Frankenblogging Part 3: Miscellaneous notes on hand sewing and medieval sewing

Author's note: The Frankenblogging feature is a republication of older content from my former personal webpage, with some annotations. It occurs every Monday morning. 

More old stuff! Complete with only slightly repaired poor formatting and a less well-thought-out writing style. My newer notes are in this typeface. Enjoy!

Medieval sewing stitches
From _Textiles and Clothing_:

Running stitch (not recommended for bias seams or any seams that will take stress or wear as the fabric may shift and the thread may break or pull..)

Not really. Make them very small and regular and they are just fine. This was actually the most popularly used seam and hem stitch.

Backstitch (the most solid stitch and most suitable for modern fabrics, takes stress and wear well)

Used for heavy stress areas and embroidery.


Overstitched edges (good for selvedges or fulled edges)

This is also called butted edges.

Felling seams:
French seams are not described at all in _Textiles and Clothing_, but a flat seam finish is: The seam is opened flat and the seaming allowance is sewn flat with a running stitch (which is safe to use as it is not going to be stressed at all). For modern, unfulled fabrics, I would roll the raw edge under as I sewed the seaming allowance flat with the running stitch. Other methods, not found in Textiles and Clothing can be found
below.

Hemming stitches: 

There are three basic techniques shown in _Textiles and Clothing_:

1. Hem stitch is shown used on both a single and double folded hem. 
2. Top-stitching done in running stitch is shown on a single-folded hem hemmed with hem stitch. This would give a stronger hem, and reduce stretching on bias edges. 
3. Running stitch is shown used on single-folded hems.

Rolled hems are shown on fine fabrics such as silks and I suspect they may have been done on fine linen edges, although no examples have survived to prove or disprove this theory... Personally, I would use this edge on fine linen.

Sarcastic note about my own tone here: "I bought a BOOK! I'm an EXPERT!" Sigh. 

Facings and edge finishes: 

Necklines and open armhole edges were often faced with narrow silk bindings or facings on the straight grain. You could use inexpensive Habotai silk for these facings. They are sewn on with a fine running stitch. Lacing edges are finished with the same type of facing, with the lacing holes worked in buttonhole or whipstitch through the outer fabric, lining (if any) and facing strip. I'd use a doubled strip for my lacings, as I know how much stress I always put on them :) Buttonhole edges were finished with a narrow cardwoven band, about 4 cards wide, sewn on as it was woven ( the weft thread was the sewing thread). If you are going to the trouble
of handsewing anything that will have buttonhole edges, you should really do the cardwoven reinforcement. I'm working on a project right now that will have these edges on it. 

Some Handsewing Stitches


This is my own advice and therefore is less directive and "experty." However, that means that I felt that my little illustrations spoke for themselves. I think I need more explanation for these to be really practical. Or just more illustrations. 

And no, I can't really draw a needle. I'm better now, but not by much.

This diagram shows how to measure and knot the doubled thread.
Measure wrist to shoulder, cut your thread.

Thread your needle, then knot the two ends as shown.


Anchoring the knot in your cloth.

Running stitch

A good basting stitch, and a good hem stitch for lightweight fabrics.

Not very sturdy for seams. Unless small and close! Take small, neat stitches forward on both the front and back of your work. Can also be used for gathering up fabric.

Backstitch.

A sturdy seam stitch. Take long stitches forward on the back of the work (2x your desired stitch length), then stitch one stitch backward on the front of your work.


Chainstitch

Decorative and useful as a seam stitch. On the front of the work, punch the needle through near to the point where it emerged, making a loop. On the back of the work, bring the needle forward one stitch length and back up through the fabric to catch the loop.

Whipstitch

A hemming stitch, also useful for finishing seams and sewing down trims. Worked like running stitch, except that it it 'zigs' on the front and 'zags' on the back of the work. The second diagram shows how to trim one side down to ease rolling the seam allowance under for finishing.

whipped hem

Crossed whipstitch

Whipstitch worked double for durability. The second row is worked across the first, forming x's.

Oversewn or whipped edges

Use to join selvedges for a flat smooth finish. Take small, neat whipstitches all along the doubled edges. When finished, open flat and press.

Finishing a gathered edge

A gathered edge can be neatly bound by carefully whipping a binding onto it, being careful to catch the binding on both sides as you work.

Ladder stitch

Makes a strong, decorative join on two hemmed pieces of fabric. Stitches are worked in a figure-eight pattern (second diagram), going in one peice and coming out of the gap, then going in the other.

side view 

Frankenblogging Part 2: On facings in Medieval costume

Author's note: The Frankenblogging feature is a republication of older content from my former personal webpage, with some annotations. It occurs every Monday morning. 


 I wrote this a decade or so ago, originally for a post to a discussion list, later re-written for my old website. This is installment 2 of the bits and bobs coming over here from over there. 

On facings

First, for clarity and beacuse the two are often confused:

• Interfacing: A supplemetary layer of fabric, normally placed between the fashion fabric and the lining, or between the fashion fabric and the facing. It is intended to help stiffen or strengthen the fashion garment. In fully lined garments (such as jackets), all stress points may be interfaced, sometimes severaly layers deep, to help the garment keep its designed shape. 
• Facing: A shaped piece of fabric intended to finish a garment edge, often cut as an abbreviated version of the garment piece it matches. This is seamed along the garment edge, turned and either finished and left loose inside, or sometimes sewn down either inside or outside, depending on the design of the garment. 

In modern clothing the facing is often only attached at the garment edge (collar, cuff, placket, hem, etc) and is left to hang loose inside the garment. These loose facings are often interfaced to keep them from crumpling, flopping, or slipping out of the garment edge. Which they always do anyway. Personally, I hate these and I sew them down invisibly inside my garments.

In some eras of period costume, facings are used as a decorative motif, and are often embroidered. They serve a dual purpose, in that they are both a finishing technique (practical) and a form of ornament (decorative).  Where facings are used as a decoration, additional fabric bands may also be applied to continue the ornamental theme across the garment. I do 12thc, and therfore I make use of this decorative technique, and I find that I almost never have to interface my applied facings, *unless* it is a fine or unstable fabric.

On fastening keyhole necklines

I have often been asked how one should fasten a keyhole neckline. The simple, documentably period answer? A brooch.

Author's note: Small brooches are also really useful on regular clothing as well as medieval period clothing. They are also a really nice fashion detail. Every time I've worn a period-costume jewellry item with my everyday clothes, I've been complimented on it.


Medium-sized annular (unbroken ring) brooches with a hook catch on the back to anchor the pin seem to work well, as well as simpler ring- or disc-brooches. It takes a bit of practice to use a pen-annular (broken
ring) brooch to close the corners of a keyhole neckline, but it can be done.

You only need to close up a keyhole neckline if it's cold enough to, or if decency calls for it. If the corners of the neckline like to fly open and you don't want adventurous people looking down the inside of your tunic, pin them together. If you don't want to have to pin them, apply a trim or decorative facing that is fairly stiff.

This type of neck-finish was fashionable in various areas for hundreds of years. Generally speaking, the period way will turn out to be the most practical way, IME. If you are curious about exactly what is right for your persona, look at illuminations and period art for help. 

It's Beautiful!

Because I love my little boy this much:



I made him this:



He loves it. "It's Beautiful!"

Because I can't keep secrets, I made this for everyone who might want to make their own version of it.

And just so you don't think I'd leave my big boy out of it, I took macro photos of his fish and framed them for him.

What the CPSIA means to me

This entry is not "against" the CPSIA, however, I am worried about how that very necessary piece of legislation has been, and continues to be, mishandled by the vary people who should be making it work. As it stands, it's not doing any good, and won't be able to do any good, until the blame stops being passed back and forth between the CPSC and the Committee for Energy and Commerce.

Like many, many other parents, I was delighted that there were now steps being taken to test imported, lead-contaminated toys. I still am. I am delighted that the toys and clothes and feeding items available to me will be safer in the future. However, there is something gravely wrong with this necessary, well-intentioned law.

What is wrong? The CPSIA is both too narrow and too broadly defined, requiring items known to not contain lead to be tested, specifically disqualifying component testing or testing by materials suppliers, and thus effectively making it impossible for small and micro businesses to comply at all. Some will survive by making only two or three items in batches of sufficient size to send one for testing, but their prices will go up. Some small companies are being turned away by the certified testing labs, because their business isn't lucrative enough. It's even worse if you make one of a kind, unique items - things that might be possible to make from a selection of pre-tested and certified materials must now be made in batches of two, so that one can be destroyed by the testing lab in digestive lead testing.

This would not be a problem if the parts of the law that need defining, clarification, redefining, etc could be dealt with, but the CPSC and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are dragging their feet, and passing the buck back and forth. Nothing is getting done, even though there seems to be a lot of talking and blamethrowing. That means that all these thousands of small companies, small stores, even libraries and schools, that want to comply with testing, or that already do by only using/buying domestically made materials, are left out in the cold, unable to do comply, because no questions are going to really be answered in time for the deadline(s).

I call it irresponsible, especially given the desperate economic climate our country is in. The fact is that the testing is often unnecessary, and where it might be necessary, it is mandated to be done in the most onerous, burdensome way. Furthermore, the lack of sufficient labs coupled with the short time frame for testing has made it impossible to even get the requisite tests performed, were the tests even easily affordable. Costs have been driven up to amazing levels by the sudden overwhelming demand.

What does this mean to me? I was working on a home business, getting all may ducks in a row, getting ready to sell a few items for kids on etsy. That's not going to happen now.

As I've said elsewhere, my embryonic business is being forced to change focus completely. At least I only had a few items made up to try out sales for the holidays when the impossibility of continuing due to the CPSIA caused me to stop and put everything aside until I could work out what I was going to do.

I even set aside all the standard startup paperwork (thank goodness I put a hold on my plans before I filed for my fictitious business name! I'd have to refile, because it was obviously child oriented!) as soon as the impact of this law became apparent, while I was researching use testing requirements last fall. I had hoped to have everything in place to start small in early December, but my etsy shop instead sat empty, and will remain so until I finish my non-kids designs, and figure out exactly what I'll be doing.

I've looked back at the time I've spent preparing and it turns out it is over 2 years of work down the drain. I am looking to refocus entirely on hand spun yarn, historical costumes, and collector art dolls (NOT for kids, small parts, display only). Time will tell if there is even anyone who wants those things. I'm sad. My kids loved the prototypes of my playthings, wore my cloth diapers and cloth training pants, I wanted to share what I'd made for them with other kids.

As bad as I feel about not being able to share my kid-oriented work with others, I feel worse that I won't be able to buy handcrafted items for my own children, or I'll have very few, and MUCH more expensive, options available to buy. According to this law, I can't even swap my craft work for someone else's craft work, unless both items have been third-party tested according to the law's requirements. Even if all parts are domestically sourced and confirmed lead free and nontoxic by the materials manufacturers, that person-to-person craft swap is illegal, an exchange of contraband for contraband.

I may - may - be able to get samples of the fabrics and notions I use XRF tested so I could list and sell the few items I have ready between now and August, when even that screening process will become insufficient. However, that depends on demand, and I have to work out if the profit I will make on a few all-textile toys, cloth diapers and dressup hats will cover the fees for that, even given how reasonably priced as a small-volume XRF scan consultation can be.

That's where I am. It's not a pleasant place to be. It's like looking at the burnt-out shell of a home you once loved. What's worse is that I'm not alone. It's like a huge city has been obliterated, and we all have to start over.

This has been long-winded, but people in despair want to talk about it. It usually helps to do so. So far, my letters, calls and emails have been ignored. So far, it looks bleak.

At least our inspiration can't be outlawed. I can only hope that next year, some of us can emerge from the wreckage, like cicadas, and begin again.

Stuff On the Worktable

Here's a quick rundown of my current projects, and a cool thing I figured out for a small work area. Projects first!

This first one is a two-layer dressup sun/royalty crown I made for my kids. It's a big pain to sew, though, because of the fiddly shape of the rays, so I probably won't be making any to sell that are just like this. I'm also planning to make a soft tricorn hat and a pointy hat, but the little guys have to wait for those. The big sewing project (my formal and Laura's formal) is going to eat up a large amount of my time.

The second thing I'm making is a soft toy inspired by the fact that little kids love to pull all the tissues or wipes out of a box. I'm calling a it a "magic tissue box" and the "tissues" are serged random shaped fabric pieces, different on each side They connect with hook-and-loop, so they pull out one after the other, but will tear away for safety, and connect to the bottom of the "box." The box is actually a box bag without a zipper, overlapped to give the illusion of closure.

I'm making one for Mr Giant Baby to replace the cardboard-and-knotted-fabric prototype, and one to test the waters with in my Etsy shop. I had several goals for this:

1. Stimulating patterns and colors, maybe also textures
   
2. Washable, all fabric
   
3. Soft
4. Safe (so no knotted-together pieces of fabric)
5. Portable, so it has a handle, and the "tissues" connect with hook-and-loop so they don't get lost easily

They are still in progress, and I'm still deciding whether I want to add round and square tissues or keep with the random triangles and rectangles I've been using. Also, I have a few threads left to trim..



This is a hint of the colorful pieces for something I am planning to sell, which is a terrycloth teething toy. Mr Giant Baby has already worn his prototype nearly out, but he'll get a new one of these, too.

My goals for this one are:

1. Bright colors and interesting patterns
2. Teethable surfaces (terrycloth)
3. Washable and quickly drying
4. Interesting surfaces
5. Loop for hooking to stroller/carseat

Pictures when I have more than just parts!

Finally, this is my solution to having only one worktable, two machines I need to switch between, and a small work area (so adding another table is impractical). I got this turntable with a TV stand that was Freecycled to us, and since my husband didn't want the turntable it was sitting around useless - until I realized it would fit on my worktable, and it would hold both my machines (which happen to share the same type of pedal/cord). It works fabulously, and all I have to do to switch machines is unplug one, spin and plug in the other. It's really fast if I do my matching thread setup before I start.

And here is the coolest thing, which I figured out recently - I can fit my small cutting mat on the end of the worktable next to the turntable, so I can cut things out without having to move the machines around! Yay for better organization in small spaces.

Blogstalky: Purse Gutz

Well, I delayed to make it more interesting, but it really isn't. I'd be a wallet girl if I didn't need a diaperbag.

ETA: Okay, something that got eaten by blogger while I fought with the editing window in my other browser is that it isn't originally a diaperbag - it's a smallish medium-sized purse with lots o' pockets, as I despise most diaper bags, even the non-fluffy-bunny styles. I had intended to make my own diaper bag, but never got around to it. So I went hunting for one that fit my idea of what I wanted (I'd had the perfect purse-cum-small-diaperbag when FX was little, but gave it away to a friend who needed one), I hunted all over and found it at Target, I think. For 10 bucks. Cheap is good, and even more so if it doesn't fall apart (it's going on 2 years old now).

And it's about 10 x 7 x 8. A little bigger than I wanted, but still quite compact unless I stuff it.
(end added-left-out-part)

This, then, is my purse:

Wait. Mr. Giant Baby decided to "help" by violently shaking me while I snapped the photo. Let's try that again.

Okay, this is my purse. Lots of pockets. The silver zipper pocket is "my zone" and the pockets in front contain my things.

Yes, that includes cigarettes, but honestly, I only smoke one a day, at most, and I never finish them. And I smoke outside. Also, there is the wallet with red flames which my husband bought me so I wouldn't lose it. So, of course, I have, several times. But I did always find it again...


Arranged according to their position in the purse are:

1. from side pocket one: A bottle of Little Noses cold/allergy drops; A bottle of Infant Tylenol Dye-Free; a tube of baby Orajel (it is a diaper bag! I swear!)
   
2. from silver-zipper pocket: Pens mixed with some penlike makeup (eyeliner, mascara, coverup); checkbook; crumpled piece of paper; a penny; a large paperclip; Makeup (liquid, powder, lipstick, eyeshadow); an expansion pack for Chez Geek
3. from side pocket two: hand sanitizer (diaper bag!); a selection of emergency tampons.
4. My wallet, which has lots of cards, a bunch of receipts, a small pen, and one dollar, just in case.

Next we have the contents of the inside and back pockets, minus the stinky diapers and wet bag, because those go straight into the diaper can when we get home. We have:

1. Several random pieces of paper. I have no idea whose phone numbers those are. I think this came from my husband's pocket, actually.
2. A pale yellow plastic fork-spoon-sporky thing
3. The sewing pattern for Laura's dress.
   
4. Two fortune cookie fortunes.
5. Three velcro tiedowns (seriously, these belong in every diaperbag).
6. baby wipes (diaperbag!)

Going Fabric Shopping Today

...because I'm a nut and I volunteered to make a gown for my friend Laura, since we're both curvy and weird to fit. It's just plain better to make it from scratch if you have to have that much fitting done, I say. 

I am taking Mr GiantBaby along, because Husband is exhausted (they do that to you regularly in the Marines, apparently), and he doesn't need 2 rambunctious kids running him over all day without backup. This means that all the stuff has to go with me too - stroller (no baby carrier, since he's HUGE and I'm already uncomfortable), cloth diapering stuff, feeding utensils (he's VERY into spoons), cup, juice, bag with toys...

And then there's what I need to bring - My swatches, since Laura and I are trying not to be clashy (we'll be hanging out all night while the men BS and drink, so we decided not to be clashy or matchy), the patterns, The Girly Stuff Survival Kit. Yeah, it's the Eve of That Week, and my uterus feels like it's warming up for a marathon. Ouch. 

Blogstalkers: I'm making my Purse Guts post after I get back, because it's much more interesting after a day out. It's all boring now, what with me having cleaned it day before yesterday. 

Also expect a "what I'm up to lately" post, since I've got the photos taken. I was just too lazy to write about them.

Why I shouldn't spend too much time online

Why? Well, besides the obvious equation that (time on the Internet) = (time not spent creating things), it also often means I find cool things to add to my ever expanding to-do list. Like making a biscornu embroidered with 15th century German counted-thread work.

The last time I tried this I was inspired to work it in miniature scale and I did exactly one motif.

Somebody smack me.

Blogstalkers! The Navelgazing Post, or, it's all about me.

In honor of the reanimation of Knitty Coffeeshop Blogstalking, I've redecorated. However, I took the easy way out, and just used a template, so expect it to change again when I get around to it. Maybe I'll just spend some time trying on templates. I dunno.

Anyway - we're supposed to be self-centered this week. I'm awful at that (see! That's about me!). Personally, I think I'm boring, while the things I do, the places I've been, and the people around me, are interesting.

Here's an example of the boring, the normal, the unremarkable:

I'm 37. I have 2 kids. I'm averagely pudgy and averagely tall. I have averagely large feet. I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers, and three stepparents. I wear glasses. I drive an old, third-hand minivan. I had three years of college, and left to work without my degree.

The Interesting:

I grew up in California. I'm from Berkeley/North Oakland, with moves to Santa Cruz, Monterey, Mendocino, San Jose, San Diego, out of state to Texas, Oregon, and Illinois, and out of the country to Ireland (in early childhood). I've lived everywhere from very urban environments to very rural environments - places I had to carry mace, and places I had to feed horses and care for sheep. I like to tell people I was raised by a pack of wild intellectuals in the woods, which is close to the truth.

I've been doing fiber arts in some form since early childhood. So long, in fact, that I don't really know when I learned to spin. I know it was after 1973, because Susan Druding says that's when she sold my mom her wheel. I know I've been weaving since I was six or so, as I used to have a tapestry I made hanging in my room. I also don't remember when I learned crochet, but I remember my first attempt to learn to knit. It was AWFUL - my mother decided we would learn together, and we didn't. The resulting scarf was very 1970's, acid green, big "deliberate" holes, gauge problems, etc. I hated it, I hated knitting, and I never wanted to do it again. My mother hated the scarf so much she gave it away, and I remember being angry that she gave it away, because it was so hard won I did not want to part with it. Well, at least Nadia liked it, which is more than the horrid thing deserved.

I sew, and I sew all kinds of things. This week I designed a bra pattern for 1-way stretch denim I had lying around, and it is so comfortable. I'm also making my dress for the Marine Corps ball (in November), and I recently had fun doing brainless sewing for my living room (see the previous entry). I can drape, flat-pattern, and estimate yardage in my head. All for a hobby.

Professionally, I've been a bookshop clerk, a warehouse worker (I was so slim and strong, if only it had paid better), an administrative assistant, a graphic designer, a security guard (really), an illustrator, a web designer, a theatrical costume designer, a telephone operator, and a bridal dressmaker's assistant. I've also worked in restaurants, from being an assistant dessert chef at a 4-star gourmet place to managing a pizza parlor near a university.

I have geeky hobbies - I'm in the SCA, and I have done historic reenactments, museum volunteering (costumed interpreter, collections processing, docent). I like to play computer games (though I hardly ever get to anymore - I used to be really good at Quake.), and tabletop RPGs. I read a lot - everything from mysteries (I prefer historical ones where the authors have done lots of research that only other people like me would care about, of course), to horror, to fantasy, to hard research materials. I've been known to read encyclopedias for fun. I recreate medieval wire jewelry, collect beads (and sometimes use them), and cook stuff. I used to (before kids) work as a convention volunteer staffer for as many as three conventions a year, mostly science fiction. It's like herding cats, and that's just dealing with the important people :)






Um, I also used to be cool (sort of). I had a mohawk, and I have a tattoo on my scalp, of a knotwork roundel from the Book of Lindesfarne. Once, when I was a phone bank volunteer for KTEH in San Jose, the actor who plays Lister on Red Dwarf scared the crap out of me by sneaking up to take a photo of it. I managed to get a picture with him for that :) He is, by far, one of my favorites of all the "famous" people I've ever met (and I've met a lot of them).




See? it's the things around me that are interesting (even my hair is more interesting than me), not me. But I guess I clean up okay :)

Interior Decoration, Budget Style

When we moved, we had to store our livingroom furniture (two heirloom ironwood tables - too heavy; a large l-shaped sectional - too big; a steel and glass display cabinet - too heavy and too big; and a restaurant shelving entertainment center - didn't want to disassemble it), so we had nothing for the living room when we got here, except some pillows, some boxes, and some blankets.

We had planned to get some replacement furniture from Ikea, but they were out of all the cushions the day we went, so we didn't get any of it. And we ended up spending the money budgeted for that living room on other things in ensuing weeks. While the rest of our house was furnished, the living room sat empty and forlorn. Nothing but an area rug, boxes, sad and battered pillows, blankets and a big tv. It looked like a 'first apartment' story when you walked in the door, without the motorcycle on the carpet.

Later, I freecycled a loveseat, chair, and ottoman, which were originally white/yellow damask but had become ugly, dirty, ... and smelly. Cleaning was ... ineffective. We covered them with the blankets and used lots of Febreze for a couple of weeks. I got 20 yards of navy blue brushed microfiber, imprinted with a tiger-stripe pattern (invisible unless looked at closely) for a dollar a yard at Valdemart, which, when combined with my staplegun, worked just dandy to do a quick and dirty re-upholstery job on the used furniture.

At some point, we figured out the tv would fit nicely on top of Chris's footlocker. It looked okay for awhile (interestingly, this living room was still iffy enough that the only images I have are focused on my kids). We also got a torchiere from Valdemart and some wire grid shelves from Tarjay. It began to come together. The boxes began to leave the room.

Then, I freecycled a nicer, but still used, (and green) comfy chair and had to work that in, too. The same week, I ran by Ikea and bought 20 yards of end-of-season fabric (4 different, semi-coordinating fabrics). I love the end of season fabric. I made new covers for my pillows and even made drapes. I made a throw for the sofa, and I have enough left over to make all kinds of other stuff.

Then, later the same week,I discovered that the nearby daycare center was tossing lots of old, school quality, furniture (I'm guessing they got a grant to replace their old stuff), so I asked, got permission (crucial when dumpster scoring nice stuff!), and picked up three low storage shelves and a kids' workbench. The low shelves became a sofa table, a television stand, and the base for a wall unit also made up of a small chest of drawers and some of the grid shelving.

Here we have the curtains,

and some art I made to fill the large, empty wall.

So, now we have a living room full of furniture and I think we have spent 60 bucks. there's still a large box draped with extra fabric pretending to be an end table between the two chairs, but the rest are gone.

I want to do a really pretty, magazine style shot, but that requires a lack of cookies on the floor and good light. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm on etsy

See the sidebar for the link. Right now it's just cloth diapers, but that was a good place to start. People have been bugging me for years to sell my CDing stuff, but I couldn't keep up with my own kids and sew for sale before now.



Expect better photography in the future - it's hard to get a good shot at night!

Arrived.

Here we are on the Left Coast. It's actually lovely and cool here, and I am inexpressibly grateful for that, as it is reportedly like unto Hades where we came from. I'm getting used to the faint booming of explosives.

Actually, we arrived about 2.5 weeks ago, but our phone didn't get hooked up for over 9 days, and then we discovered the dialup access was less than half the speed of sloooow service we had where we were before, so we arranged for high-speed access. We got that today, so here I am.

In knitting/crafting news, I did in fact get some work done on Bobby, but misplaced him as we unloaded boxes, than discovered that I need a comfy char for knitting. I've become spoiled - when we get the new living room furniture, there will be a knitting chair and a gooseneck lamp. In a few weeks...

In the meantime, I will console myself with sewing. Or try.

FO's

Not all knitting, though. I just finished a lovely arming coat and surcoat for my freind EMT J. That makes 3 items of his medieval fighting outfit done, out of 5 (I'm counting the boots as 1...). I finished the undertunic 2 weeks ago.

I'm making it in return for EMT J helping with our house.

Now the knitted FO: I finished a Hat For Alex. 1 down, 2 to go, but I'm trying to get done before the end of the month, so we'll see if I get more than 1 more finished before then...

A word to the wise...

SO, I got to sew a bit today (no garb, making diaper covers for El Munchkin o' Doom).

If you have not given your sewing machine a deep de-linting in six months or so, do it now.

My machine was making a gentle squeaky sound, despite having done a light lint brushing a couple of days ago ( i was dusting the sewing table so I thought, what the hell). So I thought, "hmmm - maybe I should unscrew the stitchplate and REALLY clean this baby out!"

No kidding. I hadn't done it for awhile. I pulled all the little bits out and brushed like mad. DAYUMN.

Not lint bunnies under the bobbin assembly, no... llint llamas. Enough lint to make felt mouse, life-sized...

Go clean out your machine's guts. If you love it, do it :)

Your machine will love you back, I promise.

The Dance of the Overflowing Toilet Fairy

Well, that pretty much sums it up. Between 1 and 3 I was fighting a flood of sewage and cleaning my bathroom. The management says that our toilet "does not overflow" (REALLY?) , but can occasionally "back up or drain slowly because it's last on the sewage line". Pah. They just do not want to hire an actual plumber, cheap ba$tards.

Pardon my crabbiness. I'm tired and I smell like poop, despite an hour scrubbing with bleach and soap and hot water. It tends to cause moodiness. :P


The last time they came in to 'fix' the toilet they tried to blame my son for the plugged up toilet. He was 3 months old at the time. I suspect that there are tree roots (perhaps from the large eucalyptus right outside the window) involved in the sewer line. I also suspect that a chronically regurgitating toilet is a violation of some housing code.

But what do I know? I'm just a girl.

Up early today!

And so idealistic. I've got plans!

I had to get up early anyway to chase Chris out of the house early for work. Poor man, they're planning to run the bunch of them about 20 miles today. Bleh, since most of them aren't used to it.

Me? I decided to stay up and work out a bit myself and then take a crack at the last of the housework, well, really, the last of the unpacking. While FX is sleeping, however long it lasts.

Wish me luck. I hope I don't run out of steam.

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Oh, one more thing, while the blasted modem is dialing in.

Yesterday, I got clearance from Kirrily, tha lady who runs AmIPeriodOrNot, to make my Cliffs Notes to AIPON public. So, it's public. Use it if you want :)

On people leaving this world...

And now for something kinda depressing.

In the last couple of years, several wonderful people of my acquaintance have died. I was reminded of this by visiting the Lacis website (which I don't often have money enough to even browse anymore) and seeing the memorial tribute to Kaethe Kliot, who I have known since I was a girl.

I feel bad that I was tied up in my own stuff last year in spring that I didn't even know she was gone. She was wonderful to me and I will always remember her as one of my mother's freinds who treated me as my own person once I grew up and not simply as my mother's daughter. To tell the truth, like people always do, i thought she would be here forever.

I lost a couple of other dear people, both of whom I wish I could have had the time to know better before they went. One, a really neat SCA lady, who was a deeply spiritual person and natural political mover (couldn't really stay out of it any more than I can prevent myself from sewing or drawing or cooking) but was also instantly like family once I met her, and never pulled anyone unwilling into her swirling vortex of political stuff. I miss Kate.

The other was my mom's best freind of many years, a glassblower and artist and just a wonderful, if powerful and sometimes overintense person. I saw her everytime I went home to visit mom, and the last time she was dying of cancer. She was still 'there' though, and she seemed determined to hold on until her 50th birthday, which she did. Also hard to beleive Lisa is gone. She was a force of nature.

I have this idea, which I guess I came up with in childhood, that people don't just go away when they die - they get a job assignment of sorts, which is something that they loved to do in life. I imagined, for example, that my Great Grandfather, who I never met, but whose paintings hung all over our house, had the job of painting the sky, along with all the other artists. They would paint what they wanted to that day, and since there is a lot of sky with all its variations, there is always something new to do. I'd see different artists' styles in every sunset or winter storm.

So I imagine that Kaethe is making lace out of ice-clouds and guiding spiders as they make their webs, and that Lisa is a volcano goddess somewhere. Kate, though, I think had something she was supposed to do. She was always busy doing things.

Funny what you get in your head, isn't it?

yummy bread

I've made some panne rustica (that's non-glossy french bread for non-bread-geeks) and
ive been eating it all day. Very yummy! Especially with olive oil and salt.

I let it rise overnight, so it's really fine grained, but I don't think I put enough flour in it because it's ... flattish. it rose sideways. :P I'm making another loaf today, so I'll see if I can make it more, er, loaf shaped.

HEY! Cooking is housework!

ScaGeekCode

I used to be addicted to stuff like this:
http://www.therotunda.net/sca/geek-code.html

I found it in 's journal

Here's mine, but I'm not so sure that I've got it right.

SCA GEEK CODE. Version YF0307c. %
HF-i AS+ii SR-i {DM KW MC} CK/+i {BF} HS-ii {A} A+i HW+o G+ii
P.1150-1220~fr/+o EX.96+o/-iii(+ii) TR-i/-o EN+i HH+o
FM+iii MP+ii NT+ii WB+i

Yes, I'm avoiding housework, with the expected result.

old site all fixed and other news

Well, my issue with (my old web host) is all cleared up. Seems they changed their rate structure and didn't realize that it might have an effect on old users... Anyway, it's all better now and I'm not going to make (my old website, which is now gone, years later) go away any time soon, though the ads are there to stay. I liked the old teeny ads better, but I can't get them back now. I made the banners as unobtrusive as possible (they are the kind that scroll away after they load).

I'm trying to get ahold of the lady who runs amiperiodornot(dot)com (also long gone) since I've put together a browsable index, but she won't email me back (or my mails keep going astray), so I don't know if it is okay for me to make it public or not. Sigh.

The bliautlady site is up, but not updated. We're expecting houseguests and I've been busy trying to clean around the baby. That means, unfortunately, no sewing either. Argh, I can look at the Eyesore Gown, but no working on it until next week at the earliest. It seems fated to remain a pile of parts for awhile. My head is just bursting with ideas for the new site and improvements to the old one and I have a half-finshed set of illos for Arrianne de Chateau-Michel that I need to ink and scan. Too much to do, not enough me to do it all in time for me to be ahppy with it all.

Oh, go to her site: (website gone, sigh try the archive, here: https://web.archive.org/web/20070928174759/http://www.chateau-michel.org/ ) READ her articles. They are GOOD. She writes as well as I draw, or better.

I'm thinking I might want to make a custom set of moodicons, and make them public, since I'm not so happy with what's there right now. I used to do icon design at Tivoli, so I've certainly got the skillset.

Kid is TEETHING. 2 teeth and counting, he's working on the third and it really hurts him. Left Upper incisor is cutting thru right now, poor thing. We're going at a rate of about 1 every 8-10 days. Yes, before anyone asks, he's been biting, but he always did that, and I'm pretty good at getting him to stop.

Wow, this is my longest entry ever, not counting my project outline. ;)

Hope I have time to update soonish.