A Twist Top, Potatoes, and Date Night

The narrow coverstitch hem on the neckline of the Linda Twist Top worked beautifully:

I will use that technique again in the future. It wasn’t as tricky as I thought it might be. The only change I would make is to use knit stay tape at the shoulders instead of organza ribbon. I use 1/4" organza ribbon to stabilize the shoulders of all my knit tops, but the hem was a bit bulky in those places. The shoulders have to be sewn before hemming the neckline. I prefer the ribbon over the stay tape, but I would use stay tape in this situation.

The top itself was fun to make and turned out well (still needs hemming).

Construction requires both a sewing machine and a serger. Both the center front seam and the topstitching around the opening for the knot have to be done on the sewing machine.

This version, unfortunately, is a bit too big. I was between sizes according to my bust measurement and went up when I should have gone down. I try to adhere to Zede Donohue’s admonition that “knits should skim, not cling,” but that can be a moving target depending on the pattern and fabric. This pattern does indicate negative ease at the bust, which is appropriate for knits, but the entire upper bodice is just a bit too loose and tends to slide around. I will go down a size—and possibly move that V-neck up a tad—when I make the next one. I don’t wear a lot of V-necks precisely because most of them are too low and too wide.

I finished the top just as the husband got back from a concrete-cutting job. He tends to fit those in on evenings and weekends because they are small jobs that don’t take very long. Our weather has been gorgeous, so we decided to go out and dig up potatoes after lunch.

The potato crop this year was a bit disappointing. That part of the garden needs some soil amendments. Next spring, I will put down a bunch of rotting straw and cover the whole area with black plastic. The area on the other side of the garden where we did that a few years ago is the spot that always produces a bumper crop of potatoes. We have enough for the two of us, though.

The husband needed new work boots, so he suggested we go to the Army-Navy store and then out to dinner. I dropped him off to do his boot shopping and went across the street to Joann Fabrics. This is the Butterick pattern that I want to use for my pants class—the one I thought was OOP because the Joanns website said it wasn’t in stock in Kalispell and wasn’t available to ship:

I checked the drawer anyway and found four copies—two in the smaller size range and two in the larger size range. (I should know better than to believe Joanns’ inventory system.) Butterick patterns are $1.99 each this weekend so I bought all four. I’m not thrilled with this pattern because it only comes in alphabet sizing instead of actual garment sizes, but at least I have it.

I think that I am going to bring copies of all these patterns to class and will decide in class which pattern will work best for which student. Each student can pay me for the pattern and take it home with her.

For dinner, we went to a different steak house between Kalispell and Whitefish. We’re trying to use up some gift cards. I had a chopped steak with bleu cheese on top and the husband had a Porterhouse. We finished off dinner with an amazing piece of caramel apple cheesecake.

And then it was off to Home Depot. The husband had a whole shopping list of things he needed:

We discussed cars over dinner. I want to drive the BMW for as long as I can, but I need a contingency plan. I told him to choose something for me because that Volvo station wagon is now out of the running. He knows cars better than I do. Also, he has to work on it, so it’s got to be something that isn’t going to cause him to throw wrenches around his shop. He is leaning toward the Acura MDX. These are my requirements for a new car:

  • Station wagon or SUV

  • All-wheel drive

  • It has to be a color other than white. (White cars in a place that has snow six months out of the year is just stupid, IMO. You can’t see them on the road. Also, most of the time it actually would be light gray because of all the dirt.)

  • Heated seats

  • Sunroof

  • A six-cylinder engine. (I have been driving a BMW for the past seven years and I don’t want to go back to something that plods along.)

I probably will do what I did with the BMW and keep checking the dealers in Seattle to find a two year-old lease turn-in. He suggested I test drive a few cars when I am there over Thanksgiving. I am not going to be happy about giving up the 40 mpg I get with the BMW—the MDX only gets 25 mpg—but I need something reliable.