I'm glad I had this day today. If it had happened earlier in the year, my performance might have been forgotten when it came time to hand out the Dumbass of 2003 awards.
I woke up this morning and found both my arms were still asleep. It seemed past time to lay aside the Irish Cables and resume the Silk Garden Cardy, but then I thought about how I needed to dig out eyes for the Fish Bag and lining material for the Irish Cables bag. In the sewing room, I found neither mother of pearl buttons, or appropriate material, but I did find my serger.
I’ve had the serger for a while. I bought it on clearance because it was a good price and I’d always wanted one. Then I was so intimidated by it, that I had never touched it until today. After about three hours, I was ready to throw it out the window. I had read both manuals and watched the video and tried fifty million times, but the stitch tension was insanely loose no matter what I did. I re-threaded the machine, adjusted everything, tried everything the manual said and then, when one of the threads finally broke because its tension knob was turned up so high, I finally realized I had had the PRESSER FOOT UP THE WHOLE TIME.
Of course, now it works perfectly. But both the manual and the video had rhapsodized about how you don’t have to raise the presser foot before you feed in the material, so I had never even touched it. What shall I wear to the Dumbass of the Year Awards?
Before I began the Serger Saga, I spent a little time with some scrap yarn and smooth needles, experimenting with different styles of knitting. I know I have trouble with my arms and wrists sometimes because I knit so tight. When I was learning, I could never get the hand of threading the feed yarn through my fingers. Thus, I have always “fisted the yarn,” as Sally Melville calls it in The Knit Stitch. Consequently, I pull the yarn really firmly around the needle. Actually, if I didn’t run around hopped-up on caffeine all the time, that would probably help.
I woke up this morning and found both my arms were still asleep. It seemed past time to lay aside the Irish Cables and resume the Silk Garden Cardy, but then I thought about how I needed to dig out eyes for the Fish Bag and lining material for the Irish Cables bag. In the sewing room, I found neither mother of pearl buttons, or appropriate material, but I did find my serger.
I’ve had the serger for a while. I bought it on clearance because it was a good price and I’d always wanted one. Then I was so intimidated by it, that I had never touched it until today. After about three hours, I was ready to throw it out the window. I had read both manuals and watched the video and tried fifty million times, but the stitch tension was insanely loose no matter what I did. I re-threaded the machine, adjusted everything, tried everything the manual said and then, when one of the threads finally broke because its tension knob was turned up so high, I finally realized I had had the PRESSER FOOT UP THE WHOLE TIME.
Of course, now it works perfectly. But both the manual and the video had rhapsodized about how you don’t have to raise the presser foot before you feed in the material, so I had never even touched it. What shall I wear to the Dumbass of the Year Awards?
Before I began the Serger Saga, I spent a little time with some scrap yarn and smooth needles, experimenting with different styles of knitting. I know I have trouble with my arms and wrists sometimes because I knit so tight. When I was learning, I could never get the hand of threading the feed yarn through my fingers. Thus, I have always “fisted the yarn,” as Sally Melville calls it in The Knit Stitch. Consequently, I pull the yarn really firmly around the needle. Actually, if I didn’t run around hopped-up on caffeine all the time, that would probably help.
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