Spring Break is O-vah!

Did a couple of fun things over Spring Break....made some monkey bread with my 2 cans of biscuits - yum! Lucas said we must make it again, Drew said he prefers some meat so you feel like you ate something, instead of just syrup and sugar. I must concur, but the non-syrupy pieces were delicious and cinnamoney, so I'm okay with it. It was offered with bacon, so there's your protein and cholesterol.

We also took a college tour for Drew at Auburn University - Pam, did you ever go up to the "Eagle's Nest" at the top of Haley Center? Great views - this is the new Nichols College of Business, or something like that.

And I'm almost finished knitting my latest shrug, but I checked out these books at the library and am just itching to do something from them. This one has gifts broken down by the time to complete them, so the first chapter is "Under 2 hours," the next is "2-4 hours," etc. There's a sweater I love in there, plus tons of other cute things, including these gift bags on the cover.

And THIS book is a must-have, since I've discovered the joys of top-down knitting without seams! It tells you how to convert flat patterns to circular ones. Off to Books a Million to order that!

But there'll be little time for knitting this week, since my big grand opening day is Thursday, and I have to actually set up my workspace, etc., before then. Exciting, but scary!!!!!

I'd Like to Report a Crime

Have you ever lost your temper at what you're sewing? "Hello, I'm a green bamboo cotton, and I'm being attacked by an angry seamster - please help!"


I got SO ANGRY at these straps today, and I just lost my temper completely. They were too long, so I sliced the one I'd already applied in half and just sewed it together like it was a piece of cheap elastic.


I zigzagged my best, but couldn't catch all the layers every time, so I just kept zigzagging till I did.


One time, I didn't even care and I just let that serged edge hang out there - hell with ya!


"No, no, officer, there's no problem here. This bamboo cotton's just fine. No ugly straps to see here - move right along."


"See, everything's just fine - not a care in the world."


If this shrug DID match, it would hide all the evil I did today to this poor cami.


I'm sorry, Sammy Cami, I promise to sew you next time with fold-over elastic like Sheila said. I'll never attempt self-fabric straps again - I promise! Now come back upstairs with me and I'll hem you on the coverstitch - and I promise not to lose my temper...hey, where ya' goin'?!

Want to Donate to a Good Cause?

My friend Kathie is running for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, specifically because of a pediatric patient of hers who died of leukemia. Here's a link to her fundraising page if you would like to donate. She's also really cute running in her Disney outfit - I think all that tulle rubbing on my legs would wear me down!

Reading Knitting Books and Moving On

Not the kind of books you'd think - we were browsing in Books a Million, and I have a bunch of books on patterns and techniques, but I found a couple of books that were just stories. This one by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is like reading somebody's blog with stories about their life - all humorous and usually involving knitting. She has a couple of chapters on dealing with non-knitters' comments which are very funny.


I think this one is my favorite, though. This is a compilation of essays by famous writers (I recognized Sue Grafton's name) on knitting, and it's more serious and touching. I've only read 3 of the essays so far, but this book's a definite keeper.


The rest of my previous week and weekend has been spent signing forms, packing up my office, signing forms, interviewing new clinic staff, signing forms, shopping for a desk for Lucas's room to replace the little kiddie table and chairs I'll be donating to my new waiting room, and signing forms. Next week is my last week at the old job, then I have a week and a half off before my grand opening - wheee! Let's see, that'll involve a week of Spring Break, signing more forms, and wouldn't it be nice if I could find some time to finish the Sammy Cami and whip up that pair of work pants I started....we'll see.

Benches and Sewing Boo-Boos

Well Dean and Drew were very productive this weekend. They had Drew's first Eagle work-day (where other Scouts come help with an Eagle project), and this is the result - WOW!


I was not as productive. I tried out the Iconic Pattern Sammy Cami, but I don't have awesome matching fold-over elastic like Sheila did, because I was working with a green bamboo knit I bought at All About Sewing 4 years ago. The FOE I bought is black and white because I wanted to experiment with it before committing to a certain color, and then I couldn't find my black or white knit - argh.

Oh well, the instructions tell you to use the fabric itself to make the bindings, so the front and back neck bindings look fine, but then I hit the arms and straps. It says the straps are 10 5/8", so that's what I cut....of course they meant that PLUS whatever you need for the armhole bindings - DOH! That ended up being 19 5/8", so I cut that, serged one edge, and sewed the other side to the armholes as directed.


Well OF COURSE I twisted the strap in between the front and back - totally saw that coming. What I didn't see coming was that I can't finish the strap - huh? If I fold it over like the instructions say, it'll look weird at the neck, and of course the strap itself is unfinished. I went over the instructions twice and can't figure it out, so I'll have to research the website or PR.


So much for a quick sewing project, which would've been my first one in months! At least I did get some work pants hemmed up, so I'm not quite suicidal over this.


Back to knitting! Did somebody say Japanese shrug?

Shrugs-a-Plenty

Well I blocked the lacy shrug and yanked on those sleeves, and look what lovely, drapey, fluted nearly-full-length sleeves I ended up with! Alas, this yarn goes out of its way to catch on every sharp object in sight, making it more suited for a soiree than a day of toddler-doctoring. Maybe on my "administrative" days.....


And now for something sort of ridiculous, but what else was I going to do with 300 yards of organic cotton? I bought it in Fairhope at the Yarn Cottage, and it was back in the baby room with precious pastel yarns with which to make baby gifts. But I wanted cotton for mySELF, so I thought I'd give it a try, even though the skeins were tiny (100 yards each). Too hot for a cap or scarf, so Ravelry suggested I make this:


Of course I wanted it longer, but they didn't have any more yarn in that color. I'd REALLY like it to be long-sleeved, too.


One lady on Ravelry fastened hers with a shawl pin and it looked nice. You can also see that I forgot to knit the last 3 stitches on some of my purl rows - see the center front border is missing some ridges here and there - DOH! (Looks like a great place to fasten a shawl pin!)


My favorite part is the raglan seam that I didn't screw up - woohoo! Plus I love that it's knit from the top down, so there NO SEAMING at all - miraculous!


Up next, I have a darker green cotton with several hundred yards, so I could actually make something that doesn't look like it's for a todder, as Dean suggested. Yeah, Lucas actually wanted to try this one on to see if it fit him...

OH - I almost forgot a funny story. What can throw off the grand-opening week of your new medical practice faster than anything? Jury Duty! Do you know I don't think I've EVER been summoned for jury duty, but I got a notice for that week. Luckily, I called their office and they're postponing me till late October - thank ya' kindly! My mother is a frequent flyer at the courthouse....uh, I mean she gets summoned for jury duty a lot...and my dad actually got sequestered for a murder trial one time. He LOVED it!