Plath’s Adventures

Still not really knitting much, but I have been sewing! I just finished my apron on Saturday:

It’s the Vintage Apron from Bend-the-Rules Sewing, which is a great book. I’m really happy with my apron, even though a lot of my seams aren’t so straight. Hey I’m new at this!

I also did up this “taggie” mini pillow toy
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So, not bad for a lazy week, eh? I don’t know how much sewing I’m going to be getting done in the next few months however, because it looks like we’re going to be moving! Jason was offered a job in North Carolina (the Mooresville area if you’re interested), and it looks like he’s going to take it. We have so much work to do on the house before we can list it, most of our free time will be to work on the house. We’re both kind of freaking out, but are excited, too. We probably won’t be moving until December, but really need to get the house listed ASAP so we can actually sell it. I’m really going to have to prioritize my knitting projects for the next few months, because I’m going to start packing this weekend so we can “stage” our house for selling. With yarn everywhere, unless the buyer is a knitter, it would probably be overwhelming…

I have said for AGES that I really want to learn how to sew. Well, after much frustration and many givings-up, I am really learning this time. Part of my frustration, is that I have a very old machine:

Sorry for the awful picture, I took it at 6:30 this morning. It’s a Dressmaker Stretch Stitch sewing machine (model S2402), and I believe it was made in 1977. It’s a great machine (so I’m told), but it’s intimidating. It’s not like I can pick up any old sewing book and figure things out. It even came with these embroidery cams for special stitches

I don’t know that I’ll use them, but I guess it’s neat… I’m not sending out copies if my manual, but you can download one here for $10, and here is a free threading diagram.

Anyway, here is my first, almost-complete project:

It’s a baby bib. I need to fix the left side a bit and sew on some velcro and it will be done! Jason was impressed with my first project, even though I think it looks a bit wonky. I guess that’s to be expected for a first project though. My first knitting project was extremely ugly…

Here’s what I’m working on now (again 6:30 am lighting…):

If you can’t tell, it’s an apron. My stitching is not very straight, but it seems to be coming along nicely. I was impressed with myself that I figured out the basting stich on the machine, even though I had to rip it out once. I just have to stitch up the ties and finish the waistband, and it will be finished. I have nightmares about the apron I made back in Junior High ~ my only machine sewing experience. I must have ripped out every seam at least 3 times. Put me off sewing for a good 17 years!

Knitting-wise, I’ve made absolutely no progress since my last post. I’m bored with all my WIPs and went to pick out a new project and found I didn’t have the right size needles. Sigh. I hate when that happens. So, I cast on for something incredibly boring:

Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth pattern out of some cotton yarn I got in one of those Target kits ages ago.