(no subject)

[aryanhwy]

*sigh* I really hate sewing. Hand-sewing, machine-sewing, doesn't matter, it never fails to put me in a really foul mood. But I'm going to a camping event next weekend, and I'm not going to wear silk while camping. (I'm not that dumb. The silk is washable, but the roughly 7.5 yards of fake fur around the hem, collar, and cuffs isn't, and I'm not taking all that off just to wash the silk.)

And it doesn't help that I have no decent sewing accessories here. Naturally, when we moved, I left the sewing machine behind. It's too heavy and too large to justify bringing, especially when I was hoping to get away with not doing ANY sewing, beyond minor patches and re-attachments of buttons, during the next four years. So that means I'm stuck hand-sewing. But not only did I leave the sewing machine behind, I didn't bring my good fabric scissors OR my pins. So I'm working with a harsh-handled, non-spring, dull scissors and safety pins. Not to mention that I don't have a chalk pencil (didn't have one of those in the States either, but even then it was bothersome) nor do I have the fold-out cardboard my mom passed on to me on which to cut things out. I do have an iron, but I never bothered ironing what I sewed anyway. (Why compound injury with insult?)

But I've finished the side seams (running stitch only, we'll see how long that lasts) of a very basic t-tunic, and the hems, collars, and sleeves shouldn't be TOO much more painful. I hope. The only balm in Gilead here is that I purchased my fabric at the Dappermarkt, and hence got ~4.5 meters for €8. The sign said that it was linen, but I'm not sure how much faith I have in that. "Linen" could mean linen, but it could also mean, as it sometimes does in the States, "poly-cotton blend which drapes like linen." I got 2.5 meters of a heavier blue and 2 meters of a lighter-weight black. They both went through the washer and dryer just fine (though the lint it created was nearly felt), so at least I should be able to get decent wear out of these. And my white cotehardie underdress will serve as an underdress for these.

But none of this changes the fact that I really hate sewing.

Comments

[ursula]

Yeah, I've more or less decided that trading other people knitting for garb is more efficient than sewing my own (though I don't mind a bit of hand-hemming).

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

I don't mind doing hand-hemming for collars and the cuffs of close-fitting sleeves - mostly because I trying to wrestle with the sewing machine far more irritating.

I'd love to be able to trade crocheting for sewing. Anyone want a nice afghan? Pick a geometric pattern and I'll make one for you, in return for a decent piece of garb. :)

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

You crochet, eh?

. . . why, look, there's a Thomas Aquinas fragment that should be landing in my hands sooner or later. . .

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

You crochet, eh?

It keeps my hands occupied when I'm reading or watching TV. See here for a moderately recent one. Mondrian is easy to translate into an afghan. My next foray is going to be a Sierpinski triangle.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

Oooooooh, those three-dimensional ones are wonderful! I wonder where I could get some. . .

[ursula]

They look computer-modeled . . .

These are similarly nifty, though (warning: priced as art, not as mathematical objects):

http://www.bathsheba.com/math/minimath.html

The middle two objects are metal-printed projections into 3D of 4D regular polyhedra.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Oh, love the graphic! That looks very much like some of the ancient Greek dice we saw at the British Museum.

[ursula]

Yeah, this one is second-century Roman.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'm yet capable of crocheting in three dimensions....

[ursula]

. . . I think I want to be your friend ;)

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

Oh? You like manuscripts? Hey, little girl, wanna look at some dirty, errrr, old pictures?

I currently have 4.26 gigabytes of digitized pre-1600 manuscript pages on my computer, all in high resolution (can you say, 6-megapixel camera? I knew you could.) I've got blank CD's and DVD's; I have a CD/DVD burner; I give 'em free to anyone who wants 'em. You want?

And, no, they're not a local library's; they're mine, so there's no trouble with the digitizing. . . and if you're ever in the area (Calontir), I have been known to bring them out to be looked at. And touched, if your hands are clean and you're gentle.

[ursula]

Why, yes. Yes, I would. E-mail me at ursula at farreaches dot org and we'll talk postage? (My usual area is An Tir, so I'm not likely to be nearby all that soon.)

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

Where in Calontir?

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

A bit north and easst of Joplin. . . which doesn't help all that much, does it, since all of Missouri is a bit north and east of Joplin.

I'm a bit northwest of Columbia (Standing Stones).

When did you go to AU?

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

I was at AU '95-'97 working on my masters - did you go there as well?
I was at Ozark before that, so I know the Joplin area. Columbia is more than "a bit" north and east of Joplin :)
Anyway, I mostly asked because I have reason to be near Dun Ard a couple three times a year.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

No - but my mother taught there a while ago, but before those years.

[ursula]

It'd probably work if you did a bit of advertising (i.e. started carrying your crochet projects around with you).

I don't know whether you knit at all? It has the advantage in SCA terms of ease of documentation.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

I'd thought about that - I've got two afghans in the making, one for some friends, one for my mom, and another one or two planned after that, but they don't have to be ready until sometime next year, and it takes me about 2-3 months to do a full bed size one. I do occassionally bring my crocheting to events, though I always feel a bit bad doing so because usually the yarn I'm working with is clearly not period, both in composition and color.

I once knew how to knit, but all that ever came of it was a scarf for one of my rubber snakes. I find the needles without hooks a lot harder to manipulate for some reason.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

{blink}{blink}


{blink}

A rubber snake? A knitted scarf?


. . . I'm beginning to think that I don't have any normal friends; you're _all_ odd. . .

yes, you read that right!

[(Anonymous)]

(From her older sister) absolutely she knitted a scarf for her rubber snake! (I don't remember which one it was, but I think it was one of the larger ones). Although I can sew, as she mentions below, with that one scarf she has surpassed me in knitting. (I started a doll scarf once and coulnd't finish it.) Oh well, we've all got skills in different areas!

Re: yes, you read that right!

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Yup, one of the larger ones - Starset. :)

I was a very nature-loving little girl, with one rule - the fewer the legs, the better. Insects are better than spiders, animals (mammals) are better than insects, (the two legged ones are the exceptions, since humans and birds aren't always better than animals), and snakes are better than them all. I had two 6' long rubber pythons, as well as 8 little rubber garter snakes. The smaller ones use to come to summer camp with me.

[mariedeblois.livejournal.com]

I am much happier now that I have wood/bamboo needles. The metal ones were way too slick for me.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of wood/bamboo needles. Do you have to worry about them breaking?

[mariedeblois.livejournal.com]

The bamboo ones I haven't worried about, no, but that's partly because I like using largeish needles (us sizes 8, 11, 13) so they're pretty sturdy. If you have really tight tension, you might start bending the small ones (us size 2,3,4). The other hardwood ones I'm still trying to finish making (in my copious spare time).

[ursula]

Supposedly some Middle Eastern knitting is done on hooked needles. I've never seen detailed directions, though.

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

Well, there's also nalbinding, which is a sort of one-needle knitting technique. . . take a look here (http://www.geocities.com/sigridkitty/).


I've met Sigrid at Pennsic; nice lady, and knows her stuff quite well.

[ursula]

Sigrid was out my way until fairly recently-- I've met her a couple of times (learned to naalbind, too, and promptly forgot, though I've still got the handouts).

You got my e-mail, right? The @mail address didn't seem functional, but I think the third try went through.

[gxdm.livejournal.com]

Burn test the "linen", see if it drips? :)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Hadn't thought about that. Maybe I will. Right now, I'm just happy that it was cheap, doesn't feel blatantly like polyester, and it washed and dried without changing drastically.

[gxdm.livejournal.com]

*Grins* I suspect it might actually be linen. :)

[eliskimo.livejournal.com]

I really wish I could be sympathetic, comforting or encouraging ... but I sew to relax. Having mastered the technique in 4H years ago, I now find comfort in the act of creation.

Of course, I'm fairly certain they sell good sissors, pins, and chalk in Holland, too. I found them in both Italy and the Czech Republic. ;)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

I've actually had an incredibly difficult time find dry goods. I went to three different places before I found needles, thread, or safety pins, and I've only found one place which sells yarn (and I've recently discovered that not only do they not restock often, they apparantly change their colors with the seasons, which means that I most likely won't be able to get that one skein of yarn I need to finish the afghan I hoped to have done a week ago until next summer probably. On the bright side, there's hope that they might come winter restock the type of variegated yarn I need to finish the afghan that's been mouldering and collecting cat hair since January.)

I just don't have the patience for sewing. Both my mom and my sister are excellent seamstresses (they've at various times of their life sewed professionally), so it's not like I didn't have an adequate teacher, but there's just something about sewing that sets my teeth on edge. Gnrr....

[tedeisenstein.livejournal.com]

You do have friends who live in the States, you know, and some of us have local dry-goods stores (or reasonable variants thereof) too. What do you need, how much do you need, and what's your address for when we have it all acquired?

[mariedeblois.livejournal.com]

What he said. If shipping quickly is reasonable, I might even throw in some scones. ;)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Scones! Ooh boy. I'll start putting together a list. :)

In return, I offer cheese and chocolate and good tea, and if someone can help me figure out whether it's allowed by US import law, flower bulbs.