WI Sheep and Wool

I made it to Wisconsin Sheep and Wool last month, this time accompanied by this little guy. He was such a trooper while Mom shopped, caught up with knitting friends, and watched sheepdog trials. The sheepdog trials were particularly great as we watched in the afternoon instead of our usual morning viewing and got to see the more experienced dogs. Nothing is better than watching dogs herd.

I vowed to be good this year and told myself I did not need any more yarn or fiber. That resolution lasted until I hit the Fiber Optic booth. I'm so addicted that I immediately spotted the new gradients Kimber had available this year. I could not resist picking up a new Wild Thyme fiber pack (mine is more muted in color than the photo) and this Damson-to-Gold gradient made of merino-tencel. I just love the look of the tencel in the braid and couldn't resist it.

I've actually already spun up the Wild Thyme gradient. I pulled out my Louet S10 wheel and made approximately DK weight singles. It was very pleasant to spend a couple evenings with my wheel, especially as I've been mostly spinning on a spindle in the last year.

Overall it was a nice day trip and I'm really glad baby was laid back about everything. WI Sheep and Wool is one of my favorite fall traditions.

Hello World

You'll pardon me if I don't have a lot of crafting to show off in the near future as I've just completed a pretty large work in progress:

Little H is adorable, wonderful, and is taking up most of my time. On the plus side, we're having fun cuddling and using the new quilt for tummy time!

Happiness.

Looking Ahead to 2015

Since I did a redux of 2014, I think it's only fitting to tell you about some of the plans I have for 2015! I have a ton of projects lined up and can't wait to start them. Hopefully, there will be lots of knitting and sewing this year.

On the knitting front, expect a relapse of Ysolda Fever. I already have Emily, Wee Envelope, and Poklon on deck and I wouldn't be surprised if a few other Ysolda projects make their way onto my needles. I'm particularly excited to make the Emily capelet; I've been saving 2 skeins of MadTosh Merino Light in Tart for a special project and what could be better than a pattern I've been ogling for years?

The other goal for 2015 it to do more sewing, especially with knit fabric. I'm getting comfortable with wovens so it's time to branch out. Fabric has already been purchased for three different patterns (a dress, a top, and a swimsuit). I'll keep you posted on how things are progressing once I start sewing!

Even writing this out makes me want to make All The Things. I hope 2015 will be a great one!

2014 Year in Review

It's the time of the year to look back at what's been in preparation for looking forward to the new. It's been an awfully quite year at casa BrineyDeep (I scaled back at the end of 2013) but I'm looking forward to hitting my stride again in 2015 as my biggest 2014 project is getting awfully close to completion (yay!).

2014 was a big year for me between the new house, the new puppy, and the new sewing machine. I'm happy to say that I'm still in love with all three.

The new sewing machine translated into quite a lot of sewing this year, a theme which I expect to continue in 2015. Sewing highlights include a slew of mini charm bags and my favorite project of 2014, the bad passwords dress.

On the knitting front, I knit one Ysolda pattern this year and found a new obsession - Fiber Optic gradients. I finished a gradient shawl and, most recently, a gradient sweater and am looking forward to using more of my small stash of gradients in 2015.

All in all, it's been a good, though quiet, year. I'm looking forward to gaining more free time in 2015 and working through my to-do list of knitting and sewing projects. Here's to a great year ahead!

Distracted

I may be a wee bit distracted from crafting this week by the arrival of this little guy:

We rescued a 14-week old lab-mix puppy last week. His name is Augustus (aka August, aka Auggie, aka Auggie Doggie). He is just as cute in real life as in these photos.

So not much crafting is going on at the moment, though I did make him the colorful kerchief seen in this photo. Scrap fabric + trying out my new sewing machine's overlocking stitch = win! He might not like having it around his neck, but I think it makes him look even cuter. Hooray for puppies!

Craft Room

Since I last posted here, DH and I have come significantly further along in unpacking and settling into our new home. While unpacking is by no means complete, most all of the everyday living spaces are looking really great. Happily, this includes the craft room!

I really love my new crafting space, especially the built in shelves. They are perfect for my many assorted craft supplies. The other thing I love about my new space is that I finally have room for some much needed sewing upgrades. Namely, a full-sized ironing board and a long folding table for cutting fabric.

Unfortunately, all sewing is on hold for the moment, for reasons that will be explained in a future post. In the meantime, however, it's a great room for writing, knitting, and generally plotting my next crafty adventure!

On The Move

I am so excited to tell you that my husband and I bought a house! As first-time homeowners, we could not be more thrilled. Okay, we will be more thrilled once we finish unpacking all of these boxes and get settled in.

I'm very lucky to again to have a great space for crafting (I got it in return for giving husband a wood shop). It's not much to look at at the moment, but I know it's going to be wonderful when I liberate everything from these boxes. More pictures to come.

Celebrations

It's been quieter than usual on this blog for the past few months while I've been finishing up my master's degree, but I'm happy to say that I officially graduated on Sunday!

I enjoyed a low-key celebration with dinner and a special ceremony just for my program. It was nice to mark the occasion, but I'm really looking froward to getting back to normal life.

Hopefully, normal life includes an uptick of crafting and of blogging about it here. I'm really looking forward to the next chapter of my life and sharing it here with you!

Little Cutie, Little Crafty

I can't believe that it's already March. February drifted by when I was working on a little of this and a little of that and, next thing I knew, it's been three weeks since I last posted here! While I have been doing a little crafting, there have been Big Events that I want to share with you.

The biggest news is that my sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful little girl a few weeks ago. I'm an aunt (again)! They don't live very close, but it was worth spending 14 hours in a car to spend some time with the baby and her family. She's a cutie.

I knit my niece a stuffed elephant (pattern from Knitty) last summer and am finally able to show it off here. That's the downside of gift knitting, you're unable to show it off when you're excited about finishing and you don't remember to post about it when you finally can show pictures. Anyway, it is a lovely pattern and I hope my niece likes her toy.

The other big news is that I'm finally unpacking all of the boxes from the moves in July and December. There's still more to unpack, but I'm much happier now that I have my teapots and my crafting supplies moved in. While I still need pictures hung in my crafting corner, it's starting to feel like home!

Happy Holidays

I hope you all are having a very happy holidays!

The morning after the huge snowstorm in Madison.

I'm lucky to staying with both my family and in-laws over my holiday break and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be able to relax for a little while. I hope your holidays are just as relaxing and joyful and that all of your travels are safe!

Seeing the Light

This past week went totally to hell in a handbasket. I knew it was going to be busy, but it got out of control very quickly. Honestly, if it weren't for husband doing some cleaning in my apartment, helping me wrap Christmas gifts that need shipping, and making sure I was fed during his visit to Madison this weekend, I would probably be in a corner crying right now. He's a real keeper and I'm so looking forward to us living in the same city and under the same roof again.

The good news is that I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and getting motivation to craft again. This is manifesting as an itch to make progress on my Sherilyn shawl.  I'm not sure how much knitting I'll be able to do on it in the next two weeks, but I plan to get some serious work done on the shawl over Christmas Break.

The best part is that I'll have lots of free time in January and I already have lots of ideas for things to make that month. Toward the top of the list is knitting a new pair Veyla mitts because I tragically lost one of my previous pair. I've also got lots of plans for sewing. I hope to do something with the fabric shown in this post (perhaps another Peony dress?) and I'm thinking about making a Weekender Travel Bag and possibly a Negroni for my wonderful husband. No matter what I decide on, I'm sure that January is going to be craftacular!

Terraria

I married a wonderful man. He gave me the most perfect birthday gift this year: plants and dirt. It's not a glamorous gift, but it is just what I needed to finally build the terrarium I've been dreaming about for almost a year. My beautiful glass house from IKEA has been waiting empty for far too long.

I used this guide on building a terrarium as the basis for assembly. Most of the ingredients are straightforward and easy to source--rocks, moss, dirt, and succulents--but husband made a special trip to the pet store for activated charcoal, which keeps the water clean. I love how beautiful all of the components look layered in a glass vessel.

Husband actually bought me enough supplies to make two terraria and I was lucky that my gallon-sized jar was no longer needed in the kitchen. Now I have two lovely terraria to add some happiness to my apartment! They are so beautiful already, but I might add a few figurines as finishing touches; I can't help thinking that a couple tiny dinosaurs would be right at home among the succulents.

Settling In

I'm settling into my new apartment and have already taken over the front room as my crafting area. It's amazing how little time it takes to cover every surface with yarn and fiber. I've commandeered the only table in the apartment for my sewing area. It makes it difficult to have a nice sit-down dinner, but gosh darn it I'm going to be able to sew!

I'll talk more about what I'm currently sewing in the next post when it's more than just 3 seams, but I will show off the fabric selection here. I'm not sure how the fit of this pattern will turn out so I'm going to make a model using the fabric pair below (the floral should look a little familiar) and then make adjustments to the second version, which will use the fabrics in the last photo.

I had a lot of fun at the store picking these prints out. It's so enjoyable to play with colors and patterns and find two bold and interesting fabrics that actually go well together. I'm particularly in love with the paisley print and its partner, below.

I'm so glad that moving didn't take my crafting out of commission for too long. It helped that I moved into a furnish apartment, so it's simply been a matter of unpacking a few boxes of clothes and some craft stuff. Now that I'm settled in, I have lots of crafty things I want to accomplish in my new space!

Moving

We're in the middle of moving this week; I'm moving to a furnished apartment 2 blocks down and the husband is moving in with a friend in Milwaukee so he can start his new job there. This is a temporary situation while I finish up my classwork, and I'm looking forward to moving to Milwaukee myself at the end of the year.

(These tubs are just my yarn and fabric. Let's not talk about the other craft supplies I have packed.)

The hardest part about this move has been deciding what to take with me, as most everything else is going to Milwaukee to sit in boxes for six months. I'm obviously keeping all of my clothing, and I don't want my yarn to sit in boxes in a basement for 6 months, but it's less obvious what to keep of the books and the other craft supplies. After several rounds of deliberation, final books selection has been whittled down to the following:

I'm keeping my two favorite cooking books (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and How to be a Domestic Goddess), a couple sewing books (Everyday Handmade and Sew What! Skirts), my go-to book on crochet (Stitch'n Bitch Crochet), and my favorite knitting books (The Opinionated Knitter and Whimsical Little Knits), in addition to a couple other books I've been meaning to read for a while. I guess I now know what books I'd take with me if I am ever stuck on a deserted island!

Hopefully, I'll get settled into my new apartment quickly so that I can get back to crafting and telling you all about it. Wish me luck!

Vacation

I spent all of last week driving up the west coast enjoying some vacation time with the husband before he moves to Milwaukee next month. It was great to have some time off together and to see friends who live in San Francisco and Seattle. One of those friends is the one I did the yarn swap with, so I was able to give her the Pogona shawl while I was there. In return, I got a Wingspan shawl made out of my yarn, which I love:

In addition to the Wingspan, I returned from the trip with a lot of great stuff, including this awesome hat I picked up in Berkeley, CA and some sheer polka-dot fabric that will look great as a blouse. Most notably, I returned home with over 1000 photos, a few of which I'm sharing here.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and I was happy to be able to relax and enjoy the scenery for a while. Now that I'm home, things are gearing up for the big move in a couple of weeks so wish me luck tackling my craft stash into boxes!

On the Road

Husband and I traveled to Lake Erie this weekend to take my parents on a mini-vacation. We rented a cottage and toured the Marblehead/Port Clinton/Put-in-Bay area in Ohio for a couple days (for those not familiar with Ohio geography, that's near Cedar Point). Poor husband had to put up with my family being, well, themselves for the weekend, if you see what I mean:

I at least had a lot of fun. :)

One of my favorite parts of the trip was simply walking along the beach and soaking my feet in the lake. There is something very relaxing about being around large bodies of water.

The trip did include some knitting, but it's the super-secret project for my college friend. It will eventually be featured in full on the blog, but not until next month at the earliest.

This is about all I'm willing to show at the moment, for fear of sharing too much. At least I'm back home to my sewing machine, so I can make progress on some not-so-secret projects; it really is easier to blog about things you can actually show off.

The Professional

We’ve been making some big life decisions this month, culminating in my husband’s acceptance of a job over in Milwaukee. He’ll be starting sometime in the summer but I’ll be staying in Madison through the end of the calendar year finishing up most of my graduate coursework. It’s not ideal, but it’s one of the better outcomes for two people with too many degrees trying to find jobs on different schedules.

I’m not ready to look for jobs myself, but that hasn’t stopped me from starting to think about the process. One thing I’ve slowly been working on in this arena is to stop looking like a grad student. Part of this is involves phasing professional clothing into my wardrobe and another part encompasses learning how to do things with my hair that aren’t putting it into a ponytail. Pinterest has been very helpful in this regard, pointing me to these great hairstyling tutorials. The other fun hair resource I’ve come across is a neat book called Vintage Hairstyling.

I’m kind of in love with this book. Not only does it teach you the basics of curling hair using several different methods (pincurls, wet set, hot rollers, etc), but it then walks you through using those techniques to recreate hairstyles from the 20’s through the 60’s. The book covers everything from finger waves, to victory rolls, to beehives. For someone like me who never really learned how to curl and style hair, it’s a great resource and I’m having fun trying things out like the 1930’s hairstyle I’m wearing in the first photo.

Don't worry, I’m obviously doing more than just playing with my hair and wardrobe to get ready for the job hunt, but I didn’t think you would like to read a blog post on crafting a resume or cover letter. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry much about that stuff quite yet, as I have some time before I will be applying for jobs. Still, it’s exciting to plan now that we finally know where we will be living next!

Happiness Abounds

For how busy I was with midterms last week, this week is turning out to be relaxing and wonderful. I think it's due to a combination of the beautiful weather, the fact that I haven't been doing homework all the time, and a new Ysolda project on the needles. Because life is always better with a Ysolda project on the needles.

Another reason I am happy is that the nice weather means that I can finally wear my new handsewn dress! I'm also super excited about wearing a different new handsewn dress (below), though this is one that I bought at a local shop, ZipDang. It was a splurge, but this jersey dress is so comfortable and, if the skirt I have from this designer is any indication, it's bound to become a favorite.

And speaking of new things, I'm rocking a new pair of glasses this week. It's taking me a while to get used to the prescription and the style, but I'm kind of in love with them. Husband says they make me look like a hipster, but I think they fit in well with the librarian-style I'm surrounded by in class. In fact, I was comparing frames with a classmate on Monday because our glasses are so similar.

So yes, life has been good to me this week. I hope your week is going just as well!

The Anatomy of a Sewing Machine

I pulled out my sewing machine manual the other day to read up on its zipper foot and stumbled upon a few pages dedicated to maintenance. Apparently, you're supposed to remove lint and oil the machine on a regular basis, which certainly hasn't been happening since I came into possession of this machine. However, since I've decided to sew more often, I think it's time to learn this important process.

To clean and oil a sewing machine, you need the following items:

- The manual; this very important guide outlines the steps to clean and oil your particular machine
- A lint brush
- A Swiffer cloth if you haven't removed dust and lint in a while
- Sewing machine oil
- Sewing machine lubricant
- Screwdrivers
- Anything else outlined by your manual

The first step in machine maintenance is removing dust and lint, both on the surface and behind different plates. Your manual will tell you which plates to remove for dusting. I used my Swiffer cloth to get rid of the big dust bunnies and the lint brush to eliminate dust in small, delicate spaces. This type of maintenance should be done every week.

After dusting, it's onto routine oiling. For me, this consists of putting a drop of oil in the bobbin housing (above) and in several places on the top of the machine (below); the exact locations are detailed in the manual. Like dusting, oiling my machine needs to be done on a weekly basis.

My machine also requires oil and lubricant on a monthly basis in entirely different locations. Be careful not to mix oil and lubricant, as different parts of the machine should not be oiled. This process required me to tip everything over to expose and oil the underside of the machine (below), which was pretty cool.

The final step of maintenance is running some scrap fabric through the machine in case any oil leaks onto the stitching area. Overall, the dusting, oiling, and lubricating process took me just over 30 minutes; it should go faster in the future, now that I am familiar with the layout in my machine. I can already tell that my machine is running better and I hope that with regular care, my 40-year-old machine will run for another 40 years.