Pinned It, Did It #2: Sewn Dolly & New Sewing Machine

Why hello there!  I can't believe it's been over a week since I've posted.  I came down with a nasty cold early last week, which then caused a sinus and ear infection -- and then I unfortunately passed it on to little Nathan.  So we've been doing our best to take it easy while we recover -- and we're still working on the recovery part.

But that doesn't mean all crafting has come to a grinding halt.  If you follow my Facebook page, you know that I bought a sewing machine last Sunday (was it really only a week ago?)... and less than a week later I finished my first real sewing project!  Here it is, my Pinned It, Did It #2: Jingle Baby from the Winter issues of Living Crafts.

It was an easy pattern to sew (even for my first sewing project, and my first non-knitted doll) and I loved seeing this dolly come to life as it became three-dimensional with wool stuffing and then a sweet embroidered face.

If you're looking to make this doll, note that I upsized the pattern a lot.  The instructions say to use a photocopier to enlarge the pattern printed in the magazine by 133 percent.  I already knew that I'd made the doll's head too big at this point, so I enlarged it by 175 percent and it still wasn't big enough.  So I freehanded my own pattern enlargement by another 115 percent -- so the doll is about 13 inches long not including its giant pope-like hat.  (My husband was like, aren't you going to do something about the hat?  :)  Nope.)

If I hadn't enlarged the pattern, this doll would havebeen tiny -- maybe less than 10 inches without the hat and with a miniscule six-inch head circumference.  My masculine doll (LOL) has a hefty eight-inch head circumference.  Also, I didn't attach a jingle bell to the doll's head, either -- I'm in the mood for quiet toys these days.

I'm happy enough with Nathan's semi-luke-warm reaction to the doll -- it was way better than the way he immediately tossed aside my hand-knitted Poppa Owl and his farmer doll the year before that. 

At least he smiled and checked out the details first, and tried holding him like a baby when I asked him if he remembered how to hold a baby.  And then he tossed him to the floor.  The best part is that when I try to hold the baby, he takes him off my chest and moves him to the other end of the couch!  LOL!  I can only wonder what that's about.

Favorite Things Friday: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

I've been meaining to start a "favorite things"-type post because I've recently come across so many things that I really like and I feel like blathering on about them.  So here's my first one: The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Barnes & Noble brought this book to my attention with a carefully placed display in the middle of the store's main isle -- and I fell for it, hook, like and sinker.  I mean, how can one resist bunnies?  Especially this close to Easter?  Their merchandizers really know what they are doing.

The book is a new (2002) but original and authorized version that uses Beatrix Potter's original paintings and intentions but employs new techniques in printing and design to reproduce the colors and details of her watercolor paintings more accurately than ever before. It even includes two of her paintings that have never been included in the book before.

This little book is printed on smooth, quality paper using a period typface that almost makes me feel like I could be reading it back in 1902 England when it was originally printed. And of course the lesson learned makes it a valuable teaching -- just as soon as Nathan can grasp the concept.

Copyright Frederick Warne & Co. / Beatrix Potter

For now, we're happy to read this book together several times a day.  I can tell by the way Nathan cranes his neck to see that he's enjoying the super sweet illustrations, and I'm enjoying the text and the feel of this smooth, precious little book in my hands.  Some of the language is really great -- some sparrows "implored [Peter] to exert himself" when he was caught up in a gooseberry net.  I mean, come on!

This week, this book is one of my favorite things, and I hope it stays that way for a long time.  Kinda like Goodnight Moon -- I still love it, even though we read it every night before bed.  And I mean every single night.  I just love these old school books.  How lucky are we to have such easy access to these treasures?

P.S. The Tale of Peter Rabbit is giving me some really good ideas for Nathan's Easter basket. It'll probably entail another trip back to Barnes & Noble, plus some creativity on my part.  Stay tuned!!

Yarn Along: Finishing up and Casting on

This is my first Yarn Along post in a few weeks, and it feels good to be back!  (And knitting again.)  After a brief hiatus to embroider and do some sewing machine research (and to learn to sew -- check out my post on my first and sentimental sewing lesson), I finished a little butternut squash and cast on a new sweater for Nathan.

You might think it's a little nuts that I cast on a sweater for my son during the same month Spring will begin, but I have two theories that support my decision:

1)  It'll still be sweater weather for a while yet, and he can wear it as a jacket as it gradually gets warmer out.

2)  He'll be able to wear it again next year.  The size says ages 2-4 and the finished garment has a 25-inch chest circumference -- so I think I'll be in good shape.

If he grows like a weed this year and it doesn't pan out, I'll have learned a lesson, and hopefully someone else will be able to wear the sweater someday.  I'm still enjoying knitting it, and after all, that's why I knit.  Don't you?

The pattern is Child's Placket-neck Pullover and I'm knitting it in Knit Picks DK City Tweed in colorway Jacquard.  I like the pattern and I love the yarn, but that pattern really needed something.  It's a simple knit, which I wanted, but it's pretty boring as written.  And simple doesn't equal boring in my universe.

I was itching to knit some cables, so I did a bold thing, and by bold I mean potentially stupid and/or risky.  I added a chain cable from the book Knitting Stitches, and at the moment there's no way to know how it'll work out out when I get to the placket.  I might not be able to pull off a smooth transition and it might look comlpetely stupid; or I might be able to forecast how long I can knit the body to get a smoother join.  Or no matter what I do it might not look right... but that's a risk I'm willing to take in order to use my brain a little while I knit.

I guess the good news is that I can always rip it out and start over.  The sweater is clearly boring simple enough for that.  I resisted the urge to put narrower cables on the plain sleeves -- phew!  Wish me luck!

P.S. At the moment I'm reading an array of sewing books.  In a sewing-related post I'll let you know which ones are good for learning to use a sewing machine.  It's still too soon to tell! 

Linking up to:

A Sewing Lesson to Remember

Today I had my first sewing lesson ever.  My mom taught me how to sew on the same sewing machine that her mom used to teach her how to sew.  On the surface it may have seemed like an ordinary sewing lesson, but I was really moved by the generational thing.  I'm so impressed by my late grandmother's sewing skills, and I'm so happy my mom had an interest in learning to sew when she was young.  And I was just plain tickled that my mom could teach me, and on this machine:

My grandmother bought this sewing machine 60 years ago for $500.  I did some quick research and a little math to determined that $500 in 1950's money is nearly $5,000 in 2012.  Wow.

The machine is almost completely manually operated compared to today's standards.  No automatic threader, no drop and sew bobbin, manual adjustments for tension and stitch length and width and -- get this -- discs you switch out to change stitch types.  Instead of a foot pedal, you press your knee against a pedal that comes down from the desk it's mounted on.

I almost laughed at the manual -- it says it's automatic.  I asked my mom what about it is automatic and her smiling answer was classic Mom: It uses electricity.  I laughed at myself.

It came with the desk it's mounted on.  I looked in the drawers to see all of my grandmother's tools and notions.  I sewed with my grandmother's pins, which my mom kept in their original yellowed plastic container.  And I felt this strong connection to my grandmother, who I was so fond of.  She passed when I was just 16.  I knew when she passed that we hadn't spent enough time together and wished we could have had more of it.  She was a really awesome lady.

I'm grateful for this simple sewing lesson for so many reasons.  I hope someday that I have a daughter I can one day pass my sewing skills down to, knowing that they started in earnest with my grandmother.  If we do end up lucky enough to have a daughter, her middle name will be after my grandmother, Kathryn.

It's Almost Spring?

I hear and read about lots of people getting excited that spring is near.  And it makes me ask, did we even have a winter?  Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the 'balmy' temperatures and general lack of snow on the East coast.  Of all the seasons, winter is my absolute least favorite and I hardly did any seasonal decorating for it, except for Christmas, of course.

So, I guess it's almost spring!  One of the ways I know this is because I just submitted my order to Johnny's Selected Seeds.  It's my favorite gardening catalog, recommended by a friend who owns an organic gardening company specializing in kitchen gardens.  They carry a wide variety of organic seeds and really useful tools, including biodegradeable plastic mulch, similar to this one.

I placed my order later than ever -- partly from laziness and partly because I couldn't decide how much biodegradeable mulch to get.  Two 32-foot-long packs or a 500-foot roll of the stuff?  If you know me well, you already know that I chose the 500-foot roll.

I always go big with my garden (and just about everthing else), even when I'm not really going big.  The big roll was economical, and maybe next year, just maybe, I'll have the time and energy to put my deer fence back up and garden like a man.  I hope so.  Sissy gardening is not for me.

In my sissy little garden this year I'll grow mostly tomatoes and summer squash, but I'm really excited about the zucchini.  There are so many great ways to make it, including my favorite zucchini and herb fritters.  Oh man, my mouth is watering!

I'll also have the regular assortment of herbs and perennial flowers that have been in my garden for years, plus my favorite vines, cardinal flower and heavenly blue morning glories.

Not very exciting, I'm afraid, but it's all I have time and room for.  Until I get that deer fence back up.  Now that I'm the proud owner of so much biodegradeable plastic mulch, I have more motivation than ever to get my big garden back in 2013.

What are you growing in your garden this year?

I'm linking up to Ginny's weekly garden roundup on Small Things.