Decks and Swaps and Oh My!

I really didn’t mean to be gone this long. I’ve written dozen of posts in my mind, but never took the time to sit and write it.

When I thought of retirement I just knew I’d be sitting in my sewing room sewing for hours on end or doing all sorts of fibery things. The reality has been lots of hard work. I told you DH and I have been working on the deck. We started the week I retired and we still have about a days worth of work. We’ve power washed, stripped sanded, decided on a color to seal it and sealed it. Some of the work was done on our hands and knees and neither of us are as young as we used to be. When we started the entire deck looked like this:



Now it looks like this:



It could stand several more coats of sealer. We still have to do the steps and the outside of the deck, so the end is in sight. I’ve worked in the front and back yards, cleaned a couple of closets and the freezer. I’m tired thinking about it.

I did manage to get into the sewing room, but it was a wadder. I’m really disappointed. I’ve loved this pattern since I saw it and have planned to make it once I got the alterations worked out.



I really didn’t feel like making this dress 3 times so I made the lining and made my adjustments to it. I think the main problem for me was that it has princess seams which meant that I was making double the alterations. The lining fit so I moved on to the dress. Argh. It fit ok but was too large. I took it in and that’s when the problems started. It has wrinkles under the arm, I need to do an upper back adjustment and there are loads of wrinkles at the waist. So I also need to do a sway back adjustment. Sigh.

I participated in a birthday swap on Ravelry and have gotten hooked on swaps. My first swap went very well. It was fun shopping for a perfect stranger. She sent me my first skein of Malabrigo, 2 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca, a hand made project bag, bath soak, and all sorts of goodies. The next swap was for hand made stitch markers. I received loads of stitch markers and a really nice project bag.

I started this skirt at Easter and finished Thursday night. I’ll look for lining and block it tomorrow. It’s the Walking After Midnight Skirt by Doris Chan. I really like it and will wear it over the weekend. I don’t know where, but I’ll take Miss Ginny’s advice and make the occasion.



Details: Walking After Midnight Skirt
Amazing Crochet Lace, Doris Chan
Yarn: Vickie Howell's Love
Soy Bamboo Mix
Yardage: Approximately 1200 yards
Modifications: The pattern indicates the finished skirt is 20" inches long, a little short for me. I added about 4" inches before the pineapples start.

Difficulty: I'd say a confident advanced beginner could tackle this with little problem. I didn't work on this steadily, but if I had I estmate I could have finished it in a week.

As usual once I get started I run on. I promise you it won’t be so long next time.