Spelling nemesis

I've always been a reasonably decent speller, but thanks to the proliferation of spell checkers, I notice there is one word in particular that I never ever spell correctly, even when I stop to think about it before typing:

real spelling: definitely
my spelling: definately

I can tell myself all I want that it is "finite" surrounded by "de-" and "-ly" but it never seems to do any good. And for some reason it's a word I use all of the time in email. I'm definately doomed.

DOS Roundup - 12/9

Yesterday I hosted another DOS at my house. It was rather low key - just Donna and Sam besides myself - but the wintry day seemed right for a relaxed, subdued sewing (and crafting, for Sam) session. Here's the roundup:

Projects worked: 9
New projects started: 7
Projects finished: 5
Snacks: cupcakes from Trophy, crackers and yummy cheese spread, chips and salsa

Sam - Christmas cards
Each year Sam makes the most beautiful Christmas cards, and I always look forward to seeing them in the mail. This year I don't need to wait! She had bought a set of coordinated pre-cut cardboard ornaments, stickers designed to decorate the shapes, and coordinating paper. The most awesome thing about watching Sam work with something like this is her adaptability. When something isn't quite the way she had envisioned, a snip here and a tweak there and she ends up with something beautiful anyway. She made it though 30 of 40 cards before packing it in.
(I'll make a special mention of the absolutely enormous tool she brought along that first punched holes for and then inserted rivets. It looked like a kind of double-layered hole punch on steroids.)

Donna - Assorted knitting
Donna took the afternoon to shepherd several of her knitting projects along, bringing them to that point where the next step for all of them is either super un-fun or extra hard. However, she cut and attached a fringe for a cool moss stitch scarf she'd started (and finished shortly with the huge needles she was using) at a previous DOS. She finished up the cowl details on a sweater, with the next task being to do the assembly and seaming. She started a new scarf project containing soft wispy blue yarn with pretty blue ribbon that she'd noticed at Hilltop Yarns, but the yarns kept catching on the size 17 (!) circular needles she'd picked up, so she set it aside until she gets the right needle set.

Me - Assorted sewing
This DOS I was determined to finished those household repair projects that tend to pile up around the sewing machine and get pushed aside until they are completely out of style or don't fit. However, yesterday I made it through the current pile: repaired a shoulder rip in Jeff's shirt, repaired a ripped skirt slit, replaced a broken hook-and-eye hook, and added a missing hook-and-eye to a completed project. I also took the opportunity to complete a project that had been hanging around (and around and around), which was a new set of armchair covers for my parents' two living room armchairs. It was kind of a trick to get the shaping right even with one of the existing covers used for a pattern, and fortunately at the last minute I remembered to reverse two of them so they didn't all four end up as left arms.

All in all, a successful day for clearing out that pending work, making more room for projects ahead.

Longest...project...EVER

Project: Intarsia sweater with lacy panels
Pattern: Rowan Book Number Eight, Design 11, "Lace and Braid"
Yarn: Rowan cream wool and 15 or so other Rowan yarns in assorted types and colors
Started: 1992
Finished: December 2, 2007

So, there we were sitting around at a DOS the weekend before last, and I pulled out this sweater I've been moving, throwing away, recovering from throwing away, hiding, and occasionally dragging out to view for the past fifteen years (!). The knitting portion of the sweater was entirely complete, the front and back were joined at the shoulder seams, and half of the cap of one sleeve was attached. The other sleeve was separate and had 50+ little hanging ends to weave (Intarsia plague). After showing it to my sewing mates, we decided it had potential and identified a recipient who the finished sweater would suit very well. Finally, I had a plan!

Then, I attacked. I weaved all of the yarn ends, finished the cap on the semi-attached sleeve, attached the other sleeve, weaved both side and underarm seams closed, and, finally, tucked all the remaining seam ends.

The good: It's done! It's done! IT'S DONE! And, weaving the seams was just about the coolest thing. It makes the seam essentially disappear so the sweater appears all one piece around. Great technique! (Called 'Mattress Stitch' on Knit Picks.)

The bad: I'm not really very happy with the backstitched sleeve cap attachments. I matched the existing attachment to avoid moving backwards with this sweater, but the results seem kind of bulky and uneven. The backstiched shoulder seams are fine, so it likely has to do with handling the decreasing on the sleeve cap.

The ugly: The one thing that has always bothered me about this sweater is the end-weaving for the Intarsia patterns, which were knit with separate bobbins. Each Intarsia bit has between two and five different yarns, meaning four to ten different ends to weave. The colors are at such a contrast to the main body color that weaving behind the cream wool can peek through. So, the back of each Intarsia area is densely woven with ends on the back, adding bulk and inflexibility. In the future, I'll look for a more elegant solution.

Wearability: For a fifteen-year-old pattern, not as bad as you would think!