the first official sewing project

it all started with the harlot! i sat behind this lady person at the reading. she was knittin' on a sock or some similar small project and her project bag was super cute. i asked her where she got it and stuff. the ones i saw in the shop she mentioned were cute but note quite what i was hankering for. having seen all the luscious fabrics at purl patchwork i decided i would make one my-very-own-self. never mind that i have no idea really how to sew or don't have a machine. well, i have one but it doesn't work. or so i thought!

the original plan was to go to yoga with jess. i of course altered that plan because i wanted to get crafty. we were to head to the point and stitch it up. the point is a hop and skip away from purl soho so we would just pop in, grab a yard or two and head to her place to sew or not sew.

then i got the sick. sometimes you eat things that have aliens in them and the aliens take over your body and don't let you leave the house. even if for the first time ever you were not only on time but early to meet your buddy ol'pal that you haven't seen in like a long time and had a crafty day planned.

i got dressed. i packed a bag. i went outside. i walked a block. i walked that block again on my way back into my apt. and there i stayed folks! i was totally disappointed. cause who knows when i would have had another day off and jess would have a day off too and we both weren't busy and sad face. i pouted in my apt. every time i thought i could try to sneak past the aliens and go out- i was proven wrong.

at a point i finally accepted i couldn't leave but would not accept the fact that i couldn't sew.

but i have no fabric!-

well, there was the half yard left from the lining i hand stitched into kristy's pouchy i crocheted her for our bday...(we have the same bday)

yea but i have no machine!

well, you do have the machine your grandma gave you that you never could figure out how to work in the deep deep bottom of the closet...

yea but! i have no manual! how will i get that thing to work?

well, you do have that endless resource of information on the ravelry forums...

(way more efficient that the www btw)

fine! i'll try it. i will make an absolute mess and hurt myself getting the thing outta the closet and it won't work. ravelers will tell me my machine is broke and i dunno how to sew and give up and just buy the bag it's waaaay less trouble.

i got the machine out with minimal damage to myself and the apartment.

a raveler answered my plea quite promptly and it turns out i just had the machine threaded wrong.

and so , the sewing machine was in proper functioning order. and from my attempt at starting a scrapbook i already had a rotary cutter and self-healing mat...

i found a super simple project on kathryn ivy's blog and decided to practice. and only 2 hours and much cursing and a few pin pricks later...

after that exercise i became an expert on that particular method of construction and altered the measurements to stitch up my very own iphone cozy

exhausting.

who says you can't eat yarn?

i just received my Paume order.

O. M. G. these yarns are de-licious.

fluffy balls of cotton yumminess.

they will become my pets....

(runs to take some pics)

my etsy

my first order came in the mails to-day! yay!

i am a busy-ness entrepreneur. scary. my goshness the threads from japan are uber kyuuto! i just can't take it. they are like little baby yarns next to american jumbo skeins. pics coming soon. for now, a color chart.

etceteraetc.etsy.com

the staycation

knitting

knitting has been on  hold. i am finding i am not as in love with my knitpicks options as i thought i was. so i don't feel like knitting with them. maybe all i need is a break from them. the summer heat and my ufo add has me crocheting quick and dainty projects. plus, i just LOVE my hamanaka rakuraku crochet hooks. to pieces! i have both the regular set and the lace hooks. somehow this summer i became a threadie. who knew!

tatting

so, Nozomisan was nice enough to translate that freaking book for me. the whole book ! in like a week. she's crazy. but i am thank-ful. i learned the tatting. it's hard stuff. i made this little motif practice thing with size 10 thread. 

sure, i made a mistake or two but i got the gist.

 i immediately took up the size 80 and tried a different motif with that. ha! size 80 is no joke. i have had to cut the thread like three times. i will make that stupid thing though! -i think. somehow. it's hard work. now that i know the mechanics of tatting i just dunno what i wanna make. collar edgings and table runners aren't really my style. plus those are kinda huge projects. i have to conquer this other motif first then i will worry about that.

Nihonjin kurafuto?

my adoration for all things cute-ly crafted inevitable-y and eventually lead me into the world of  crafts japanese style. it doesn't help that-well, actually it does help, it does, that i have a Kinokuniya a hope, skip, and jump from me. amigurumi, tawashi and little crocheted coasters and fabulous little fluffy handmade yumminess-i am into it all. and still i haven't woken up with the magical ability to read and speak japanese fluently like that girl did in Heroes. poo. until then i will have to make due. ( i do have that Rosetta Stone. i give it a thumbs up. i just don't do the lessons as often as i should.)

 i have learned, from these japanese books,  to read a chart. a wonder in itself, the charted crochet pattern allows for no loss in translation. actually, i can't go chartless now. there is just too much ambiguity in written out patterns. even in english. 

tawashi

the business end

all this dabbling in japanese craft and acquisition of many japanese pattern books inevitably and naturally led to a search for japanese yarns. the yarns they make for tawashi are silver ion treated acrylic with antibacterial properties ideal for cleaning ( ehem, 'ta-washi' carries an audible resemblance to the english words 'to wash'. coincidentally that is the purpose of tawashi, to wash. dishes...etc.). the cottons they use for these home projects, even just through photos, seem of a different origin. much more representative of the cozy comfy cotton we use for clothes. more reminiscent of the plant the fiber came from. in texture and weight that kitchen cotton cannot compete with. 

the antibacterial acrylics like Cafe Kitchen iw as able to find in ichigonopantsu's etsy shop. gotta love the ravelry connections. but delicious cotton! that was different task.  this project from this book as seen on this blog  started it all. 

substituting this yarn was waaay more difficult than i thought it was gonna be. the yarns that i found were too thick too thin and too rough looking. so i started lookin for this Hamanaka Paume which is the yarn suggested and  couldn't find it anywhere! now i got my own etsy shop, etceteraetc.etsy.com, so the next person looking for it won't have to look that hard.

this bag was made with a sport weight or dk cotton called CottonnottoC . also a hamanaka concoction. i haven't found that one... yet.

tatting is japanese to me!

like the language i can' t decipher this new craft demon, which is only one of so many, taunts me by making me buy this book:

i wasn't even looking for it! i was in Kinokuniya checking out the crochet books and BAM! this here tatting book was on the shelf. it was the only one and the demon inside snapped it up with no concern of cost. or more pertinant, how will i use this book if i can't read it.

whatever. it's part of my library now. there are some cute motif-y charts in there. which are the most elementary tatting practice i have found so far. i think the tatting demon is satisfied enough to rest. for the moment.