Apparently my creativity is in textiles.

Yep, pajama pants. I don’t really have enough, especially for the lounging I started doing last semester. And they’re cute and have ladybugs! There are so many cute fabrics at my local fabric store and it’s sooo not funny. I want everything.

So, one thing down. Since we have another four-hour class, I’m planning on cutting out pieces for a more complicated skirt pattern to begin constructing next class. Then I might have more confidence to step out and do more on my own. I hope so. Sewing is actually kind of fun, once I’m not freaked out by the instructions.

The first real “thing” I sewed yesterday:

I’m tired of getting my veggies in plastic bags from the farmer’s market, so I thought I’d try to make something I could bring with me instead of plastic bags. (Please no more plastic!) Lessons learned:

• I think I need to take a class in cutting straight lines. Seriously. I can iron, I can sew (though I bet I’d sew a little straighter if my edges were straight), I can figure the rest out… but cutting, apparently, is going to be a disaster.
• I have a lot of sewing to do before I really understand how to construct via sewing.
• I used this tutorial, which really does not have enough pictures and instruction for the beginner (me).

It’s good to start getting those lessons under my belt though.

I wonder if I’ll ever stop being crafty long enough to write a post about something ELSE. I have tons of other things to say! Funny how all of a sudden that’s happening. I’m thinking I’ll post every weekday for a while. See how long it takes for me to run out of something to say.

Last week, a plot was hatched and sewing machines were ordered. Sewing machines! Of course, this is not an entirely new interest. It’s just an interest I haven’t been able to do much with. Now, though, I have an amazing sewing machine and a mostly free summer.

Problem is, I have an amazing sewing machine but very few sewing notions. It came with a seam ripper, oddly enough, but I don’t have pins, thread or fabrics. If you have any scrap fabrics you’re not sure what to do with, I could use more practice fabric, I’m sure! Sooner or later I’m going to want to make garments, but for now I think I’m just learning how to make small things like pouches and … napkins.

So! Stay tuned and follow along here on Sunbeam Soapbox for: Summer Sewing Adventures! *dun dun dun*

(Yes, that means I am going to post more! I just got all nostalgic reading through old posts. Speaking of, my two-year blogiversary in this space is Monday! Wow, time flies… and I completely forgot.)

I think I’ve got an acute case of Second Sock Syndrome. Just in time for me to declare I am in love with socks… and now I’m trolling my pattern books and Ravelry queue for sweater patterns.

The second Brigit, nowhere near as addicting as the first

Part of it must be because of how COLD I’ve been in the mornings lately. But another part is anticipating how cold it will be once I’m back in school in the colder climates. In any case, my sweater queue is getting a lot of browsing. I also started using Ravelry’s pattern browser to find a different pattern for my chunky yarn than the one I was going to use. All of a sudden it just doesn’t seem appealing. Grrr and umble.

The last two days I’ve been doing a lot of shopping: not clothes shopping or grocery shopping but COOL THINGS shopping. Paper, fabric, yarn… it’s all good. I got some soap too. Star of David soap. I can pretend I’m completely Jewish.

But here are a few things I bought yesterday:

Yes! I am going to go forward on Spring Forward. I’m excited. It’s Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, one of my favorite yarns (not that I’ve tried many). It’s odd, while I have mostly admired semi-solid Spring Forwards, I decided I tend to adore everything I make so it’s okay if I make a variegated pair because I’ll still adore it (I know this from experience). Someday though, I’ll make a pair of plain stockinette socks with Cherry Tree Hill, and they will be the best.

Yes. I am going to try to sew a skirt. Me, the non-skirt-wearer. I’m super excited because I keep WANTING to wear skirts, but don’t really, mostly because I never remember to put them on. I’m a total jeans/shorts girl (although less of the real shorts lately; I’ve decided they aren’t entirely flattering on me). And I’m super-excited about the ladybug fabric I found. There were many ladybug fabrics, but I think this yellow one is the most flattering (and that’s not because yellow is my favorite color ever, noooo). Ladybugs are special in my family, so I think the ladybug fabrics will confer special powers to my skirt. Or at least, love and honor.

(Any guesses on how quickly it’ll be before I forget about it?)

The funny part about all this is that I’m starting to get more interested in others’ styles, specifically people I’ve met online. I’ve thought recently that I wonder what kind of skirts Rebee wears. She probably has an awesome style all her own. And what about all those knitters? What kind of fantastic things do they wear on a day-to-day basis?

Right. Not really going to ask. Just pondering.

Eco Adventures of the Week:

• Mom took a cloth bag to the grocery store all by herself. !!!
• Later in the week, the words “I’m trying not to allow plastic in my life” were heard, unprompted by me, from my mom’s lips. !!!
• I accidentally brought home a plastic bag from JoAnn’s. Sigh. At least it’ll be useful in cleaning the litterbox in a couple of days. :( :( :(
• Am reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Expect poetic waxing about it when it’s finished.

Hey! I figured out how to add my current Google subscriptions as a blogroll. Go me.

So, uh, that small amount of sewing I mention in the subtitle? Here it is.

My friend Sara said she was going to drag me to the NorCal Pirate Festival, and she had a pattern for a pirate top for us to sew for it. While we’ve both been knitting for about three years, neither of us have sewn much. In fact, the last time I really tried sewing was probably eight years ago. So it was really hard for me to wrap my head around it: I kept thinking of knitting circularly rather than sewing up. Spirals rather than pieces of fabric. And of course, we decide to jump right in to princess seams and all that jazz. Much as sewing our own tops for the pirate festival was pretty awesome, I am ready to sew something simple next—curtains, in fact, and then perhaps a simpler top or skirt. I guess I’m resigned to the fact that I’ve got the sewing bug…