The Orts Pile is Growing

I had a paper piecing class today. This is my ugly, ugly house.

This is technically from the summer paper piecing class from JoAnn's, but the student wanted to do this one instead of the fall pumpkin. I gave her the pumpkin pattern anyway for more practice.

In other news:



I'm up to my eyeballs in socks. One of those is completed, and you've already seen it. The other Knitpicks sock is almost done.

The stuffed sock (orange/purple/blue/yellow) is ready for class on Sunday, where I teach the students to make heels and gussets, and the other one in the same colorway is started so I can knit up my 8 inches by Thursday to teach another socks class to make heels and gussets.

Hopefully my 2nd knitpicks sock will be done by Sunday so I can wear my socks to class. I wish I could do all the socks in this pattern, but with how many issues my students are having with plain socks, I can imagine how the class would implode with a more difficult pattern.

It's not the students' fault. Some of them have no experience with DPNs. Some have no experience with circulars. All of this is fine, except that I'm teaching people to knit in the round on DPNs with tiny needles (size 2) and tiny yarn so they're all kind of losing it. I feel for them. I was in their shoes a few months ago when I learned to make socks.

Once classes aren't so busy (though part of me hopes they're always this busy) I'm going to learn to make socks toe-up. I kind of know the magic loop method already, so that won't be much of an issue. Two socks at once though? That'd be nice for personal use :D

Maybe someday I could do a class on it. Once I and everyone else are all less twitchy.

I honestly wish they'd taught the class with worsted weight yarn and larger DPNs. The students would have their socks knitted up faster and they wouldn't have to learn so many things at once.

Of course, I don't write the curriculum (though I sometimes fix it), so we get what we get.

What am I going to do with all these socks? I guess I'm going to have to find a ton of people with size 9 feet. The knitpicks socks though...those are mine.

My finger is still messed up from stabbing it with a sewing machine yesterday. It hurts pretty badly so I must have nicked a nerve in there somewhere. I also managed to roll over my own ankle in the parking lot with my rolling sewing tote (with a steel sewing machine in it). The sewing machine is fine. My ankle will heal. The tote will NOT. I broke off one of the plastic legs. I just bought this tote (on clearance...now I know why) so I'm going to have to see what I can do to reinforce it. I'm thinking metal, since obviously the lightweight wood and plastic aren't working out. It'll be heavier, but I mentioned there's a steel sewing machine in it right? How much heavier can it get?

I guess I'll find out. I don't know metalworking/welding, but I know someone who does. Hopefully we'll have this thing fixed up soon. I NEED it.

Store Samples

Aren't they cute? I thought they were the perfect patterns to teach people embroidery. They're for the trend class at my local JoAnn's. Flour sack towels have been very popular this year.



This is the paper pieced quilt block for September/October. It's a pumpkin and I think it's adorable.

I was going to put the borders on the edges but I wanted people to be able to see the back...so I stitched the top only to a fat quarter so shoppers can lift it up to see how it's made. Hopefully it will encourage people to want to take the class.

I only have one store sample left to do for the September/October classes, and then I can concentrate on things like the socks I need to have half-done for the 2nd half of my classes and other things I need to get done. I only have to make a few things for the November/December classes. Namely, hardanger ornaments (will be drafting the patterns this week or next), Thanksgiving and Christmas towels for the embroidery class (these are both trend classes that I'm teaching), and the new quilting class that will be replacing curved seams and paper piecing. If you want to learn curved seams or paper piecing, now's the time to sign up at JoAnn's (not necessarily mine), as the classes only run through October. If you're intimidated by curved seams or just not sure what you'd do with them, paper piecing is surprisingly easy and fool-proof. I'm surprised it's a 201 class.

I suppose these will count as recent finishes for CADS as well. I'll be disappointed when CADS is over. I like the extra push to get something worked on or done every day.