Fay pant

As promised here is one of my Stylearc pants patterns, the Fay.

A ridiculously easy knit pants pattern with darts front and back to avoid the bunchy thing. I am sort of ready to let go of narrow leg pants after all these years and like the wider leg of the Fays without palazzo sloppiness.

In the interest of science here are some shots including the ever popular middle aged midriff that shows the darts. You can make your own assessment, but I think I will be making quite a few more of these.

The twist you see in the legs is the twister not the pants, so just look at the darts.

Sewing challenges

I belong to a local sewing group. Last time we got together the idea was put out there to challenge ourselves to sew something we have never sewn before.

Now I have done a lot of sewing, and messed up some pretty weird projects over the years, so to tell you the truth not sure what I would do in this category.

Gloves? Dog coats? I am going to have to think this one through, and add to it the criteria that it actually would be something I either want or need. Might be a time for rut jumping.

Now question for you.

What would you make if this challenge was tossed to you?

Deviating a bit from this I have been thinking a few personal, if not now whens might be in order.

For instance Stylearc pants really fit me. As a result me and Mr. PayPal have been quietly collecting a number of Stylearc pant patterns.

A couple of days ago I got this crazy idea that maybe I should actually sew a bunch of these up to see how they turn out.

Sort of radical an idea I know but hey why not?

Additional random thought.

On the subject of the decluttered life and super organized dream sewing rooms maybe there are some of us who don't actually need or like it that neat, particularly in process.

Am I the only one who throws things over her shoulder in the thrill of the chase or sort of enjoys the nice surprise of finding strange and/or forgotten things in their very own house?

Some pretty heavy things to think about tonight.

Crochet etc.

The fact is a week or so ago I had what they call a sort of medical crisis. I got through it fine, and the details are typical, but what matters here is that I have lost more than a little good sewing time in various doctor's offices. BTW specialists are great but a shout out to wonderful family doctors like mine who say things like we know what to do for your body, but tell me what you are doing to heal your spirit. Seems to me that seeing the whole person is a speciality of another kind.

One of the conclusions, since I had a serious clot that moved up too far, was that I definitely will be wearing those heavy duty support units (I refuse to write hose) the rest of my life.

This will be a fashion challenge and to make me feel better my means-well husband said "well I guess your vanity days are behind you."

I am pretty sure that the look on my face, or the pot flying across the room in the direction of his head, made it clear this was not the right thing to say.

I mean - ha. Like that's going to happen.

We are actually going to be retaliating by ramping up the style, in fact.

Watch this space.

Which does not bring me in any way to what I want to write about next, which is crochet.

A while ago I started to crochet. I really like to knit but in these hands it is too damn slow. All I can do is about a sweater a year, and I mean, really.

So far since I have been crocheting I have made a couple of sweaters, two for me and one for a grandchild, two sort of afghan things, a market bag for my new daughter-in-law and started on a new sweater - all over about the four months.

I rest my case, speedways.

I also find crochet pretty easy and more relaxing than knitting, and definitely easier to rip out which I have done a lot of.

However there are some real differences between the knitting and crochet cultures. For instance garment patterns are no where near as easy to find in crochet as they are in knitting (any leads on good women's sweater/cardigans would be much appreciated).

Also, somewhat weirdly, whereas knitting really is into the yarn, the crochet world seems to be pre-occupied by synthetic yarn. Red Heart super saver for example seems a real favourite. These yarns of course coupled with the stronger structure of crochet can make for some stiff old fabrics and maybe this has resulted in the poor reputation crochet clothes have in some places.

So the less elite standards of crochet, and the fact crochet is so much faster, seems to have produced a culture that does a lot of nutty stuff, at least if you look at Ravelry. 

I mean who has the time, or mind, to think up stuff like I see in crochet patterns and do it? Knitters would never in a million years go down these roads.

Which maybe might be one of the most interesting things about this craft.

Illustrations of my point:

Crocheted poop. Who sits down and says, I think I will crochet some poop with some of my precious time on this earth. I want to meet this person.

A Marg Simpson hair hat. Of course.

When this child grows up they will kill you.

A decorative crochet cactus, assuming a crochet cactus would be decorative. Not something you would give as a gift. Not even a teacher present.

This might be a good time to share any of your own crochet related thoughts and insights. And of course good patterns.

In case you missed it: our new prime minister

Yup, this feels more like us, which maybe says something itself

Random dog picture: Daisy and her trainer and protector

Miss Daisy

I want to give you all the dog lovers out there an update on Daisy.

First of all her back is holding out fine for the time being. I had a friend from work live here while we were away and a stay at home mom friend of my daughters who used to be a vet tech come by every day and take her out for a short walk.

We carry her down stairs and my husband has built a ramp off the kitchen door onto the deck and she loves to be out there. Hopefully if we are careful we can avoid any more disc issues for a good while.

Her journey has been remarkable.

When we first acquired Daisy a year ago in May she was only 11 pounds (she is at a healthy weight now at 16.5). It felt like the vertebrae in her back were going to cut through the skin. She had tapeworms, ear mites, and teeth that were black from a bad diet.  A vet we saw then put her age at 7-8 because of the condition she was in. Current vet puts her at 3-4. She had never been outside of a cage, her feet were soft like baby's skin, her personality was totally flat. If she was given a bowl of food she ate it and threw up. She peed in her bed and just lay in it, no one had ever taken her out of her cage. Her back issues are certain genetic, they are not exactly rocket scientists who run puppy mills. Her sight in one eye is poor, vet says likely due to trauma, a blow to the head. At the shelter she was the dog they put in with all the wild noisy ones because she was so expressionless she would just lay there. If you showed her a ball or a toy she just looked at it.

The workers at the shelter I volunteered with did not recommend we take her. Most of the puppy mill dogs were so traumatized they could not even walk. I read material on dog development and it said that by 4 months the door on dog emotional development closes then and they would never be able to connect with anyone, be broken forever. If you touched her she flinched, if a man came near her she cowered. She never barked.

But we brought her home.

We have only had purebred dogs before and we had to adjust our expectations. It took a long time to find food her damaged intestines could tolerate. We had to be careful not to overwhelm her, even patting her scared her.

But over time, on a quiet and consistent routine she changed. A big turning point was taking care of my son's marvellous Border Collie, Birdie. Whatever he did, she did. After a few months she was completely potty trained, barked at the mailman, and started to run after balls. She got spunky and playful. She would go and get a ball and play games with it herself, rolling it around and pouncing on it. When I took her to an off leash park she ran like her heart was going to explode with joy, that's what it felt like. She got cocky with other dogs. Once when a big dog went after the Birdie (who is a chicken) she went right after the dog and chased it away, swaggering all the way home.

She waits for us at the front door whenever we go out, I am sure she would wait forever, she sat there the whole we we were away for the wedding apparently.

She goes up to my husband and knocks his hand if she wants a pat. She slams around her bowl for food. She tears around this house at top speed and horses around with the leash when we go for a walk. Other dog walkers say to me "that's a feisty little one you've got there."

We have learned so much from Daisy.

We have learned you can't ever let anyone tell you, you are so far down you can't get up. Particularly yourself. No one else can ever know what you are made of, and it might just turn out you are made of a lot.

But most of all we have learned how important faith is. Somehow, based on no evidence in her life, I really feel something in Daisy believed there was a reason to hang on. If that dog doesn't have a soul I don't know who does.

It really has been a privilege to be her family.

Good fabric, good family

When I was in university I once did a course in theatrical costume design. It was one of those cases where the elective was a course I really wanted to take.

I remember two things about that class.

First, one assignment I had was to make a men's 17th century frock coat from a pattern derived from a draft of museum coat - original measurements of course and methods of construction. It took quite a bit of work and I was so disappointed when it was finished to find it completely unwearable - you couldn't move in it at all.

My instructor explained that in those days it was a sign of a gentleman to wear clothes that made it impossible to move, lift your arms even, as this implied you were capable of doing manual labour, or of even carrying your own books.

The second thing I remember was having it explained how important lighting was in pictures, or on the stage, and that only silk really came alive and showed a colour in either situation. I remember the prof telling us of a production that made evening dresses out of lining polyester, which looked the right colour and was shiny, and how faded and unsubstantial the dresses looked under the lights.

When I made the four flower girl dresses I used silk satin, at a good price from Mood much to my surprise, and when I saw the pictures I was glad I did.

Here are some shots:

The bride and her relatives with the two flower girls from her side.  I love this picture because the little girls are so cute and because you can really see the effect of the fabric here.

Here are my two grand-daughters with the sewist on the left

And now some more random wedding photos, ones of me in my dress will be coming along but right now here are my family. They really are my whole life and I am so proud of them:

My beautiful daughter-in-law and my son. I like this one because they really look like themselves. 

My niece Sophia and my 88 year old mother dancing with the boys from Halifax. It was a very elegant DC wedding but when you bring down a bunch of Canadians, well you bring down a bunch of Canadians. We shut the place down, my mother included.

My three children, the groom, Nat, and Ben and Katrina. My life's work and they all turned out, pretty happy about that.