What I made, by Sharon

What a strange year it's been. This week I did my third sewing project for the year: oven mitts. For years we've been using silicone ones I bought from Daiso (everything is $2.80!) and one of them broke. I used this pattern from The Spruce Crafts. It wasn't particularity difficult, although I would  say estimated time of an hour and cost of $15 were wildly underplayed.  I'm really happy with them - proper old fashioned oven mitts. I used fancy heat resistant batting, and put a velcro on them, so they can hang off the oven door. I really like the fabric - it matches the tropical theme I have going.  Now what should I sew next? Maybe some cushions...

On Saturday I did some practice dying on minis. I was practicing rainbow and speckles. I wasn't sure about the  speckles until we (Leon actually) balled them up. They look completely  different and so pretty: I was very happy with my attempts at rainbow.  Happy enough that on Sunday I gathered up my courage to dye the yarn for the Tracery Vest.  I've wanted to make this since I first saw it, but I want to steek it, and I couldn't find the colours I wanted in non-superwash yarn. So I've dyed them myself. I'm quite happy with these, although I did learn a lot. Despite the fact that I dyed them together (as in on each other, not next to each other) they are far from identical. Also, while all the colours of the rainbow are here the red spectrum dominates and there is almost no discrete blue or yellow. The colours actually look quite different in real ife, and I suspect will look even more different when reskeined and knitted. I'm excited to knit with it...

I spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning making masks. I set up a little factory and just churned them out. Which was lucky, I guess, because on Sunday afternoon it was announced that masks are now mandatory.  I'm going down to the post office later to buy some envelopes to mail some of them off to other people. I suspect there will be more mask making next weekend. 

As the pandemic "second wave": rages on in Melbourne, and we are locked down again for the next six weeks. the recommendation is shifting to wearing masks. I have mixed feelings about the mask thing -  because scientists don't seem to agree on the benefits, people don't seem to wear masks properly and in some places it seems to have been applied like a panacea. Friends of mine in America put a picture on Facebook of them at a brewery, with their masks around their necks. So many questions about that. Anyway, my city is locked down again, Daniel Andrews our Premier has said to wear masks and Leon and I will be wearing them, when we can't social distance, which is on my weekly shopping trip. As an aside, I say I go to the shops weekly, but I reckon it's more like three times a week, and we get fruit, vegetables and half out meat delivered. Why am I at the shops so much? Maybe because it's my only adventure. Since all  masks instantly sold out - of course ...

It's tough right now. The country is literally on fire, the oceans are full of plastic, our government doesn't seem to care and it's easy to despair. I know we all want to do something, but anything I can do feels so, so tiny. Still a million tiny actions add up, so I try to do what I can, because I can only do what I can. On Saturday I went to the monthly St Kilda beach Beach Patrol cleanup where as a group we picked up 69 kilograms of rubbish.  I'm in pink, on the left. So much rubbish. At least I took some of it out of circulation.   Then in the afternoon I went to Jen's place and learnt to use her knitting machine to make pouches for injured wildlife. I also took my sewing machine and sewed some pouches. I got my annual sewing incident out of the way early!   On Sunday and Monday I crotchetted a set of nests that can be used for orphaned wildlife, from tiny birds to larger creatures. I know, crocheting at the end of last year and at th...

...give up and read a book.  That's not good advice but it is what I did this long weekend. I started the sewing, like I said I would, and followed the directions, including ironing in the interfacing. On Sunday I sat down at the machine and realised my iron had left marks on the cotton fabric. I kept sewing for a bit anyway, since this was meant to be a learning piece.  On Monday (which is a public holiday) I woke up and, instead of sewing stayed in bed and read. Then we had breakfast, and I read some more. I was at the very end of Robin Hobb's Assassin's Fate , and basically all I did all morning was read and cry. It's such a perfect ending. It was also such a perfect long weekend. After a couple of hectic weekends away, and a couple of hectic weekends coming up, to have some time to hang around the house, watch TV while knitting, and sit in the sun on my balcony was a treat and a luxury that I really appreciate.  

Kate Davies' current club is called Knitting Season and it has a different tone from the previous ones. It's focusing not on geography, but on creativity. While I initially thought this wasn't going to be interesting to me (except it's Kate Davies, so it's always going to be good) I have found it quite a revelation - although not really about knitting. When it comes to knitting, I'm pretty confident. I know how to fix my mistakes, I know what I can live with and I've gradually built up the skills I need. Also it's knitting and you can always rip it and start again.  I've never learnt to sew properly. I've done some, and I have a very nice sewing machine my mother gave me after I borrowed hers for 3 months to do some quilting, but I've never learnt properly. For I while now I've been thinking about learning to sew shirts. Because I'm short, and have giant CrossFit arms, being able to customise would be nice. Also, during "M...

So, we're up to late Sunday afternoon and I haven't knit a stitch all weekend. I have been doing other things including some sewing. a friend of mine had twins, and for the baby shower we sere all sent packets of fabric and requested to make a quilt square.  I ignored the project for quite a while, because designing sewing scares me. But Jen suggested using a buttonhole stitch to seal the edges, so I didn't have to mess about with folding the edges under, and that worked really well.  I (mainly) managed to both cut and sew in straight lines too! I'm really happy with how mine came out. Everyone made really nice squares - I'll have to pop a photo up here once the quilt is all assembled. 

I generally knit in the living room. I spin on the balcony and spindle at the dining table. When I sew I take over our little dining room. This has always been fine, I've taken out the sewing machine, done the hem or made a box bag and packed it all away within a day or two. I've never longed for my own crafty space where I can set up and leave things. Patching has changed all that. I had fabric all over the dining room for nearly three weeks, I had the ironing board out and it all felt messy. Yesterday I got a tablet computer to replace my decrepit laptop. Without the laptop I can use my desk as sewing space. In the study I'm happy to leave the ironing board up all the time. Leon and I have started rearranging the study so that I can set up there, and leave everything out for as long as it takes. Meanwhile I crocheted a pin cushion. I was using a magnetic one, but the cats like to pull the pins out and drop them in random placing in the house. Needles to say, o...

  I've been steadily working on by Bad Tie Patchwork cushion. It is undoubtedly, the most fun I have ever had with the sewing machine. I loved the paper template technique, it's really supportive of the fact that I struggle with seam allowances and can't usually cut or sew in a straight line. I have learnt so much doing this project, most of it probably glaringly obvious to everyone else. Learning highlights included: it's better not to hold the fabric in a death grip. That makes the threads in the back go funny. It's not a fault with the machine, but I guess I learnt a whole lot about it while investigating what I thought had to be  an issue with the machine, but turned out to be an issue with me. I also learnt to cut pieces bigger, something that will definitely improve the quality of future patched pillows. And on that note, I'm off to sort through the Bad Ties, I have the next two cushion designs chosen, printed and ready to go. That's Tarragon snea...

On Sunday I got out the sewing machine to take up a dress that I bought last December. Whole I had the sewing machine out, I thought I would look up some ideas for sewing some of the Bad Ties we have collected over the three years Leon had been doing bad tie Monday's, into cushion covers. We have two huge bags full of ties that range from simply ugly to utterly ridiculous I found  a tutorial by Martha Stewart on how to use a  paper template to sew log cabin squares - which means, I don't have to be able to cut in a straight line, which is usually my biggest issue with sewing. (as an aside, I didn't realise Martha Stewart was such a tripper. the video is here , if you want to see what I mean.) So I started cutting up the ties. I've only sewn four squares so far, but this is the most fun I have ever had with my sewing machine.

Once a month Leon and I have my parents over for a formalish dinner. By formal I mean three or four courses and I put on a dress and all mobiles are turned off for the duration. We normally have place mats on the table. I know my father thinks that a table cloth is more appropriate, but I'm not a big fan, and besides, we didn't own one.Tonight we are having Leon's parents as well as mine for dinner. We only own 4 matching place mats and Leon said point blank that we have to have something on the table, because he doesn't want it to get scratched. I said point blank that we were not going to use non matching place mats. So, I pulled apart an old doona cover that we don't use anymore - I love it, but Leon does not. After I had finished sewing the table cloth I realised that the off cuts would be just enough for matching serviettes. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out and, as Leon said "our grandmothers would be proud of us". Mine certainly woul...

Soctober is coming and today I've been busy preparing. Firstly my sock project knitting bag was looking a little sad and tired, so I sewed myself a new one, using this fantastic tutorial . Step 16 is "add a zipper pull" so last night after dinner I made some beads out of Sculpy. With the leftovers I made some buttons, I think they would look amazing on a baby surprise jacket. I had a plan for what to knit in Soctober, starting with some Cookie A knee high socks for me. But Leon and I have booked a holiday for the first week of October. When I'm away with Leon I like to knit something relatively simple and for for him, it just seems nicer. So, I went through the stash looking for something that would work with Leon's preferred colour palette - dark grey, dark green, dark brown or very dark blue are all that are acceptable. I had some army green, but that would clash with the project bag, so I'm dying some light Patonyle. I think it's going to come o...

I sew in the dining room. It can take a little bit to get everything set up, and when it is set up, I like to get everything done before packing it all away again. After I finished the bag yesterday I had quite a lot of fabric left over, and I wanted to make little dilly bags to store the fibre I am working on in while I am progress, especially on a spindle project. For the socks I am spinning now on the Turkish I carefully stripped the wool to make a fractal effect, but then I struggled to remember which pile of fibre was which. To solve this, I could tell which was which I put them in freezer bags - we seem to have run out of ziplock bags - and put a piece of paper in each labelled 1 and 2. Then, in my spindle bag I put a matching piece of paper numbered 1 or 2, so I know which lot I am spinning from. Effective but ugly. In order to supply a more elegant solution to the problem I sewed little drawstring bags, with matching markers, so I will be able to identify which bag of fib...

I decided I wanted a craft apron, something to protect me from all those sticky fibres that seem to get all over my legs when I am spinning. And also, because I just wanted one. So I went and bought some fabric, found an internet tutorial and sewed it. I love it. I love the fabric, I love fact that it doesn't have any visable raw edges, even on the inside. I love the pocket, which I put on so I could put nupps in my pocket instead of dropping them on the floor. I love the lining, i love the ties, I love the little owls. This is probably the most fun I have had sewing and possibly the most useful thing I have made.

I know last post I promised to tell you what the Signature needles are for. I wrote the post, but Blogger has been down and it ate it. And I've got too much to catch up on, so I'll tell you about that project another day. On Monday the airconditioning was on at work. The boilers had been "services" on the weekend and had completely stopped working. It was freezing. On Tuesday they still hadn't fixed the problem, and I forgot my tights. By the end of the day I was so cold I was crying. I worked from home on Wednesday, with the heating set at 22 degrees and a knee length knitted cardigan on. On Thursday I went to work prepared. Amongst a whole lot of other warm things I wore my knee high Spring Socks. These have elastic in the tops, but the elastic appears to have perished. So all day, I was pulling them up. It was very annoying, so when I go home I pulled out the sewing machine and made knee garters. And now my socks stay up. I'm learning to make button holes ...