Why you shouldn't drink and craft

Not that I'm a big drinker. Quite the contrary, really. But I can't necessarily handle my liquor well, especially when I'm tired. So the other night, after having a glass of wine with dinner, I was feeling a little flushed and very sleepy but, due to the early hour, decided I wanted to get some work done on the roman shade. I got the primary trim sewed and started pinning the secondary, when I noticed for some reason that one of my rows of stitching on the primary trim looked wonky. It was as though my tension was off, but I hadn't changed it from the other three rows. Despite my tiredness, I looked in my sewing books but all they told me was to set my tension based on a scrap of the fabric I planned to use - not much help, since I'd already sewn three perfect rows! The seam appeared to hold well, and tired and frustrated I eventually just decided to ignore it (a decision I'm sure will haunt me later when I stare at that seam, but anyway) and move on the secondary trim. I assumed an issue with the bobbin was at fault (I was near the end of the bobbin and did eventually end up getting both ends of the bobbin thread caught). My secondary trim seams look fine, so I think all is well. Then I got ready to attach the lining to the face fabric, which is when I realized that I had been tired the night I was cutting fabric and, after using the face fabric as a template for the lining, had forgotten to trim down the lining, so my lining was now 2+ inches wider than the face. Grrrr. At that point, I called it quits for the night. But since then, I have attached the two pieces and they look pretty good. I am a bit confused about the bottom, as I opted to not have a skirt and so I thought I just needed a 1 1/2" seam allowance, but after cutting it that way as per the instructions, I wasn't sure if I could correctly follow the instructions to make a rod pocket (since I had neglected to realize I even needed a rod, this rod pocket thing surprised me a little). So I just modified the directions a little and made my own rod pocket. I did sew one seam all the way across the shade, and now I'm not sure that I wouldn't have preferred to have just sewn it the length of the lining. I thought at first that would look funny, but after completing the vertical seams only as far down as the horizontal seam, I think it would have looked better the other way. Live and learn, I guess, plus the seams aren't that noticeable. Anyway, I am now at the point of trimming the top edge to length, but I want to double (triple!) check the finished window height and little man is sleeping so that is out.

I am about half-way through the sleeves on Creeper, which is very inspiring for me! I may yet get to wear this sweater this winter - just realized that it is the 22nd, so I guess I mean this spring. It is looking very cute, I am hopeful it will look hip rather than dowdy when worn. I recently made a lovely vest from some leftover ultra-bulky yarn I bought off a friend. The vest is from Classic Knits by Erika Knight. I think the yarn is Horstia, plus another ultra-thick one I bought to supplement as there wasn't enough for a project. The vest looked gorgeous on the model, but my version looked pretty ridiculous, especially when I put it on. I don't know if it was just the stripes (the Horstia was deep eggplant, the supplement was camel) or the slightly different gauge, but I think that regardless it was just too chunky for me to pull off. It overwhelmed me. So while there was much satisfaction from the quick knit, I learned that I can't actually pull off a very chunky knit (at least in a sweater). The Rowan Plaid I'm using for Creeper is chunky, but I'm thinking that it is fine enough that it suits me. Otherwise, I may have to abandon anything heavier than worsted for sweaters. I can't even think about how long it'll take me to get a project done at that rate!