DK the Nautical Knitter

Well, it seems that frogging applies to sewing just as much as knitting. Actually, the act of dissembling something that you have created is pretty much shared by all crafts across the board. When I set out to make a garment I do it knowing that it may need to be altered, or even, as in this case, abandoned all together. The zipper installation went fine, but the top doesn’t fit in the bust area very well. I don’t have much to fill it with… Although this could be tightened up a bit, the color and style just don’t work on me anyway. So, long story short, I am now net one purple zipper. Anyone need a zipper?

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Today I decided to take a little break from knitting (at least for the first half of the day) and sew a new top.  Sewing has always been one of my favorite crafts and I always seem to gravitate back to it in one form or another.  Here is my progress on the top before it came to a screeching halt when I realized that I did not have the required zipper.

Since I no longer have a large table in my sewing room, I purchased a full size sheet of insulation wall board that is incredibly lightweight, but rigid.  I cut it to the size of the surface of the day bed and it makes a fantastic cutting surface.  The bonus is that I can stick straight pins in it to hold things in place as well.  It is stored against the wall covered by an antique quilt top when not in use.  Cool, huh?

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Like I don’t have enough to do…

Enjoy

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I have been messing around with these socks for some time now and have decided not to waste any more time on them. They gave me a lot of practice and I learned a lot of new things about knitting socks “toe up” that I did not know before, but it is time to say adios!!

In other knitting news, I have passed the halfway point in the test knitting for the Secret of the Stole III. It is going to be so lacy and pretty! I can’t wait for the new group to start!!

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For the past two weeks or so I have been working on converting my "office" to a sewing room or studio, if you will.  Today the major work is completed and it has gone from this:

To this:

I removed the tables and added my mother’s Kenmore sewing machine and her day bed.  The knobs on the bed were gold, so I painted them silver to go with the rest of the decor in the house.  In the last photo, you can see my bookshelf.  The shelf is about 24" deep, so the books have been moved to the back and in front of them I moved all the bins with various knitting, sewing, and crafting supplies.  On the left in the last photo is a set of 5 "troughs" that I made from a 10′ vinyl rain gutter purchased from Lowes.  Before I made these, I was having a horrible time trying to figure out how to store my spools of ribbon and lace for sewing.  They work like a charm!

Yarn Storage:

The storage of my yarn stash was getting quite absurd and so I decided to heed my own advice and create a storage system for my yarn in order to know what I have and where it is.  Here is what I came up with. 

I measured and sewed a liner for my huge wicker basket. I also sewed in sub-dividers into it to keep the different weights of yarn separated.  The lid is hinged and closes on the entire basket so the yarn can breathe and be kept out of the dust and light.  The lace weight is on the right…hmm, seems like it is time for some shopping…  What do you think?

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No, no, no…  It can’t be!!  I haven’t finished my 2000 other projects yet!

For those of you who are interested: Knitty.com

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Day two of the festival began with a grand parade complete with Bud girls, Clydesdales, firemen, and even a marching band. Following the parade, it was a quick visit to the vendors (especially those vending food) and then off to the dance halls for the remainder of the day and evening. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.

The Parade

William especially liked the parade. He said “Hi” to everyone who passed by and even caught the eye of a fireman who stopped to visit with him.

The Food

Scott and his future daughter-in-law, Sara, can really put away the food! They spent most of the time at the festival eating. Here is a sample of what they consumed from the street vendors.

Saturday afternoon the kids left to head back to Colorado. Dad took the rest of us out to dinner at Bubba’s as a belated birthday present for me. This was an interesting place, to say the least. They have a “convenience store” type refrigerator as you walk in filled with steaks. If steak is what you came for, you literally pick out your raw steak (wrapped in plastic wrap) and take it to your table where your wait-person will take it from you and bring it back, with sides, cooked to your specifications. Yum, Yum!! The steaks were great!!!

The Dancing

The evening was topped off by dancing to the music provided by several very good bands. One of the bands that Scott likes a lot is the Academy Award winning band Polka Freak Out. They play everything from Bach to Tex-Mex to traditional Czech polkas. The accordion/trumpet player, Alex Meixner, is a 4th generation musician and is truly one of a kind. Every time I watch him play I think he is going to have a heart attack because he jumps around so much. Way more energy than I will ever have!

The Oklahoma Czech Dancers were at the festival again this year and they preformed beautifully. We always look forward to seeing them.

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The first day of the festival was actually a half a day and a night. Most of the day was spent settling into the hotel and going into town to look around and take pictures. The evening was spent at the Sokol Hall dancing to the sounds of the Jodie Mikula Orchestra and dancing with my father in the Polka King and Queen contest.

Family Photos

Family photos were at the top of the agenda for day one. We took the kids downtown to take some photos of them in “costume”.

We managed to get a 5 generation photo at the hall that evening. These photos are quite rare and we actually have been lucky enough to get three different ones so far in this family. The family members are listed from left to right and there relationship to William is noted: William Fillmer, Bryan Fillmer (Dad), Deborah Fillmer (Grandmother), Grace Dubuque (Great-great Grandmother), David Platt (Great Grandfather).

We Are Famous

Wow, I couldn’t believe it when a reporter from the Ennis Journal called our house in Alabama and conducted a 30 minute phone interview with me about the costumes and the upcoming contest. The article she wrote was very in depth and I was tickled when some of my family members came up to me at the festival and said “hey, we saw you made the paper”. Too cool! You can read the article online through the newspaper link above or here.

Contest Photos

Last, but not least, here are some photos of the contest that evening. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t win, but there were 20 couples to start with, so we were not sure of our chances right then. Apparently the number 5 is not a lucky one for us. Any suggestions for a number choice next year? Enjoy the photos and leave me a comment if you can.

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