A month of months

I am still sick and coughing. Also, I went to KAFF on Friday.

I took Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's class "Knitting For Speed and Efficiency" on the recommendation of a coworker. it was amazing, and I highly recommend taking it. SPM is an engaging, hilarious, and encouraging lecturer and teacher.

There was history (did you know knitting was invented in the Middle East, which is why knitting is right to left?) and technique, specifically lever knitting, which is what I wanted to learn.

I took notes, and suddenly am too tired to transcribe them here. I think I will fold them up and stuff them in with my knitting patterns to discover them in surprise at some future date.

ETA:
Vendors of note:
Una's Wooly Walkers - punch needle rug hooking, which will be my retirement hobby
JaMpdx - absolutely adorable porcelain
Eugene Textiles Center - there's a textiles center in Eugene?!?
Apples to Oranges - a yarn store in Silverton with an extensive array of Cascade Yarns and reasonable prices
Graces Cases Designs - very practical knitting organizers and bags
Creative with Clay - irresistible mugs and ceramics with knitted textures


ETA:
I'm cleaning off my desk, finally! I'm therefore transcribing my notes!

Canadians knit 10sts per minute faster on average than Americans

There are three kinds of knitting: picking, throwing, and lever
There are two kinds of knitters: knitting for money vs. not

In picking, knit stitch is the easy stitch to make, and the needle picks up the yarn.
In throwing, knit and purl stitches are easy to make, and the hand moves the yarn. The left arm and hand supports the weight of the work.

The things you knit are dependent on the technique you use, ie knitting all in one piece vs. knitting front, back, and sleeves and then seaming.

Knitting is right to left and was invented int he MIddle East 1000 years ago.

For production knitting:
- sit up straight
- elbows at 90°
- hands palm up in a "C" shape

Digit hierarchy - tension your yarn on stupid fingers and hold needles in smart fingers

In the past, one would use a center pull skein - one day's worth of yarn - on an s-hook hanging from belt

Find a way to keep your project handy - in your car, desk, purse.

Have a variety of projects to work on at one time - easy, medium, hard, fine and chunky
***hard projects prevent dementia***

A makkin is another thing to use instead of a knitting belt, and if one was made for you, it would be along the same lines as a mix tape.

Courses = rows
Wales = vertical line of stitches

I got a high five from SPM when, after calculating my stitches per minute, gave my result with a decimal point - 23.3. :)${\displaystyle 0.{\overline {3}}}$

I saw this to finish up my birthday festivities. I was not expecting it to be good, but I liked it. It wasn't a huge nostalgia trip like I thought it would be. The car chase at the beginning was great. I liked that Artemis rode the Akira motorcycle.

I feel like this would be good on DVD so you can pause it and see how many pop culture references you can pick out. Maybe in every single frame. I have no idea how much this movie cost in terms of licensing. Or whatever you do to pay people to use their creations.

A fairy tale-esque monster movie. Kind of like if the Creature of the Black Lagoon had gone a different way. It's Guillermo del Toro, so of course there was at least one jump scare, and several 'bleeeeeehhhhh!' moments. Very, very pretty sets. Very good acting.

The creature is strangely compelling. Maybe it's because he has really pretty eyes.

I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi over my holiday vacation. Because it was the week between Christmas and New Years, all the 2D showings were sold out except for the very front rows. My dad and I then decided to see it in 3D as we could sit further back in the theater. The 3D effect in movies makes me feel like my eyes are being focused in two different directions, like maybe one is pointing up and another is pointing off to the side so it is Very Disconcerting.¹

Despite that, I did like it. Not as much as some of the others in the saga, though. Rey was cool. Kylo was ANGRY.² Finn and Rose were interesting. Luke was curmudgeonly. Leia was awesome. There were some pretty funny moments, some a little too forced.

The costumes and sets were amazing! As was the music, of course.


<sup>1. The only 3D movie that didn't do that I've seen is Hugo, which was shot in 3D, so maybe that makes a difference?
2. I'm a big fan of emo Kylo Ren, which may also have affected the intended impact of the film for me.</sup>

Continued from the previous entry...

The upholstery job I did back in the 90s always bugged me because I really didn't do a great job with the channels. Instead of using the original stuffing - I think it was in bad shape - I used foam cut into strips. I could see the edges in some of the channels.

I decided this time that I would use cotton batting, which is what is normally used. Unfortunately, the Singer upholstery book did not have information on constructing channels. The various youtube videos I watched all had special equipment to stuff the channels, and didn't actually describe how to make them. The Upholstery at Home book just said to cover the old channels with new fabric, with no information on how to stuff them or make them from scratch.

My plan, since I had no special equipment, was to sew a vertical seam, roll up cotton batting, stretch the fabric over it, and sew a vertical seam right next to it. I found I could NOT sew straight in that situation, but since that was my only option, I continued. It was arduous. I bled, luckily only on the muslin backing.

The back piece is simply leaning against the chair here, so nothing is pulled taut.


The original channels were not straight. However, in the 90s upholstery job, I used striped fabric, and wanted the stripes to run along the channels, so I made them straight. I kind of forgot about this, and after I finished, I found the upholstery book Spruce. I really wish I had found it before I made the back! It's an incredibly comprehensive upholstery book, and channels are included. The author, Amanda Brown, goes into detail on how to measure, cut, and sew shaped channels. Unfortunately, she only talks about stuffing the channels with upholstery channel tins.

Next time I upholster the chair, I'll get the channels right. Haha.

Continued from the previous entry...

Sooooo, Fabric Depot did not have enough of the upholstery fabric, according to Reupholstering at Home by Peter Nesovich who recommended 5 yards for a channel-backed chair, so I ordered 5 yards from Regal Fabrics. It arrived quickly, and with a yard stick, thanks!



I pulled the first waaaay too tight, and ended up right back where I started with an uncomfortably hard seat. I have to say the squishy edge roll makes a huge difference in comfort. My sister helped me this time, and it went really fast.

I used muslin to contain the stuffing instead of burlap, because burlap makes me sneeze. I left the old burlap in there, as well as the back webbing.

I "inherited" a chair in college. It showed up at some point in the house I lived in, and I took it with me when I left. It might have been a pinkish brocade at that point. I assumed it was from the 50s or 60s.

My sister and I reupholstered it sometime in the late 90s and it turned into this:

7 Grandmasters - As usual, a slightly confusing plot. But that's not important! The fights! I think my favorite was the fight in the courtyard with the rack of weapons that was eventually empty. The master flipped a sword off his foot and caught it! That was some great choreography. As far as the plot goes, wikipedia does a pretty good job of explaining it.

I just saw 'Arrival'. I really liked it. It had me a little scared at points. And confused.  It was also more existential than I expected. I'm glad I didn't know anything going in.

However, my answer to the final question is a resounding, "Hell yes."

I "finished" this apron in January, but then had to go back and re-adjust the front so it didn't gap. I took in a 1" dart at the top of the sweetheart neckline and strap join.

The pattern is a mail-order pattern from... the 40s? There were several mail order services that provided patterns from the same company, possibly called Reader Mail. This particular one was from a magazine called Hoard's Dairyman and is 2299.

The fabric is from one old curtain (late 60s, early 70s) acquired from home over the holidays. I love the fabric. The trim is pretty darling, too. I now have all the curtains and am plotting what to do next. I'm thinking "quilt".

I lengthened this by 3" because I need more coverage. It's still too short. Have you ever gotten peanut butter on your knees?

I modified the shoulder straps to instead go around my neck. After having an apron with crossed straps, and straight straps, around the neck is most convenient for me. The shoulder straps needed an additional 4" (!) taken out of the back.

If I made this again, I would probably fully line it, ie make two aprons, sew them together like a pillow case, and turn right side out, instead of hand sewing all that binding around ALL THE EDGES.