My Own Two Cents

I’ll be in Tulsa this weekend, and so absent for a bit.  I wonder if there are any good LYSs there…

Next weekend I’m visiting Jen in Tulsa. As I started to think about her new apartment, it occurred to me that she may not have guest sheets. Just a brief thought and I was off on a mission.

My (germophobic) Mim has a Silk Sac, and I’ve always been a little jealous. It’s sort of a sheet sleeping bag for traveling when you are afraid the accommodations are suspect. Although Jen may well have extra linens, and although I do not think her linens would be suspect, I feel I finally have the perfect excuse for making my own (what I like to call) Human Travel Bag. Read on…

Materials

2 Pillowcases

1 Top Sheet, preferably full size

Ribbon

Thread

Sewing Machine (or needle if you like to roll old school)

Instructions

Iron the sheet, right sides together, so that it is folded in half the long way. This step may not be entirely necessary, but there’s a lot of sheet, and it will help you match it up properly.

Leaving the top fold free, and starting directly underneath (see photos below), sew along the sides and bottom just next to the factory hem. Mine left me with a 1 inch seam allowance.

Flip the bag right side out, and place the pillowcase on the back top with the bottom of the pillowcase to the inside (wrong side) of the “back” of the bag (see photo below).

Keeping the location of the pillowcase, carefully flip the pillow case down and pin in place (see photo below).

Sew the pillowcase to the bag with 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Using only a small seam allowance will allow you room for a pillow, if you should be so lucky, or some clothes if you are in a pinch.

Fold up your new human travel bag put it in the remaining pillowcase.

Use the ribbon to tie it shut. If you want the extra room in your luggage, cut about half of the pillowcase off and sew part of the top down to make a drawstring using the ribbon.

That’s it! You could use any old sheets but I bought a cheap set at Target. I’ve got the fitted sheet left and the Mim suggested making pajamas or a nightgown. Hmmm…

Remember Doug E. Doug and the hilarious triumphs and tragedies of the Jamaican bobsled team? Remember how they made it to the Olympics and finished dead last?

They were lucky.

Stardust progress marches on.

The way a one-legged, drunken sailor marches on.

Slowly and without finesse.

I’ve ripped back twice now. The lace pattern is very intuitive and easy to memorize. That, however, does not make a difference when you are watching 1408 at night, which makes you scream out loud and stop paying attention to your knitting.  Then, what’s scarier than John Cusack locked in an evil room?  Realizing you didn’t YO three rows back, or that your SKP was more of an SK a few rows before that.

At this rate, I’ll make Doug E. Doug look like Michael Phelps.

PS - I had no idea people cared so much about the English language, although I knew I had a casual fascination with the topic. What other favorite grammar oddities am I missing out on?

It’s strange that the pronoun “I” is capitalized.  Of all the grammar dos and don’ts we have kept, this one seems the most arbitrary.

In the past, I have been susceptible to all sorts of knitting challenges and competitions. Putting knitting in the context of a deadline and personal goal gets me all excited. I joined Sock Wars II, Sockapalooza (when I only had made two pairs of socks in my life), and the Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Olympics. You might say I am a sucker for these arbitrary, mostly self-made challenges.

Always, in the middle of them, I fret. This project won’t be done in time; it’s not going to be good enough (if it is going to someone); what was I thinking when I signed up? That sort of thing.

When I saw the Ravelympics, of course I joined. Since the Knitting Olympics happens every four years, your friend and mine, Ravelry, has filled in the gap. It’s day three. I have…

Theoretically, in less than three weeks, this will be Stardust, a pattern I have been intending to make for some time. I thought the forced deadline would help.

This project won’t be done in time.

It’s not going to be good enough.

What was I thinking when I signed up?

Why doesn’t KnitPicks let you redeem gift certificates online?  It makes me angry and without yarn.

Pattern: The Perfect Skirt

Company: Titus

The bias join on the waist

The button holes/drawstring

The hem

You know I like it when I focus on the project and not myself.

In my class on Friday, I was so determined to make a wearable, lovely skirt, that I, for possibly the first time ever, found myself concentrating so hard I wasn’t thinking. And let me just lay out what that means. I wasn’t thinking about work. I wasn’t thinking about chores. I wasn’t thinking about what time I would get home. Most importantly, I wasn’t worrying. For a small second there, the guardians of hell checked the windows because they felt a cool draft.

I promised multiple people pictures of the work in progress, but I would rather model it complete and save the surprise, so I’ve sprinkled in some pictures of the kitties to relieve the boredom of my repressed writer’s hyperboles. You should know the seams are the straightest I have ever sewn, and the waistband is worth at least fifteen minute’s (one sided) conversation with Phil on the way home. Bias tape is very, very interesting. How you iron and sew it is very, very interesting. How you sew it together to make a circle is the most interesting of all.

And speaking of expert crafters, go to Indie-pendance for her swag-a-licious giveaway. I did. That’s why I’m posting it here.

I haven’t exactly been excellent about knitting lately. Or posting. Or just about anything productive (it seems).  You know, I’ve had one of those weeks when the most difficult thing I want to do when I get home is dial Pizza Hut.  Actually, dialing is a little too much for me.  I’m all about the order online button.  By the way.  Stuffed crust? Unnecessary. You may get it because the hubby wants it.  Still not that great.  Hubby may disagree.  He’s wrong.  You may eat it again because you will lose that fight.  Also, there’s still some in the fridge.

What I do when I’m in this slump is plan to be productive.  I plan, if I’m not driving in the carpool, I’ll knit.  I plan to take classes (and am) which will rev up those famous creative juices.  I plan to not sit on my copious bottom when I get home without something in my hands or accomplished already.

That’s why my progress is in progress.  It’s got an ETA of TBD, ya know?  I get a little out of it.  Like a little bit of sock from the carpooling. And (after tonight) part of a skirt done after the class.  I get ten minutes of exercise here and there.  It’s like tricking myself into doing things.

The Renegade Craft Fair

A few weeks ago, Jess emailed to let me know the Renegade Craft Fair would be in SF the 12th and 13th. I thought, what a brilliant idea! Renegades! Craft! Fair! (maybe I had too much caffeine - so many exclamation points are not usually my thing. I’m more of a semi-colon girl). So we went.

It rocked. You know how when you go to craft fairs, maybe 20% of it interests you, and about 1% of it would tempt you to buy? Not the case here. I flitted from booth to booth like a butterfly on Red Bull. We made the circuit about three times. I took cards from clothing places I would patronize the next time I am in need of a dress, fondled yarn, and did a lot of pointing and Oh Look At That-Ing.

All pictures now biggify due to popular demand.

Phil, out of the goodness of his skinny little heart, came with me and actually enjoyed himself. After all, we went with a joint goal in mind. About six months into our time in SF, I noticed Phil was taking business cards from everywhere (and I mean everywhere) we went. Turns out, he’s crafty. He told me, upon polite inquiry (and, I promise, not “what the hell do you want that for?”), that he wanted to keep a record of our California adventure in business cards. The idea charmed me. I could see us, on our goat farm in Maine, flipping through the pages of a business card scrap book while I spun yarn (I will have learned by this time) and Phil stirred the milk-soon-to-be-cheese on the stove. We will look at the business card for the men’s clothing store that we walked by frequently, and which used to read “purveyors to gentlemen” on the sign so that I would pretend it said purveyors of gentlemen and ask Phil to hang on while I went shopping. We never got this business card before they changed the sign, but this is my domestic fantasy, so take your criticism elsewhere. Anyway, we will look at this scrapbook and sigh and say remember when? And then we will close it and admire the leaves changing and plan to go select a couple of sugar pumpkins the next day for pie.

So, we wanted the perfect book to hold these cards of our NorCal time and went to the craft fair with that in mind. And found it.

A little martini for your asses?

Vinyl Frontier makes these from old records. We got to meet the creator of this by happenstance, as he wandered by the booth while we purchased. We chatted with him and he told us that this embodies the kitschiness and weird elegance of San Francisco and I couldn’t agree more.

As mentioned, I like to think attending wasn’t too onerous to Phil since the business card project was his baby. I believe it wasn’t because he became very excited by some art by i’m smitten. I love encouraging craftiness, so we bought this cute little picture.

Who doesn’t like a nice octopus duet?

A success. And then beer and sliders at Jones. Yum

Vet Visits

The ladies were way past due for a visit, so I took them yesterday. Normally, these mundane issues don’t make it into a piece of high art like this blog, but there is something worth mentioning.

Toby, as many of you know, is what you might call timid around strangers and strange situations. Although the ruler of our tiny domestic herd at home, she wilts when presented with anything outside it. Past visits have had Pan, in all her adorableness and ample physique, trying to protect Toby from the scary people. So, when Toby was obviously frightened by those poking and prodding at her, I brought Pan on the table.

Toby must have thought this was a good idea because she tried to get inside Pan. She slunk up to her slowly and put her head under Pan’s belly. She would have gone further if she could. Pan, annoyed, finally moved. But, I gotta tell you, it was simultaneously funny and adorable. But then, both our cats are weirdos…

Please ignore the mess. We had just gotten our digital converter box and there was much excitement.

Bethro in Training

My Make A Skirt Class started yesterday and it was very fun. I bored Phil with all of the little things I learned throughout the three hours. Expect skirt pictures in a few weeks.


For now, just fabric.