More Collecting...

I had time to kill yesterday. In my world, that means 'Fabricville' . I CAN browse without buying, really I can ! :-)

But not yesterday LOL.

The sale, ending yesterday, was 4-season, 100% wools for $2.99/meter. They were all marked at least $12.99 regular price !

My collection has wools...mostly heavier weights. The 2 pieces I picked up are lighter - suitweight/pantweight.

1st up - 6 meters - black wool - the weave is a tone-on-tone narrow pinstripe. I think you can see it in the picture. Couldn't get an accurate picture, we all know how hard it is to photograph black.


Next up - 5 meters - black pinstripe - this looked navy in the store & I carried it around with me to make sure it wasn't snapped up. It is a Super 120 wool & I've NEVER seen this in Fabricville. If they carry it regularly, they hide it :-). This morning when I took them out to prep them (and to take the requisite pics), I noticed it's actually black - that's ok, it's still a basic.


I think I done good - I 'should' be able to get 5 pairs of pants (worst case, 4 pairs) from what was less than $40 !

NOW - everyone cross their fingers.

A couple of days ago I read this post from Pam of Off the Cuff - Sewing Style. Her preshrinking wool routine consisting of steam drying your yardage with a couple of hot towels on hot heat is about the easiest and shortest method I've seen so far. So, with confidence in all of Pam's experience, both of these pieces were carefully measured and put in the dryer. It buzzed about 2 minutes ago and I have to go lay them out to fully dry. If this works for me, I see a few dryer loads of wool in my upcoming week.

Quick update - they still look and feel the same. They are laying out cooling and in a while I'll remeasure. BTW - I may be in the minority but I LOVE the smell of wool ! :-)

Picture Update

Thanks for the wishes everyone...I feel much better today, it has been a nasty week. Antibiotics are a wonderful thing when they're necessary.

So, I finally got around to taking a set of the promised pics.

Socks - still at the same point as last week, about 2 inches above the heel. Didn't even feel like knitting these past few days. If I had, I'd probably have 'em done by now.



Yarn - this is the brown, Cascade 220 I picked up at Creative Yarns in Toronto. I really need a new sweater at work, I freeze all the time. This yarn came in hanks. When I mentioned having to learn to deal with the hanks, the owner very kindly offered to ball them up for me. Took him about 45 minutes (3 gave him a rough time !) It would have taken me forever. I'd never seen a Swift and Ball Winder in action before...it was pretty cool.




Fabric - Been considering the Wardrobe Contest at PR - have basics, need a print. Went out today, got this - it was not labelled for content (it was on the discount wall). It's poly/spandex, I think. Approx 50% stretch, good recovery. It does NOT wrinkle. Still need a print - LOL !



Furniture - we bought 2 pieces in Toronto.

a china cabinet - we finished our china set and it all now has a home. We just got the last few pieces in July and they never came out of the bag til now, no place to put them.



an armoire for the spare room - my kitchen does not have enough cupboards, I want to use my linen closet as a pantry. New armoire is now home to sheets, table linens, etc. Linen closet is now a pantry.



As you can see, Skippy very graciously stayed still long enough for me to get a pic. My first attempt wasn't good. He wandered through, just as I took the picture, so I put him on a 'down' which he did very nicely, dont'cha think :-) and snapped another one.

I love this piece. The shelves are cedar lined and the mirror on the inside door will be very handy. No pic, but the drawers were lined with some really old stuff. Well, that's gone. I picked up some new liner today, just have to cut out a piece for each of the drawers.



These are old pieces but I'm not sure how old. They're solid wood and really heavy, the armoire especially. Even after taking out the drawers, it was heavy ! DH spent quite some time cleaning these up and we're quite happy with them both.

Sick again - accomplishing nothing

So, practically the minute we got back from vacation - I got sick. 2 good days then on Sunday it started. I was hoping it wouldn't develop (optimism or dreaming, I'm not sure) but on Wednesday at a regularly scheduled Dr. appointment he checked my throat & chest and informed me I had a chest/lung infection, was contagious and should NOT be in an office ! My boss agreed and since then I've been home moving only from the bed to the couch - sleeping mostly.

The antibiotics kicked in pretty quickly and by yesterday I felt better - today I feel human again. Energy is low but it'll show up in a few days.

Now I'm bored and want to DO something. What a waste, home for 4 days and no sewing. I've only just been keeping up with my blog reading & pattern review. Yesterday I found the Wardrobe Contest on PR and am thinking about it. Like the mini wardrobe, I may not finish on time but I would have a few new coordinating pieces, The collection has all kinds of basics...if I could find a print to go with a few of them, this could be doable. My local fabric store has their 75% off sale on now. Think I'll check it out, see if anything jumps out at me. :-)

BTW - the mini wardrobe is 'this' close - I just have to finish the darn blouse.

Haven't forgot the promised pics of the socks, new yarn, new cabinets but haven't taken 'em yet...soon.

It's good to be home

Just a post, no pics today.

We stayed in Toronto for 12 days. I had a great time but was really glad to get home. There was one more purchase yet to be photographed. I found a cardigan pattern on Ravelry that I want to try and picked up 10 hanks of a brown Cascade 200. I'm hoping it will replace the ratty sweater on the back of my chair at work :-)

I didn't have any sewing time after all before I went back to work today. After arriving home on Thursday, we played tourist in Montreal on Friday and had another 6-7 hours in the car on Saturday.

Friday, DH & I took the metro (subway) to the east side of Mont Royal (pretty much the whole middle of Montreal is taken up by 'the Mountain') and walked all afternoon. I had been on different parts of the mountain before but never this particular bit. We had a great afternoon, no plans, no time frame, it was pretty hot though, it hit 30°, I think. Actually, I believe we've hit 30 every day since Thursday.

Saturday, we had to drive halfway back to Toronto ! We'd picked up two pieces of furniture while we were there - an armoire and a china cabinet. One came home in the van with us. The other piece stayed in Toronto and our friends drove it halfway to Montreal on Sat morning. We met them, transferred the cabinet to our van, had a great breakfast (truck stops have the best breakfast) and were back home by mid-afternoon by way of the scenic route.

Yesterday, the sore throat and the cough started and the energy flagged. I'm hoping it doesn't develop, but I don't know. It's not looking good. I pretty much flaked out today after work. I really hate being sick - yuck !!!

Oh, I had the foot of the 'dead simple lace socks' done before we left Toronto, the heels were done by the time we got home and I'm now about 1-1/2" up the leg.

Not so interesting without pics, will try to take some soon.

Mid-Vacation

I was starting to feel a bit disconnected, so decided to do a mid-vacation post.

We're into week 2 of our vacation and we're are still in Toronto. I think we're going to be here til Thursday. It's our longest visit here with our friends and it's been great. I've been on the run since we arrived !

Antique stores, yarn stores, the garment district...yes, I've picked up a few things, pics later.

Saturday we went to the 'Taste of the Danforth" - a food festival on Danforth St and I'd no idea what to expect except LOTS of people. Oh, yes, LOTS of people !!

Projects / Shopping ?

Well, I did finish the blue bamboo socks before we left last Sunday, but I haven't cast off. One is cast off but it is too tight. I need to put those stitches back on the needles (a bigger needle, I think) and cast off again. I'm hoping that that will be enough to loosen the cuff. First thing on the 'to-do' list once we get home.

Next pair of socks - DH bought me Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up. Where to start ? Which to choose ? I couldn't choose. The current plan is to start at the beginning and work my way through the book.

I cast on the first pattern 'Dead Simple Lace Socks' in the car on Sunday. Magic Loop, 2 at once, 64 stitch foot, 32 stitch Turkish cast on, 2.5 mm / 40" needle, Regia 4-ply Solid in green.

This pic was taken Sunday. Today I have only a couple rows to go before I increase for the gusset.

Wednesday, the girls gave the guys a break and went to Queen Street West, Toronto's garment district. I was very restrained. What I really wanted were knits and I bought just that. And only 3 pieces :-)

First up - (darn receipt doesn't have the store on it and I forgot to take note, I "think" it was World Sewing Center) - 2 meters, lightweight jersey, not poly, I think it's cotton.

Next purchases @ Affordable Textiles, Inc., 2 pieces

1 meter - poly/spandex

2 meters - bamboo. I petted this one for a while before I bought it, and if they had other colors, I'd have bought more. None left, unfortunately.

Moving on to the yarn - Romni Wools

More restraint, I only bought one ball. It would be really easy to accumulate a yarn 'collection' to go with my fabric collection, but I think one ball (or so) at a time is best.

That's it for this trip, I don't think there are any more purchases coming up. We'll be home in a couple of days and I hope to have 3-4 days in the sewing room before going back to work.