Celebrate good times, come on!

Oh yeah, it’s a party! Never have I been so relieved to finish a project as I was with Granota’s Cuddle Muffin jumper.

A little background history on this thing:

I have a Tunisian crochet book with a really cute jumper pattern that I wanted to make for Granota. One day, I was at Joann’s, wandering through the yarn and found their store brand self-patterning baby yarn, called Cuddle Muffin. Cuddle Muffin is what I used to call Granota, so obviously, this was meant to be! I struggled through the Tunisian pattern for several months. At first it was because I was new to Tunisian, but once I got the hang of it, it was just slo-ow. My wrists were worn out and I was coming to terms with the fact that Granota would outgrow the jumper before I ever finished it. The final decision to rip it all out came one day when Konik and Granota had the great idea to “decorate” the living room by winding my working yarn balls around all the furniture. I was so disgusted that I just crammed it all into a bag for a couple of months until I was of a sufficient mental state to untangle all that yarn.

The next time I tackled this jumper, I decided to go with good ol’ traditional crochet. I had another jumper pattern in a different book that I followed loosely. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But then I lost the scrap of paper that I had made all the changes to the original pattern on. The next few months were spent wracking my brain to try and remember what stitches I had used where, how many, what I had done to decrease at the waist… Sometimes I’d be hit by a flash of inspiration and crochet up a bunch only to discover that it didn’t match what I had done the first time. Somehow, finally, it all came together. Good thing, too. My brain cells were all about ready to jump ship if it didn’t work out soon.

The payoff is good, though. I have a happy little girl in a cute little jumper.

Rana asked me to make her one like Granota’s. I laughed at her.

French Friday #42: Tube o’ Tastiness

There are a few foodstuffs in the world that have the ability to polarize people. Something about them is so distinctive that people can’t help but have an opinion. Off the top of my head: Brussels sprouts, Spam, tuna noodle casserole, Vegemite, mayonnaise… Brussels sprouts: vile (until a friend recently cooked them a different way and I actually liked them!). Spam: requires cessation of conscious thought to eat. Tuna noodle casserole: I like it, but I’ve heard that some people are irrationally, violently opposed to it. Vegemite: also vile, and I don’t know that there’s a thing to be done to improve it.

I grew up hating mayonnaise. At lunchtime, I’d sacrifice the straw from my juice box to scrape off all the mayonnaise from my sandwich if my mom had forgotten to make mine without. It made me want to gag. Later (post-high school), I found out that she used Miracle Whip, so I decided to give real mayonnaise a try. It was… tolerable. It beat eating dry sandwiches like I had all my life.

When Mr. Gren and I moved to France in 2003, we found that grocery shopping was quite an adventure (and a post for another time). One reason being that the packaging was vastly different, sometimes making it hard to find what we were looking for. Case in point: mayonnaise. Sure, you can find it in jars, but the most popular and most prevalent brand, LeSieur, comes in a tube. Just like toothpaste. The first time we bought it may have been purely for the novelty factor. But after the first taste, we realized that we had just bought the Best Mayonnaise in the World. Fact.

Convenient and tasty

I don’t know exactly what it is that makes the LeSieur mayonnaise in a tube taste so good. I know they use sunflower oil, which is virtually unheard of here in the U.S. (it’s always soybean oil here with an occasional dash of olive oil to make people feel better about buying it; thank you, government farm subsidies). Most of the rest of the ingredients are the same, so I have to think that the sunflower oil makes a significant difference. Mr. Gren and I have found a better-than-usual mayonnaise at the health food store made with safflower oil (by Hain). Sadly, it comes in a jar.

Next time we go to France, we’re stocking up on LeSieur in a tube. The TSA will think we’re big fans of dental hygiene. That’s fine, sirs, but we’re also fans of delicious flavor. You know that’s right.

The Incredible Hulk

It’s big! It’s green! It’s mean! Ok, it’s pretty much the opposite of mean. It’s soft and fluffy and warm. And it is the secret project I alluded to last week! My friend, Mrs. G, needed an afghan in her life. She was having a lousy day awhile back. Her cat had puked and made a mess and it was a cold, dreary day to boot. Mrs. G lives on the other side of the country from me, so I couldn’t do anything all that tangible or practical on that particular day, but I was struck with the idea that a comfy afghan could alleviate one of the problems.

I had a pattern in mind that pictured an afghan made using two strands of yarn together in two slightly different shades of burgundy. The result was a sort of trompe l’oeil shimmery effect as the colors played off each other. I purchased two skeins of Caron One Pound, one in forest green and one in Kelly green because Mrs. G’s favorite color is green (as is mine!). For reasons that I now cannot remember, that original pattern wasn’t working out so well. So I switched over to my Vanna White crochet book and found an afghan she had done in bulky yarn. Two strands of worsted weight makes a pretty good equivalent to bulky weight! The two strands of yarn together make this afghan super squishy.

One of the most fun (funnest?)  things about crocheting this afghan was the chance to use my ridiculously huge Q hook. I originally bought it as a toy for Rana when she was about 2. She always wanted to play with my crochet hooks but I was afraid that 1) she’d lose them or 2) she’d skewer herself with one of them. No worry of that with the Q hook. Well, she did lose it and I ended up buying another one, but then we found the first hook, so now we each have one.

From left to right: Steel hook #7, size G hook (good for almost everything), pencil, Q hook

It was fun, but really different to use. For one thing, I had just come off crocheting the lace for my peasant top, so the change in hook size was drastic. Also, since it’s plastic, it doesn’t glide through the yarn as smoothly, which fatigued my hands a little bit. Still, that can’t compare with the way I was able to race through this afghan. If you’ve read much of anything on my blog, you’ll know that, while I do enjoy the creation process, I enjoy the finished product as much or more.

I also really enjoy making things for people and it’s especially fun if it’s a surprise! I stuffed it into one of those medium sized flat-rate postal boxes and Mr. Gren mailed it off for me last weekend. I had to send it to Mrs. G’s parents’ since her apartment mail delivery is a bit dodgy. Ack, the suspense was killing me! But on Sunday, she let me know that she had received it. And she loves it! Mission accomplished! (And, Mrs. G: If the cat pukes on the afghan, machine wash cold, dry low heat. )

Dress = Done

Last week turned out a little differently than I had planned. After posting on Wednesday, my French class was canceled just as I was about to walk out the door. Too bad, but that did mean a whole day to sew that I hadn’t been banking on! I was able to finish my shirt dress and Granota’s Cuddle Muffin jumper that evening.

For my dress I used McCall’s 4769. Pretty basic style, not much that really stands out. It would probably be great in a novelty print, but for this incarnation I chose a pale blue cotton/linen blend. This way I’ve got a blank canvas that I can spruce up with accessories to change up the look. I don’t currently have much in the way of accessories, but I do have a couple of silk scarves and a couple belts that I can use. And, hopefully without the distraction of pattern or color or unique features on the dress itself, I can get a little more creative about the kinds of accessories I can add to my wardrobe in the future. Future being: when we manage to get Mr. Gren a better job than ringing up plants and patio bricks.

We can always hope.

M4769

The other side of the lapel went together with about the same amount of fiddling as the first side, but at least this time I knew that, as ugly as it is on the inside, it turns out well on the outside. Just as miraculously, my machine didn’t jam up a single time while doing the buttonholes. That may be a first! At the waistline, there is a hook and eye to keep things together so that belts or sashes won’t get hung up on a button.

Went with the blue leopard print scarf this time.

I like those McCall’s guys. These are funny guys. They told me to “hem skirt by hand.” Bwhahahahahaa! Yeah, right. I barely got through hand-tacking the collar and facing down without wanting to kick a puppy. Good thing we don’t have a puppy. Besides, why hand-sew a hem when you can blind stitch it! That’s what I’m talking about. My first attempt several years ago at using the blind stitch on my machine resulted in a less-than-blind hem. I get better with every one I do. I can’t claim that this one is perfect, but a person is going to have to get pretty close to my knees to see the few stitches that managed to peek out.

Konik’s about the right height to examine my hem. Fortunately, he has no idea what he’s looking for.

Oh! And did I mention pockets? That’s always fun in a dress. The fabric was light enough that I went ahead and used it for the pockets, too, instead of a lining fabric.

I ain’t afraid of no crease

A lot of people shy away from linen because of its notorious tendency to wrinkle. What can I say, I’m a sucker for punishment. No, not really; it’s just that I love natural fibers. Besides, anyone who hasn’t worn linen is missing out. I wore this dress to church today with a navy blue belt and navy blue crocheted-by-me beret. I looked pretty sassy if I do say so myself. You’ll just have to take my word for it because Mr. Gren had to work today and couldn’t take a picture to document it for posterity. The dress passed the wearability test — it was comfortable and, despite sitting in the car for 40 minutes round trip and sitting in the church pew for another 90 minutes, the dress wasn’t too horribly wrinkled. I changed out of it when I got home because I had to start a fire and I would have been oh-so-sad if I’d gotten soot on my new pale blue dress. Soot is an unfortunate accessory of life in a cabin, but I can at least try to limit it to jeans.

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You may have noticed that there was no French Friday last week (Hi, Mom). They used to be my most-viewed posts, but lately they were getting really low numbers. I have to admit that I was getting a little burnt out spending two or three hours on a post that only 12 people look at (Hi, Gma). So, do me a favor, peeps, if you like French Fridays, will you let me know? And if there are things you’d like to hear about my experiences in France, let me know that, too! Thanks. Carry on.

I can almost taste it

This close, guys, this close! I got quite a bit of sewing done yesterday on my newest dress until I had to be a grown-up and go make dinner for my family. It’s at the point where I could finish it today… if I were going to be home today, but I have French lesson which takes a gigantic munch right out of the middle of my day (I’m going to teach clothing vocab!). So tomorrow! I think I can finish it tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here’s what I’ve got so far.

80% of a shirtdress

It’s a shirtdress. I’ll find the pattern number when I post finished pics. I had never seen a collar construction quite like this. It’s supposed to be a lapel-type neckline. It also seemed unnecessarily complicated. On the points of the lapel, they had me clip down to a reinforcement line of stitching. I think that stitching line actually needs to be closer to the raw edge if I do this again. As it was, once I clipped, it all opened up too wide and made it very difficult to pin onto the dress. I’ve only done one side and miraculously, it turned out right on the first try. But it took a lot of fiddling around with pins, basting, checking, and finally stitching before that happened. I will never take a lapel for granted again.

Sure, it looks innocent now, but it was the devil to get together.

After dinner and putting the kids to bed, I sat down to crochet on Granota’s Cuddle Muffin dress. And look at this! Two matching halves!

Angels are singing right now. No, really, listen.

All that’s left is to sew it together and put the buttons on. What a walk in the park after all the hassle I’ve had with this thing! I’ve been working on it for so long and there wasn’t one part of it that I didn’t have to rip out and redo multiple times. Really, I’ve probably made this dress about seven times over if you combine all those stops and restarts. I save my crochet for the evening — it’s nice to wind down with before bedtime — so it is conceivable that I could get this all sewn up and completed tonight. Wouldn’t that be marvelous? The relief at being done with this project… ahhhh.

That’s where things stand right now. I’m feeling pretty good about it!

Sewing Paralysis and Axl Rose

Well, after the triumph of my Zebra in the Jungle blouse, I was all fired up to do some more sewing for myself. I got out another blouse pattern, looked at it and decided it was too much of a hassle for that particular day. Got out a dress pattern, cut out all the tissue pieces, and changed my mind about that, too. Don’t get me wrong, I do like these patterns, and I will make them sooner rather than later. I just have to be in the right mood for it. Some days I enjoy the more technical aspects of sewing and other days I just want to churn something out. The Jungle blouse satisfied the latter criteria and, apparently I had an appetite for more (Appetite for Construction, haha! Yes, I’m lame), but no fabric for it. Alas. Feeling the desire to sew, I pulled out other patterns, other fabric, and yet, I wasn’t really feeling it. What happens then is a state of paralysis. I can’t move; I can’t move forward; I stare out the window; nothing gets done.

Now, I actually did accomplish something crafty last week, but I can’t talk about it yet, because it is a surprise for the recipient. Once I know she has received it, then I’ll post about it. I have also been crocheting on Granota’s Cuddle Muffin jumper, but it’s not worth posting pictures of just yet.

I have to admit that the majority of my time this week was spent extensively researching Axl Rose. No, I am not a crazy stalker. Axl’s not going to have to worry about me showing up at his house and hiding in the bushes. See, there’s this thing about me that my mom described as “intense phases of interest” in a letter to my grandma when I was in high school. That was twenty years ago (holy cow!) and things really haven’t changed. When something catches my interest, I develop a ravenous hunger to absorb every bit of information I can unearth through any medium available to me. It is intense until I reach the point where I feel that I’ve learned everything I possibly can or I finally get bored of the subject. Past topics have included nutrition (that lasted for 2 years), the Trojan War, the French Revolution, the Three Musketeers series, Phantom of the Opera, and there have been plenty of “smaller” topics along the way that don’t take as long to satiate me. This voracious drive to learn is the reason I speak French today.

Once Granota started sporting her bandana à la Axl, my interest was piqued and once that happens, everything else comes to a halt. I nearly feel qualified to write a biography on the man after all of this research. Since that’s really not the point of this blog, I’m not going to write about everything that I learned pertaining to Axl Rose, but I will say that my impression and understanding of him have radically changed to the point where I don’t think he is nearly the villain that he has always been portrayed to be. If you have questions, I’ll be happy to answer since I think Mr. Gren is probably about fed up with the daily oral reports I’ve been giving him. And you’ll be happy to know that, while I’m not done with Axl, I do feel like I’ve quenched that initial hunger to where I’ll actually be able to focus on something else this week. I’ve got a dress cut out on my sewing table, so hopefully something on that for Wednesday! In the meanwhile, you can watch this video of what I think is Axl’s most powerful song, “Estranged.” The depth of emotion he conveys sends chills down my spine.

And, on the severely minuscule chance that Axl ever stumbles across my puny blog:
Axl, I get you. Most people don’t, but most people haven’t taken the time. I know you like art; take me to Paris and I can give you some great tours. My husband’s a pastor; I think he’d make an excellent chaplain and a loyal friend. But in all seriousness, I pray that someday you find the peace and love you’ve been searching for your whole life. I’ll give you a hint: all those crucifixes you collect will show you the way.

Welcome to the Jungle

We’ve been on a little Guns n’ Roses kick around here lately since Granota decided to start styling herself like Axl Rose (without any previous knowledge of his existence). Now she likes to rock out to various GNR hits and we’ve all had an endless medley playing in our brains. There are worse things.

Ok, so Axl didn’t wear pink ballerina slippers on his black t-shirts.

Last week, I began working on the second of my spring/summer blouses. The fabric is a rayon challis print (possibly my favorite fabric to work with and wear!). Granota commented that I was going to look like a zebra. I pointed at the foliage on the print and said I’d look like a zebra walking in the jungle. I don’t know what zebras are doing in the jungle (you’re gonna DIIIIIE!), but I love how colorful it all is. And really, this is going out on a limb for me. {gasp} Red? And orange? Good thing there’s a heavy dose of teal to balance it all out for me.

The pattern I used is McCall’s 6563. Basically a t-shirt with a drapey front neckline treatment. It consists of two whole pieces. As I was pulling them out I thought, this is either going to be genius or a major mess.

With just two pieces, there’s not a lot of tricky construction. The drapey front is just an extended portion of the front neckline that falls inward. Easy. This style was also a little bit of a departure from anything I’ve worn, but that’s ok because my style — as it were — definitely needs an infusion of visual interest.

All in all, I think I like this top. I made it in a medium based on my measurements, but really, I think I could take it down to small. I ended up cutting off two inches from the hem (not to mention the mullet hem in the back) because it hit me in a weird place. Also, the armholes come down a little farther than I would prefer. I wore a camisole under it today and that made me feel safer.

So here I am, a zebra in the jungle.

(And, as an added bonus, the white eyelet skirt that I made a couple years ago after seeing one in the mall that I liked. Mr. Gren was trying to convince me to twirl, but the deck is insanely slippery and I really didn’t want to end up on my ne-ne-ne-ne knees, knees!)