I like making things: July 2021

Sunday, July 11, 2021

This past month

Well, to be sure, it has been eventful!

The family visit was lovely, lot's of quality time spent with the children who we hadn't seen for 2 years. We spent 2 nights at a resort by the lake which was a treat for me as I didn't have to do anything. I even managed to get into the pool! This is our daughter in law and the children, no way was I posting a photo of me in a bathing suit!

We did some dressmaking and I showed our daughter in law and grand daughter how to make skirts from a pattern. They each made a reversible skirt. Here is our grand daughter wearing hers. They got the idea straight away and made them by themselves. They bought back the Brother XL 703 mentioned in the previous blog post, they just couldn't get it to work properly and had bought a newer machine which they both like. I finally got to check it out and it works for me although it is very finicky about being threaded correctly and it does thread somewhat differently to most machines. They did have the needle in backwards too which wouldn't have helped but I am happy to have the machine back in my collection.

The guys did lot's of outdoor things and it all culminated with fireworks on the 4th of July.

Before their arrival was hectic and I tripped and fell. We managed to get me up and I didn't seem the worse for wear.

The day after they left I tripped and fell again. This time I really hurt my right leg and we couldn't get me up. Had to call for an ambulance and they got me up and took me to the ER. A long wait to see anyone as I wasn't deemed a real emergency. Finally I saw a Nurse practitioner, who was very efficient, and she sent me for xrays.

Nothing broken so they sent me home with instructions to see my knee doctor asap. I called him but can't get into see him until next Thursday. 10 days after the fall. Meanwhile, my leg is very painful and is black and blue right to the end of my toes. It hurts like heck and I have to keep resting and icing it.

Xray reports show chondrocalcinosis. Of course, I had to google it as I had no idea what it was. Seems it is where crystals build up on your joints slowly destroying them. In a way it was a bit of a relief to find this out because since my mid 30's I have had joint pain and stiffness getting progressively worse. I have nodules on my finger joints and my shoulders don't work like they should and I ache all over all of the time. I just thought I was being a wuss and tried to soldier on and not complain. At least now I know what is happening to me!!! Nothing can be done other than replacing joints. I will get my 2nd knee replaced, that is the one which I hurt in the fall. Thankfully I didn't do any damage to the other knee which has was replaced last year.

So an eventful month to be sure!

Glad you stopped by

I started this blog in 2011: Ever since my Mum taught me to knit at the age of about six or seven I have made things. Back then it was doll clothes. I was also inspired by Mrs Levitt an elderly lady who had a sewing room in a conservatory type room on the back of her house. I would sit and watch her in awe as she sewed.

When I was a child living in England the school system was such that you started at 5 years, did two years in Infant School, then four years in Primary School then five to seven years in Secondary School, depending on whether you chose to stay on after fifth form to get qualifications to go to University. I can't remember much of the Infant school other than making the standard square doily thingy from fabric that had holes in it so you could embroider patterns into it. A bit like the modern day cross stitch fabric but with bigger holes and spaces to make it easy for small hands to use. I also remember with great joy getting a toy sewing machine one Christmas which sewed only chain stitch but I did make doll clothes on it and that was before I started Primary school. I do have very vivid recollections of Primary school and having sewing and knitting lessons. In Primary school I knitted gloves and made a dress from scratch hand sewing it all.

Secondary school continued on with sewing by which time I had progressed to using full sized sewing machines and was making more intricate skirts and dresses. My parents bought me a proper sewing machine when I was thirteen. I used that same machine right up until I emigrated to Canada at age forty six years.

I have always had a fascination for sewing machines and knitting machines. I bought my first knitting machine at around age twenty one from an ad in a newspaper for twelve pounds. I had absolutely no idea what one was just that I wanted one. I trundled on the bus to the address in the advert and handed over my twelve pounds having absolutely no idea what I had really bought. Fortunately it came with a manual. It was an aged Knitmaster, very basic and I loved it. I wore it out. Next was a Brother push button one which I didn't keep because it was at a time in my life when things were difficult. Later on in my life, around forty, when things were better I bought a brand new Brother punchard machine with a ribber attachment. I loved it and made many things. Life took a different turn, I moved countries twice and along the way, regrettably I sold it.

Now, through the universe's blessing I now have another machine. It is a vintage one because they stopped making them early 90's but works perfectly and I love it. So I decided to make this blog to document my knitting progress and include sewing projects.

In 2013: we embarked on a new hobby, leather-work. My husband got started with it and it drew me in. It is something we can do together. We have a workshop so have plenty of room to work. We added another workbench for me to work on in 2013. We already had one but we were tripping over each other both trying to work at it. We only make things we want to make. It is strictly a hobby. We made some things for our good neighbours who help us out a lot. I am also working on Christmas presents. So this blog now incorporates the leather-work. Knitting and sewing will always be my first love though.

Fast forward to 2023 and now age almost 75 years. I have seven sewing machines, four knitting machines, several ribber attachments and a garter carriage for one of the machines. I am blessed beyond words, but I know that I have more than enough machines to keep me going in my lifetime so I don’t think I will be adding to my collection any time soon……….unless a nice embroidery machine manifests itself very cheaply.

I am a Brit living in the USA, sometimes I spell like a Brit and sometimes like an American. Sometimes I use slang and even make grammatical errors. I blog for the pleasure of it and to record my endeavours in the event that my memory fades, as I am sure it will with more age. I will be able to look back and remind myself of the things I have made along the way. So please forgive my mistakes when reading about my life making things here in the hinterlands and I hope you get as much enjoyment from my blog as I do from reading the blogs I follow.

Pages

Sunday, July 11, 2021

This past month