wordless wednesday

~~~~~

because summer will come

One day recently I came across a picture of a sewing pattern

for a garment that is just about exactly what I've been imagining

for several years.

Imagine that!

It took a couple of hours to figure out how to order it online.

 

And now it's here.

Time to dust off Auntie Ruby's Singer Featherweight!

With very good luck,

by Summertime (no rush, no pressure)

I shall have a functional yet stylish,

rugged yet comfortable,

smock/dress garment

suitable for gardening, and throwing hay,

and feeding hens and stirring dyepots

and lounging with a glass of iced tea.

The sort of garment I hope I'll reach for every day.

The search is on for appropriate fabric.

I'm thinking something the color

of goat hoofprints would be good.

Really? Why would you think that?

Disclaimer/Disclosure: I'm not much of a seamstress

(Sew-er? Sewperson?)

but I'm quite excited about this project.

And when a simple dress pattern arrives

packaged like this:

 I feel tremendously encouraged.

I shall do my best!

And after all, it's just one foot in front of the other, right?

(Right?)

Wish me luck!

~~~~~

more of a good thing

My latest knitting project is coming along about as quickly as one might expect when knitting with sock needles. Fortunately, I enjoy the process and am in no rush to finish. It's very pleasant to have a little indoor project to turn to when outdoor projects have left me chilled to the core and feeling not at all productive or energetic. Every row of knitting - each stitch, even - has the effect of making a knitter feel one step further along a little journey.

 Sometimes the journey is so enjoyable, and/or the destination so satisfying, that one decides to take that same trail again. That's why I am revisiting the Waving Lace sock pattern by Evelyn A. Clark.

Waving Walnut, June 2011

In 2011, when Violet and Lily of the Valley were just 10 days old, they helped document some handknit socks for my ravelry project page, linked above.

Violet

I was pleased with everything about these socks, not just the fit. The "lace" stitch pattern (which, in knitting, means there are holes in it on purpose) struck a nice balance between simple and interesting. I had made a successful modification, which felt quite bold at that point in my knitting "career." And the yarn was the result of one of my first experiments in botanical dyeing.

Black Walnut - still my favorite.

On the topic of patterns...

There are many wonderful knit designers out there,

and I admire and follow many of them.

But to be honest, I rarely buy a pattern.

I hasten to add: I never steal one.

It's simply an economic decision at this time, and if I knew the meaning of the phrase "disposable income," I would gladly support more designers. I'd like to.

 As it is, for every pattern I buy, I probably download thirty that are offered for free. Available and easy to locate, thanks to ravelry.

But sometimes I just feel such an urge to make a particular pattern...

which was the case with Waving Lace and with the Embossed Leaves sock pattern by Mona Schmidt. So I bought the book that includes both these patterns and several others.

It's a very nice book, and I don't know why I later gave it away.

What was I thinking?

Possibly it was February.

Good news!

I recently discovered the digital version of this pattern book is available through interlibrary loan! Huzzah! And bonus: the new socks are being knit with a skein from "deep stash" - which I recently decided qualifies as "housecleaning."

Because I'm "decluttering" one skein of yarn, you see.

Also because: February.

I am now cutting myself a break at every opportunity.

The original socks and the new WIP:

The yarns are very similar - no really, they are - 

but you can certainly see the difference in a "lace" sock that was been washed and blocked, and one still on the needles. I think the Waving Lavender socks will also open up and soften.

But we'll see!

Knitting is full of surprises.

~~~

How about you, fellow makers of things?

Do you often make the same thing slightly differently?

Do you ever revisit a trail?

Right now, I'm dreaming of revisiting this one:

Probably wearing handknit socks.
~~~~~

bought myself a present

Yesterday I bought myself $200-worth of this:

because this:

 It's not the weight of the snow on the roof that drove my decision to clear it, though the weight is a real concern this year.

I fretted about it, but was prepared to tough it out

and trust that the century-old roof would hold up under the weight of the unusually heavy snowload.

No, this was the deciding factor:

Which soon became this:

Ice damming was causing trapped meltwater on the roof

to find its way down through the walls.

And with all that snow still on the roof,

the meltwater flow was just beginning.

I called the carpenter who worked on my porch to ask if he could recommend someone to clear my roof.

He offered to come and do the job himself.

He said of all the roofs he has ever shoveled,

my roof had the most massive ice dams

he has ever seen.

I was so proud.

(Not really.)

In case you are not familiar with ice dams,

they happen when the snow on a roof begins to melt, often because of warmth rising through the roof from the house beneath, but also when the weather warms up a tiny bit. That meltwater trickles down the slope, under the snow, and either makes it over the edge of the roof to become icicles or freezes into a ridge of ice parallel to the low edge of the roof. If conditions remain the same, the ice builds up into a solid wedge. Meltwater that becomes trapped behind it begins to seek an alternate downward route. Under shingles. Through walls.

Here's a good view of a dangerous thing: 

Ice dam under snow - see the wedge? 

Same dam, snow removed.

The carpenter worked hard for over two hours.

I was very happy to have him here,

and I was happier still when he got off the roof.

It's steeper than it looks.

In past years I've always cleaned the chimney myself,

and I've done other work on the roof from time to time.

But at no point in my life would I have cheerfully

gotten up on that roof with a snow shovel.

Nope.

Money well spent.

Gosh, what a winter.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~