It’s That Time of Year Again

Time to work through the WIPs. It’s amazing how they build up even if I am working on them with plans to finish by a certain date.

I was surprised to count up 11 works in progress. Although that number includes two blankets which I don’t include in my list of projects to be finished anytime soon. But this number (including blankets) is the same as this time last year and includes two of the same projects. How many of these projects can I complete by the end of the year?

As previously mentioned two of the projects are long-term blankets and one is a shawl that is vacation knitting. That leaves eight projects. Two of those have been year-long personal KALs and are on target to finish in December. Two are projects started this month – socks and hat which should be finished this month. Which leaves three months to finish all the other projects. Gulp. One is a crochet project, which I really want to finish soon; but it is a toy and rather fiddly. I should set time aside each day to work on it. I also have an unfinished pair of socks which are not hard but are patterned on every row. I could work on that when I have finished the crochet. The remaining two projects are garments. One is very lacey. I have completed the body up to the armhole and am now working on the first sleeve. I haven’t been working on it because I was working on the complicated lace shawl and didn’t feel like working on two lace projects. With all my other projects, it is unlikely that I will finish this year, so I am not even going to think about it. The other garment is easy knitting and I can concentrate on that after finishing the hat and socks.

I actually think this is doable if I don’t start anything else. I can’t promise that as I want to make some Christmas presents but I need to not look at the sock knitting challenges for October and November.

Considering I started the year with three WIPs, how have I ended up with nine projects and as I ask every year is that really my magic number? 

 

 

Metaphorical Lemonade

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I had visited Jo-Ann’s for fabric purchasing. What I didn’t say was what an awful experience it was. Prices shown on the shelves were not what rang up at the cutting counter. They tried to convince me that the knit fabric for the pink dress was $20.00 per yard. On my last trip there to purchase the fabric for my granddaughter’s PJs, there was someone having the same problem with shelf pricing not matching the scanner. Part of me was relieved that it wasn’t just me who had this problem but mostly I was annoyed that Jo-Ann’s couldn’t get a simple thing like showing the correct prices on shelves. This is more time wasting for the employees than going through the store and removing the out of date signs as every time a customer questions the price the employee has to check. I am sure the moral of the staff is a reflection of how they are treated by management.

Anyway, there was no problem with one of the pieces I purchased. The shelf price and the scanner price were the same. Except – yes you knew something had to be wrong – when I laid out the fabric it looked really short and when I measured it the length was not what I had asked for. I checked the receipt and I had only been charged for what I had been given. But what was I going to do now? I could have taken the fabric and got a refund but before resorting to that I had a look at my other patterns to see if there was enough to make a different top.

A while ago I had got a free PDF pattern online and printed it out thinking I would turn an old skirt into a top. That didn’t happen but as I had the printed pattern it was easy to check if it fit my fabric – and woohoo – it did. The pattern is a simple sleeveless top with a pleat down the middle. I am not a fan of that style as the pleat tends to bulge out so I made the pleat at the top and sewed down for about two inches and did not sew down the pleat at the hem. The pattern says to make your own bias binding from the fabric or use pre-made. As I was not expecting to make this top I had not purchased any binding so make my own it was.

Oh my gosh, this was not the best fabric for the first time for making bias binding – slippery and frayey and barely holding a crease. And then sewing the narrow strip of slippery fabric onto slippery fabric – ugh! No wonder I sewed one edge per day and for the armhole edges I placed the garment on parchment paper to stop the slide of the fabric on the machine.

Despite that, I love the end result. The fabric works really well with the pattern.