Yesterday was FABULOUS! It rained (of course) but only in the morning. The rest of the day was slightly overcast with such a lovely breeze I spent the entire day outside. The fact that my eye's decided to focus and I was completely and totally without any sort of migrainal garbage made it a Red Letter A Plus Day. (and today ain't too shabby either) :o)
Here's what I did yesterday.
I began by getting out my bike. I think I mentioned the bike recently. It's one I snagged from the house in town a week or two ago. Frankly I was a tad bit disappointed, I had another in mind, but this was the only bike remaining after 4 kids and 25+ years of bicycle accumulation but so be it. I wanted a old school no frills bike any way and that is exactly what I ended up with. Of course it's a Schwinn style-wise I'd guess it's a Hornet or a Cruiser. When I get it cleaned up and working I'll figure it out. Yesterday my goal was to at least get the tires aired up and patched if needed. Thus the prone position in the pic.
Unfortunately, one nut has decided it's enjoys being all rusted and frozen to the axle. Regardless of what I tried, I couldn't budge that nut, neither could Joe.
Ya know how swatches lie? So does this:
"Loosens Rusted Parts" HA! Even after multiple saturations and hours of waiting, that nut is still froze.....sigh. (It is still froze today)
Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe the cycling fairies are telling that I really should go and claim "my" bike. My bike, the one I rode endlessly and rode everywhere is a bike like this:
Yes, I rode this bike (the "Ironhorse") while all the other kids in the neighborhood were riding bikes like this:
I said the Ironhorse was "my" bike cuz it really had been my sister's bike. She had gotten it for her 7th birthday July 25, 1951. She was diagnosed with polio in August that year (the year before Salk figured it out). She never got the chance to ride it. In the summer of 1965 , the year I built my own "Schwuffy" from the accumulated Schwinn and Huffy bicycles, pieces and parts, in the garage, my Dad climbed up into the attic and brought down my sister's new, still in the original box, bicycle. I loved that bike. After I left home I lost track of the bike, figured the folks had gotten rid of it. A couple of years ago I found it in a dark dusty corner of my brother's business. I wonder if I can convince him to give it to me? Maybe the cycling fairies that froze the nut are telling me something.
Another thing I did yesterday in between cursing at a frozen nut and spraying WD-40, I was raking grass as Joe mowed the lawn.
No, I didn't rake the entire yard, I just walked around raking up any areas where the clipping were clumping so it wouldn't kill the grass underneath. Joe might want to push a mower around on nearly an acre of lawn but I am NOT going to rake an acre! I keep urging him to get a riding mower but no, he actually kind of likes pushing a mower, and with all this rain we've had along with sunny afternoons and cool nights the grass is growing almost to quickly to keep ahead of it. Hmmm maybe he'll get sick of mowing the lawn twice a week! :o)
While I wasn't cursing a frozen nut, spraying WD-40, or raking clumps, I was doing finishing work on the saddle shoulder sweater.
First thing, was to find buttons. I didn't have much luck there.
I like this button a LOT, but I only have one! Oh well, there is still plenty to do before I get to sewing on the buttons, so I won't cry about it today. At least now I know exactly what I want, hope I can find some like this.
Remember, I've mentioned my love for this button band in previous posts, I'll give you the whole explanation now. It is a knitted in button band that is also a faced button band. At the beginning of each right side row, knit 6 stitches, slip 2 stitches, knit 6, purl 1, then continue around the sweater. At the end of the row, in the last 15 stitches, purl 1, knit 6, slip 2, knit 6. On wrong side rows purl 6, purl the 2 slipped stitches, purl 6 knit 1, then continue around the sweater. At the end of a wrong side row in the last 15 stitches, knit 1, purl 6. purl the 2 slipped stitches, purl 6. you will end up with a nice little edge that looks like this:
That row of slipped stitches is the vertical turning row of stitches that makes a nice slightly firmer edge. On the wrong side that vertical row of purl stitches makes sewing up this hem/facing/whatever you want to call it super easy! See how easy it's gonna be?
Now, at this point the original pattern and I took different paths. The pattern wants you sew up the hem/facing and then take the sweater to the sewing machine and sewing in button holes. I've mentioned my lack of buttonhole skills before so let's carry on. I decided no button holes for me, so I sewed on snaps before I sewed the facing closed. The buttons I will eventually sew on will be non-functioning. Here is the snap placement:
Remember to take into account that you will be folding over the facing and make sure you place you snaps accordingly.
I sewed the snaps on with regular old thread and used double fold seam tape behind it on the other side of the knitting so the snaps wouldn't stress the yarn too much. I'm afraid without a backing material of some sort you'd end up with a hole in your sweater after only a few snappings! :o) I also sewed the snaps by sewing through the holes and over the edges, then when it was secure, I sewed
around the snap through the holes with the yarn I used for the sweater. It makes the half of snap that would be visible when the sweater is unsnapped nearly invisible.
Well dang, I thought I had pix of the finished snap sewing and facing, guess I don't. (!?) Oh well, I'm sure you can imagine, besides, there are waaay to many pix in this post any way! On Joe's next day off I'll have pix taken with me wearing the sweater and by then maybe I will have purchased new buttons and have them on as well. One can always hope.
I'm thinking the next sweater will either be sporting claps or maybe even hooks and eyes that meet each other right on the edges of the center front. This button band would be
perfect for doing that, poking the hook/eye out through the slipped stitches and securing it in the inside. Talk about the old school way of doing things! LOL I love hooks and eyes just not a lot applications for them today, this would be perfect.
Please disregard the still as yet unblocked state of this sweater. No pix of me wearing it I'm saddened to say, and there won't be for at least another week. I'm delivering my camera to Bart this afternoon for his trip to Denver and Aspen. I hope the kid has a marvelous time, but the timing for me is sorta crummy what with two KAL's starting today and me catching spinning fever, plus you do realize I'm going to have dye some roving right now too. Oh well a super montage of pix could be fun, no babbling, just pix. :o)
