Picking Up The Pace!

Yesterday I finished two! projects! TWO! Well, except for one needs buttons. Here is the finished (but for the buttons) and amateurishly blocked scarfette for DD who is facing her first winter outside California:



Now, she's only facing what passes for winter in Washington, DC, so this little scarfy thing should cover it.

Also finished is another rendition of Vogue Options 8575, this one with long set-in sleeves in some mystery jersey from Michael Levine's $1.99 table. I still haven't decided if the print is pretty or really ugly--it is certainly synthetic.



Its mission in life is to be another cycling dress. I'm getting better at this pattern--the princess seams almost meet properly at the shoulders now.



And I have the neckline almost where I want it now. However, as a result, the bodice is almost too short.

To restore balance in the universe, atilt due to my excess of FOs, I started unraveling my first knitted FO of this milennium to utilize my somewhat improved knitting skillz on this nice silk yarn.



On my monitor, the color of the ball on the seat is closer to the actual yarn than the disappearing scarf on the back of the chair.

So, go me! Of course, all this productivity is the result of procrastinating on what I'm supposed to be doing, but whatever.

Happy Thanksgiving and Oops!

I've always wondered why sometimes a new post will turn up on my blogroll and then when I go to look at it it's not there. Well, now I understand because I did it! I clicked "share" on a youtube video to post it to my other, (even) less active and far more political blog, and it turned up here. Oops. I don't think my politics are any secret--my objection to both Hilary and Barack in the last election was that they are way too conservative--but I don't mean to bother sewists and crafters with them.

So to avoid another content-free post here, I offer a current WIP pic:


I managed to get this shot without my familiar, but you can see that the cat has been busy in the background distributing a ball of yarn around the rug. The WIP is a Sulka Scarfette pattern designed by Maya that I found through Ravelry when I was looking for something to do with the 2 skeins of merino, alpaca and silk Sulka by Mirasol that fell into my basket at the yarn shop. It's a Christmas present for DD, but it's safe to post it here because no matter how many blogs I have she doesn't read them.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving in the US and happy day everywhere else!

How can it be November already?

I confess, I've been caught in a procrastinator's vicious circle: months ago Tors of Girl Meets Wolf won my blogiversary giveaway, a set of vintage Singer Sewing Machine feet, and it took me forever to get around to mailing them to her. Bad me. And whenever I thought about posting to my blog I thought, "But first, you have to send those feet!" And so it goes. But now I've finally sent them off across the continent and then the Pond, along with a selection of goodies to assuage my guilt, so (in my weird little moral economy) I can post again! Lucky you.

Here's what I finished today.


It is Vogue 8525, made from some shiny, shreddy, see-through synthetic knit which is real pretty to look at but a bear to sew on. I bought the pattern a long time ago and probably wouldn't buy it if I were just seeing it now, having finally learned that shapeless clothing on a shapeless body does not produce a shapely silhouette. But look at those slash pockets! I've never made non-patch pockets, so go me! And although the FO looks like a sack, I am proud to say that it looks just like the photo on the pattern envelope, which also looks like a sack. Which of course raises (but, if you please, does not beg) the question of why I bought it.

No Malware Here

My sympathies to Hungry Zombie Couture, Ten Thousand Sewing Hours and Making the Seam, who seem to have acquired something malevolent from sewhotmommi, according to Google Safe Browsing Diagnostics here. Apparently if you link to these sites, as I did in my blog roll, diligent virus protectors will turn away your traffic with a malware warning. But there's no malware here, so I dropped the links (sorry ladies) and should be good to go.

If not, no one will be reading this, so whatever.

Tag, I'm It!

Sigrid of Analog Me has kindly tagged me for this award,

for which I am very grateful. Thank you, Sigrid! The rules are:
1. Thank the person who gave the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to recently discovered blogs.

So, things about me. Hmmm.
I attended 8 schools before I graduated from 12th grade, and neither of my parents was in the military.
I got better grades first year in law school than my classmate Elena Kagan. (So much for grades!)
I love to sing but don't know how to harmonize.
I first met many of my closest friends online.
My first full-time job was writing and editing a textbook on restaurant sanitation.
I want to be composted when I die.
I'm not ready to give up climbing trees.

And now to tag new "winners:"
Fuzzy Lizzy of The Vintage Traveler;

Anita of A Summer Gypsy Sews; and

Kyle of Vacuuming The Lawn.

And finally, a picture of my cat.

How To Dress For The Revolution

Vogue Options 8575, of course. Here I am attempting an action shot and nearly running down DS in the process.



I actually never ride without a helmet, but here I'm wearing my National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer hat because my plan for the day included checking out the Los Angeles version of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Los Angeles. I didn't get to City Hall until around 7 p.m., having put 25 miles on my bicycle and a delicious roast beef sandwich from the Coffee Table Bistro in Eagle Rock into my stomach, but the revolution was still going strong when I finally arrived. (Obviously, when the revolution succeeds I am toast!)

As far as I could tell I was the only Legal Observer there but that was not a problem: our role is to insure that any police interference with free speech is documented by careful neutral witnesses. There was nothing to Observe because the LAPD had agreed not to bother the protesters unless there was trouble, and there is seldom trouble at a demonstration until the police show up. This group is particularly orderly (anarchists notwithstanding), making a really serious effort to entertain all views and operate by consensus. They have about a dozen committees (I listened to them report at a general assembly) including one working on a list of demands. I love them all!

I spent a couple of hours wandering around talking to people. I spoke to several old Baby Boomers quietly taking it all in who told me they had been waiting their whole lives for something like this. As have I.

Curb Alert: Cat!

First one takes him. Just be sure not to leave any liquids within 500 yards of your sewing when he's around.