~ Craft Happenings 2013 v. 9 ~

May 182013
 

I’ve been a most seriously busy bee.  BZZZZZZZZZZ!

Featured FO

Spending time with my sewing machine, I have cranked out a few sewing FOs!  Featured here is another Tiny Pocket Tank by Grainline Studios made out of some scary ’70s polyester that I procured from a thrift store.  This fabric feels pretty awful to the hand, but surprisingly is comfortable wearing against the torso.

Knowing that I would never use this fabric for much else, I decided to make up another tank and consider this fabric stash-busted.  I’ve really been trying to bust the stash, so this feels nicely satisfying.

On the Knitting Needles

I’ve been clicking away at this sweater-thing.  Finished one sleeve and am almost done with the second.  I’ve lost my size US4 12″ circular needle (which I use for knitting sleeves) and am knitting these sleeves with DPNs… while I’m not one of those knitters who shies away from DPNs, I am definitely faster with a good circ, so these sleeves are taking a while.  Also, the collar will be a stand-up thing with buttons, instead of the floopy droop you see.

As a side note, I have to say that I just love it when I receive nice notes from knitters about my patterns.  I’ve been in a designing funk for a while – -  I don’t really know why I feel all funkified but I do.  Perhaps I should go back through my emails and find some nice words that knitters have written to me, and post them on my craft room wall for inspiration and motivation, to escape my funk.  Yesterday, I received an email from someone inquiring about how they might go about lengthening a sweater, and she mentioned that she had knat THREE of my sweater patterns and ended her email, “PS, write more patterns!” and it really made my day.

On the Sewing Machine

Well Readers, that dotty dress I’ve been working on has gone away for good.  Last weekend, I made a concerted and methodical push to create an FO, but my efforts were all for naught.  After FINALLY finishing the bodice, I discovered that it was irreparably too small for me.  So then I had a BRILLIANT idea to just make the skirt portion of the dress as a stand-alone skirt.  NOPE!  After spending three extremely aggravating hours trying to hem the skirt, I gave up.  While the pattern is a “Very Easy Very Vogue” pattern, my fabric choices were not a recipe for success.

After tossing my failings into the rubbish bin, I whipped up the above-showcased Tiny Pocket Tank, which was a quick, easy, relaxing, and confidence-enhancing success.

Then!  I made another Truffle Dress, which I will be writing an FO post soon.  Having made two Truffles, this came together frustration-free and fits perfectly!  Josh and I are hosting a Garden Soirée tomorrow and I made this dress specifically for tomorrow’s gathering.

It has a floral pattern that I really love, which I think will be extra pretty at the Garden Soirée.  I don’t know if anyone else is going to dress up, but I sure am!  I did some extra spiffy stuff on the finishing so I think this might be my most finely made sewing FO to date.  (Stay tuned for that post!).

And now!  I’m about to start on Jasmine, also by Colette Patterns.  Having read through all of the reviews of this pattern, I’m going to include a few recommended modifications (ie, hiking up the neckline and narrowing the shoulders).  I’m still trying to decide which fabric to use.  All of these fabrics are semi-sheer (and the fabric in the pattern photo is also semi-sheer) but I don’t really DO sheer of any degree, so I’m thinking about fully lining it (like I just did with my latest Truffle Dress).

Feathered Friends

My little ladies are growing up so fast!  This week, they transitioned from chick starter to pullet developer feed.  Also, last week they enjoyed my gross okra, and this week they enjoyed an eggplant disaster.  You know, I don’t always cook, but when I do, I generally set off the fire alarm.

We had a sudden heat surge last week and this week (with record high temps at 95F… it was horrible!) and the ladies didn’t take it very well.  We don’t have much shade in the backyard during the height of the sun (I’ve planted several bushes in their paddock area, but the bushes are still too small to provide much shade).  We do have the lean-to thing against the shed and I hung up a shower curtain (another thrift store find) for more shade, and I’ve been adding ice to their waterers with added electrolytes and sprinkling their favorite grassy areas with water.  I also brought out a fan for them, but they just seemed scared of it.  Despite my attempts to help them beat the heat, they were panting and holding their wings away from their bodies, and I was very worried.  Fortunately, temperatures are now down to a reasonable 65-75 degrees and everyone is much happier.  I’m hoping that it was just the suddenness of the spike in temperatures that made it seem so bad, because this is supposed to be a really hot summer.

Yard & Garden

Lots of changes in the yard and garden this week!

In response to the aforementioned lack of shade, I have bought two apple trees and a shade structure.  The apples are for dwarf Gala apples and I need to get them in the ground ASAP.  They were on sale for $10 each (probably because it’s getting kind of late for planting trees).  I’d like to plant both of them in the chicken paddock (for much needed shade) but there might only be room for one (I need to research what kind of spacing they need).

As for the shade structure, I decided to purchase a canopy/gazebo thing.  This past week during the heat surge, the complete lack of shade was very uncomfortable and the heat is only going to get worse in the summer.

I’m proud to say that I was able to construct most of the structure all by myself.  This shade structure thing was on sale for really cheap (like, two digits cheap!) – - I’ve been shopping all around town and am just aghast at how expensive patio furniture is.  So when I located this two digitly-priced canopy thing, I was really chomping at the bit for it (even though I dislike beige).   I also found the sheer white curtains on clearance for $4 each to hang around the perimeter.  I need to add some weights to them and sew a pretty sash to tie them up.

I also procured some flowers for my pots.

Furthering the aesthetic enhancements of the backyard, Josh set in some slabs of stone behind the house for a walkway.  I’m going to sow in some creeping thyme and some other kind of filler (rather than bare dirt and crabgrass).  Again, I’ve been aghast at the price of stone and pavers, but these beauties Josh dug up from our own backyard!  It’s so interesting – - this house is fairly old and there are so many buried treasures.

For example, while I was planting my blueberry bushes, I found this porcelain rabbit.  I’ve also found marbles, little Buddha’s, GI-Joes, doll’s heads, a helicopter toy, and all kinds of other treasures.  In a way, I wish that I had been keeping all of the buried treasures, but most have been junky and broken and it’s not like I want a bunch of junky broken crap lying around.

Okay, so the garden is all planted.  I know that I should have waited another week or so to plant my melons, cukes, zukes, and the like, but the timing was convenient for me to get them in the ground this week.  Unfortunately, something is eating off my zucchini.  I’ve scattered a bunch of Sluggo around them and am covering them at night, but the damage may be too great.  I might also set out some beer traps.

With regards to other pests, I finally conquered my ant problem with some food grade diatomaceous earth.  I’ve had three big ant colonies in and around my shed / chicken coop, and several big ant colonies at the back, where I had planned to plant my tomatoes and then squash.  While I was preparing my tomato beds, I discovered a HUGE nest of ant eggs and larvae and decided to take drastic action.  Perhaps some gardeners do not consider ants much of a pest, but they most certainly have not been eating whatever pests have been eating my veggies (so I question the supposed benefits of ants as predators), but seriously, six big ant colonies in one backyard is too many ants.

In other disappointments, I’m trying to be positive and consider it a scientific experiment, but some of my onions and leeks are doing fantastic and others are failing to thrive.  Please behold, thriving onions and leeks…

… and failing to thrive onions and leeks.  I’ve made an inventory of the differences in planting location, sunlight, fertilization, soil composition, soil temperature, and planting time, and by all accounts I don’t understand why those that are failing to thrive are doing so, considering that I believe they have the optimal growing conditions.  Maybe onions and leeks prefer sub-optimal growing conditions???  Also, for your information, the thriving onions and leaks are a month YOUNGER than the failing to thrive ones, yet they are about thrice the diameter.  Please tell me, what is up with this?

Also disappointing, the heat wave killed some of my pea plants.  Squirrels are still eating my strawberries.  Cutworms have eaten almost all of my beets.  I killed one of my bare root rhubarbs and bare root raspberries.  And some of my basil has died.  POOP!

The good news is that a lot of my plants are doing really well.  I’ve planted lots of pretty flowers around the house and have been eating spinach, kale, and red leaf lettuce from my garden.

Gratuitous Kitty Photo

That’s all for now.  Garden Soirée is tomorrow and there is SO MUCH left to do!  I’ll try to get some photos of my new party dress making it’s debut at the Soirée.

~ Craft Happenings 2013 v. 8 ~

May 082013
 

Happy second week of May everyone!  Thank you all for the reassuring comments on my last post, with regards to my bicycling (lack of) fitness.  Rather than feeling lame, I’m trying to get back on the bike and just ride as much as I can.  I’ve been having some very fun rides.  Over the weekend, Josh and I had a small bicycle adventure, which was smaller than we intended because (1) Josh forgot a few key pieces of cycling gear (including cycling shoes!), (2) there was an approaching storm, and (3) we got really lost.

We had been trying to ride out to these big craters in southern Idaho, but found ourselves on a free ranging cattle pasture with many roads to nowhere.

As for Me Made May, unsurprisingly, my desire to take a photograph of my daily Me Made Outfit has failed to manifest itself, particularly because I am knee deep in gardening work for The Average Last Frost Date and not wearing many Me Made Outfits.  I actually took off this past Monday and Tuesday to work on yard and garden projects and I’ve barely managed to scrub the dirt from underneath my fingernails for my return to the Day Job today.

Anyway, today’s Me Made Outfit features my Truffle Dress, my Zest Cardigan, and my Dreaming Shawl.  This Truffle Dress turned out a little too short for my comfort (particularly in the back) so I feel compelled to always were leggings or tights with it.  Also, I hope you all don’t mind my pairing an orange cardigan with an orange shawl, but I find this pretty fantastic.

As for the craft happs, I continue to knit and sew, but right now my world is ALL ABOUT the garden.  OH!  I did some thrift store shopping this weekend and, in addition to procuring some useful gardening implements, I found two pretty pieces of fabric for super cheap.  I’m not sure how much fabric this is (both fabrics reek of gross thrift store perfume) but once I give them a good laundering, I’m excited to use them.

Anyway, the chickens.  After much hemming and hawing, Josh and I decided to no longer let the chickens totally free range around the entire back yard.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching them run all over the yard, but they’ve started to reap havoc on my veggies.  I experimented with fencing off the veggies but ultimately decided to fence off the chickens into a good sized paddock area.  It’s about 10 feet by 30 feet, which is still a good amount of space for four chickens, and I’m working on planting some bushes and maybe a tree for them.  Over the weekend, Josh installed a lean-to structure from all of the scrap building materials that we had leftover from the shed roof project and the plan is to expand this to a more permanent run enclosure.  I’ve been seeing all kinds of hawks and falcons circling our neighborhood (there are a lot of backyard chickens in my ‘hood) and thought that by using some of this shiny metal roofing material that it might help to detract birds of prey.

Their paddock looks kind of junky right now, but we’re going to make it much nicer.  Along the perimeter, I’ve sowed several rows of corn and sunflowers, to give them extra shade and nibbling opportunities, as well as some nice currant and blueberry bushes in the main open area (not pictured).

Somewhat related, over the weekend, I made for myself some okra that I didn’t like (as much as I try, I just don’t enjoy eating okra… too slimy) and so I gave to the chickens the okra, and they LOVED it.  I have seeds for two varieties of heirloom okra and I can’t decide whether to grow it.  Clearly, I won’t want to eat it, but the chickens will.  So Readers, help me decide about the growing of okra… yea or nay?

As for the garden, this past week I’ve been focusing on preparatory work for planting ALL of my seedlings this coming weekend.  Weeding, preparing planting beds, weeding, turning the compost, weeding, rinse and repeat.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it has been a lot of work.\

Tangentially, please regard this fine lettuce.  I foresee a home-grown salad in my future.

I did take some time to plant a variety of ornamental plants, in an effort to beautify the rather stark backyard.  I selected some partial shade and mostly low water needing plants for the ‘drainage area’ at the back of the house, using some of the river rock and large slabs of wateverrock that we’ve dug up from the ground as a pathway and ground cover.  It’s still a work-in-progress, but it’s nice to finally have something pretty in the backyard.

Knitting and sewing continue.  I hope to have a finished sewing project to show you soon and next week I will hopefully have everything planted.  Also, I may or may not have a significant change in my existence coming up, which may or may not alter my crafting and/or blogging capacity.  (It’s nothing that you’ll find exciting and it’s nothing that I’ll be blogging about except in passing, but it would be a very big deal for me… so feel free to send some confidence-enhancing wishes my way, as I’m pretty nervous and excited about it.)

These are the strawberries that I grew from seed.

 

~ looking at my mirrors that reflect on me ~

May 022013
 

Readers, if you haven’t already, I would recommend that you click on over to Kerin’s reflective post about how Self-Esteem Needs Many Mirrors.  I found it ponderable as I’ve been reflecting on my own mirrors.

In considering the different things that we do to achieve fulfilling lives, do you ever worry about taking on too much? And not being able to do any one thing well??

Me, I like having several different hobbies to occupy my time.  Bicycling, knitting, gardening, sewing (mostly in that order)…  My hobbies bring me joy, they are an outlet for stress, and they also have the side benefit of giving me something in return for my time (fitness and health, clothing and accessories, and food).

But at the same time, even though I’m not a perfectionist, my hobbies can be a source of stress if I feel that I’m not producing a quality in line with my own expectations.  For example, I’m only just getting back into biking (for more than just commuting) after taking a long break over the super cold and icy winter and during a time of many home DIY projects.  Despite exercising regularly on my indoor bike spinner thing, my fitness is greatly reduced and my technical skills are also putting me to shame.  ex., There is a local mountain biking trail that has a few switchback turns, and I’ve ridden it several times recently and keep getting too scared to ride all of the switchbacks (even though I’ve successfully ridden them MANY times in the past).  Yesterday, I finally forced myself to ride through all the turns, and while I was proud of myself for facing a fear, I also felt incredibly lame for allowing an irrational fear get the better of me.  Last year, I made leaps and bounds with my mountain biking skills, and was having no trouble riding up and over big logs, down these gnarly rocky things, and just overall rocking the bicycle (oh, and I also won first place in a sport level mountain bike race).  But then this year, I’m switching into super low gears while huffing and puffing over wee little baby hills and am too scared to ride through some basic turns.

For so many years, cycling has been part and parcel of my identity and I just feel like my identity is obscured by the fact that I am MISERABLE at cycling right now.  Tonight, I’m supposed to meet Josh and some bike shop folks to go for a ride, and I’m DREADING it because I’m so worried that I won’t be able to keep up with everyone.

Obviously, the answer is simply that I need to spend more time on the bike.  Unfortunately, my spare time does not runneth over like my yarn stash and I feel like there is so much I want to do with my other hobbies as well.  Sewing seems to be the hobby that gets pushed to the back burner the most frequently – - which is so disappointing for me because I love sewing and I would really love to have more sewing FOs to wear.

In sum, balancing hobbies (particularly if you have a Day Job that limits your spare time) is challenging.  Readers, do you have any wisdom or thoughts about how to balance your multiple self-esteem mirrors?

In other news, today is the second day of May and is also the second day of Me Made May!

Today’s featured Me Made outfit has two knitting FOs and two sewing FOs.  You can’t see them, but I am wearing my Farnkrautsocken Socks, then my Mint Thurlows, my V8323, and my Thistle Vest.

I actually wear these Mint Thurlows a lot.  They are so comfortable and fit perfectly.  The fabric does wrinkle and stretch out, but not too badly the first day’s wear (in the photo, those trousers have probably two days of wear behind them).  I love my V8323 – - the color and the fit seem to really suit me.  And this is my favorite way of wearing my Thistle.  As an outfit, I think everything pairs nicely.  I like the way the colors and textures work together as well as how they look on me, and I find this to be a very comfortable and self-esteem-enhancing outfit.

Finally, Kiko was sad that my previous post didn’t have a pretty photo of her.  She was concerned that my devoted following of blog readers* would unsubscribe from my blog if I didn’t post a photo of her adorableness post haste.

*Both of you.

~ Craft Happenings 2013 v. 7 ~

May 012013
 

Last week, I found myself wallowing in a loss of crafting mojo; this week, aforementioned mojo is back!

But first, today is the first of May and also the first day of Me Made May 2013.

Today’s super stylin’ ensemble was thrown together haphazardly while I rushed around getting ready for the Day Job while at the same time tending to the needs of my feathered and feline friends.  Also, third day hair and no eye makeup make me feel extra super stylin’.

From the bottom up, those are my Entrelac Socks(well displayed with my clear plastic jellies), my brown corduroy Thurlow trousers (which are practically falling apart and ridiculously wrinkly – - stupid cheap fabric), a gray Renfrew, my Cocoon Vest, and Swallowtail Shawl.   Three knitting FOs and two sewing FOs… a fully Me Made Outfit.

On the Knitting Needles

I started clicking away at something new.  I’m still pretty bummed that I felted four of my favorite sweaters, but fortunately I have PLENTY of yarn to make many, many, MANY more sweaters.

This lace is a feather and fan variation and is nice because it is mostly stockinette in the round (which is so calmingly simple) and then a mix of yarn overs and decreases every forth round.

On the Sewing Table

I made good progress on my sewing project.  I was able to construct the full bodice, including the sleeve caps and the lining.  The sleeve caps were cumbersome to put together because of the elastic at the hem (I don’t enjoy fiddling with elastic (I actually broke my elastic threader do-hickey several months ago during a moment of elastic-threading rage)).

And the lining was difficult, possibly because I am now working with three hard-to-work-with fabrics.  Hopefully, now that I’m finished with the bodice, the rest of the dress should be much easier and faster.

On the Kitchen Counter

I flexed my culinary artistry this week and made a batch of Carrot Ginger soup from my soup cookbook, which was pretty good.  I actually don’t like the flavor of cooked carrots, so it was surprising to me that I enjoyed this soup as much as I did.

In the Garden

We’re approximately two weeks away from the official average last frost date and I’m wondering if I ought to wait an additional week before planting my tender seedlings.  We’ve been having wildly fluctuating temperatures in Boise, from many consecutive days in the 70s and nightly lows in the 50s, to sudden drops in temperatures by 20-30 degrees with several days in a row of hard frosts.  I leave all of my seedlings outside if nighttime temperatures stay above 40F, but I really have to monitor the forecast.  Last night, I forgot to bring in my cilantro, and temps were down to 26F and it may have died.

Anyway, over the weekend, I transplanted most of my seedlings into larger pots, as they were getting root bound in their flats.  Somehow, I have way more tomatoes and peppers than I realized, however, there is a dearth of eggplant.  I have been trying to grow from seed four different varieties of eggplant, but have been having difficulties getting them to germinate and then stay alive.   Fie!

I’m also really annoyed by these excessively leggy lemon cucumbers.  I originally sowed the lemons cukes along with my other cukes, zukes, and melons (see below), but the lemon cukes died and I re-sowed them last week and they came up looking like this.  Fie, fie!!  At least my recently sowed green melon (also to replaced the ones that died) is less leggy.

As for my already planted plants, everyone is doing mostly well.  Some of my cabbages and cauliflowers had appeared to be suffering from cold stress a few weeks ago (we had a several very cold nights in a row) and then they seemed to recover over the balmy weekend, but now seem a little sad again after two nights of hard frosts.  It’s so hard being wee.

Parsnips are and are not doing well.  Some of the parsnips are thriving beyond my highest of hopes and other parsnips are being eaten off or failing to thrive.  Below are my star parsnips and some red leaf lettuce, exceeding my expectations.

In irksome news, squirrels are eating my strawberries!  GAH!!!  A few weeks ago, I posted a photo of my first strawberry, almost fully ripe and ready to eat, and the next day it had been eaten by a squirrel.  Of all the garden cranky-making things… squirrels.

Regarding my other berries, I planted blackberry and raspberry bareroots (ie, sticks) about a month ago and thought they had died, but as of this weekend there are signs of life on my blackberry stick.  I also bought berry plants at the farmer’s market a few weekends ago, because I thought my berry sticks had died, and those plants are doing well.  (The raspberry stick still just looks like a stick).

My peas are beginning their meandering journey up the bamboo stakes.  I’ve companion planted onions with them.

Carrots are starting to look like carrots.  Also, I need to thin them soon.

I’m struggling with beets more than I thought I would.  I’ve lost many a beet to the hard frosts and this weekend the chickens jumped into the bed with most of my beets and there are few surviving beets from that rampage.  (I really need to get that fence around my beds setup.)

I’ve been ‘pre-sprouting’ my seed potatoes for a few weeks and finally set them in some dirt and leaves in a laundry basket (an idea from Pinterest).  I’ve never grown potatoes before, so I have no idea what to expect from this experiment.

Here Chick, Chick, Chick

The chickens are doing well.  Ten weeks old.  This weekend, they started wandering into the coop later in the evening all on their own (even without prodding by the annoying humans) and they all can now jump onto the roost by themselves.  However, we don’t have a good ramp to their chicken door setup yet so they’ve actually been going in and out of their coop freely via the human door.  Since we’re still using most of the shed as a shed (and thus, don’t really want a bunch of chicken poop everywhere), I finally decided to whip up a quick ramp and try to train them to use their door.  They are comfortable exiting the coop using their door, but they’re not using it to get back in.  So, that is a work-in-progress.

Also! Since being moved into the coop, they no longer squabble over roost positioning.  Arguably, this roost is nearly identical to their previous roost except for its location, and there appears to be many desirable places to roost, so everyone is happy (including me!).

Finally, I don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression about me, but I think fuzzy chicken butts are pretty cute.

~ in which disorder, good intentions, and demoralization fail to yield perfection in crafting (one or two thoughts on this shocking occurance) ~

Apr 242013
 

Readers, I’ve been struggling with a loss of crafting mojo.  A few things have happened to make me feel this way.

One:

disorder (or, lack of planning)

I all but finished the sweater I’ve been knitting and suddenly decided that I don’t like it.  I spent a few days feeling down about this, but finally came to the conclusion that I was likely knitting this sweater so that I would have something to knit, not necessarily because I was excited about it.  Knitting is such a routinized part of my everyday that I can find myself knitting away at something for a long time without realizing that I don’t particularly care for what will be the finished object.

Do any of you ever do this; get so caught up in the routine of your hobbies that you fail to realize that you don’t really want the FO???

So, I’m stepping back and reminding myself that I need to start a project because of the excitement and desire that I have for it (and that if I just want to knit, I should cast on for some basic socks or somesuch project).  I’ve been going through my knitting library of books and magazines, oogling at all of the pretty designs that so many talented designers have created and I think I might cast on for a few projects just to return to a place of excitement.  I also think I’ll bring out some projects from hibernation that I’m excited about.

For example, I really want to make more progress on my Aesa pullover.  As for my Scandinavian, I’ve been thinking of ripping it out and making it a sweater instead of a wrap.  I think that would be a lot of work, but I think it would be awesome.

Two:

good intentions and that path to hell

Oh geez… Readers, it is with utter humiliation and self-loathing that I admit that I have ruined some of my favorite handknit sweaters.

Last Friday when I arrived home from the Day Job, I went on a cleaning bonanza.  Having moved the chicks out of the house and into the coop, I became obsessed with deep cleaning the entire house and I went a little overboard.  Specifically, I decided to machine wash a load of handknits that were (over)due for a wash.  Unfortunately, I didn’t check the settings on the machine – - and rather than being set for gentle and cold water (which has proven to be great for the most wooliest of woolies), the machine was set for hot and deep clean.  Oops!

(The above photo doesn’t really indicate how toddler-sized these sweaters now are…. I should have added an adult sized sweater for comparison).

It was actually quite a big load of handknits that I laundered, and all of the superwash items came through unaltered, but four of my most favorite sweaters are now small enough to fit a toddler and two other sweaters are still able to fit over my person, though they have significantly shortened in length.  For those latter sweaters, I still have some of the yarn leftover and am wondering if I could just pick up the stitches along the bottom and knit down to add length.

I have a friend with a four month old baby and will see if she would like my small felted sweaters, and I would feel much less sad about this if these, my favorite sweaters, still had the opportunity to be worn again.

Even still, considering all of the time and mental effort it took to knit these sweaters, I feel very emotionally attached to them.  I know that sounds silly.  And, of course, the good news is that I love to knit and, if I wanted to, I could knit these sweaters again.  Still, it’s a bummer.

Three:

demoralization, the perfect incubator for stagnation

As for my sewing, I am STILL working on this dress, and by “working on this dress” I mean that the pieces have been sitting on my sewing table and I have not made any progress.  For some reason, I feel very intimidated by this project.  Because I am using two very fine and slippery fabrics (and sewing them together to treat them as a single fabric), it all just seems very overwhelming.

Frankly, I wish I were working on an easy knit dress or whipping up another pair of Trousers, or some kind of Tried and True (TNT) project to reclaim my sewing mojo.

On the Bright Side:

Here Chick, Chick, Chick!

The chicks are doing GREAT in their coop.  I successfully installed a flap on the northerly window using construction adhesive, industrial strength velcro, and some of the linoleum we got for super cheap.  I realize that in my last post, I wasn’t very clear about the ventilation vs. draft components of the coop.  The windows on the east and north side are mainly to help keep the coop cool during the summer, so that some breeze can enter into the coop and help keep everything from getting too hot (since we have very hot summers).  Those windows also let light into the coop.  The main sources of ventilation (for all year round) are found at the top near the roof and also the big human sized door at the south end.  Keeping that door open all day, even when it’s cold out, provides for ventilation but doesn’t create drafts of freezing air that blow right onto the chickens.

  

Anyway, since they’ve been moved in, we’ve had several nighttime temperatures dip below freezing and the little ladies seem to handle it just fine.  I give them slightly warmish water in the evening and then replace it (when the water freezes a little overnight) with another batch of warm water in the morning.  I’ve been wondering if I should add the heating mat that I use for seed starting to keep the water from freezing, but it only freezes at night and I don’t think the chicks drink very much at night.

We still let the chickens mostly free range in the backyard during the day and then put them in their coop at night.  I’m working on “training” the chickens to go into the coop on their own (currently by means of luring them with treats) and that is a work-in-progress.

They are also freely ranging around Kiko and they include her in their chasing games, and whenever they rush at Kiko (in their silly chickeny way) Kiko runs as fast as she can away from them.  It is very funny, though I often find myself consoling Kiko after the chicks make her look like a cowardly lion.  Arguably, Kiko is a tad on the large size for a kitty (currently weighing in at 13 pounds) and the chicks are just two or three pounds.  In the photo above, Kiko is more interested in a piece of grass than in that good looking leg that one of the Barred Rocks is flaunting.

They are 9 weeks old this week and their combs are becoming more fully developed!  Everyone keeps asking me if we’re getting eggs from them yet and I try to explain that egg laying is part of their sexual maturity and they’re still several months away from that.  I’ve been finding myself doing a lot of education on the subject of chickens – - for example, I’ve been surprised by how many university-educated adults thought that it was necessary to have a rooster to get eggs.

More Bright Side:

99th Monthiversary!

On Sunday, Josh and I celebrated the 99th month of our partnership.  In celebration of those wonderful 99 months, we bicycled from the town of Kuna to the town of Melba on our road bicycles and then procured some delicious Mexican food in Kuna.  Below is the Melba Town Hall, where we enjoyed a banana before riding back to Kuna for some mole and enchiladas.  Mmmm, mole….

~ Le Chic Inn (a mostly completed chicken coop!) ~

Apr 162013
 

It is with equal parts joy, satisfaction, and utter relief that I am finally able to show you the (mostly) finished chicken coop!  Six weeks ago, when we procured our chickies, Josh and I both balked at the idea that converting our ginormous shed into a chicken coop would be very much work.

Of course, we could have had this finished a long time ago, had we not had to balance inclement weather, day jobs, social engagements, and the occasional desire to relax without having to do manual labor at all times.  Further, one of the more time-consuming and expensive elements to this project was replacing the entire roof.  The shed is this 8′ x 22′ monstrosity and, when we bought the house, noted the massively rotten and moldy wood on the shed roof.  Over the winter, when the snowpack on the roof started melting through, it became obvious that replacing the roof was a MUST FIX item on our spring home improvement list.  While the snow was melting, for example, I would place several wheel barrows under the dripping water in the shed before going to work in the morning, and by each day’s end the wheel barrows were full of water.

Once Josh replaced the roof, the next major component to this project was to cut a lot of ventilation.  Ventilation is extremely important to chickens’ health.  From what I understand, proper ventilation is a function of both the size of the space and the number of chickens.  Taking those factors into consideration, I am confident that we now have plenty of ventilation, however, I am pondering the concept of a fully open air coop.

So the shed has one big human sized door on the south end of the structure and had a pre-existing window on the east side (far left in the above photo).  Josh cut an additional window on the east side and another  window on the north side, which provides sufficient cross ventilation to ensure a complete transfer of air.  There are also ventilation gaps at the ceiling, under the roof (not pictured).

The pre-existing window (the one farthest to the left) already had the capacity to open and close.  For the additional east facing window, Josh was able to use two of our old house windows and made it so that they can easily slide open and closed (see directly above, with the window shut).  This window also captures the rising morning sunshine nicely from inside the coop.  One of the items still left to do is to make a flap for the northerly window, but that should be easy.

After the ventilation, the next step was to frame out the walls on the inside.  Inside of the shed, the coop is about 8′ x 8′ (and the human portion of the shed is now 8′ x 14′).  Josh also cut a chicken door and rigged a pulley system.  Behind the wall, there is a rope that is attached to the top of the chicken door that travels up to the ceiling and then over to the human part of the shed, where I can easily open and close the chicken door without having to enter the chicken portion.

He also built a ‘poop board’ and roost area, which I will fill with washed play sand and zeolite for easy cleaning.  In the below photo, you can see how the poop board and roost area is at the wall connecting to the human portion of the shed.  Josh also installed another one of our old windows here, for fun.

Underneath the poop board is where we will have the nesting boxes, and Josh made a handy access hatch to this zone from the human part of the shed, so that I can retrieve some eggs without having to enter the coop.  Currently, I have a cheapo cat dome-style litter box as a nest box (having read that many people have had success with these), with the lid easily removable.  The chicks won’t be laying for a while so I placed this box in their coop as an experiment to see how they respond to it.  There is room for a few more nest areas.

For the flooring, we found a HUGE piece of linoleum for $25 at one of those reuse stores (like the Habitat for Humanity ReStore) and some rubbery baseboard stuff for 10 cents a foot.  We’ve gone to the ReStores several times, but they can be overwhelming if you don’t have something in mind.  Even though our shed has a concrete floor, we thought that lining it with linoleum (but only if we could get it for super cheap) would make it extra easy to clean the coop (and also to keep out mice).  I’m planning on doing the deep litter method and am very happy we were able to find so much linoleum for so cheap (also, the linoleum hadn’t been glued before, so it was in almost pristine condition).  Obviously, I still need to lay down the bedding for the chicks, and have already procured two ‘bags’ of compressed pine shavings that should be more than enough for the whole space.

As for fortifying the coop, we lined all of the windows, doors, and other openings with 1/2″ gauge hardware cloth and installed locks on the doors.  I know that we have raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, and other nefarious predators in the area and we were mindful about making the coop as predator-proof as we knew how.

Finally, I was in charge of painting the coop, and with Josh’s guidance, I opted for a light lavender purple and a darker eggplanty purple.  I had been hoping to do some decorative stenciling, but haven’t yet found a stencil that I like, so that might be a project for another time.  Some folks on Facebook suggested that it wasn’t necessary to paint a chicken coop pretty colors, but there are many things that we humans do because they make us happy even if they aren’t exactly utilitarian or necessary.  I also identified the name of the coop and did the signage.  If you look closely, the signage isn’t lined up perfectly, nor is the painting perfect, so I have learned that my calling is not to become a professional painter.  Furthermore, when I was doing the painting, it was really cold outside and I opted to wear my nice winter parka while painting… and my parka is now completely covered in purple paint.  Oh well, I’ve been thinking of trying to sew for myself a winter coat, so this just amps up the motivation for that.

Anyway, here is my coop-making hero with one of his feathered lady friends.

While I would say that it is definitely optimal to have a coop done or nearing completion before getting chickens, I am not at all regretful of the decision to get chicks when we did.  If anything, getting the chicks compelled us to build the coop faster and now I have a lot of wisdom about what not to do the next time.  It’s been so much fun having them around (despite the poop in unfortunate places) and I’m looking forward to them being less hassle now that they have a real chicken home.

And here are our other ladies enjoying the sun in their outdoor enclosure.  I’m actually going to wait until Thursday night  (today is Tuesday) to have the chicks sleep in their new home.  For one, the glue still needs to dry on the linoleum and baseboard material.  For two, the temperatures are supposed to dip well below freezing the next two nights and, while the chicks would possibly be just fine, I know that I would worry about them (and I’d rather be over-protective than to be awake all night with worry and anxiety).  By Thursday, temperatures are supposed to be a balmy 42F for the low, which should be plenty warm.

Of course, no post is complete without a gratuitous kitty photo.  Kiko and the chicks are now freely around each other and it is going just fine.  It has actually seemed as though the chicks and Kiko are trying to become friends, but they don’t know how.  For example, over the weekend, the chicks would include Kiko in their silly charging at each other games, which initially alarmed Kiko (who ran away quickly).  Once Kiko realized that the chicks were no real threat, she tried to mimic their playing, but she didn’t quite have the hang of it.  Awkward!  Anyway, we’ll see how their friendship evolves.

And!  Lookit!!!  I have a strawberry ripening in my garden!

~ only words ~

Apr 112013
 

No ‘happenings’ post this week.  I’ve been feeling lame for only having updates on the same projects week after week, and decided to take a break until I have something new or finished to post about.   I do have a few things that I would like to share and write about.

Me Made May 2013

As of this week, sign ups are currently taking place for So Zo’s annual Me Made May.  I had wanted to participate last year but as I was so new to sewing, I didn’t feel that I had enough self-sewn garments to make more than a few outfits.

Here’s my pledge:

I, Jennifer of FernKnits, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavor to wear a minimum of one handmade garment each day for the duration of May 2013.

My pledge is pretty easy and nebulous, but also accomplish-able.  I enjoyed seeing everyone’s blog posts of their “Me Made” outfits last year and I am hoping to blog about my “Me Made” outfits as well, but haven’t decided what form that should take (ie, daily vs. weekly posts).

Here Chick, Chick, Chick

Chicks are seven weeks old and I am hoping to have a finished chicken coop to show you next week.  As of this week, they’ve started fighting over their position on the roost and this really upsets me.  On the first night, I spent no less than 30 minutes trying to establish peace and harmony, all for naught.  The roost is plenty big but they all want to roost on this one particular spot.  I was worried that they were going to hurt each other in their fighting (their talons on sharp!).  On the second night, they were just as quarrelsome and Josh had to escort me away from the pen before I spent the entire evening trying to encourage them to be nice.  I spent some time on backyardchickens.com and learned that this is apparently very normal chicken behavior, part of establishing the pecking order, so tonight (which will be Day 3 of fighting) I vow to place them into their pen, walk away, and not look back (which I am certain will be very hard for me to do).

On the Bookshelf

I finished French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, and I have mixed feelings about it.  A colleague at my Day Job recommended it to me because I like reading about food and cultural attitudes about food and eating.  The book is primarily intended to be a weight loss and weight management guide based on the lifestyle and eating habits of French women, with the presumption that because of their habits, French women don’t get fat.  The down and dirty is that French women have built their lifestyle around daily exercise (ie, walking for transportation), eating quality food in reasonable serving sizes, and savoring the pleasures of life (in moderation).

I would have enjoyed this book more if the author had focused it to be “A French Woman’s Guide to Health & Happiness.”  As it exists, there were two aspects of the book that I disliked and “gave me a bad taste.”

One, while I understand that the author is clearly a fan of the French way of everything, the author’s tone is arrogant, particularly in her consistent comparisons of France versus the United States.  Not to be defensive, but the US is a big country with a lot of people who espouse very different beliefs and lifestyles, and I find it unfair and unfounded to lump all Americans into the same group of lazy barbarians who sit around all day stuffing their faces with fast food.  I would have liked this book a lot more if she had just stuck to writing about French culture and gastronomy, rather than including her  stereotyped options about Americans.

Secondly, I also disliked her casual use of the word “fat” to describe her intended audience (ie, people who would like to lose 20 – 30 pounds).  Regardless of the PC verbiage, to me, “fat” is subjective and pejorative.  “Fat” is about body image and self esteem, and is not an accurate representation of a person’s BMI status (and even BMI might not reflect health).  “Fat” is not merely a synonym for “overweight” – - if an underweight anorexic woman thinks that she is fat, is a women who is one pound overweight also fat, even if she has a positive self-image?  What bothers me most about it, however, is the emphasis on weight rather than health.

Anyway, insofar as what I liked about the book, I did find it interesting from a cultural, lifestyle, and gastronomy perspective.  I loved reading all about how the French select, prepare, and enjoy their food.  I also enjoyed the latter part of the book, where the author provides advice about how to maintain equilibrium throughout the different stages of life.  And I appreciated how she emphasized the importance of finding enjoyable forms of exercise that can be easily incorporated into one’s life (such as walking to your destinations and taking the stairs rather than the elevator).  Most importantly, she provides some good “food for thought” about valuing the food that we put into our bodies and creating rituals for treating ourselves well.

On Goodreads, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.  I would recommend it to anyone interested in cultural attitudes about food and eating, who would not be bothered by the France vs. America diatribes or the semantics of “fat”.

Connect & Learn

Finally, I wanted to leave you with a link to this article, Instagram’s Envy Effect, which has been making the rounds. The idea that constantly seeing other people’s seemingly perfect lives can leave one feeling badly about one’s lack of perfection resonated with me.  Over the years, I’ve stopped reading some very popular blogs just because I got tired of seeing their absolutely perfect lives.  Perfection sounds like a great goal, but for me it is entirely unachievable.  I get busy.  I feel lazy.  I want to take the most perfect photographs, but I don’t know how.  I wish that my house was spotlessly clean at all times, but I’d rather ride my bike or plop on the couch and knit.

Here on my blog, I enjoy writing about when projects come together easily and flawlessly, but I also enjoy showing off my mistakes and writing about my lessons-learned.  For me, life is always about learning and becoming better at what one does.  Were I to do anything perfectly, I would probably bore of it and move onto a new craft to learn and refine.

I loved the author’s notion of using technology to connect rather than to compare.  So tell me Readers, do you enjoy the adventure of not being perfect at anything, or do you feel that it’s better to do nothing than to do something lacking in perfection???

~ Craft Happenings 2013 v. 6 ~

Apr 042013
 

So many projects, so little time…

On the Knitting Needles

I’m still clicking away at my secret project.  Earlier this week, I finally finished the sleeves (shhh, I’m knitting a sweater!) and when I went to cast on for the body, I couldn’t find the correct needle anywhere.  I try really hard to keep all of my knitting needles organized in their designated space, but sometimes a needle wanders away, particularly when I have a lot of different projects going on.  There are a few needle sizes that I own multiples and this recent experience makes me wonder if I should procure an extra set of each needle size, at least for those needle sizes that I utilize frequently.

Readers, do you all intentionally own multiple needles in frequently used sizes?

Naturally, I own approximately five US9 circular needles 32″ in length, which is a needle size that I very rarely use, but for the 24″ circular needles sized US3 – US7 (my most frequently utilized needle sizes), I only own one of each.  (Of course, the danger of me going to an LYS or an online retailer to buy needles, is that I will most likely also buy yarn… hrm, I wonder if there is a sale happening anywhere…).

On the Sewing Table

I’m still working on Vogue 8469.  The weather has actually been GLORIOUS lately and I have found myself preferring to be outside at all times, which is not conducive to utilizing my sewing machine.

In the Garden

Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries are planted.  Rhubarb is emerging.  Onions, leeks, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, beets, radishes, carrots, kale, spinach, and romaine are all planted and thriving.  Potatoes are being pre-sprouted.  Still in flats are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and brussels sprouts.  Recently sowed but not yet germinated are cucumbers, squash, more beets, more onions, and MOAR parsnips!  I also am building a wattle fence for my tomato beds, which you may preview in the first photograph above.

I spent some time this week trying to finalize my garden planting plan and I have now figured out where to put everything (this is actually a major accomplishment).  My veggie garden will take up the entire back part of the yard, but no more than that.  Josh and I were discussing how we want to have a really wonderful place to hang out in the yard – - folding chairs on the grass is nice, but we are starting to get excited about doing some landscaping and aesthetic enhancements.  I’m sure, after seeing some of the photos I’ve posted in the past of my backyard, you’ll agree that it could use some aesthetic enhancements…

Here Chick, Chick, Chick

The chicks are now six weeks old and are spending all of their days outside.  I bring them outside before I go to work in the morning and bring them back inside right before dusk.  It is working out really well and I sense that they love being outside.  They are also weaned off of their supplemental heat inside.

Kiko has also been getting more accustomed to their presence.  When we go outside, she always trots over to the chicken enclosure for some amusement, and they are just as interested in her, but she seems to understand that they aren’t play toys.  Of course, when she’s outside, the chicks are in their hardware cloth enclosure, just to be on the safe side.  Kiko is such a weenie that I suspect the chicks could cause her some serious damage, but they’re still so small that Kiko might get wild ideas. Plus, I don’t want Kiko to be hurt.  Once they’re bigger, I suspect that Kiko will be sufficiently intimidated.

Below, the Reds are enjoying the dirt box.  I added that dirt box just this morning and wow, the chicks are like PAR-TAY!!!  You can also see the boards in the upper right corner, which are hidey zones where they run if a neighbor’s dog starts barking or if they want to take a nap in a cool dark place.  And of course the bale of hay is the awesomest thing ever.

Anyway, the coop is coming along.  We’ve got some of the cross ventilation done, the chicken door done, and some of the internal framing done.  I am very pleased with how effective the cross ventilation is at this point.  Before, the shed was very stuffy despite having an easterly facing window and a south facing door.  But once we put in a northerly window, there seems to be a complete transfer of air; it feels so refreshing!  There are also some ventilation points near the roof.

In the below photo, Josh is demonstrating the pulley system for opening the chicken door.  As if by magic, it is almost impossible for a human to open the door from the outside, so I am confident that a predator wouldn’t be able to open it.  Also below, you can also see the poop board above which will be mounted the roost.  I have a roost for them in their current indoor pen, and have noted that since they only go inside at night and then line up on the roost for their bedtime, most all of their poop is nicely contained to directly under the roost.  Scooping their poop is so quick and easy!

There is still a lot to do on the coop but I’m hoping to be able to move the chicks (are they still considered chicks at six weeks old???) into their permanent home in a week or two.

On the Bookshelf

I finished reading The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and it was pretty good.  For me, it wasn’t “very good” or “amazing” only because I really didn’t understand the science, despite the author’s attempts to bring it down to the layperson.

When I was younger, I wanted to be an astrophysicist when I grew up.  In high school, I must have read A Brief History of Time five times to try to understand it.  I’ve always thought that astronomy was so interesting – - I even had a telescope and went to amateur astronomer star gazing events!  I remember when I first saw the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation when Stephen Hawking guest starred, and I thought that was SO COOL!  Stephen Hawking was actually one of my heroes growing up; not only did I admire his cognitive abilities, but I had great empathy for him and his disability (my mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I was 11, and having a loved one with a degenerative disease was a huge part of my life).

In high school, I started getting into some of the higher level maths and sciences and continued to work at them during the first few years of university, but I finally and very despairingly had to admit to myself that my brain doesn’t compute that way.  It was very discouraging for me.  Since then, I have learned to enjoy science as it is presented to the layperson, even though I might not understand it all.

This digression is sort of intended to explain that while I enjoyed reading The Grand Design, I didn’t  understand all of it.  I understood some of it, and it captured my imagination in trying to conceptualize the universe, but it’s all still a big mystery.

Gratuitous Kitty Photo

~ Craft Happenings 2013 v. 5 ~

Mar 272013
 

So many projects, so little time!… seems to be my echo from week to week.  This week, however, I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel.

On the Knitting Needles

I continue to work on some secret projects that are occupying a lot of my time.  I have now worked on them long enough, however, that it finally feels that I have something tangible to show for myself.

On the Sewing Table

I am currently working on Vogue 8469.

I took a cue from the pattern drawing and decided to use some dotty fabrics in my stash.  These are both lightweight and sheer fabrics that I am sewing together and treating as one fabric, and I am using another mystery fabric that I found for very cheap at a thrift store for the lining (it is medium weight and very very soft).

The two dotty fabrics are very slippery and prone to unraveling, so I am being extra meticulous in their cutting and sewing together.  I’ve cut a size 6 for the bodice and 12 for the skirt, which are the sizes I cut for my most recent (and very successful) Vogue dress.

My local Hancocks is currently having a Big 4 pattern sale and I procured a few patterns and fabrics.  I had wanted to stock up on some pretty knit fabrics, but my local Hancocks is currently stocking only extremely fugly knits.  I was actually pretty disappointed in their selection of knit fabrics, to be honest, and am contemplating making a trip out to Joann’s (which will really involve some pre-meditation (as in, meditating and calming myself beforehand) considering that I would prefer to stab my eyes out than go to Joann’s).

Anyway, the fabrics are both rayon challis and I think they are very pretty.

I was surprised at how few patterns I procured – - I had actually wanted more patterns but they were out of my size block.  However, I am very excited to have gotten the pattern for V8884 because I really want to make for myself a cool weather trench coat.  (I’ve included the below photo for V8884 because I find it more stylish and inspirational than the pattern drawing).

In the Garden

Carrots and radishes are germinating in my raised beds, and the spinach, lettuce, and kale that I have planted are all doing well.  I could make a teeny-tiny salad with my baby spinach leaves at this point.

The other seedlings are all doing well.  I sowed tomatoes this weekend and they have already germinated.  My broccoli are all getting big and I’m wondering if I should transplant them into larger pots.

I constructed a raised bed for my strawberries, adjacent to my rhubarb bed (which is made from concrete blocks) using scrap untreated wood leftover from my compost pile and other raised bed projects.  Because I used scrap wood, it’s not the prettiest bed, but seems to be fully functional and was free.  Inside of the individual holes in the cinder blocks, I will try planting some companion plants (onions, marigolds, etc.).

I broke down and bought some strawberry plants because the ones I’ve been raising from seed are growing so slowly that I doubt they will produce berries for some time.

Here Chick, Chick, Chick

The chicks are outside more and more.  I constructed an improved outside enclosure for them, using hardware cloth, and included a bale of hay to help provide a wind buffer and to give them an extra warm spot.

It’s working out very well and they seem to really enjoy being outside.  Also, switching their bedding to children’s play sand has been the best decision!  It is almost completely dust-free and is so easy to keep clean (and is so inexpensive – - a 40 pound bag was $3.00).  I am still reviewing the pros and cons of different manure management systems, and can’t decide if I want to use the children’s play sand in their coop or the deep litter method (which are kind of opposite systems).  I have been reading over on BackyardChickens.com that many people have great success using sand, and my own experience in the current setup is amazing, but I also see great utility and ease in the deep litter method.  Decisions, decisions!

I mentioned before that I am reading this book, The Small Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery, and I love it.  It focuses on how to have an integrated poultry flock with your backyard garden, and is written in a very accessible and down-to-earth manner.  There is one chapter, “The Joys of Deep Litter” which is wonderful and he’s definitely sold me on the advantages and benefits of deep litter.  However, my reservations about it just stem from my being a novice with chickens.  I suspect that I will revise my poultry care as time grants me enhanced knowledge and experience.

As I was reading a little bit about incorporating cover crops to use for both your backyard garden and your backyard chickens, I was struck when Harvey wrote the following:

Always leave room for serendipity in your flock management (p. 226).

I like his approach and attitude to poultry husbandry.  Just getting chicks in the first place was something of a ‘happy accident’ and I like the idea that it can be a dynamic experience that evolves alongside the changes of the humans, of the backyard garden, and of the chickens themselves.  I get lamed out when I encounter some person’s personal opinions on animal husbandry that it must be done this exact certain way or else you’re doing it wrong.  What works for one person in one backyard situation might not work for another.

Anyway, I digress.

We’ve made a lot of progress on the coop.  The rain stopped (and the snow melted!) and Josh was able to finish off the structural supports for the roof, as well as install flashing, tar paper, and shingles, and then tarred everything over.  The roof is done!!!  Replacing the roof was the big thing that needed to happen.  Finishing off the interior should be much easier and faster.  We have formalized the plan for the interior and decided to have a very simple and accessible design.  Below is a photo of the scene this weekend when Josh was finishing up the roof.

On the Bookshelf

I finally finished reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein and overall I did not enjoy it.  Basically, it is about a future possible reality where we have a colony on the moon dedicated to mining ice and farming wheat for export back to Earth.  The first generation of colonists are prisoners sent forcibly to the moon, under a penal colony system, but then they all reproduce and have children who grow up and live their lives on the moon.  Readers have the opportunity to ponder the ethical implications of a penal colony system where children are forced to perform the same labor as their parents, even though they didn’t commit a crime.  Because of this ethical discrepancy, the people of Luna do not feel that they should all be treated as convicted criminals and forced into slave labor, and decide to have a revolution to gain independence.  There is also a master computer who controls everything on Luna and he supports the revolution.

Sounds exciting, right?  I thought so too.  What made the book unbearably BORING for me was the excruciating detail that the author continually provided about everything.  At first it was interesting reading ALL ABOUT how everything in Lunar society worked… how the air was filtered, how the temperature was regulated, how the master computer was programmed, how society was organized…but then it just became boring.  In between the excruciatingly lengthy details of how everything works, the characters also engaged in extremely long and detailed conversations about how they should structure their revolution.  This could have been more interesting had I not become bored out of my mind reading in detail all about the transportation and monetary systems.  Eventually, the revolution is underway, but to me, the reader, it seemed like hardly anything was happening because I spent hours reading all about the construction of their primary weapon.  Then a few things happen, and the characters spend an incredibly long amount of time debating the merits of representative government.  This was actually interesting for me, because I am interested in governance structures.  Then a few other things happen, and the characters have a really long conversation about whether they should continue their revolution.  This was particularly boring for me because they had already had an extremely long conversation where they agreed to have a revolution, so I didn’t understand why we were revisiting that already lengthy conversation.  Also, I was pretty annoyed about it because their conversation hinged on the fact that people were dying as a result of their revolution and they were having second thoughts about it.  If history teaches us anything, it’s that revolutions are bloody.  I’m no Karl Marx, but you really should consider the human cost of your revolution during the planning stage.  Then the revolution wraps up and the characters that I expected to die die and the expected result of the revolution is as expected.  The End.

YAWN!

I managed to finish this book on the day that it was due back at my public library.  I decided to finish reading it because some of the characters were sufficiently interesting that I wanted to experience their development and I was curious how the revolution would play out.  Considering that we all find different things interesting, and considering the variety of topics that are expounded upon ad nauseum, I’m certain that everyone would find something interesting in this book.  However, considering that few of us find everything equally interesting, I suspect that many would find this book extremely boring.

In view of the rather favorable reviews that this book has received on Goodreads, however, I must cite the statistical conundrum that book reviews are typically made after people actually finish a book, not necessarily by all of those persons who start reading a book but fail to finish reading it.  Upon finally finishing the book myself, I can see why some might rate it favorably; it had a good ending that was wrapped up well, and throughout the book there were a few interesting discussions and some interesting characters.  Even still, BO-RING!@!

Gratuitous Kitty Photo

~ Sewing FO’s: V8663 & V1236

Mar 232013
 

After hardly sewing for the past two months, I have completed two dresses in the past three days!  One dress is awesome and I love it; the other dress is horrible and the fabric is back in my fabric stash.

First, the happy-making dress.

Pattern: V8663
Fabric: Knit jersey (2 yards leftovers from my Queen of the Mountains Top)
Notions: Thread, Twill Tape, Zipper
Total Time: 3 Hours
Total Cost: Pattern $3.99, Fabric from leftovers

I made this dress on Saturday, over the course of watching several episodes of some silly TV show.  I didn’t have enough of either fabric to make the full dress, so I combined the two fabrics just like I had for my Queen of the Mountains Top.  To be honest, I felt very unsure about this fabric combination while I was working on it; worrying that it would be some silly dress that I wouldn’t want to wear.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I first pulled it on… it fits perfectly without my having done any formal fitting or thinking very hard about what size to cut, and the fabric combination seems to work very well.

I cut the smallest size for the bodice and then graded out to a size 12 for the skirt.  It is just amazing to me that this dress seems to fit perfectly even though I didn’t do an SBA or anything fancy on the fit (I wonder if this is the magic of working with knit fabrics).  I love the drapey skirt and the fitted bodice. For the armholes and neckband, the pattern calls for using commercially-bought bias tape, however, I made my own using the same fabric as for the skirt.

Here’s the obligatory ‘back view’.  I am confident that I cut the right sizes for both the bodice and the skirt, as everything seems to hang just perfectly.

And below, I am doing a happy twirl dance to show off how much I love my new dress!!!

I made this dress with two modifications, for which I got the ideas from Reviews on PR.  Firstly, I didn’t add the zipper at the back.  As you can see in the below photograph, I cut the back bodice piece as though I was going to install a back zip, but later read about other sewists having good luck with not adding the back zip at all and decided to try that.  I sewed the bodice and the skirt together using a long stitch length and stretching the fabric slightly, and I am able to very easily pull the dress on and off without any zipper and it is awesome (please refer to my happy twirl above).

Secondly, and also inspired by other reviews on PR, I topstitched the front pleats on the bodice and I love the design detail that this gives the piece (see below).  In addition, I think this helps the bodice fit my bust better (rather than having extra poofy fabric, it lays flat against my torso).

Anyway, I seriously love this dress and will absolutely, positively be making more dresses from this pattern again.  It was SO EASY to make and it FITS PERFECTLY after no fitting alterations and is possibly THE MOST COMFORTABLE dress I have ever owned.  I just love love love it!

And here we have one thing that is not like the others, with Kiko getting comfortable in my “sewing queue.”  As you recall, I had written a post about my spring wardrobe plans, and the above dress allows me to mark off one item from that list.  Below, I can technically mark this next pattern off my list, though I do not feel that I have another dress that is suitable for me to wear in public…

Pattern: V1236
Fabric: Woven cotton, 1.5 yards
Notions: Thread
Total Time: 3 Hours
Total Cost:  Pattern = $3.99, Fabric = $10 = = $13.99

So, there are some unfavorable reviews of this pattern over on PR.  A few days ago, I decided to disregard all of those unfavorable reviews and make this dress.  I had this BRILLIANT idea that I could make it more flattering by adding shirring at the waistline.

…And I made the whole dress, with the shirring.  And then I tried it on.  And then I felt badly about myself.  And then I took the dress off.  And then I stuffed the dress at the bottom of my fabric leftover stashpile to be reclaimed for another project.  And I never want to think about that image I saw in the mirror of me wearing this dress, ever again.

The positive is that I learned how to do shirring, and I also learned that shirring is not a magic solution to a dress that fits like a potato sack.  I wasn’t even going to write a blog about this dress (in part because there is no way that I’m going to post a photo of me wearing it; it is so awful), but it feels like such a waste of time and fabric to have made this dress and not even show it off (if only a photo of it laying on my cutting board).  So, BEHOLD! I made this and it is awful!!!  But regale in my SHIRRING!!!

Anyway, I’m very disappointed in the result of this dress – - it looks so cute in the pattern photos but it looks so horribly atrocious on me.  And I think my fabric was so cute, that maybe it could have been such a great dress… you know, if the pattern wasn’t drafted to be the exact opposite style of what I should wear.  I think that this style of dress is best suited to people who are equally proportioned on top and on bottom.  As a “pear”, I generally cut a skirt that is about four sizes larger than my bust, and I usually have to grade the bust down with an SBA.  This dress seemed to emphasize the  disproportionate sizing between my bust and butt, and was incredibly unflattering on either end.

In order to end this post on a happy note, however, here is my happy twirl again.  Yay for being able to make clothing that is well-fitted and flattering to one’s own unique body!!!

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