The beginning of the hygge collection

 We have had that day this week- the day when you get up to walk the dog in the morning and think "it's changed, I can feel fall."

This year will be a little different. 

For reasons we all know about we are not going to do our regular winter trip to the US. We have been doing that for the last ten years, saving up our vacation when we were both working. It will be weird to be at home for the winter this year, all winter.

Because of our annual trips I always see my fall/winter sewing as half warm weather clothes making. 

This year I will be at home and either in the house or out in the cold, for 5-6 months.

Getting your head into this space requires considering the Danish term hygge very seriously. Canadians don't have an equivalent term, unless you call it hockey season, but we do have an equivalent climate.

Pretty much everyone has heard of hygge these days. It is that sort of cozy, snuggly, comfortable holed up securely at home situation that seems to me to particularly relevant to the times ahead. Workers at home will even be hygge in the office this year.

So with these weighty issues in my mind right now I have decided to do a full on hygge winter wardrobe.

To me this will involve sewing some new clothes that hopefully should feel like old clothes.

I have been thinking about a book these days my kids and I used to read "Need a house call Miss Mouse." Miss Mouse was an architect and she made homes for various animals. We used to look at the pictures and everyone would decide what was our favourite house. I learned a lot about my kids by seeing what house they chose.

This was my favourite, the fox's den. I could totally live there and live like that. Just add a sewing machine.

These are the homes my daughter liked best and they seem to me to be very pandemic relevant. 

First Bear's house, for hibernation:

And Worm's house, well-stocked:

I am pretty sure my winter is going to look like one of the above and I intend to be dressed for it.

To start this I pulled out my favourite old Jalie sweatshirt pattern. I have tried other sweatshirt type patterns but this one is my favourite - I like the high ribbed neckline, the loose but not too loose body, and the fact the sleeves aren't sloppy -a lot of the other ones I have sew had wide necklines too that didn't feel this cozy.

Here is the pattern envelope:

The trick to update this pattern I have decided is to not do the waistband ribbing too tight- just slightly smaller than the bottom of the top is fine and avoids the bloused in look.

I made my version in a french terry with sort of embossed dots on it. I picked this up at Joann's in my travels in the kids fabric section.

Now this, like a few other pictures, was taken in front of my husband's motorcycle. He bought the bike out of nostalgia a few years ago and uses it primarily to run down to the store for ingredients when he is cooking. He is definitely not a biker unless there is a group somewhere called " We are out of cilantro."

However the bike is vintage and shiny and if I want to interrupt him to get a picture taken I have found saying "why don't we do a picture of the bike?" generally works pretty well.

So here I am in the first of many holed-up-for-the-winter tops and my neon turquoise glasses which I guess suit both my top and the prop.

Flypaper thoughts fallow year edition

• I am settling into the long termness of our situation
• I'm facing facts this week
• It could be a year until I see my son, my DIL, and grandchild in California
• A year is a long time in a child's life
• And I have always been able to get to one of my children if I have to
• This is the way it has to be
• My 92-year-old mother says she wonders if she will be in isolation the rest of her life
• Right now I would have to quarantine for two weeks if I flew to see her in Winnipeg
• And two weeks back
• I would do it but no one thinks I should fly
• My lovely mother-in-law has decided she won't see us
• "until all this is over"
• Despite next to no covid here
• But since my husband works and I see the kids
• She doesn't want to risk it
• She won't even go for outside visits with masks
• What can we do?
• My youngest son's girlfriend in Texas has broken it off
• She couldn't stand the waiting
• He is building a friend's house and surfing
• But not talking much
• He was counting on this
• My niece and her boyfriend (my SIL's nephew)
• Have moved into our basement while they are house hunting
• She is a nurse and if we have a second wave
• Plan is she will move into the RV to be safe
• So that's the situation
• I am sure you have yours
• But I have been thinking
• About fallow years
• When I was in middle school in the middle ages
• We used to sit at our desks and the teacher did a short bible reading after lunch
• How long ago was that?
• I am remembering the part about the fallow years
• To keep producing every seven years the land was not worked and people lived off the good years
• As I remember it was not a good idea to break this pattern
• Pretty much horrible things happened if you tried to opt out
• I have been thinking about rest too and how hard it is for us to just sit
• We got into this pattern
• So busy, more and more
• Don't stop
• I thought of this when I saw women risking their lives for manicures in those states that opened too early
• I talked this week to a young woman who as far as I could see
• Was in a frenzy fed by social media competition
• Thinking of my own life 
• Worked so hard at my job and then retired and went deep into a book
• Every day for the last eight months I worked on it
• Worried myself because it meant I was not posting here
• People contacted me and said get back to blogging
• I see favourite bloggers post garment after garment
• And me I make things and give them to people and forget to take the picture
• One more thing
• I drove yesterday past streets named for boys who didn't come home from the war
• I thought of those mothers who waited
• And at best only got letters
• Sometimes
• I want to ask them what did you do, how did you do it?
• Airmen from Australia farm boys from the Canadian prairies
• It makes me think how foolish we are
• And it has made me think of our exhausted selves and exhausted lives
• And all that documenting, busyness, continuous self improvement
• Like all those over 50 style posts
• Thin women with big bags and and white shirts
• None of them in an apron
• Made me wonder about the lesson of fallow years
• And letting things sit to revive
• Why is this the last option we want to consider?
• It seems to me that right now the bravest thing to do 
• Would be to just sit
• And have faith
• Today I am canning tomatoes
• To taste this summer during my quiet winter
• You?

Flypaper thoughts, yup we are still at this place edition

• I remember, not that long ago
• Saying, well we will see you the end of the summer 
• When things are back to normal
• I think we all are pondering life more these days
• The only folks I am losing patience with
• Are those who are pressing on and expect you to too
• What part of a global pandemic aren't you getting?
• But it is good that we are doing what other generations did
• Considered that life is fragile
• And should be lived with some thought
• More than anything I am finding I want to read more
• Of the old philosophers for instance
• Of course so far I am only reading quotes on Pinterest
• But that's a start
• Seneca had things to say I can tell you
• Overall though 
• This is what I am thinking myself
• Sickness and death are part of life not some kind of mistake
• Almost everybody before us knew that
• It's part of the deal
• So it's important to 
• No matter what you are faced with
• To find what learning you could be doing from it or in it
• This is what I have got so far
• A fabric stockpile is a good thing
• If you are ever going to be holed up for long
• You'll need it
• Canadians get this anyway I think
• We are always braced for The Big Storm
• That's why we have chest freezers
• And figure a furnace, heat pump, pellet stove and generator in the garage should just about do it
• Friends are a good thing
• Possible the most important good thing
• If you ever doubted that this big storm came to remind you
• Never before in my life have I so deeply enjoyed the company of other people
• Been so thrilled by new friendships
• Fascinated by the conversation of people in the neighbourhood
• Daisy and I meet
• A retired policeman who had both hips done
• Fascinating
• And grandmothers, like me, running summer day camps
• Dusting off the picture books, filling the wading pools with the hose
• Making vintage lunches for kids who say is it healthy
• Which reminds me of a grievance
• Why does A&W have a grandpa burger, a mama burger
• A papa burger, a teen burger and a baby burger
• But no grandma burger?
• There are pictures of grandma doing the cooking
• But no burger of her own
• 4,000 years of human history summed up right there
• Me
• I had to order an uncle burger
• Yes the uncle got one
• An uncle
• Those guys arrive late and leave before the dishes
• Who do I talk to about this?
• Back to friends
• There is something that you let out when you talk to a friend that you are not supposed to be holding in
• If we all lived as if the most important thing in the world was other people
• Pretty much any problem I can think of right now would be solved
• And you know what?
• I am glad Seneca took the time

Knitting during a pandemic

I don't want to labour a discussion of the times. We have had a pretty easy time of it here in Nova Scotia and let's hope it stays that way.

However this affects everyone and we are all staying close to home more than usual and there is a sort of anxiety running in the background. I now only check the news once a day and told my husband that if he is going to listen to things more often than that would he please put on headphones - some voices I don't need to hear in this house.

I am trying not to add to anyone's angst myself and to focus on things that are more enduring than this moment in time. Nature, children, dogs, cooking, ordering fabric.

And I have returned to knitting in the evenings.

Now I am a garment sewist through and through and I put a lot of effort into my sewing. I am particularly interested in construction details and techniques.

To me knitting is about none of that. I realize how innovative and technical knitting has become but that's not why I knit. I knit like a sort of repetitive meditation. Round and round without a lot of thinking. Like those Buddhist monks in Japan who spent their lifetimes raking gravel into patterns as sort of a religious practice. When I first talked to someone who had gone on a Buddhist retreat and did just this for a couple of months I have to tell you it didn't make a lot of sense to me. My cultural background is big on the useful activity and sitting down or any activity without a meaningful output was just not on the books.

However these days when there is too much incoming to handle all at once the idea of stopping a raking the gravel, or knitting the same stitches for hours if not days at a time, is starting to make sense to me. It's like you jump off the train for a bit onto the platform to catch your breath and let a few of those trains just pass you by.

So committed to non-demanding knitting in my evenings has meant some basic circular knitting with easy patterns. I just don't need to be doing anything right now that requires me to stop and watch a YouTube video to figure it out. 

You get what I mean?

Any of you learning a new language at the moment?

See what I mean.

As a result I have been knitting a lot of socks and a few sweaters. The first of these, appropriately, was the "Homebody" pattern by Heidi Kirrmaier. I had some Eco wool in a bin and knit this up for my daughter. I left it at her house and she sent me back this picture with the message "It fits perfectly."

The fit around the shoulders and neckline in particular is outstanding and due to the placement of the raglan lines. Since this is a seamless top down pattern (I love hand sewing but completely hate sewing sweater pieces together) it is hard to get a nice fit without a lot of shaping but I think this one does it. I think I will knit myself one too once I have figured out a decent online yarn source. I know where to order fabric but not yarn and I am not feeling like hitting the stores at the moment.

As far as patterns go it was pretty cryptic. Heidi is an excellent designer but has a technical professional background and her instructions were very efficient but all charts and numbers. Being numerically challenged, and highly text based,  in a few places I wrote the instructions out in words to I would stay on track, but you wouldn't probably need to do that. I intend to knit more of Heidi's patterns and maybe won't even need to do that myself again now I have a better understanding of the logic of her patterns.

The second sweater I knit was for myself from Ann Budd's really interesting Book of Sweater Patterns. This is a great resource for folks like me who only want to knit something simple and hate fooling around with gauge. Basically you knit a swatch first with a needle size and yarn you like, measure the number of stitches per inch and then match the gauge you already have to the numbers you need to cast on etc. according to the size you want.

Did I explain that correctly?

Anyway it's a pretty relaxed approach to low key sweater knitting and that suits me just fine at the moment. Here I am in a basic dropped shoulder, knit in the round with no seams to sew, V neck. I am wearing my favourite poplin antique pull on shorts and some pretty weird glasses.

The moral of the story with the glasses is if you go into the optometrist's and announce "I need something bright and cheerful" and you only try on the glasses with a mask on over your whole face when you go back to pick up these glasses they might be pretty bright turquoise. The six-year-old thought they were outstanding, my daughter, his mother thought they would be just fine for wearing around the house. 

There is of course a real possibility too that at this stage of the game I worry more about cheerful than looking like a maniac.

Now tell me what you are doing? What are your own current self soothing activities? Any of you knitting too? Reviving lost activities? (I have also considered hauling out some 30 year old cross stitch patterns).

How are you mediating? How do you manage to actually do that? What is your mediation equivalent?

Seems to me ideas on this are worth sharing.

Flypaper thoughts: catch up edition

• This week I finished the manuscript on my next book
• Publishers aren't keen on revealing that you are writing a new book
• Since it will be about a year until it is out for sale
• For six months I have been sewing and writing every day on this project
• This has cut into my blogging time so much
• And I think you should know why
• So I would appreciate it if we kept this info between us
• But we're friends
• And I thought you should know the why
• Writing this one was hard
• I put in all my best ideas
• But thought that there would be more than a few readers who would think
• That's not the proper way to do it, is she nuts
• But you can only write what you have to write
• Nuts or not
• It's what you've got
• It was extremely strange to write a sewing book in the middle of a global pandemic
• The fabric stores were closed so I cut up coats and scrounged for materials
• You'll see 
• These are such strange times
• Here in Nova Scotia we remain Covid free
• The premier said stay the blazes home and we did
• We are in our own little world right now, living normally
• With the understanding that if a case comes in we will slam shut again
• When you are small and have a tiny border you can do that
• And when you more or less know or are related to everyone
• You aren't going to let them down
• It isn't that hard
• However I am cut off
• From my son and his family in California
• I never thought I would have a child I couldn't get to
• So just so you know I don't have any patience for those who won't do what they need to do and are prolonging this
• You are part of a community
• We all are
• That is our learning opportunity here
• As we used to say when I taught
• Now I am not sample sewing
• I am going to sew for myself
• Stay tuned on that one
• I have been knitting though
• Learning continental because it is faster
• I think it is important to live richly
• What are we waiting for?
• I have moved the crystal into the ordinary glasses cupboard
• I have been growing herbs and cooking Greek food because it uses herbs
• I have been treading water for whole afternoons and catching small boys barrelling off the water slide
• And landing with a belly flop
• I have realized that I made a mistake with my sewing
• I have been caught up on making the next thing
• And home now
• I am wearing what I have in the closet and appreciating it
• Maybe all the focus on making the new
• Has taken the enjoyment out of appreciating what we already have
• Seems like that is a mistake
• And another learning opportunity
• My husband is one of those older guys who loves apps
• Right now he is renting his tools through something called Good Neighbour
• He is a good neighbour and apparently 4% of all the rental tools in the greater metropolitan area are in my garage
• I did not know that
• I don't go into the garage
• It is the kind of place that you feel if you went in you might not find your way out
• Sort of like the Amazon jungle but with weird devices instead of trees
• Sometimes the kids have me lift the garage door for a look
• They stand outside, quiet
• And say "wow that's a lot of junk"
• And now it seems that there are things in there that other men want
• Mysterious things that are left on the front step when they are done
• My husband realizes that this funny extra income will allow him to buy more tools, off book
• I have fabric he has things that plug in
• Or screw together to help you screw more things together
• He is a super renter
• I didn't know that power washers came in two strengths
• One that cleans the deck and one that removes it
• But that's another story
• We rent both
• Apparently
• So I guess I wanted to tell you where I've been and that I am back
• Strange times or not
• But I am here
• And this is where that place is
• The anthem of my culture is in my head right now
• The right song for these wrong times
• It will be OK
• I promise

Peekaboo patterns review

I sew all the time. Every day, that's what I mean by all the time. And I find that now I am retired from a regular job I am doing even more sewing for even more people.

I love it.

As my family grows and expands I am sewing a lot for children too. 

One pattern company I use a lot is Peekaboo patterns. I find these patterns quite simple to sew (I feel they are designed for newish sewists in mind) and the instructions are excellent. When I am pressed for time but really want to make someone small something, the Peekaboo site is one of the first I go to.

A case in point was this paint smock for my youngest granddaughter in California. My DIL is savvy. When the lockdown started she got in more outside toys. One of the most popular of these was a water table, but of course this meant multiple wet outfits. So I was asked to make a waterproof sort of smock to try to keep Anika dry.

This is the Peekaboo pattern I used. A super fast sew and of course my own lockdown sewing room had exactly what I needed. Here it is on my beautiful model.

I have made more Peekaboo patterns than I can list. I have made nightgowns, diaper bags, stroller covers, sleep sacks, baby nightgowns, and so many other things.

One of my go-to fast baby presents is this diaper clutch, basically a change pad with a place for diapers and gear. I also have the sock pattern I need to try.

I also have to make my grandson a suit. Peekaboo has a suit jacket and pants I can work with. The girls are big on dress up when they come over here, here's a shot of that. My oldest granddaughter is in my mother's going away suit and her sister is in a dress I made her mother when she was young. The crinolines are also part of my vintage clothing stash.

After this picture Billy had it.

"Babsie you have to make me a tuxedo! I have nothing to wear when I have to go somewhere fancy." I can so identify with how important it is to have something suitable for every occasion.

So as soon as I can the sewing room had better spit out a small tux!

Catch up with my sewing: summer work outfit for my daughter

I am going to try and catch up some of my sewing projects with you. One of the things I have been doing this last week is to sew for my daughter. She needs something cool for work to wear under her lab coats.

She loved the shorter version of the Jalie 4017 skirt but I was stumped for a nice tank pattern that would hide her bra straps. I finally dug out my older Jalie 3246 maxi dress pattern and it was perfect shortened to a tank. I think that because this pattern has to open up for a bit more ease at the waist and hip, being a dress, it has just the right amount of skim in those areas but still is fitted around the neck and shoulders.

Katrina really liked this combination and if I ever get off the golf course this weekend I will be making her another top and skirt.

This will make it the fifth tank top I made for her this week. I had decided to conquer by coverhem binding process as part of this project. I had even bought a generic type binding attachment (my Juki 1500 doesn't have one from the manufacturer for this machine). However after struggling with that for most of a day I put that little unit where it belonged, in the bottom of the garbage can. I just couldn't get the right degree of stretch with the binding and my hands couldn't get in close enough for control.

I was disappointed with myself, since all of Facebook seems to get these binders to work. Then I remembered that the right way to do anything in sewing is your own way so I set out to figure out what worked for me.

Here is what I decided to do.

I did all my seams and attaching the first pass of binding on my serger. I used just a 3-thread and a long (4) stitch length to attach the strips of binding and shoulders to reduce bulk and switched to 4 threads for the side seams.

I used flat construction and hand tacked the seams to one side at one shoulder and the underarms to finish.

Here was the construction order:

1. Sew one shoulder seam, 3 thread serged.

2. Right side of 1" (2.5cm) binding to the wrong side of the neckline and along the armhole of the shoulder side that had been stitched. I just stretched the binding slightly by feel as I serged.

3. Fold the bindings to the right side and tuck the raw edge under. Pin and coverhem down, using the two left needles and keeping the edge of the binding nestled into the inner edge of the foot.

Here is what the binding looks like from the wrong side:

4. Sew the remaining shoulder seam, 3 thread serger, right up through the binding.

5. Apply the binding in two steps as above along the remaining armhole.

6. Serge the side seams, 4 threads, up through the binding.

7. Switch the coverhem to a wide hem, left and right needles the middle needle removed, and hem.

8. Tack the binding down to one side at the top of each side seam and along one shoulder seam. I threaded the serger tail back under the loopers of the seams before I did this. I was all surprisingly neat. Next one I should post a picture of that.

Not a bad little work outfit and fun to do.