tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-211877802010-01-04T19:53:28.783-08:00knitting. wool crafts. fabric paints. rubber stamps. sewing.Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.comBlogger231125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-32811055293425765732009-08-01T18:30:00.000-07:002009-08-01T19:06:55.315-07:00

These Neapolitan socks look tasty, and I hope my sister things so too. I held off giving them to her since they are already overdue and I finished them on Wednesday when the temperature got up to 103 degrees and she wasn't needing a pair of wool socks in this weather!They took over a month, mostly because I have been lacking in concentration lately. But eventually I pulled them off. Even with

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-91640414188762843372009-07-17T11:01:00.000-07:002009-07-17T11:08:02.498-07:00

Sometimes thrift shopping has no payoff. I have had weeks with no good scores. And then every once in a while you really strike gold.Like this find. I saw the plastic suitcase-like case and thought, well, that can't be anything too interesting, and yet I stopped and spotted the name on the case. Bernina! At $9.99 I nearly ran out of the store with barely stopping to test it out. I mean, even if

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-7281920609315479372009-06-24T14:31:00.000-07:002009-06-24T21:00:43.607-07:00

I picked up another sewing machine at the thrift store. I saw it and didn't buy it. I pondered it for three days, and then I went back and bought it. It's a Singer 301. 301 A actually, though as far as I can tell the letter A just designates the factory that produced this machine, as there is no difference between this and regular 301 models.This machine is circa 1951. It's a slant shank, meaning

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-11171585303204818642009-06-03T10:49:00.000-07:002009-06-03T10:49:01.138-07:00

Rowan Cotton Tape from the thrift store + free Drops Design shrug pattern = a quick knit for only a couple of bucks. This pattern starts with one sleeve cuff, works up the sleeve and into the body of the shrug with a little short row shaping, and continues up the other sleeve to the cuff. It's meant to be knit flat, with the ribbing around the body picked up and knit last. I knit the sleeves in

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-55430883832241172272009-05-30T21:28:00.000-07:002009-05-30T21:49:29.583-07:00

I have been trying to do the whole carry on thing, but I'm finding it hard to function in life. Some moments are fine and sometimes I am such a train wreck. I am trusting that this will get easier with time, and yet I am not ready for things to be fine, because it sucks to lose someone special.Anyway, here's some stuff I made a while back. Late at night, because there's not a lot of free time

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-63519932056656608572009-05-25T09:31:00.000-07:002009-05-26T11:32:57.182-07:00

Grief is a challenging process, and I can't seem to find the right words to talk about it.

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-18096141680998250362009-05-23T22:05:00.000-07:002009-05-23T22:11:31.962-07:00

My eldest daughter had her seventh birthday party today. Seven. It doesn't stop being amazing to me each year as she continues to get older. She wanted a Woodland-themed party. With all 34 kids from school, their siblings, and a few cousins thrown in for good measure. And I said..."Sure, sounds great!" Hahaha! Actually, it was a crafty fun time. (She, much like her mother, does love a good crafty

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-54667302270460274302009-05-02T08:05:00.000-07:002009-05-02T08:05:01.224-07:00

When you live in Seattle you have a strong reaction to the arrival of the sunny season. Residents don sunglasses (Seattle reportedly sells more sunglasses per capita than any other city in the US!), put on short sleeves, and if you are my kids, you start complaining about that bright ball of light in the sky and start requesting a new sunhat. Any excuse to give the new Necchi a whirl. I oiled it

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-58697831272013709422009-05-01T18:11:00.000-07:002009-05-01T18:18:28.277-07:00

On my way out of the grocery store with my daughter I noticed some splinters in her hand. I dropped everything and went to work extracting five splinters. We were on our way and across the bridge when it hit me. Crap, my two bags of expensive groceries and my purse were left on the sidewalk in front of the store. Hurry back taking a mental inventory of my purse. Credit card, debit card, cash,

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-76960515247213715172009-04-30T11:11:00.000-07:002009-04-30T11:24:57.100-07:00

And so the obsession begins...I went to the thrift store yesterday and ended up with this:It's a Necchi BU Mira "with Wonderwheel for automatic sewing” and a bunch of feet. With this machine I can sew with double needles and do all kinds of embroidery stitching like swirl stitching and more. It has a Hi/Low speed switch for sewing at a consistent slow speed. The manual is dated 1954, and it comes

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-64102343060486047992009-04-23T16:17:00.000-07:002009-04-23T16:49:27.195-07:00

I got back last night from a 28-hour trip to Chicago. Whew, am I tired! Yesterday we had to get up at 4:45am Seattle time to work a trade show, and I didn't even get a decent cup of coffee. That's so brutal, especially when there's a great coffeeshop three blocks from the hotel. But at least I got a ton of knitting done on the plane. See? Attached sleeves on my Brunswick knit kit sweater! The

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-38809639157885135052009-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:002009-04-10T09:01:54.975-07:00

So you got ahold of my credit card number, congratulations. But seriously, several thousands of dollars at Walmart, is that the best you can come up with?

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-19650919162834511922009-04-02T20:05:00.000-07:002009-04-03T10:28:23.383-07:00

I bought a sewing machine this week. It all started because of frustration with my sewing, some of which is a lack of confidence and ability, some of which is just sheer irritation with fighting my machine. It skips stitches, jams up easily with wads of thread barf, and rocks back and forth as I sew. I do appreciate all of the many projects I have wrestled with over my little blue plastic hobby

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-16576671907796595392009-03-22T20:39:00.000-07:002009-03-22T20:39:05.711-07:00

Last night was the school auction that I helped to coordinate. There were some pretty crazy moments and plenty of drama, including being locked out of the auction space and breaking in to the building to do the setup. And a little later someone (not me, but related to me) climbed a ladder and got up on a second story ledge and hoisted their way into a casement window. Today I have that dragging

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-73001147804146809752009-03-18T16:30:00.000-07:002009-03-18T16:30:06.086-07:00

So, I went to get dressed the other morning. I picked out an Anthropologie tee that ties at the neck (purchased on clearance, I don't have that kind of a clothes budget!) I went to tie the ties and they were scissored off. So I rounded up the likeliest suspects, ages 5 and 6. It went something like this:"Does anyone know why the ties were cut off of my shirt?""Oh no momma, it wasn't me!" "Me

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-20507134917559870112009-02-09T13:20:00.000-08:002009-02-09T13:22:31.254-08:00

I finally got around to turning this...Into this...You guessed it Jen, it is slippers! My little elf loves them, and the Malabrigo felts up so lovely and soft. I wanted to see the garter stitches disappear a bit more, but my daughter actually loves the look of it. These felted down just right for her size, about a 13 or so.Felted Slippers in Children's size (14 stitches)scraps of leftover

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-9192785501067120832009-01-24T17:00:00.001-08:002009-01-24T17:42:20.673-08:00

We had a couple of friends over for Friday crafternoon this week (Happy Birthday Melissa!) and made bath bombs. I used a Martha Stewart recipe, but I made them with Witch Hazel instead of water. I like this combination as it's harder to accidentally make a foaming mess. I went a little overboard with the colors so these are pretty bright. There's blue lavender, yellow lemon, and pink geranium.

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-67808251887896972892009-01-23T19:36:00.000-08:002009-01-23T19:55:32.332-08:00

I followed my last Malabrigo hat by knitting another Malabrigo hat. It's like butter, and who doesn't like butter? Well, maybe not green butter, which reminds me of the time I bought some butter that had pink stripes running through it, bleah. Anyway...a pleasing pattern, and I finished it off with a twisted rib, because I just can't get behind doing a plain 1x1 rib, I don't like the look of

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-5742038244209465742009-01-17T10:22:00.000-08:002009-01-17T11:20:52.268-08:00

You know those cute coiled fabric bowls that people make? I've always wondered how they are constructed, and then along came this handy tutorial. I had a hard time finding affordable clothesline, and I ended up buying some 3/8 inch twisted cord at JoAnn's for more than I wanted to spend, even at 50% off. When I was first getting started, I had my doubts that the cord would fit under the foot on

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-68999275852123954492009-01-09T20:10:00.000-08:002009-01-09T20:25:11.223-08:00

Sometime during the prior school year I brought my spinning wheel to preschool and did some spinning with a bunch of 2 to 5 year olds. Some kids spun for a few minutes, and others were really engaged and spun for 20 minutes or more. We used a lovely blue Merino, and the resulting yarn was a small amount of thick and thin yarn. I set the yarn aside for the better part of a year, and after several

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-10391426736315991902009-01-01T14:32:00.000-08:002009-01-01T14:33:41.763-08:00

Last week I turned 39. Yep, I'm getting up there, I know. Anyhow, my little sister sent me a package with the sweetest little knitting book that she picked up for me at the thrift store, from the 20's no less! Oh, vintage patterns, why do I love you so? I love the fitted feminine shapes, which flatter my hourglass shape. I love the artwork or the photography, and the design choices. I love these

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-20393991609690293242008-12-22T18:53:00.000-08:002008-12-22T19:14:25.905-08:00

Madison Street covered with snow at 8:30pmI know, I know, this sort of snow is unheard of in Seattle, especially not for 10 days, but just on the off chance that we see snow again, can I can offer a few suggestions?High heeled boots are a mistake. No one sees you feet under 12 inches of slush. Invest in real shoes.Put chains on your tires. I might try and help push your car but seriously, if the

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-24616126878208118232008-12-21T09:22:00.000-08:002008-12-21T09:29:31.205-08:00

I blame the snow. It's dumped several inches again last night and all I want to do is sit in my snug house and knit warm and wooly things from my stash. So I made these pieces in about 3 hours with some leftover Malabrigo. What the heck are they? Any guesses?I'm off to contemplate suiting up and trudging through the snow for more groceries and a little Christmas shopping. Or maybe I'll just stay

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-35600260889699221182008-12-20T14:43:00.000-08:002008-12-20T18:42:14.823-08:00

Not sized for six year old hands.I was out in the snow this week wearing some threadbare holey mittens. You know, it took me a long time to realize that I could just knit up some new toasty hand-coverings. I did a search on Ravelry on Thursday night and settled on a free Vogue Knitting pattern. I grabbed some alpaca blend from the stash in a pretty olivey-green. I finished these up Friday morning

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21187780.post-66768299458885163972008-12-20T09:49:00.000-08:002008-12-20T10:26:43.075-08:00

One of the main obstacles to blogging lately has been the lack of a camera. Ours got lost back in August and I just got around to getting a new one this week. So expect to see more posts. The only catch is that the new camera didn't come with a memory card (!) as I discovered after I got it home, and with the snow and ice I don't know when I'll manage to get one. So I am using an old 16MB card

Sashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15184234424312545366noreply@blogger.com5