Incoherent Scribblings

About three or four years ago I taught myself to knit, but I am just not a knitter.

Don’t get me wrong: I was very excited about knitting at first and even made two or three dishcloths, but then I stopped because knitting frustrated me.

I was (obviously) a novice and I knew that as a novice I would never get better unless I worked at it, but for some reason I couldn’t summon the patience that is needed to actually practice. I couldn’t help it: Whenever I sat down to knit the only thing I could think of was how much good cross stitching time I was wasting.

During my short stint with the knitting needles I actually got pretty good at knitting and purling, but honestly I got bored; it just felt so repetitive. I was OK with knitting a dishcloth because it was small, but when I thought I was ready to move on to a scarf I got impatient and ended up finishing it as a dishcloth too. It was my dream to one day knit an afghan, but when I realized I couldn’t even finish a scarf, that idea was put on indefinite hold.

Fast forward to this past June.

I was going through a little stitching slump, so I decided to try knitting again. I had some skeins of yarn and some needles that I bought on clearance a couple of years ago, so even though I knew I wouldn’t be making anything spectacular, I figured I could at least try again to knit a scarf. For about four days I knitted. Everything was looking nice and I thought I had a good length of scarf started. I was proud of myself. But then I got busy and all my knitting things got put away. I practically forgot about the scarf.

However, last night I began thinking about it again and tonight I dug it out from the bottom of the closet. Unfortunately, upon examining the “scarf” I realized that I wasn’t nearly as far along as I thought I was and my knitting wasn’t nearly as neat as I had remembered. I was so disappointed by the whole mess that instead of putting more stitches into it or finishing it into a dishcloth, I just ripped it apart, wound the yarn into a ball, and gave it to the cats.

After all, you can’t call it an UnFinished Object if there is no object to start with, now can you?

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

Are there other crafts that you have tried and abandoned? Why do you like stitching better?

Although I haven’t technically abandoned it, the craft that came to mind when I read this question was knitting. I taught myself the basics of knitting a couple of years ago but never got past some dishcloths.

I actually enjoyed learning how to knit and one of my current colleagues has even invited me to her knitting group and offered to teach me some more advanced techniques, but I have yet to take her up on her offer.

I suppose the reason I prefer to stitch is simply because I am not as good at knitting as I am stitching and when I have time to spend crafting I would rather do something I am good at. Yes, I know that I will never become a proficient knitter unless I practice, but I just don’t want to put forth the effort.

In addition to that, I also don’t knit because I don’t have any knitting stash. Sure it is a flimsy excuse because I could always buy some yarn and needles, but that fact is when I have money to spend on crafts I would much rather buy cross stitch charts, embroidery floss, and hand-dyed fabrics!

Vintage Sewing Machine
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

After hearing an announcement on the local radio station, I attended an estate sale this weekend. I am still looking for things to furnish my apartment and I thought this might be a good opportunity to find some things to fill the vacant spots in my rooms.

I first scoped it out on Friday night after work. I wasn’t sure if there would be anything that I wanted so I went under the pretense of “just looking.” I wandered around the house (which I liked too by the way) with the plan of heading to the kitchen to see what kind of small appliances they had. I found some things I was interested in, but considering how cheap small kitchen appliances are anymore, I felt that most were overpriced.

As I wandered into the garage I found a dresser that I liked. It too was a bit overpriced, but I thought that I might be willing to pay the price anyway. I reminded myself to talk to the man that was in charge of the sale before I left concerning the dresser and continued to roam about.

After glancing through the rooms and taking a mental inventory of what was there, I spotted it: A vintage sewing machine complete with cabinet and stool.

I took a quick, but longing glance at it and continued on to the cash register with a few moderately priced but good quality kitchen things.

As my merchandise was being rung up, I asked about the dresser. I was told that starting Saturday morning at nine, all the remaining items would be half-price and at 2:00 on Saturday all that was left would be auctioned off. I decided at that moment I wanted the dresser, but not until the next morning.

As I made my plans to return to the sale bright and early this morning, my thoughts kept going back to the sewing machine I had seen. If it worked, it would be worth half-price. It looked like it was in good shape: It was clean and it seemed like all the parts moved.

I went to bed with my mind made-up: If they were still there when I arrived Saturday morning, I would definitely buy the dresser and if the sewing machine worked, I would buy it too.

When I got to the sale at 9:20 this morning, it was packed. Obviously everyone else had decided to wait until half-off Saturday too. I was worried that the things I wanted had been claimed by someone else, but I was lucky. The sewing machine was still in the bedroom and the dresser in the garage.

When the auctioneer saw me he greeted me with his Texas drawl and remarked how he wondered if he would be seeing me again. We talked briefly about the dresser and marked it as sold and then I asked him about the sewing machine. I wanted to know if I could try it before I bought it. He agreed that was a good idea so we set it up, tested it, and marked it as sold too.

Even though I wasn’t exactly looking for a sewing machine, I am so glad I found it. I have wanted to have my own sewing machine again ever since I came back to the States and while a new one would be nice, I love the vintage look and feel of this one and for what I want it for (i.e., crafts) I think it will do a wonderful job.

First up is a progress picture of “Fairy Flora.”

The picture really sucks but at 15″ long, Flo will no longer fit on my scanner. I tried slapping two scans together, but couldn’t get them to line up so I just gave up and used the camera. This picture makes the fabric look a lot more olive green than it is in real life. If you would like a better idea of the true fabric color, look at the previous progress scans in my gallery.

I don’t think that I am quite half done with this project yet, but I have reached the bottom of the pattern: In other words, Flo will get no longer. The chart claims that on 32 count Flo will end up being 20″ tall and as I still have to add her wings, I believe it.

And now for something completely different…

For those of you who stop by my main blog now and again you will know that I joined in the 101 Things in 1001 Days madness. If you have not read my list, one item that I have under general craftiness is to knit myself an afghan.

Now I am not sure what technically constitutes an “afghan,” but yesterday my Lion Brand Yarn weekly newsletter came with a pattern for something that is called “My Favorite Blankie.” It is a beginner’s pattern which will result in a 34″ blanket and so once I get back to the US I think I will go shopping for some yarn to make it.

If all goes well and I catch the knitting bug, I hope that it will be a prelude to something larger and more complex. If not, I will still have completed a significant knitting project and that is really what that particular item on my list is all about anyway.

And now, I am off to finish my needleroll for XXX.

While I was visiting Dawn about a month ago, I got to see her hand-dyed fabric up close and personal. Let me tell you something… she does a great job!

Anyway, it got my dyeing bug itching again and so I decided I wanted to give dyeing another try. Last time I dyed I was disappointed because my results didn’t have the lovely “marbling” effect that I so coveted.

After reading about some different methods on Paula Burch’s site, I thought that the “Low Water Immersion” method might give me what I was looking for. So today I made a trip to my craft store and picked up some dye so I could try again.

Because I have come to the conclusion that I prefer to stitch on 32 count linen, this time I decided to go ahead and try the “Low Water Immersion” method on some white Belfast that I had lying around. And I have to tell you, I *HEART* the results!

I call the green piece “Celery Dream” and the turquoise one “Turquoise Sky.” “Celery Dream” is a little bit brighter in real life than the scan shows, though “Turquoise Sky’s” color is pretty accurate.

Originally I had hoped that I could stitch “Celtic Spring” on “Celery Dream,” but the fabric is just a tad too small. Oh well, I still have some of that green dye left. Maybe I will just have to dye another piece!