Knitting? Check.

One more step taken towards being little Susie Homemaker.

My toque is completed, and I feel that I have learned a lot of new Skillz. With a Z.

I can cast on, knit, purl, increase, and decrease stitches...the only thing I don't know how to do is fix my mistakes. That might be a problem later on, but for now, I'm just happy to have made something that I like. Hooray!

Stuck

Yesterday I felt like I was on a roll. Look at all the progress I made! (this was taken at the end of the day)


After I had completed a few rows, I noticed a number of evenly spaced holes about 3 rows back. Somehow I had done my "m1" (make 1 stitch) all wrong, and now there were gaps. ARGH! I had to pull out all those rows and redo it.

That took a while, but when I had rectified the situation I felt much better.

Then I got to powerhouse through 12 rows of plain knitting. That was wonderfully restful.

Its those darned M1's that get me.
Somewhere near the midafternoon I got messed up trying to add more stitches, and when I tried to fix it, it just got worse and worse. I had 108 stitches when I should have had 110, and I couldn't figure out how that had happened, or where to put those two extra stitches.

It was very frustrating. Very, very frustrating.

Now my toque has been sitting in the time-out corner for a very long time.

I need my mom to come home and fix it for me, because I just can't face it anymore.

To distract myself I look at the wool.
You can't really tell from this photo, but its quite unique. Sometimes the thread is super super thin, and then in other places its all thick and puffy. This is because it is handspun (and dyed over a wood fire, as well!). I love the way it looks.
Its called "Manos wool clasica", and its from an organization called "Manos del Uruguay" (which means 'The Hands of Uruguay'). The tag reads,

"Manos del Uruguay is a non-profit organization which asssembles over 400 artisans in cooperatives scattered throughout the countryside of Uruguay. The aim of the organization is to bring econimic and social opportunites to rural women."

I guess its not quite fair trade, but considering I didn't even read the tag before I bought it...hopefully it is as helpful an organization as they make it sound.

Anyway, that's as long as I can distract myself from the fact that I can't work on my knitting project. ARGH!

Succumbing to Knittery

In a fit of creative passion, I bought 2 skeins of wool last summer.
I've made a scarf a couple years ago, but I didn't remember how to knit at all. I just figured I would get around to it sometime.
The colors were amazing...a dark, teal-y blue, and a fantastic (almost burnt) orange.
Anyway, these have been sitting around for months. When I went to visit my friend in Vancouver last October, I brought the orange along because I knew she could teach me to crochet. I attempted at making a hat, but ended up working it so tight that I ran out of wool long before it would have come anywhere near completion.
That was discouraging.
The wool went back into its corner for another couple months.

When I bought the wool, I knew that I wanted to make a slouchy toque with it, but after the crochet tragedy I was sure that I didn't have enough to finish one. My mother convinced me that if I worked it a little looser, it would be enough.

I found a pattern on Ravelry, and set to work yesterday.


Since I hadn't knitted in at least 2 years, it was like beginning from the very beginning! After a long lesson on casting on, I began the ribbing...only 8 rows took me the better part of the afternoon (if not the whole afternoon...I didn't keep track)!!! There was a lot of "Oh no, what did I do?" and "Mom, can you fix this?" and pulling out, and re-knitting...

Really slow going.

But somehow its very satisfying! This morning I couldn't wait to pick it up again!
Despite my first couple rows having to be "frogged", I've made a lot of progress, and I'll upload the next picture tomorrow.

Starting the Year Off Right

So I decided I'd better get started with my goals of becoming little Susie Homemaker...

I actually started this project last summer, while I was at Strathcona Park Lodge.
I was inspired by my unique and creative friend Taryn, who seemed to think people can do anything they put their minds to. We worked in the kitchen together, and so we had many opportunities to talk about everything, and anything. I discovered in her a really amazing person who exudes joy and contentment with herself and life in general...an intriguing characteristic, to someone such as myself who has difficulty with that. In other ways we were very similar, so I found myself wondering why I couldn't adpot her positive thinking and open mindedness.
Taryn was very encouraging to me, especially when it came to trying new things (since she was vegan and gluten-free, this really applied to the area of food as well!) She is a very creative person, who draws, paints, sews, weaves (on a loom she built), and did all manner of craftsy artsy things. Not only that, she drew me into her sphere of creativity too.
Inspired by her confidence and you-can-do-it attitude, Taryn somehow made me believe that I too, can make things and try out different creative venues.
So I made moccasins, Thai Fisherman pants (picture below), got dreads, ate vegan food, went for long walks/hikes/drives all by myself, and discussed ideas and views I'd previously taken for granted.

My "Hippie Pants"

It was exciting, exhilarating, and freeing.
After completing my pants on her sewing machine, I was feeling pretty good about my creative abilities, and so when I saw a sling bag that belonged to my friend Barb, I asked myself, "Why can't I make that?". I examined it, and determined it wouldn't be "that hard". After all, it was only 2 pieces.
I traced it, cut out my homemade pattern, bought fabric in the discount bin at the fabric store, and dove in.
In my enthusiasm, I may not have thought it all out properly...

When I pinned it all together, somehow it didn't fit. Instead of a large sack-like shape, I had a bag with two weird pouches on either side. Confused and frustrated, I pinned, and re-pinned, sewed, picked out stitches, and re-sewed...and picked-out stitches again.

By now, hours had gone by. I was tired, and fed up with this first solo sewing adventure.
I guessed that by tracing the bag for my pattern, I had created a curved edge where there should have been a straight edge, and I didn't have the patience or will to figure out how to correct it. I also didn't have enough fabric to cut out a new one, so I felt that I had wasted a lot of time, money, and energy. Project: FAILED.

I didn't touch the thing again...until today.

Today I resolved to get started on my crafting resolution. The bag had to be conquered. It represented my mental block concerning my confidence in my own creative abilities. "I can't" had to become, "I can...if I try hard enough".
Resisting my natural tendency to avoid anything I'm "not good at", I dragged out the pieces, ironed them, and worked out what needed fixing. I decided the bag needed panels on either side to fill in the 'blanks' that I had made by curving the fabric, so that the bottom would fit in naturally, instead of becoming tight in the middle and creating those loose pouches.

Long story short, I made a pattern for the panel, and it worked!
Encouraged by this victory, I hauled the sewing machine upstairs and set to work with renewed energy. With my dear mother's help in getting the machine's cooperation, I was soon whittling away at the project.
By 8:30 tonight, I was proudly displaying my completed sling bag (it even has pockets on the inside), and even though its far from perfect, I'm really pleased with it. While sewing might never be my strength, I have proven to myself that that doesn't have to stop me.
Its a good feeling.
I don't know why this pic is upside down and I can't get it to change! Anyway, you'll be able to see a little bit of the seams if you click on it.

Christmas Cards

I got 2 Christmas cards in the mail today!

I love getting Christmas cards, and I love getting mail even more...so the two combined is a little explosion of joy.

The post office has already seen me once, as I sent off my first batch of cards. They will most likely be on time. The cards I made today, on the other hand, will probably be late. But cards are cards. I'm assuming everyone else likes getting them as much as I do, whether or not they are late.

This year I bought special Christmas paper and some Christmas phrase stamps, so I have been card crafting wildly. Well, considering most years I don't bother making Christmas cards at all.

I used to be a scrapbooker snob, who looked down on those who hadn't the attention span for making full pages with photos...card-making is much less of a time (and space) commitment. Now I find I'm becoming one of those card crafters, that likes pumping out a 4-6 unique cards in a sitting, as opposed to a page or two in my scrapbook.

Its also much easier to make cards in groups vs. scrapbooking in groups. In fact, the Coulter household hosted a Christmas Card crafting night with a couple of my friends attending, a weekend or two ago. We each had a handful done at the end of the night, as well as some good laughs, and catching up.

I'm hoping to send off my next batch of cards tomorrow. The thing is, as soon as I've sent them off, I will think of more people I want to make cards for, and then the whole process starts over again!

(THERE! I did it! I blogged!)

Project #2 Completed!

Well, actually they are not entirely done, because I still have to put soles on them. But essentially, this is what they will look like when they are complete.
They are handmade moccasins! Moccasins made by my hand.

Each shoe is made from two pieces of buffalo buckskin, sewn together with artificial sinew. I chose to sew them flesh-side out instead of the usual skin-side out, because I like the fuzzy look.Then I cut out some strips of moose leather for the ankle ties. They wrap around twice, so that's why the laces are so long. I like 'em a lot!

Ps. I am SO close to finished Project #1, but the sewing needle broke so it was postponed. I might get a chance to work on them tonight!

Project #1

I love being surrounded by so many creative people...its so inspiring!
With the help of some friends, I am doing a couple "projects". I am halfway through a sewing experiment, and the other work of art will begin next week. This winter will be one of trying new and creative things for me, I think. Mom, I will even allow you to teach me the art of knitting.

I'm not going to tell you what this will be...but I will post a picture when its done!