Fiber Arts Friday: My Grandmother's Sewing Machine

This is my Grandmother's sewing machine.  It's a beautifully stout Singer that was built in 1951.  It still runs amazingly quiet and smooth.

I always wanted to use it as a kid.  I remember sitting in front of this machine, in my Grandmother's living room, pretending to make something wonderful.... until someone would ask what I was doing.  To which I always replied, "Nothing."

My Grandmother was a very good seamstress.  I would watch her make useful things like aprons and dresses.  I loved listening to the sound of the machine and watching her fingers move about the fabric.

She used to make the most wonderful Teddy Bears and gave one to me many years ago. 

She hand-wrote birth announcements to go with them...

Born June 1'1987

"Gemini"

Bearthday:             May 22 to June 22

Influential Planet:  Mercury

Favorite Colors:    Yellow and Gold

Favorite Flower:   Lily of the Valley

Bearthstone:          Emerald or Pearl

Gemini bears are usually quite trustworthy, intelligent, entertaining and rather flexible.  They show no aversion to living amid clutter, disorganization, confusion, and routine lifestyles.  They never mind a sudden change in schedule, an impromptu party, a large convention, picnic, vacation or family reunion.  Gemini bears bring good luck and companionship to people whose careers are related to writing, radio, television, travel, or politics.

I remember she sold them at a craft store and my uncle thought she should charge more.  But for me, this bear is priceless.  He's the only thing I have that my Grandmother made.

When she passed, my mom insisted that I have her sewing machine.

I have made a few simple things with it.  But still, whenever I sit in front of this sewing machine, I imagine I am making something wonderful.

This post was inspired by Ally B who often writes about old sewing machines.  Please check out the wonderful things that she and the other artisans are doing today at Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday: Awesome Sweater Remake, part 1

My fiber-y mojo continues to be in a lull, so I began the disassemblage of my old Awesome Sweater.

A big improvement over the last time I disassembled a sweater is that I have a head-lamp now.  Which made it a whole lot easier to see which was the sewing thread and which was the yarn.  I was hoping this would allow me to get longer pieces of yarn than before...

but it turns out that it didn't matter.  Because the whole thing was steeked!  So all of my balls of yarn are going to be short.  *angry face*

At least the yarn is in good condition and the bag of tiny balls looks really pretty.  See how I am looking at the bright side?  Besides, weaving in ends is a pretty fun conversation starter for airplane rides. ;-)

Although I'm also kinda of thinking about the Russian Join that Its_Lily suggested a while back.  It seems like this might result in a better finished fabric.

I'm just not sure which would be more tedious.  I have some time to figure that one out though, since I've only ripped out about 2/3 of the first sleeve.

Meanwhile, my top choices for the New Awesome Sweater are:

81-14 Pullover by Drops Design - I like the shape of this one, but it may just be the model and a creative placement of color.

22-23-16 Striped Pullover by Pierrot - I really, really like this one, except it's written in Japanese and I don't read Japanese.  :-(

Honey by Amy Miller - I like that this is top-down with raglan sleeves but I do not like the pockets.

Pipit by Heidi Kirrmaier - this looks to be of simple construction with the design elements built into the structure.  This one is probably the leading contender right now.

I hope you all are having a great Fiber Arts Friday.  .  ;-)

Be sure to check in with everyone else over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder and have a Happy Easter!

Fiber Arts Friday: Cozy Stripes Sweater, part 10

We're getting close to the home stretch for this project.... As of the last post, only 2 arms, sewing on buttons, weaving in ends, and repairing two dropped stitches is ALL that remains.  Ha.  :-)

At the beginning of this section, I have 3 full brown skeins available for the arms and 14g of Skein #7 that I will reserve for button sewing.

AND.... we've reached the warm part of the year.  Progress on this project has slowed way down.

Since it will be 100F today, I think the responsible thing to do is to recognize that very little work will be completed on this project over the next few months.  Which means it is essentially in Time Out and I will be focusing on much smaller projects such as socks for the near term.

As of this writing, I am about half-complete with the first arm.

Skein duration:

• #1 (11/2/24 - 12/10/24) 5wks 3days
• #2 (12/10/24 - 12/30/24) 2wks 6days
• #3 (12/30/24 - 1/6/25) 1 week
• #4 (1/6/25 - 1/18/25) 1wk 5days
• #5 (1/18/25 - 2/5/25) - 2wks 4days - 14 g remain

• Green (2/5/25 - 2/6/25) - 2days - 22 g remain (begin body stripes)
• Orange (2/6/25 - 2/8/25) - 3days - 23g remain
• #5 (2/8/25 - 2/9/25) - 2days - 11 g remain
• Orange (2/9/25) - 1day - 18 g remain
• Green (2/10/25 - 2/14/25) - 5days - 17 g remain (complete body stripes)

• #5 (2/14/25 - 2/20/25) - 6days (begin hem)
• #6 (2/20/25 - 2/25/25) - 5days - 20g remain (complete hem, bind off pending)

• TINK Body Hem (2/27/25 - 3/6/25)  - 8days
• #5 (3/6/25 - 3/22/25) - 2 wks 2 days (begin re-Knitting Body Hem with smaller needles, US3)
• #6 (3/22/25 - 3/23/25) - 2 days (complete and bind-off Body Hem) - 19g remain

• Pickup Collar/Button Band Stitches (3/24/25 - 3/30/25) - 6days
• #6 (3/30/25 - 4/10/25) - 11days (begin Button Band/Collar, US3)
• #7 (4/10/25 - 4/22/25) - 12days (complete Button Band/Collar and Bind off) - 14g remain

• #8 (4/23/25 - 6/4/25) - 6wks (begin Arm #1, on hold for the summer) - 10g remain

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Mending

About a month ago, my favorite Patagonia jacket ripped.  :-(

Yes I know they will repair it for free, but I was on the road and was going to need my jacket during that trip.

So I stopped by a Local Yarn Shop (LYS) and found an interesting wool/camel thread and some sewing needles.

I stitched my jacket up as best I could using a Whip Stitch while bleary-eyed, late at night.

This is not a great stitching job.  Obviously I had a hard time keeping the feathers in, but it is functional.

I felt bad about the quality of my work for a few days, especially since creative mending is so popular right now.  However, I was happy to be wearing my jacket during the very cold weather a few days later.

Then my jacket tore again last week.  sigh.

I don't know if it's getting snagged on something under the airplane seat in front of me or what.... but again, I was in need of the jacket in short order.

This time my seam is better.  I used the Blanket Stitch and was both more rested and had better light than the first repair.

I suppose my poor repairs invalidate the warranty on my favorite jacket.  But I do enjoy the fact that I can repair my own garments and therefore extend their life and keep them out of the landfill.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 16

Since last time when I completed the sleeves, I have embarked upon my very first Button Band.

Picking up the stitches was easier than I expected.

It's a bit bunched up in this photo, but I'm very happy that my existing long circular needle is long enough for this task.

The pattern instruction was to pick up and knit the first row in one step, but I wanted to err on the cautious side and understand why they wanted a multiple of 6 stitches first.

The reason is that this Button Band is ribbed in 4x2 like the sleeves.  I decided to add 4 stitches so that the rib would be the same at the bottom on both sides, and therefore should also match as the sweater is buttoned up.

At this point, I have the Navajo Line completed as well as the next few rows.  I am ready to make the Button Holes, but first I need to confirm the hole size required...

In comparing the button options I selected earlier in this project, I've decided on the bottom one.  It's a slightly oval button made from Olive Wood and stained in a Walnut finish.

Button Hole Help:

I am using Shropshire for the Button Band, and I love working with it.  It has a nice amount of stretch and softness.

Due to the stretch of the Shropshire, I decided that I will make the button hole only 3 (instead of 4) stitches wide...

And the Button Band one or two rows wider to accommodate the oval buttons I selected.

One more row was enough...

I marked the locations for the Button Holes..

Then confirmed the button would fit appropriately in the new holes before knitting the rest of the Band.

With the Shropshire being so stretchy I decided to do a Standard Bind-off, per the pattern instructions.  However, I think a Slightly Stretchier bind-off would have been better.

Now, with my first ever Button Band being complete and the life lines all removed, the remaining tasks are sewing on the buttons, Kitchenering the armpits closed and weaving in the ends.  So close!!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday

Fiber Arts Friday: The Traveling Woman is Finished!

I had thought about putting this in my WIP List Wrap Up, but I figured since she's caused me so much grief over the last 19 months, she deserved her very own I'm Finished post...

The end-weaving didn't take much time since there was only a little over 3 skeins used.  Which was awesome after the major weaving-in I did for the Recycled Wool Nightcap.

This was my first time blocking.  Can you believe it?  I've been a serious knitter for more than 3 years and have managed to not have to block anything... until now.  I figure it's just a matter of soaking, squeezing, stretching, pinning and then waiting for it to dry.  So I rummaged thru my sewing supplies for pins and the blocking began...

At first glance, it doesn't look too bad.  But closer inspection reveals three zig-zags on the left and...

left side


and only two zig-zags on the right along with a group of tear-drops in the middle.

right side

There's also a weird little pool of yarn to the right of the peak in the lowest section of lace.  So honestly, it isn't as bad as I expected.

It only took at day or so to dry.  So here she is, all finished.  :-)

The elation associated with taking the shawl out of the block is something I haven't experienced before.  Wow! No wonder people like blocking.

I love how it flows and drapes now.  So much prettier than when it was on the needles.

So overall, I guess I'm happy.  It definitely looks better than I expected, but I don't think I'll be rushing out to make any more lace for a while though.  ;-)

With that, my WIP List is essentially complete.  I say essentially because the Black Huacaya Batts of Wonder are still in progress and having no projects on the needles is not something I want to experience for very long.  ;-)

As you know, today is Fiber Arts Friday and there is always something interesting to see.  So please head over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder and check everyone else out.

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 17

Well, I thought I might get this project completed under the 1 year of knitting mark, which happened toward the end of February... but I avoided weaving in the ends and re-doing the Button Band Bind-off for two long.

Finally on a few cool days in mid-March, I decided it was time to get them finished.... and both were not terrible.

Weaving in ends is tedious and took a few sessions, as expected.  Redoing the Button Band went much easier than I expected.

I replaced the "standard" bind-off with the Simple Stretchy Bind-off as described in this video.

Pulling out the Bind-off was surprisingly easy...

With the new Button Band Bind-off and much less bunched-up looking...

Remaining now are sewing on buttons and Kitchenering the Armpits closed.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

Fiber Arts Friday: Back on Track

I have been able to get back on track with the gusset increases for my first Challah Sock.  :-)

I ripped out six rounds, threaded the stitches with a sewing needle then replaced the circular needles.  Many thanks to Sarah for that tip.  :-)

I have just a few rounds to go before I can start the heel, again. :-)

I hope you're enjoying your Fiber Arts Friday.  Please join us over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder and remember that the Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow!  There's still time to join in, if you're curious. ;-)