husqvarna... but not so chainsawy.

for those of you close to me, as in, close enough to hear me, you know my latest gripe has been mechanical. the brother sewing machine i have has angered me beyond retribution. the glitch in tension control is ridiculous. never has it worked right. and when i brought it to the certified technician or whatever, he was like, "get rid of it." the other lady was like, "you sew how much? with what kind of designer fabric? with what quality thread? uh, yeah. you have the wrong machine for sure."
great.
what do i sew with? i sew everyday. i can't just not have a machine. i will truly lose my mind. knitting is so not a summer sport. what will i do come june? (after cutting out 5 dress patterns, i actually started crocheting a dress in the interim.)
driving home monday i prayed with confidence that God would give me a machine. "i really want one. and i know You'll provide one for me. i have no doubt. cause You are hilariously generous like that." the question was when.
five minutes pass.
i walk into my home, and my husband hands me an envelope of cash.
that's pretty quick. told you He was hilarious.
so i shop around. hear some hilarious contrived sale's pitches. (my favorite was the one where the older lady told me that it was better to have metal housing. because even though it weighs as much as a couch, plastic is cheap. it breaks. didn't have the heart to tell her it was the machinery that counted. that and oh, did you know cops carry guns made of plastic? yeah.) basically i was to spend, according to one lady, "at least a thousand".
but that didn't jive with my internet research. i'm telling you man, you can NOT mess with gen x on that stuff. we are the informed customer. we see right through it.
so thanks to lyla, i get a machine that's usually $899 for under $500.
hilarious. simply hilarious.

excuse me while i read the manual for the next four hours... don't want to mess with the perfect precision that is swiss mechanics. 

more to come. i assure you.

a new hat

finally i finish the new hat. the one she's been wearing is squeezing her brains.
it's a soundlikefox original. merino/silk sock yarn. so lovely. and a bit of a twist cause i'm lazy and didn't want to mess with real cables and sock yarn. can you blame me? just wanted to finish before the 112 degree heat hits.

mostly, though she's lived her whole life in a hat (no hair is cold), she likes to take it off. a disadvantage to a hat that doesn't squeeze the brains.

great expectations

i need one of those venture capital loans. is that the right word? yes. i googled it.
to make cute things for all and sell them at farmer's markets would justify my time spent on crafts.
this little number was a fun challenge. my first use of the come-to-find-out infamous jelly roll. this is what it looks like when you buy it. precut. presorted. sister: "doesn't that go against everything you believe in?" me: "yes. but time is a merciless master." i had a week. and the lady at the quilting store (who has a sick obsession with tiny perfectly-sewn and aligned little jewel quilt square thingies) made it sound super easy. yay! right? super frustrating was this one. i think expectations can make or kill a project.
so i purchased a jelly roll. actually a deal for the amount of measuring, cutting and coordinating it cuts out. a great way to make your first quilt. there are books and books written on the (cheater) method. suffice it to say i used none of them. books? instructions? whaaa???

so the (second) pattern i turned out is to the right here. (we won't go into the first. it's a subject of bitterness. and annoyance. like i mentioned. the lady made it sound easy. such it is with the ways of the geniuses.)  36x48. machine washable cotton. moda's look and learn by american jane. the backing is a black print. done in a week. well... it would've been a week if the machine hadn't fritzed out.  another subject of bitterness. i was very pleased with the result. i think the sweet boy it was for liked it, too!

but back to the venture capital thing. i mostly want to make tops for girls and ladies for the summer. (it gets warm here, if i remember correctly.) fashionable ones with much spunk. i'll take orders now. for the two of you that read my blog. ha-ha!