Goodbye old (computerised) friend

 This week I finally got around to sorting out my previous sewing machine to list it for sale, the one that I used for around 12 years before I upgraded last summer.  Having to 'rescue' this heavy machine during the almost-flood of the sewing room restored it to my attention.  Realistically I wasn't going to be using it again as my new machine does all the same things only better, and it's too heavy to be a take-out-to-class machine (assuming we ever have classes again, and anyway I have a Singer Featherweight for that purpose).  So I spent over two hours on my day off assembling all the various components, checking them off against the manual, and cleaning everything up.  The two most difficult parts of this process were a) prising off the flower stickers that I had whimsically stuck all over the right half of the machine which over the years had welded themselves to the paint (heating them with a hairdryer did the trick) and b) locating the knee lift which I had never used.  I did find a knee lift, but until I could locate another knee lift, I wasn't sure whether the first knee lift was the one for my Janome or for my Pfaff (I don't use it for the Pfaff either but I want to keep all the Pfaff bits together in case I ever sell that machine).  After several tours around the house and much excavating, I eventually found the Pfaff knee lift in another box so we were good to go.  I listed the machine online, sold it, and off it went to its new owner who apparently teaches sewing and will use it for students.  I did feel slightly misty-eyed as I packed the machine into its (very battered old) box.  We had made a lot of quilts together, went to many monthly quilt club meetings together, sewed curtains, clothing, knapsacks, toys and many other items. It was a good friend and I wish it well in its new home. Hopefully it has many more years left in it.

A blast from the past: 2007 when I was using the then-fairly new machine on my first
tabletop quilting frame at the foot of the bed in our bedroom.

The first Brodgar mitt is progressing well.  The pattern shows symbols carved on finds from the archeological dig at Brodgar in the Orkneys.  You can see the steek for the thumb hole in progress near the needles on the top of the picture. This will be DH's Christmas present and he likes it so far, and it seems like it will fit him.

I've made a start on the next house in my cross-stitch houses sampler.  It took me a while to get the number of stitches correct to accurately place the right hand pumpkin since I can't count, and I had to unpick that pumpkin and try again, but it's sorted now. This will be the ABC house. The trouble with trying to watch sumo wrestling while counting stitches is that sumo is a very explosive and fast-moving sport, I look down to count a few stitches and when I look back at the TV again the match is already over and then I've lost count and have to start over.

I have temporarily abandoned my attempts to create a fitted bodice for my next dress and instead have gone for a sort of pinafore with a collar detail.  I mocked it up in old duvet covers first to tweak the fit. I ended up lowering the neckline and changing the shape of the collar a bit.

Then I went ahead and cut it out in the chocolate-themed fabric.  I've gone for a quasi-uniform feel with a central button panel and waist tabs.  This is a picture of it all just pinned on the mannequin to give an impression, things aren't sewn on yet.  But the front bodice is mostly finished and I'm quite pleased with my first all-over-facing which lines the inside of the front bodice and finishes the armhole/neckhole edges. I added trim to the central panel which I cut out of the border print (it is text which says things like 'I love chocolate' etc.) to link the bodice with the skirt. It feels empowering to be working with my own drafted pattern and changing it how I want, instead of trying to follow a commercial pattern, very creative.

We had a day out to Oxford today. I don't think I've mentioned it on my blog but we have been feeling a bit down in the dumps for a while now, all three of us.  I attribute it to the monotony, and the uncertainty, and looking at the same walls and same faces every day. And yet on several weekends we couldn't bring ourselves to leave our comfortable bunker/rut, it seemed too much trouble and we couldn't think where to go when shopping/museums/cafes are potential no-go zones.  I introduced external motivation by committing to drive DS to Oxford to see his girlfriend in person for the first time since March so off we went today.  It felt extremely strange, even to be getting ready to go out and trying to remember what I needed to take (first time wearing a wristwatch in months!)  And to be socialising with new people (the girlfriend and another friend who joined us) also felt odd, especially having to constantly remind myself to stay socially distant from them even though we were chatting.  The town centre was busier than we felt comfortable with, so after a bubble tea and a chat together we split up.  DH and I followed a guided walk from a book we have, along the River Thames to the charming village of Iffley and back, which was about 4 miles. It was really lovely to be somewhere new, out in the sun, admiring the rowers on the river and pausing on the scenic bridges over the Iffley Locks.  It was much less lovely when we re-entered Oxford via the crowded Magdalene Bridge, having to navigate through large groups of tourists and young people who were hogging the narrow pavements and making no attempt to socially distance.  After a few harrowing detours into the busy road and one brief argument with a Scottish family who were spread out fully blocking the pavement leaving us nowhere to escape to, we made it to the relative safety of a quieter side road and walked around to DS's old college to admire it from the outside, before meeting up with DS again to head home. Hopefully none of us got exposed to any germs, and it really did feel good to have a change of scene and to do something that felt a bit like a holiday treat.

Remember I volunteered for a new temporary national team a few weeks ago?  When my colleague found out, he was amazed and asked what on earth I had done that for, it's going to be all waffle and feel-good teambuilding zoom calls and endless online meetings, and he well knows that I am neither a people person nor someone with a high-tolerance for timewasting BS.  After that I really regretted my temporary insanity but comforted myself that I wouldn't get picked since there are many more experienced staff who actually volunteer for things.  Well of course they have picked me and I found out yesterday.  The email was pretty much 'congratulations, you start 5 October' rather than 'let us know if you want it'. My manager (who is also pretty amazed I think) put the icing on the cake by predicting that instead of being temporary like advertised, it will probably turn into a long term posting.  Oh well, it will be a change and I can hope it's for the better.  I will have to make an effort to be more outgoing and participatory. In real terms I'll still be working from home, just with different people and a new manager, and perhaps they will be an improvement.  A change is as good as a rest? Let's hope.

Just doing chores

 This week seems to have flown by, in a sort of 'nothing much happening' sort of way. I can't believe it's mid September already, where did the summer go?  Although we've certainly had some lovely weather lately.  I had another roofer in to look at the leaky roof, he thinks it's most likely cracked felt around the skylight.  He was supposed to give me a quote on Thursday (no sign of it) and come next week to make the repair (date still unspecified).  The weather forecast of course says that it is going to start raining on Wednesday for the foreseeable future.  I spent part of the week catching up on the backlog of chores, like inputting all our receipts into the financial software I use, and cleaning out the inside of the fridge (how is it that you suddenly notice your fridge/bathroom/hallway/whatever is totally filthy - there doesn't seem to be an intermediate stage where you think 'huh, that's starting to look a bit off' - just wham, armageddon.  Now that all three of us are home all the time, it's taking its toll on the house).

I finished altering the Halloween dress, it looks a lot cuter now than it did (before and after pics below). Although we've realised that Halloween is going to be a non-event this year, in fact the way things are going in the UK we could very well be locked down again by then.  DS is strongly urging us to buy Halloween candy for our own purposes, even if we won't be receiving trick-or-treaters this year.  Just what I need, entire tubs of Halloween candy lying around the house. 

I'm cutting out pieces for another dress now, using some fabric from Japan which has little chocolates printed on it, really cute. This has necessitated cutting out a bodice block then trying to make it fit, a deep mystery which is beyond me, even with much pouring over my old Palmer/Pletcher fitting book. The best I can do is to cut it out in waste fabric and keep pinning and re-sewing and trying it on to see if it is getting any better (it isn't).

I went and got my haircut again, I managed to last two months before my fringe/bangs started to drive me batty. The hairdressers are now wearing proper masks, not just visors, and the owner said it has been really quiet the last few weeks.  Perhaps people are paying attention after all to the escalating infection rates. It's hard for small business owners though like her.

I finished the third cross-stitch house in the middle row of three (there will be nine houses altogether) and went to start the top row / fourth house.  That's when I discovered that in stitching the first house in the middle row, I had accidentally stitched over three linen threads instead of two in the middle of its top row. It's too late to fix it now, with the next two houses already stitched and spaced along the linen.  So then I had to decide what to do with the upper row: do I start it one thread in from the left so that it will line up on the right with the house below but half the stitches will be misaligned with the stitches below? Or also stitch over three threads to make the stitches match up with the ones beneath?  I think I'm going with starting one thread in from the left, it won't be obvious unless someone studies the picture up close.

Otherwise this week I've done some knitting on the Brodgar mitts, which seem to be coming out the right size for DH, and tried a flat braid on the square Kumihimo plate - having a lot of trouble with the tension on the flat braid, it's hard to keep it flat and even.  Sumo has started on the telly again (the only sport I watch ) so I'm enjoying watching the highlights from Tokyo every evening. And I am having a renewed spurt of interest in my Darks Souls 2 video game having finally found a DLC that I can actually get through without getting stuck (although the final boss is coming up so that may be the time).  So not much at all really - although my fridge looks a lot cleaner!

To my relief, it's been a boring week

 That's right, no new disasters to report, hurrah!  The maintenance man attended and fixed the broken toilet but sucked his teeth a bit over the leaking radiator which apparently needs special allen keys to tighten up or something, so he's coming back in a few weeks for that.  I chased up the roofer, who is not interested in our leak as he has more work on his plate than he can handle, so tomorrow's job is to find an alternative roofer. The basement is feeling much drier, and the weather has suddenly turned quite warm so I've been lured back out to the garden where we have tackled some tidying up jobs.

On Wednesday I had a 90 minute all-office Teams call to tell us about a bunch of moves and recruitment coming up, so I got in a nice bout of bobbin lacemaking during that as well as cleaning out my email. I was pleased to hear them explicitly confirming that they are not thinking of having us back into the office apart from a few essential staff. I have amazed myself by putting my name forward for a temporary national virtual team they are pulling together for a few months to look at new ways of working virtually. Normally I never volunteer for anything.  I think it's a combination of not particularly liking my current team, and being conscious that my professionalism is spirally downwards through tedium and the aimlessness of being at home. If I get selected then it will be something different and give me a bit of purpose hopefully. I guess it depends how many people put their names forward as there are many colleagues with over 20 years of experience compared to my less than 6 years.

I spent some time this week altering a Halloween dress I've had for a few years to make it more flattering.  It was a vintage swing-style cut with a big circle skirt which was too long and heavy on me.  I've cut the skirt down and shortened it, then yesterday I trawled the local charity shops looking for something I could cut up to make a witches hat. I also went to the haberdashery for some black lace to decorate it with.  The best I could get from the charity shops was a black stretch velvet t-shirt, our little town doesn't run to real velvet, but hopefully it will work. I came away with more lace than I need but it will go in the stash for some future project. I had to queue to go into a few charity shops where they are limiting numbers for social distancing, but otherwise I was amazed at how busy the town was, full of shoppers, which meant lots of dodging for me as I tried to avoid people.

I've had a go at a few of the Kumihimo braids from my new book.  The 8-thread braid was pretty easy, but with the 16-thread braids I found it easy to get confused. You can change the emerging pattern on the cord by varying the number and position of coloured threads that you start with.

My crafting time has been severely cut into this week by the discovery that the new Craftsy platform is running all their courses as free access while they port the videos to the new platform. I don't know if it is free to anyone or just free to existing members.  I didn't have a paid subscription so I'm a bit surprised I can watch them for free.  So I've skimmed through a couple of dressmaking classes on facings and linings, two classes on heirloom sewing techniques using the sewing machine, and a tutorial for sewing a vintage dress.  There are a number of fitting videos I want to watch next while the access lasts, and after that perhaps some knitting and quilting videos. 

 I feel a bit sad when I think how passionate I was about knitting 6 or 10 years ago. I still knit, but it isn't an all consuming main interest the way it was.  It's funny how some people like me go through phases with different hobbies, perhaps coming back to them much later on, whereas other people pick one hobby or just a few that they stick with all their lives. For me, my longest-term hobby has been sewing which I've done since I was a child; followed by dollshouses .  Knitting came later, along with things like cross-stitch and other dabbling, then quilting about 30 years ago, then a shorter but passionate fling with machine knitting followed by learning properly how to hand-knit, and much more recently bobbin lace. And each interest leaves behind a sort of 'craft hangover' in the form of the massive stash I seem to manage to accumulate for each interest, as well as a guilt list of projects I meant to get to.  Although it's paid off during lockdown, I certainly haven't been short of things to do.

What's your crafting journey been like? Do you stick with one or two interests, or do you dabble like me?

And this week's minor excitement is...

 So we've done flooding, plague of flies, various leaks etc.  This week for variety I tried to electrocute myself with my iron while simultaneously blowing the fuses to part of the house.  I thought trouble was supposed to come in threes: I think I am over my quota, please stop.

I was steaming a fabric panel I had safety-pinned together, and somehow the iron hit a safety-pin, which somehow unpinned itself and stabbed the iron, resulting in a short circuit, a loud sharp explosion which tingled my hand, half the lights going out and a bad smell of burning. Cue shouts of surprise from elsewhere in the house as computers died, lights went out etc.  I'm fine, the panel is fine, and today we went shopping for a new iron.

The basement floor is drying out well, so while we are still leaving the windows open, we are now shutting the back door which cuts down on the icy draughts sweeping up the stairs to freeze my ankles while I'm working from home during the day.  But every time I shut my room door to keep out the draught, the cat immediately materialises meowing to be admitted or she will die, only to be followed five minutes later by panicked scrabbling at the door as she tries to get out again. Sigh. But in good news, the flies appear to have stopped coming.

I finished my Jeans knit t-shirt ribbing and wet blocked it.  I'm still annoyed about the different dyelot that snuck in there,  which is subtly visible across the midriff in the photo but I don't think it's too obvious in actual wear.  Washing relaxed the raglan seams a bit more so they feel more comfortable.  It fits well and I like how it looks on me. However I'm always a bit ambivalent about short sleeve handknits because if it is cool enough to wear a handknit then generally I want my arms covered too. The pattern also has a long-sleeved version so perhaps I should knit it again.

With the tshirt off the needles, I have started on an early Christmas present which is a pair of fingerless mitts for DH  using a kit I bought online.  The Brodgar Mitts are inspired by symbols carved on the Neolithic stone artefacts excavated at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney, which we visited a few years ago on holiday.  We were lucky enough to be there when the archeological dig was active, which was really interesting. The yarn included is also from Orkney, Orkney Tweed 4 ply 100% wool, which is properly 'woolly' and excellent for fair isle so far. The thumb is done with a steek, which I've only ever used on cardigans and sleeves, so that should be interesting.  I may have to rip my start out if it won't fit DH's bigger hands and switch to bigger needles, but I'll knit a bit more so I can try it on him.

My Kumihimo order turned up this week so I now have the foam looms and three colours of cord to try weaving with, and some plastic bobbins in case I want to make something with longer lengths.  I went with red, green and white thinking of Christmas ornaments possibly.

Otherwise this week I've been cross-stitching, hand-quilting (working on the final row of blocks now, yay!), bobbin lace, and I've taken apart a cardigan that was too big for me so that I can try cutting it down and overlocking it back together. Work has been somewhat tedious but enlivened by my fairly-universally-disliked manager suddenly announcing that he was stepping down from being a manager. It is unclear as to why, or what will happen to him now, or who is going to be our new manager. We are hoping for new blood and not one of the existing hard-liners (whom my co-worker refers to as the Axis of Evil). They're also threatening that some team members may get moved to other teams, although that seems less of an issue while we are all working from home anyway.  Hurrah for home working!