All Over The Map

I wonder if any of my readers are concerned about my crafty wanderings and personal musings on this blog? I know some people prefer to stick to one subject but I don’t do that in real life so why should I do it here? Though I do go through certain crafty phases, I’m interested in just about anything that has to do with fibres and beads plus gardening, nature and sometimes more personal things like my family and my health. I see no reason to stick to one subject or to apologise when I go off on tangents. If anyone gets bored with it, just stop reading and go read someone else! Simple as that. Sing it with me — “It’s my blog and I’ll post what I want to, post what I want to, post what I want to. You could blog too if you wanted to too!” OK, that’s really bad I know. But I’m still singing! Heh.

Heck, Yarn Harlot gets like 300 comments on her blog posts and she doesn’t always write about knitting either. (I just loved the recent posts about redecorating the bedroom while husband Joe was out of town.) Stephanie is so popular these days (surprising nobody but herself) that she can fill a large auditorium with people some of whom actually flew there or drove for hours to see her speak. Knitters Unite! Ahem. Anyway the upshot of this monologue is that I like a lot of the personal and off-topic stuff in people’s blogs. I’ve learned all kinds of things, particularly how similar we crafty people are in some ways and how different in others. It’s intriguing to me and I’m glad the blogiverse was invented/created. I’d rather read blogs than watch television, that’s for sure. In another month or so it will be my second blogiversary and I’m planning a little something to celebrate. So stick around, eh? At least until May.

So anyway. What have I been doing? Sewing of course! Garb, garb, and more garb. It’s Medieval ‘R’ Us around here. Here’s the first outfit almost finished:


It’s a miniature version for my 2-year-old granddaughter. Cute, huh? (I didn’t pick out the colours though it does look like I did the way it matches my studio décor!) Still needs hemming which I hope her mom can accomplish herself. T-Man and I got the fabrics for 3 more overtunics yesterday and I think they’ll work out just fine. His is kind of a silk-ish looking synthetic (rayon?) in a dark forest green, mine is light orange (think pale madder) in a textured weave and for his mom we got a pale lavender-blue cotton. They’re all washed and ready to cut out. That is the big thing, the cutting-out part. It’s actually drafting a pattern directly onto the fabric in mostly rectangular shapes. The hard part is that every piece of fabric is a different width and every garment is slightly different in style. It’s not just a matter of plopping pattern pieces down on the fabric and chopping around them. It would take me just as long to plot this all out on paper so doing it directly on the cloth with chalk is actually a timesaver and I can use the fabric efficiently. So far there hasn’t been much in the way of leftovers. As a matter of fact I had to buy another piece for The Ninja’s undertunic because the length they got for it was just too narrow to accommodate the shapes I needed. It doesn’t match exactly but I don’t think anyone will quibble. So far in 4 hours today I’ve cut out his two garments which are shorter than the ladies’ tunics. He plans to wear them belted over sweat pants.

I’m beginning to think I volunteered to help too many relatives with their Wedding Garb. At the rate I’m going I’ll still be hemming my overtunic the morning of the wedding. But I couldn’t bear to think of them all struggling to find something to wear when I’m capable of doing something about it. After all they’re only simple t-tunics. Two each. For 6 people. With fancy trims. And hugely wide hems. Plus several veils, hats, belt pouches and other accoutrements. And a baby sacque and coif. In 4 weeks. Urk. Back to work. No Foolin'!