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| Janome! And eBay safety specs as I don't trust myself not to sew over pins |
Hello there! I intended to follow up my 25 Before 23 - The End post with a new list some weeks ago but starting my new job & adjusting to that meant it fell by the wayside. I'm taking some time this weekend to sort things out and get properly rested. The students two doors down ruined the resting part, their loud party wasn't showing any signs of abating when I fell asleep from sheer tiredness at 4.30am. I dissipated some frustration by making a noise complaint at 2am but it didn't have any immediate effect - the council's noise team stop work at 3am. Bed at 8pm today I think.
Anyway, despite not making it onto blogger to write I have been using my forty minute bus commute as blog-reading time (hurrah for smartphones!) and getting some sewing in in the evenings. I'm a software engineer so I really can't escape from looking at a computer screen all day and, as you might expect, using my laptop just doesn't appeal in the evenings.
For my birthday (and in lieu of a couple of previous ones) my parents bought me a sewing machine. It's a Janome DC3050. John Lewis initially delivered me a needlefelting machine (apparently that's a thing - a scarily 5-needled £300 thing) which led to a couple of days of waiting in for couriers to collect the wrong machine and deliver the right one, but it's here now.
I'm slowly getting to grips with my Janome (which needs a name, something 50s sounding perhaps? Definitely female) but finding it frustrating at times. However I've almost finished my first item made with it, which I'll post about soon. I still need to show the internets my Simplicity 2451 (which finally has some seam finishing) but haven't got any decent photos of me actually wearing it yet. Sigh.
I wanted to go to the London sewists meet-up last weekend, which was amazingly co-ordinated by Rachel of House of Pinheiro, but sadly it didn't quite work with trains/buses and my sister's coursework schedule. I did spot from the pictures that Katy of Sleek Silhouette has made a lovely McCall's 6503 which has reignited my wanting to make one. I already have the pattern and 3m of cheap navy polycotton, plus old bedsheet for a toile, so it's just a matter of getting around to it.
I don't actually have any crochet on the go at the moment. I need to decide upon and commit to a project with some of my more special wool which is stagnating in my stash. Once I've decided I can take whatever it is on the bus and make fairly speedy progress :)
I'd also like to learn to knit but that's not going to be something I can do easily on the bus as the best way will probably be via YouTube. Anyone know of any good tutorial videos? I can do basic stitches but I don't think I'm doing them right and my tension is horrible.
Right, I'm off to enjoy the fact that I can afford to use a coffee shop as my sitting room for a bit. I've got a lot of hem to catch stitch and a 24 page paper pattern to assemble on their decent sized tables. (Honig Designs Garden Party Dress in case you're interested - it's recent and free!)
