. All that measuring and pinning and pinning and measuring and pinning. Ooooh. So, without further ado, here's...

How I Block
This technique might be overkill for something that just needs a little shaping or stitch evening, but it works great when you need to bitchslap your knitting do some serious resizing because you're like me and can never ever ever get perfect guage.

Supplies:

Pen, paper, calculator


Measurers (I actually do use all four of these sometimes)


Foam Mat (They can be found with the exercise gear or in the toy section of your favorite retailer and are waaaaay cheaper then the blocking boards marketed to knitters, are configurable, and allow you to move your blocking knitting.)


And pins (I just use normal sewing pins.)


Technique:

I start by popping my knitting into a sinkful of water with a little no-rinse woolwash. (If I was using, say, alpaca which I am leery of soaking, I'd skip this step and pin it out dry and spray it with a water bottle as a last step.)

While the knitting is soaking, I take the finished dimension sketch from the pattern and resketch it using only the dimensions I need for the size I'm working on. Then, I calculate any dimensions that are not spelled out in the pattern that I think will be useful. This part is a little brainwork, but it really pays off when you start placing your pins.



Then I'll begin the prepinning. I like to start by placing all of the corner pins. If I was blocking a square gauge swatch, for example, I'd measure and place a pin at the four corners. For a complicated shape, this step may take a lot of time and measuring, but it's worth it in the end.

Next I'll pull my knitting out of it's bath and partially dry it (squeeze as much water out as I can- without wringing or stretching it, then lay it on a towel, roll the towel up, lay it on the floor and dance step on it).

Now I'll start pinning the knitting to the mat, beginning with the corner pins that are conveniently already laid out. From here on out, it's just pin, pin, pin. I lay a ruler along two corner pins and use it to line a pin up on the middle of the edge. And then I fill in the side with pins until everything is nice and flat and the batwing effect of stretched knitting is minimized. I just fudge the curved edges, pinning them by eye.



Once everything is sufficiently pinned, you just let 'em dry. I like to make sure everything is very, very dry before I take out my pins.



Happy blocking!

Sewing, Part Infinity

Let's pretend that the lemon tart is really the warm spring sun, okay? Also let's pretend that it isn't still butt-numbing cold out and that it didn't snow yesterday and that I don't live in a tundra-like wasteland, okay? Can we do that?

Okay, moving on.

Sewing. Last one. Really.



For a knitting group member's new baby. I could not think of a cute little shape for this one, so I totally copied Stephanie... right down to the letter (thanks for the idea Stephanie!). Lucky the babies both have the same initial, eh?

This is the first onesie that I handstitched (after the Heat and Bond). I hope it holds up. Handstitching was not my first choice, but I totally botched another onesie for another friend's baby on the machine. Machine + knits = scary.

Also a few odds and ends:

I made a mistake in an earlier post. It's Jo-Ann. Not JoAnn's or even JoAnn. And they had neither the Alexander Henry bird fabric or hera markers. So I don't have to like them.

My wood-grain quilting inspiration was this. Gorgeous.

Next up: did you know I knit?

My Forearms Get Cold

Dear People Who Dictate What Fashions Are In the Stores,
I agree that little swing coats with 3/4 sleeves are cute. In fact, I own one. But why, oh why, must every jacket for the spring season have cap sleeves or short sleeves or half sleeves or 3/4 sleeves? Hm? Could you maybe offer up just a couple with long sleeves? For those of us that want to use a spring jacket to, you know, stay warm? Thanks a lot.
Regards,
Rebecca

I Bring You...

More sewing. Don't worry, though, we're getting to the end. Very little sewing left.

I was a little amazed to find this Alexander Henry print that I'd been coveting since, like, forever, at the local JoAnn's. (And lemme tell you, the local JoAnn's is waaaaay nicer than the nasty old CA JoAnn's that I used to frequent and I've already been to two local independently owned fabric stores that were just plain lovely. So there's that.) Now if only I could find the AH print with the yellow birds. If I, say, went to JoAnn's this afternoon and found it, well, that would be awesome. And I would be forced to like JoAnn's since they carry fabric and Bit'o'Honey.

Oh, yeah, the fabric:



Since I've declared war on paper products, I decided it was finally time to buck up and switch to cloth napkins. And apparently, work on my hemming skillz.



All I can say is that I'm going to get me a hera marker post haste. Endless hemming, hemming, hemming, hemming, hemming zips along much faster when you crease your folds first. Having no hera marker yet, I used my Martha Stewart brand bone folder. Worked okay. But since I'm going to JoAnn's and all, I really should pick up a hera marker too. Because buying stuff is fun.

For now, though, I'm going to continue to sit at my desk with my ears perked. The UPS lady is supposed to bring me a new camera today. Eeeee! I barely know what to do with myself. First I replaced my six year old cell phone, now my six year old camera. Ach! My cell phone and camera could have been first graders! If they were not inanimate objects. And not people.