Year of Projects 8 - Week 08

... sock two should be easy enough with sock one under my belt

Yeah, I said that last week, as if to jinx myself. I was making good progress on my second Venetian Blinds sock until I looked more closely at the heel cap and noticed that I was one stitch off across the left side resulting in an eye of partridge look rather than slipstitch rib look. I tried tinking back but it was so many rows back that it was just painful. So I tried to drop back on just those stitches without much luck. Next I tried to just rip back to the error, but I wasn't able to cleanly pick up and re-wrap the short row wraps. Splitty yarn, remember? That sock was then thrown into a corner while I tried to convince myself that I could live with some untidiness at the heel.

Nope. I cannot live with untidiness at the heel. This morning I ripped all the way back to the gusset and started again.

Honestly, I didn't have a very successful day yesterday.

A few weeks ago at the local farmer's market I saw a woman selling Microwave Bowl Pot Holders. When I cook, I usually cook in quantities and then we microwave leftovers for days. And when we microwave the Corelle dishes even for a minute or two those dishes are crazy hot. We usually have to put a cold plate from the cupboard under our bowls to keep from burning ourselves. Microwave Bowl Pot Holders? That seems like a good idea to me.

I could make those, I said to myself. I have a sewing machine and enough scraps of fabric to throw a couple together. After all, the instructions do say they are "easy to make".

I'll give my results a C-. They get a C because they are complete and functional. Also, I learned something that saved me from hacking apart my sewing machine with an axe - jammed bobbins are usually result from trouble in the upper threading of the machine. I can't tell you how much time I lost opening the bobbin area, cleaning everything out, dusting, meticulously rethreading the bobbin, only to finally google it, rethread the upper section and have the problem solved.

To be fair I am not an experienced sewer. I had hoped that some of my knitting skills would be transferrable... I was more careful in measuring, marking and pinning than I used to be. I am more circumspect in following instructions rather than winging it the way I used to. And I am more inclined to rip out a seam I'm not happy with to do it again.

On the other hand, my seams are not very straight. My thread tension needs adjustment since my stitches aren't perfectly smooth. My corners don't line up perfectly. And my top-stitching looks drunken.

All in all, the project took me more than two hours and ended up quite frustrating, so buying them at the market might have been the better solution. Let's chalk this up as a good practice at my sewing machine. I really need to take some lessons and get a firm grounding.

I also made Salsa Verde. From Friday am to Saturday noon we had over 120mm of rain, with one particularly violent storm accompanied by heavy pounding rain that shredded my tomatillo plant. Rather than let the not-quite-ripe fruit go to waste, I decided to collect up all the fallen fruit to make a batch of Salsa Verde. It's not very good. Honestly it tastes more like cucumber relish than salsa. I didn't have enough tomatillos and they weren't ripe. I didn't have any jalapeños so I substituted with cherry bomb peppers. I didn't have any fresh cilantro so I substituted with those freezer cubes. There's no sugar at all in it, but it tastes sweet with a slightly hot aftertaste. Oh well. I like cucumber relish so I'll use up the three small bottles I made. Maybe it will be nice mixed with regular store-bought salsa?

I did enjoy at least one success last week. I successfully scrubbed an upholstered chair that had been horribly stained with cat sick. Spot cleaning had failed and the chair looked appalling, so nothing ventured, nothing gained... I mixed a pail of dilute carpet cleaner, pulled on some rubber gloves and scrubbed from top to bottom. It looks like new!

And Gavin made this gorgeous Tic Tac Toe game with a small piece of live edge Black Olive Wood that I had impulsively purchased at a reclaimed wood shop's open house. We've finished it with Tung Oil - sealing and hopefully preserving the live edge - and affixed a cork mat to the bottom. It looks really nice! A few more projects are in progress with the remaining wood. so I'm glad we've put it to use.

The plan for this week is the same as last week: finish the Venetian Blinds Socks and start Nain.

2018 Paper Bag Project - August, September, October, November and December

      Twisted Flower Socks - using Hikoo CoBaSi yarn in Egyptian Blue
      Feny Socks - using Lang Jawoll Superwash in turquoise and chocolate
      Pattern TBD - using unknown variegated red yarn
      Diamondback Socks - using Songbird Fibers Sock in Ruby Throated Hummingbird
      Venetian Blinds Socks - using Shelridge Yarns 80/20 Merino in Mint and Linen

Full Skeins from stash

      Somewhere Socks - using Mountain Colour mini set
      Pairfect Socks - using Regia Pairfect
      Mood - using unknown variegated blue yarn
      Kazak - using unknown tonal purple yarn
      Harris Tweed Socks - using Wollemeise self-striping green/gold/red yarn

Large (more than 50 grams) and Small (less than 50 grams) scraps from stash

      Salor - in various tan, orange and brown small scraps
      Vanilla Bean Striped Socks - in various colourful small scraps
      Squircle Socks  -  in various colourful scraps plus something neutral from large scraps
      Escape Reality Socks - in various colourful scraps plus something neutral from large scraps
      Bill Huggins - in various scraps
      Mosaic Marbles socks - using Langwoll Magic Dégradé scraps with black (or white)
      Checkbox Socks - using large scraps
      Stash Buster Spiral Socks - using various scraps in green?
      Hearty Stripey Socks - using various scraps
      Double Heelix Socks - using leftovers from Feny Socks
      Nain - using large scraps of Stretch Bamboo in light blue
      Jelly Rolls - using all the leftover Stretch Bamboo in various colours