Back to knitting, at least a little

I really really did not want anything to do with knitting for the past few months. Since April, when I closed my Etsy shop. But I have been doing other crafts; I did a whole needlepoint (pictures to follow) and have been working steadily on my English paper piecing project (ditto).

Finally last Thursday I was willing to get near knitting enough to go to the Sit and Knit at Stix-n-Stitches in Montclair; it was really nice to see people. I didn't buy anything, nor do anything other than kibbitz with a couple friends who were there, but at least I got the proverbial toe in the water.

With the needlepoint done I finally started to feel like it was time to pull out the pieces of the purple sweater I had been working on in the spring. I read the instructions for finishing (sewing seams and working the collar and button band) She insists on blocking pieces before sewing together. I usually skip that, but this time I decided to go ahead with it. I got out the blocking board that my mom gave me a couple Christmases ago and laid out the front and back. When they were done, tonight, I laid out the sleeves. Here are pics.

How to cut out a sewing pattern and preserve other sizes

Another sewing post! I really missed sewing, clearly. I took the day off from work and one thing I knew I wanted to do with the day was at least start the new blouse I have planned. I bought the fabric on Spoonflower and the pattern from Colette patterns. I bought 2 yards and was just able to squeeze the pattern pieces into the yardage.

The pattern is drawn out for 9 sizes, and although I am making the largest size I am hopeful that in the future I'll fit into a smaller one. Denial? It doesn't matter. The point is, I wanted to cut out the pieces in such a way as to keep my future options open. There's a way to do so, and I took pictures to document how I did it.

You would think that because I am using the largest size, all the smaller ones just nestle inside them. You would be wrong; in lots of places they cross each other. Here you can see on the right, all the larger sizes' outlines are outside the smaller ones'. But on the left, there is some crossover; if I were to cut along the largest outline I would lose some of the pattern info for the smaller sizes.

Here I show how I have folded back the other outlines. Because of the curved edge, it won't just fold back naturally; you need to clip the paper several times to allow it to expand along the curve. (This one is a concave curve. For convex curves, not shown here, clipping the paper allows the edges to overlap each other along the curve.)

Clip to the innermost outline, which is going to be the fold line.

Fold the pieces up along the fold line (your cutting line). Then when you cut out the pattern, carefully cut along the edge, making sure not to cut the folded paper.

And at the bottom of this picture you can see that the extra pattern information has been saved! This will also work if you are cutting out a size that is not the largest and you want to keep the larger outlines intact.

Okay, maybe I won't fit into a smaller size, but maybe my mom can use the pattern next time and take advantage of the smaller sizes (she's teeny tiny).

Happy sewing!
 

Why I'm closing my Etsy shop

I've been operating my Etsy storefront for about four years now, and I've never been over the moon about its performance but I always assumed that was because I didn't do enough work to promote it. Last August I met a woman whose year-old Etsy shop was doing hundreds of sales, and it made me realize that just hoping that my shop would magically get noticed was, well, magical thinking. In our conversation she was super enthusiastic and encouraging, and passed on a few great ideas for improving my traffic. I started putting those ideas into practice. I started relisting items frequently; I posted on my FaceBook page for the shop about various items; I bought ad space on FB for my shop page (and later for my other project); I cross-linked between this and my other project; and I offered free shipping for "likes" on FB page. I worked on improving my photography. I read articles on succeeding with an Etsy store and tried to put their ideas into practice. And my sales did improve, but only a small amount. From a few a year to one a month or a little less.

The turning point came at my tax preparation appointment this year. My accountant gave me the usual speech about how I'm not making much money from my business and if I don't start making a profit it could be a problem. I said, "Okay, if I don't do better this year I'll call it a day," and she said "Fine, but we had this exact conversation last year," and I realized she was right. It was a moment when I woke up a little bit, and I decided to redouble my efforts to bring in more sales, and also to spend less on raw materials and instead just use up what I have on hand. I've done well at spending less and using what's in stock, but there's been no improvement in sales.

I have been mulling over this in earnest for a few months, and I have started to come to terms with it. Last week I said to my husband, "I think I'm going to close my Etsy shop," and the very next morning I checked my email and had gotten another sale, and I thought, well, that's ironic! Maybe it's a sign? I sent out the fiber to the buyer.

Two days later she emailed me on Etsy to say that she was "very disappointed" because the fiber was "very felted," she couldn't use it, and how did I propose to rectify the situation? Naturally, I realized there was no point in arguing with her. I didn't agree on the condition of the fiber (and will be spinning it up as soon as it arrives back to prove it), but there is nothing to be gained by arguing, and possibly she would give me a poor rating as a result, which I would like to avoid. I told her to send it back to me and I would refund her the purchase price plus the return postage. She put it in the mail and I gave her the refund.

And I thought, that's it! The last straw. I realized that this is just a complete waste of my time and money, I'm making NOTHING from it, losing money in fact, and I don't see a need to give the owners of Etsy another dime. (Unfortunately I then had to pay my fees for the last month, but there wasn't much I could do about that.)

Finally I went into Etsy and put my store "on vacation." I don't know that I am ready to Close it but I can and did take an action to take it out of circulation, from Etsy but more importantly from my mental processes. I realized how every time I look at my yahoo mail account, I'm scanning first of all for emails from Etsy in hopes of a sale. Every time I buy something via Paypal I hope to see a balance in there. How much energy that takes! I can stop doing that now. I have started to feel a weight off my shoulders.

I don't have to feel guilty that I haven't done any dyeing in a while or that I haven't relisted my products lately. I don't have to feel lame that I am not making any sales. Well, I feel like I failed at this endeavor, and that feels lame, and I feel disappointed. But I also feel like I finally admitted defeat and I can take this energy and put it in some new direction.

The one remaining issue that I'm not sure about is whether to continue the dyeing workshop project as well. Because the truth is, I don't feel like dyeing fiber very often. After interviewing a bunch of dyers, and reading about their processes, and how much time and energy they devote to their work, I also realized that I'm just not as interested in doing it as the pros are. (Or even as much as the serious amateurs are.) I like it … okay. Not a lot.

What I still really love is looking at pictures of beautiful colorways. And maybe that is where I will stay - a devotee of color and fiber who loves to look (and occasionally buy). Maybe I'll keep experimenting in my dye lab in the basement, but without any pressure to have it Be Something More.

So that's what's been going on. I'm closing down the Etsy shop. As to the inventory: I took a bunch of skeins of yarn over to Stix 'n' Stitches in Montclair, and they are always so complimentary to me about them and happy to sell them on consignment in the shop. Which amazes me in itself! And the fiber? I can spin it! I made a bunch of colors that I like!

I'm going to keep posting here, by the way. Lately I've been doing some sewing and have posted about some of it, and now that I don't have to be all professional about the shop I can just post what I like and that will be that.
 

Vinyl Repair. Vinyl Repair! THE FIXER!

Okay, not vinyl - microsuede, much nicer than vinyl. (The title is a call out to an ad in the '70s they used to play constantly on TV. Anybody remember it?)

We have this sofa that is going to charity tomorrow (although they didn't call to confirm so I'm a little nervous that they won't show up). It's a great sofa - sofa bed, actually - but after we put in the door in my office, it was too wide for any wall in our house. So we have to get rid of it. Now, I was eventually able to curb them of the habit, but for a while the cats were sharpening their claws on one corner of it. Here you can see the damage they did to the microsuede cover.

They only damaged the cover, though, not the sofa itself underneath. So that's one good thing. Anyway, when I called the charity that is taking it I told them that the cover had some cat scratch damage and said I was thinking of patching it, and they said it would be a good idea if I did so, otherwise the foreman picking up the thing might not take it if it looked too damaged.

So I removed a piece from the center back pleat, and then just sewed the pleat halves back together without folding them back. I removed the worst-scratched piece from the corner pleat, and replaced it with the piece from the back, but in front of the folded side pieces. It looks fine, if you didn't know you might not even notice.

I had to patch the corner as well. Here is a closeup of the patch:

One great thing about ultrasuede is you don't have to worry about edges fraying, and you can just top sew the seam and let that be it.

I didn't want to spend a huge amount of time doing this, and I think if I were doing it for us to keep I probably would have been a little more "precious," as Adam accuses me of being, but at the same time I was thinking of the people who would get the sofa and I hated to think of them getting something that was crappy. You can still see a little bit of scratch damage on the right side, but it's not horrendous, and hopefully will pass muster.

With the pillow on top, the patch is hidden, and the whole thing looks pretty much restored to decent shape.

Oh yeah - one more thing: I have to give credit where credit is due: My Kenmore, yes that's the Sears brand, sewing machine is fraking badass and can sew through half a dozen layers without complaint. I couldn't pin through it, but I was able to sew. I love my Kenmore (made by Janome, behind the scenes).
 

Some cool links

I know I usually post about yarn and so forth but I am also a seamstress from waaaaaay back. So I have a few links to share, the first couple of which are sewing related.

This sort of bent my mind, it was so cool: Bias Binding Tool from Bitter Purl

I just read about a show, Fashioning Fashion, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) that, sadly, has already closed. But it looks like it was gorgeous:

Not only is there a monograph available for the show, which I might have to get, but there are sewing patterns available! Download PDFs from here.

And finally, here's a dose of squee:

Juniper Moon Farm's snuggle puddle.

 

Progress, not perfection :)

There was a discussion of goals on Ravelry in January where I posted some stuff along with everybody else and promptly forgot about it. Then today I suddenly remembered that discussion thread and I wanted to know exactly what I'd set out as my goals so I went back to dig it up:

I want to finish my red and cream colored tea-leaves-cardigan, which is stalled (again) on the sleeve, because with the number of sts it says to pick up, the sleeve is much tighter than the rest of the sweater. I want to create three designs and publish them for free on Ravelry. I want to enter one design for consideration at Twist Collective (fear of rejection really holds me back). And I want to spin the pound+ of fiber my mom gave me to knit into a sweater, and then overdye it so it’s not the color of a band-aid. :) And finally, I would like to keep up with the spinning part of the STF [Spirit Trail Fiberworks] combination fiber & yarn club!

So, I hate the red and cream colored tea-leaves-cardigan, and I haven't finished it for the same reason as above even though I tried redoing the sleeve st pick-up. The second time I picked up too many stitches. Ugh, it is so frustrating. I've more or less decided to frog it but I just haven't done so yet.

I have created one design and put it up on Ravelry - the cowl. I've got plenty of time left in the year so I will probably complete that one.

I have an idea for Twist, but haven't worked on it yet.

I have done NO spinning on the fiber from my mom in months, but I hope being reminded by this post will help me get myself going on that again.

I have spun and plied the first installment of the STF club, a lovely sea blue with green notes. I just got another shipment from her - prolific woman! It's a skein of Orihime (fingering weight, my favorite) in a stunning crimson colorway. Not a flat solid, but just the slightest variations across the skein.

The effect is the platonic ideal of red.

And on the project that I really wanted to work on, which I wanted so much that I was afraid to mention it in the post on Ravelry, I've done a LOT of work! Yes, I am talking about Baba's Fiber Dyeing Workshop. I have been really good and consistent about posting once a week, or about that, and I've been putting out interview Q's to people and publishing new ones. I need to reach out to some people, as I have no more pipeline at the moment. That part - the "cold calling," in essence - is definitely the hardest part. I've been very lucky that so far nobody has said no. Sooner or later somebody will, I know. But so far, so good.

And I've been doing a lot more dyeing, been a lot more regular at it. When I read over an interview I suddenly find myself super motivated to get into the studio!

I've been irregular about updating my Etsy shop. It's really hard to be consistent with it.

So that's my status at the moment. Not all A's; a couple C's, even a couple F's. And I'm okay with that. "Seriously," I say to the voice of my dad that is haranguing me in the back of my head - "back off!"

Perfect is the enemy of good enough!
 

Awesome sewing machine tat

via Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!

New post over at Baba's Fiber Dyeing Workshop

"Dyeing yarns vs dyeing unspun fiber" on Baba's Fiber Dyeing Workshop; check it out!

Also, iPad, changing "unspun" to "unseen" - why, baby, why?
 

New Pattern (beta edition): Winter Wildflowers Cowl

My newest pattern, and it's free!



download now



I was all excited because I read yesterday that a blog I follow was having a contest, "What to do with 150 yards of yarn," and I had already been working up this pattern over the past few weeks. So I got all industrious this afternoon and wrote it up. Then today I checked back to see where to post to enter the contest, only to realize that I misread, and in fact the contest was over a week ago and I missed my chance. Ah well. You win some, you lose some. It motivated me to get the pattern written up. My friend Babs is going to knit it in a different colorway for me - sort of my first test knitter!

From sheep to shins

This evening on the drive home (with Adam driving, not me) I finished the leg warmers I made from the yarn I made from the carded wool I made from the pound of the fleece from the sheep known as Little Debbie, owned by a member of our spinning guild, Essex Spinners. (Yeah, I know that's a run-on sentence; it was a run-on experience, too, so that grammar fits.)

A bunch of the guild members bought the fleece together divided the fleece amongst ourselves; I got a pound. After washing it was about 14.5 oz. (Yes, that means about 1.5 oz of lanolin/sheep grease and dirt! And it wasn't very dirty.) Then I carded it by hand over many evenings while watching TV. Then I spun the carded fiber into singles over many additional evenings. Then I plied two singles together, and plied those together again for a 4-ply, this construction also being known as a cable-plied yarn.

Even though I washed the fleece a couple times, I could still feel a lot of lanolin left on the fiber; it's probably the first yarn I've used where my hands have felt softer after working with it! I had about 450 yards of it, I guess. I have it written down, but unfortunately my notes are scattered around.

Here are the finished leg warmers:

I used a free pattern from Classic Elite Yarns, "Waterlily Leg Warmers," by Andi Clark. For once I didn't do any (intentional) modifications, although I found a couple mistakes in my cabling, which is pretty rare for me. Actually, it's not that it's so rare that I make a mistake, but I tend to be a perfectionist and I usually will rip back to the mistake, one way (several whole rows, if it was pretty recent) or another (a few columns of stitches if it's far enough back), and redo it. But this time I just thought, do I really need to rip back SEVEN repeats of the cable pattern in order to be all perfect about it? Nope!!

For fun I wanted to see how they looked with rain boots:

and with cowboy boots:

 

Baba's got a brand new blog!

I've started a new blog that is meant to complement this one, specifically devoted to dyeing yarn and spinning fiber. I've long wanted to spend more energy and focus on dyeing. I have been working on improving my own abilities, and I am fascinated by others' beautiful products too. Probably more than by my own, truth be told. So I decided to branch off a new blog from this one, and it's called Baba's Fiber Dyeing Workshop. I just made the first post (about Hedgehog Fibres on Etsy), so it's truly nascent, but I'm really excited about it. I have a bunch of big ideas I hope to put into it as time goes on.

I hope you'll check it out and give it some love!