Saturday, May 22, 2010

Almost June!

I cannot get over how FAST time is flying by. 2010 is like an eyeblink...sure there was a lot of shittyness to the beginning of it but its still moving at warp speed towards 2011! It's almost June for cryin' out loud!

Almost June means almost summer and almost summer means almost end of school and we all know what that means.

My going insane with The Bickerson twins. Oh yes. Its already started lately. Thing One and Thing 2 annoy the crap out of one another until one breaks and starts screaming or hitting. I won't lie. Its usually Thing 2 annoying and Thing One screaming. Like nails on a chalk board no matter how deep the voice is getting.

So, facing a summer of madness brings up the lovely debates on day camps. They are 11 and 13...they are getting a bit long in the tooth for day camps so we need to search out ones that cater to an older crowd. Did I mention that only one is open to the idea? Yeah. Fun.

In other dealings, summer's approach means the semi-annual changing of the wardrobe and this year mine sucks. Between what I am disposing of from winter and that which does not fit etc for summer, I have trasg bags of clothing to donate and nothing to wear that can be seen outside the home. This has brought also the annual delusion that I can sew myself some stuff. How hard can it be?

There in itself is my red flag. Whenever that phrse "how hard can it be?" comes up, I have been training myself to STOP and back away from the idea. Tiling my kitchen floor on the farm? It was very hard for such a simple thing. And apparently I can't even buy a pattern in the right SIZE let alone sew it.

Yesterday while out with T2, we went to Fabricville. Things may have gone better had I been alone and able to focus solely on the task at hand rather than constantly trip over my sidekick and answer his questions about how much longer this was going to take. They really need to install a waiting area in these stores so I can park a male with a book and say I'll be back in awhile, don't leave thios area.
Thus, I ended up with a misleading pattern that in NUMBER was the right size but in actual measurments was NOT. I discovered this while pinning the pattern pieces on my fabric last night.

To all my friends who find sewing so relaxing and soothing, I THINK YOU ARE MAD!! Nothing frustrates me and makes me cry quite so much as sewing. I contantly fuck up, mis-read instructions, buy the wrong size(this one's new actually), run a needle through a digit, break needles, mis cut, mis measure...you name it. Anything that I can screw up in sewing, I do. So why do I even try???! Because it is a deceptive craft, thats why. It looks SO EASY when you take a simple non-froufrou garment, break it down into 4 easy pieces to be sewn together. It even SAID easy on the pattern for this "one hour" sewing project that I bought the wrong size for and thus the wrong amounts of fabric. ARGH.

Anyway, I took said fabric that I'd been starting my practice skirt on and basically created a tube with and elastic waist band. The easiest skirt in the world. Now I just need help in hemming it. I will probably make the same skirt with my purchased fabrics too. One of which has lovely scalloped selvedge edges for a self hemmed skirt. I think anyways.

The Kria sweater has been giving me fits in the hood creation but a friend gave me a brilliant bit of coaching and now it will be ripped back during todays drive to Charlesbourg and restarted. Rather than doing a wonky bit of intarsia while knitting back and forth oon two different sizes of needles, I will continue the sweater in the round, through the neck and the hoodwith steeking stitches at the front and a marker for increasing the stitch count of the hood in the back. Its gonna be swell and will no longer drain me of my will to live. YAY.

Speaking of will to live, my Mom is feeling much better than she was when I last saw her. Apparently her potassium levels were all outta whack (too high she says) and it was making her weak, dizzy, ill feeling etc. Now she feels great! I am trying to convince her to come and visit us this summer for a week or two. She's never been here and it could be fun for her.

Recent changes in the household numbers: I'd committed to adopting a tabby and white kitten through my friend Elaine last week. He's very cute and almost ready to leave home. Then two days later, my friend Geeta called. Her 3 year old black male cat Oscar was not happy. She'd adopted him a year previously and he has never enjoyed indoor cat life. He's very vocal about the whole thing too. He constantly tried to make a break for it when the front door opened etc. So she called me, her cat loving friend in a much quieter neighborhood to see if I would give him a chance at a happier life. How do you say no to a black sable cat named Oscar Peterson???? A couple hours later he was here. Lets just say I do not know HOW they lived with him for a year without giving in. I lasted two days and then he was let out. HE'S LOVING IT. And though he is still vocal, its more of the chatty in a loud voice variety of vocal. He musty have some Siamese or something obnoxious in his ancestry. This annoying feature of being very loud and never content in being inside or outside or the contents of his food dish has lead to his name evolving into Le Mouche!! He is our pesky pest of a fly. But he's very soft, cuddly, playful and lovable. Monsiuer Le Mouche...Mooshie-mu, Mooshoo...he gets it all from us grown ups but the kids are still calling him Oscar so far.

Wonder whats going to happen when the wee'un comes to us!? 3 adult cats and mischievous kitten. Should be interesting!

5 comments:

Sarah A. said...

Sewing pattern sizes are SUPER depressing to look at. When I first started sewing in grade 7, I was a pattern size 12. I didn't get that sewing pattern sizes and store bought sizes were different and I thought I was fat.

Though there has been much less of a size creep in sewing patterns since like the 40's compared to ready-to-wear, so sewing from a vintage pattern is much less daunting.

Right now I'm working on a scissor dress and had to resew the shoulder seam 3 times to get it straight. Me and my machine have to get to know each other much better.

Terri-Lynn said...

LOL for Oscar. He's getting you trained. I love it when Jade talks to me, but I'm certainly NOT going to ignore her, she will let me know about it ; )

Tara said...

I'm with you, sweetie. I don't get sewing either. I guess I'm all about the process as opposed to the FO, and I just Don't. Enjoy. the process with sewing!

Suldog said...

Well, even if only one of them is open to the idea of camp, that will solve the bickering problem, no? Best of luck!

Barbara from Nova Scotia said...

You just have to be one with your sewing machine....And say nice things to it! That's what works for me.