Atelier de mishi2x

I've been obsessively browsing through Flickr and blogs for pictures of studios, workspaces, crafting areas... any space people were using to create. It was becoming a bad habit, like searching the NY Times Real Estate section for multi-million dollar apartments I would never live in. Or filling up imaginary shopping carts on the Bergdorf Goodman site only to cancel when I was to submit my order. Passively clicking away at these random photos of how people were setting up their goodies was starting to fill up all of my spare time. I didn't really know why or how I had developed this new compulsion until I decided that I should take some photos of my "workspace", I use that term lightly, and snapped these photos.



More here.

Mr. Migglesworth and I are always referring to our "east wing", or ponder whether we should have lunch on our "terrace". Of course, we have neither of these things. (The "east wing" is our bathroom, and our "terrace" is the fire escape.) We have a one room studio. So what you see is the kitchen, my office, the corner of our king-size bed (which takes up 25% of the square footage) and part of Mr. Migglesworth's office (that my sewing machine has commandeered.) So, I need to reorganize, and thus the compulsion. Desperately. Mr. Migglesworth and I are venturing to the Container Store this Sunday for their Elfa shelving sale. 30% off. I need it. He needs it. The apartment needs it. It's going to collapse onto itself and create some sort of crafting black hole.

(I'm not even showing you the bad half of the apartment.)

Wish me luck.

A Milestone

I finally completed my first adult sweater!


Pattern: Rowan's Tapestry Collection - Marsh Sweater
Yarn: Rowan's Tapestry; Color - Country
Time to complete: Random hours during 4 weeks time.

Both yarn and pattern purchased from Purl Soho, both were on sale!

Many more pictures on my Flickr site - click the link under Completed to the right.

I'm happy with this sweater! I'm actually going to wear it!! It actually fits!!! That was definitely my biggest concern, but I kept holding it up to me during the whole process. I kept hearing these nightmare stories of swatching, and knitting, and measuring and the sweater coming out way too big or small. So PHEW. I'm glad.

I made a funky choice though... I decided (with absolutely no reason or from any previous experience) that I was going to do the decreases around the armhole and on the sleeves, three stitches in from the ends. So there's a very visible ridge/hump. It's not HORRIBLE, but remind me of this the next time I try to just throw in some design detail I've never done. It's such a nice simple design, and I kind of f'ed it up with that. To quote Mr. Migglesworth, "What the hell are wrong with the sleeves?"

Surprising myself

I don't often surprise myself. I'm pretty realistic about my abilities and my likes and dislikes. I really thought I would hate finishing my very first adult-sized sweater. But, I gotta say... it ain't so bad. I had fun sewing up the shoulders and neck. I still have a long way to go, but it was very meditative. And most of all, very satisfying. After knitting all those stitches, and having these rolled up pieces that amounted to nothing, I was more than unsatisfied. So I decided to start sewing it up.


Not such a bad job, if I do say so myself! I think my foray into quilting and sewing warmed up my fingers and calmed my mind to this meticulous task. I used Nancie Wiseman's book to help me. Her instructions and illustrations really do help.

I've also done a little exploration on the quilting side. I tried free-motion (I kept saying freeform at first - always a knitter at heart) quilting for the first time. First of all, what a workout. My arms got really tired, really quickly. So I've only finished about half of the quilt. And I think I'll end up using more than a spool of thread. But, it's fun! Surprised again. And, I tried spray basting this quilt instead of hand basting with safety pins or basting stitches. It's so fast and easy, I felt like I was cheating. I feel like it's one of those hidden secrets - no one ever really talks about. Or maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe it's one of those things "real" quilters don't do. *Shrug*


And yes, I started from an outside corner. A big no-no. But I was nervous about the spray basting at first, not thinking it was going to be secure enough and didn't want to fiddle with rolling it up under the machine's arm, and scrunching it all up just to start in the middle. Surprised again - spray basting stayed very intact!

Boot Boot Booties!

Damn it, these are cute.



Thanks for the free pattern, Saartje!

Less than one skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in Black Purl.
Size 2 needles.
4 shirt buttons.

A Quickie

Quick update.

QUILTING:
Progress on the quilt for my mom. Finished the quilt top:


KNITTING:
Am onto the sleeves of the Tapestry Marsh Sweater. Finished the front and back while my mom was in the hospital. Great mindless project as it's straight stockinette.