There's this guy on eBay who sells zippers. This is the second time I've ordered from him, and MANG, lemmee tell ya. These are some zippers! YKK Talon polyester coil zippers, these are 7"-8" long, cost me less than $15, including shipping. A hundred of them!
Had I bought Coats and Clark zippers at my nearby store where such things are sold, they would have run me more than a buck apiece.
SQUEE!
I wish I didn't rot at knitting. Because this is just TOO ADORABLE.
http://www.ruthieknits.com/owlhat.htm
I wonder if you can do the owls in a different color than the rest of the hat...
Here's something that I posted to Craftster.org a while back -- a pattern for booties/peds/slippers/whatever you want to call them. 
There is a link in that post to a PDF of the pattern that I made. The booties are made with a cotton/lycra stretchy material, the kind of stuff that leggings are made of. Not stockings or tights, but the thick cottonyish ones. The fabric was a bit hard to find, actually -- I happened to have some in my stash, so I used that, but I wasn't able to find anything in the fabric store...until just this past week. I found some at JoAnn when I happened to be in there picking up some thread. They only had one or two colors, and they were solids, but they were just perfect. It was with the dancewear and swimwear fabric. Just remember too use a zig-zag stitch -- I would say use an overlock, as I did with the first pair I made, but the zig-zag doesn't create as aggressive a seam inside, if your feet are sensitive to that sort of thing.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these little slippery things. You can put dots on the bottom with puffy fabric paint or silicone caulk or whatever you have handy to make them more grippy if you want to walk around in them on hard floors. I use them at night when I put lotion on my feet, to protect the sheets and keep the stuff from rubbing off.
My hair's been growing out, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, this also means that my bangs are constantly in my eyes and everything else either sticks straight up or straight out. So I've looked better, is what I'm saying.
I knitted a couple of headbands based on a simple pattern my friend Christy gave me, which my hair instantly rejected. Literally. They just fell out of my mighty mane like they were leaves, and I was left with flyaways.
So tonight, I'm on a mission. I've got lots of fabric, elastic, and the will to keep my hair out of my eyes. I'm going to sew the handbandiest headband that ever go-go'd into my life. There will be blood, and sweat - and possibly tears - and when I'm done, I'm going to pull my hair back and be so grateful that I have a sewing machine and the will to figure things out.
My hair will thank me.
I don't know what's gotten into me, but I really want to give book binding a try. I love journals, I love paper, I love good pencils and writing stuff down. And I notice that there are lots of folks on Etsy who make journals and such -- but I want exactly what I want. :-) Plus, fabric-clad hardback books? What better way to use up some of my stash?
So I've ordered a complete book-binding kit. When I get to it, I'll take pictures and let you know how it goes.
And as for the weekend? With a minor glitch here and there, it was fabulous, and while I still think my dress hem was a little weird, the jacket looked great. I'll have to see if anyone actually took pictures of it.
We're off to Pittsburgh for the weekend, and alas, I'm leaving the sewing machine behind. I plan to read on the plane, but just in case I get antsy, I packed a little cross stitch thingie that I keep in my travel bag. I only work on it when I travel, and I haven't traveled in months, so I hope I'll remember how to do it. Pictures, and a review of the pattern for the dress I made for this weekend, when I return.
Carrie mentioned in the last podcast that she really wanted to learn to sew clothing. (I know you can do it!) So I figured I'd cobble together some advice that I've learned over the years when it comes to making clothing with commercial patterns.
Anyone who's ever bought a sewing pattern off the shelf knows that they're not particularly good for LEARNING to sew. They do outline basic techniques, but really, you can't learn to sew just from a pattern. I learned at the knee of my grandmother, who always amazed me with the fact that she could make clothes. I mean, clothes come from the store, don't they? The first thing I remember her making were the costumes that my sister and I wore for our baton-twirling group, the Wickfordettes. 
I was SO proud of the doubleknit polyester dress with gold braid (which really WAS sewn on straight, even though it doesn't look like it)...I thought I was some sort of PRINCESS wearing that thing, and Gram had made it.
So anyway. Learning to sew from Gram -- note that she worked full time all of her adult life, including as the owner of several restaurants, for which she baked pies every morning at oh-my-God-o'clock. So she was a busy gal. But she always took the time to do things right. She put as much focus into winding a bobbin as she did easing a sleeve at the shoulder. (I *hate* easing sleeves at the shoulders, by the way...) Here's what my grandmother did when she made garments from patterns.
You buy the pattern, and the first night, you read the instructions. Don't even unfold the tissue sheets, just pull out the instructions and read the pattern from start to finish. Several times.
The second night, cut out the pattern tissue. (If you're going to make a muslin mockup, this whole schedule goes to pot, so let's assume you're not. I'll do a post about muslin mockups soon! If I remember!) If the tissue is really wrinkly, you can touch it with a warm (not hot) iron.
The third night, cut out the fabric (and any associated interfacing). THIS IS USUALLY THE HARDEST PART of making a garment from a commercial pattern. Take your time. One tip that Gram didn't have -- spray the back of the pattern with temporary fabric adhesive spray, such as Sulky KK2000 temporary spray adhesive. (I have been looking for a less expensive similar product, so please comment here if you know of one!)
The fourth night, do the FIRST STEP of the pattern. Just the first step.
Each subsequent night, do one step.
Most patterns are a dozen steps or fewer...so within two weeks, you'll have a finished garment, and you won't have rushed it. You can really take your time fusing the interfacing to your lining if it's the only thing you're doing that night. If you're new to sewing, this is really a good way to boost your confidence, and come out the other end with a really nice handmade thing!
i knit on the bus.
every time he takes a turn,
i drop more stitches.
while i enjoy the sanctuary of my craft room (if by sanctuary you mean four cats getting into everything while i'm trying to work, that is), nothing compares to knitting outside, or in a cafe with friends. something about it motivates me to learn a new technique or inspires strangers to ask questions and express their own craftiness to me.
when i moved away from providence, i left my stitch and bitch group - and my best friends. when i got to north carolina i felt lucky because i knew there was a group nearby - just down the street - that i could join and meet people. turns out that didn't work and i needed to work to create another group, one that enjoyed meeting new people and sitting outside and drinking hot cocoa.
i had a party last night and some of the knitters came. i showed them my craft room, and we talked about getting together next week.
i sure hope it's warm.
Show notes/links/stuffs...
Carrie's sock
Side view of sock
Second sock
More sock
Jacob's yoga mat bag
Jacob's baby pants (OK, baby pants MADE BY Jacob)
Jacob's hand warmers (man style)
Paper Piecing Primer
Dog block for Kerri's sister
Video of knitting machine socks
Socks aftermath
I left work early yesterday to get home and meet Spud's bus. It arrived at 4, and at about 4:30 he informed me that his costume for the 'wax museum' at school had to be brought in early. How early? "Tomorrow!" Uh. OK. I'd planned on a nice relaxing evening.
Instead, we had to figure out what Thomas Edison usually wore (vests and bowties, turns out), and then run to the store, get a pattern, fabric, yadda yadda yadda.
Finding a vest pattern in a boy's size 12/14 ain't easy, come to find out. There was a nice one that also came with a bowtie pattern (7030), and it had boy sizes and man sizes -- but that chasm in between was where Spud fit. Meh, no sweat, I'll just fudge the pattern and add a few inches. They also had a nice black woven cotton/poly blend that was almost like a micro-faille, and this cute plaidish lining that was on clearance for a dollar a yard. Whew.
Back home, I let everyone know to leave me alone...I had to WORK! The good news is, things went off without a hitch. The vest and bowtie are made. The vest actually looks FABULOUS. The tie is a little bit hacked together in the back, but no one will see that. It called for TWO layers of tie, each one with batting inside it. That sounded rather foppish, frankly, so I went with ONE layer of tie, and interfacing instead of batting. Nice and small and cute. Basically, for the tie, you cut out a rectangle, baste batting to it, then fold the edges into the center...so you're folding it in half, but the seam is in the center back. Stitch closed, and turn. I did that, and it looked like he was going to be wearing a black maxi-pad under his chin, so I put the kibosh on that. :-)
Then you just pinch the 'tie' in the center, wrap around it a little tube that you make (which is the 'knot'), and then you're supposed to slip-stitch the 'knot' closed. Yeah, I just zig zagged it...it's the back surface of the tie, and it's against his neck, so no one will see it. :-) Then, instead of hardware and junk in the back? Yeah, Velcro. And it's even WHITE Velcro, because I didn't have the wherewithall to dig out the black. It was midnight by this point. But you know? It came out pretty nice! (And even though the photo, which was taken in low light -- it was MIDNIGHT! -- makes the vest and tie look brown, I assure you they are actually black, and not wrinkled.)
I had the flu, and I trudged over to the pharmacy to get some medicine. While waiting to pay for my not-quil, I spotted a package on the clearance rack. It was the last "learn to knit" kit that had once sat on the last-minute-gift shelf in CVS. I figured for 1.99, it was worth it. Plus, didn't all the hip young people knit these days? I wanted to be in on this zenned out secret! Turns out, I couldn't follow the paltry instructions at all and I kept getting distracted by what was on daytime television.
My next day back at work, I sent an email around. "Does anyone know how to knit? If so - meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes." It all sounded very back-alley-deal, but the truth is I had giant plastic needles and chunky yarn, and I was on a mission.
Three days later I had a scarf and a new obsession.
Sewing didn't happen until much later. If by much you mean about five months. I'd decided that I wasn't entirely content with just knitting so it was time to try my hand at something else. Miss Kerri said "get yo'self a sewing machine and we'll make stuffs!" So I did. I found myself a used Singer on eBay, and took the day off to go get it. When the guy found out I'd driven *all the way* to Boston from Providence, he knocked off five bucks for my troubles.
Score.
I went to Kerri's that weekend and learned to turn the beast on, and how to thread it, and most importantly - how to make it go. I still use the wallet we made that day.
Kisses!
So, Carrietta left Rhode Island and moved to North Carolina. Sad state of affairs, really. Especially since I just taught her how to sew! (Get her to tell you the story about how she got her sewing machine.)
We decided, then, that the distance wasn't going to stop us from supporting each other in our textile art endeavours. We have cameras. We have microphones. We have a blog. And thus, Miss You Sew Much was born. Carrie, she knits. Like a fiend, she knits. She sews, better and better all the time -- she isn't even afraid of zippers! Really, she does it all. Me, I sew, do machine embroidery, and I very lamely do machine knitting on my beginner-level knitting machine. Plus, you know. Everyone does stencils and beads and glitter and felt and all that.
Lots of our friends are involved in the textile art world, as well, and so the hope is they'll be willing to do guest appearances on our periodic podcast (see the link over there?). Leave us comments. Leave us jokes. Tell us we rot. We don't care if you're mean. We can handle it.
