And So We Punt

This has been a rather frustrating week for both the husband and me. We’re so used to having carefully-planned schedules that when things go sideways, we get cranky.

I managed to rescue my week, mostly, although the way it started out yesterday made me wonder if I should just give up sewing. I cut another (yet another) pair of Jalee Renee pants from the Robert Kaufman black sparkle ponte and thought they would be a quick win. And then I sewed a leg seam the wrong way. (There is no right or wrong side to this fabric.) I had to undo the whole serger seam and re-sew it. I ran out of bobbin thread halfway down a topstitched seam. I didn’t have enough elastic for the waistband and had to sew together three shorter pieces. It was one thing after another.

I persevered. They are done and ready to wear (apologies for the lousy photo):

I am all about the sparkle this week, apparently.

I also tackled one of the pattern alteration projects on my list. I love the Easton cowl, but I don’t like either the length or how it fits me in the hips. It just looks weird to me. I have been wanting to frankenpattern it with the Lark Tee, because I like the way that one fits me and the length is perfect. I laid the two patterns down on the cutting table and matched them up at the underarm, then traced a new pattern consisting of the top of the Easton cowl and the bottom of the Lark Tee. That added about 3” to the length of the Easton cowl pattern and put the hip shaping where I needed it.

For the fabric, I pulled out a rayon crepe jersey from—of all places—the Walmart remnant rack. I wish I knew where they were getting these remnants. This is a lovely piece of fabric.

[Here is your spinning lesson for today: A crepe yarn is made by taking a two-ply yarn and plying it with a single strand of yarn. I’m leaving out some technical details (sorry, Sarah), but the result is a textured, rather bubbly strand of yarn.]

I was planning to use the purl side of the fabric as the right side because of the interesting texture, but the fabric is black and a very fine jersey and I sewed the first seam with the knit side as the right side. I was not going to take out that seam and re-sew it.

I am delighted with how the top turned out, however.

Both the length and silhouette are perfect and that rayon crepe jersey is luxurious. I’d take two yards in every jewel tone if I could find more.

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The husband has been on the hunt for a ground heater, a piece of equipment that would allow him to thaw out frozen ground so that he could continue to pour concrete through the winter. The local tool rental place has one that they rent for $1500 a day and it’s booked solid. He finally found one for sale by a tool supplier in Colorado. The seller had it freighted up here and the husband picked it up yesterday morning. Unfortunately, it has a problem. The burner doesn’t stay on, although the seller said he ran it for several hours with no problem to make sure it was working. The husband spent all day yesterday trying to get it to work here, with no success. He was not happy last night.

And the recliners were delivered yesterday, but we’re going to send his back for a different one. The one I bought has electronic controls, which is fine for a person who gets into the recliner and stays there for hours at a time, but the husband is in and out of his recliner multiple times over the course of an evening, and having to push a button and wait for the recliner to close up is just too frustrating. He wants one with a manual lever. I did not consider that when I was shopping. He really needs to go and find one for himself. The store has a seven-day return policy, so I will talk to them today. We put his old one back in the living room.

I do like mine, though:

I like that it rocks—my previous chair did not—and it is much more comfortable for my back.

The little deer has figured out that I do chicken chores around 4 o’clock every afternoon, so it shows up and stands near me until I give it some corn. I guess I have a pet deer now.