Making

I need several more lifetimes to do and see all of the things as I want to. I wish I'd have come to this realization sooner in my life, but there are several well-worn adages that address that very issue for good reason. 

I am about to head out to the Pacific Northwest for another workshop with Cat Bordhi. I am dithering about which projects to take, how many needles, etc. Since I have been bitten hard by the sewing bug, I also prepped an Alabama Chanin project to take along, a bucket hat. Today I printed out the pattern and stencil, cut the stencil into Mylar using a hot knife (a trickier process than I anticipated), cut the fabric, mixed up my fabric paint, and stenciled the pieces. 

I decided I wanted the stenciling to have a soft edge, so I sprayed the surface with water after I applied paint. I would try some other things next time, but I can work with this for now. If I am lucky, I will be wearing my new hat by the time I return.

This has been a year jam packed with baby knits, and at least one more to go since I found out my cousin is having a boy in January. Yesterday I sewed on the buttons for a pair of cardis for fraternal twin girls. I wanted the sweaters to refer to one another, so I used the blue stripes on both, and I chose buttons in the opposite colors for each. I wish the green buttons were truer to the yarn color, but they were the best I could find. The yarn is mine, Fleur de Fiber Amelie, a merino and silk blend. I know...why did I do that to the girls' moms?! They are soft and squishy and quite delicious, though, so I hope they don't mind the extra care of gentle washing and drying flat.

The house is full of the smell of roasting carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and apples, which will be whirled into soup. Fall is definitely in the air here. I always hope for a long, warm autumn, because, frankly, Chicago winters and springs (when we get them) can be dreadful. Really, fall is the only season I can count on enjoying. I'd feel more kindly toward summer if we had central air, but this summer, it got up into the mid-90s in parts of my house. Fortunately, we won't have to worry about that again for some months. It's always nice if it's mild through Halloween. Fingers crossed.

 

I am trying a new app for blogging. It's been more challenging to find one that permits picture sizing and links than one would expect. We'll see how it goes. The Blogger app was not helpful at all, and since I use my iPad more than the laptop these days, I need to find a good solution.