They even have classes on altering patterns for maternity clothes, and plus size childrens’ clothing. Happy sewing!!

It’s so frustrating, but I know if I set my mind to it, I can get through some fall stuff.

I am most stuck on altering my patterns. I want to sew for myself SO badly, but I either get a perfect fit everywhere but the sleeves, or the top is huge and the sleeves are perfect. ARGH! I also can’t use my finally perfected skirt pattern, as I have lost a ton of weight and it doesn’t fit anymore.

Woe is me…

Come check us out at the new forum!

I want to sell some of my stash too, so if anyone needs any boy type knits or flannels, let me know!

And on the subject of trading, I wonder how many people would like to try and start up a fabric swap on a regular basis? I would certainly be interested in trying to set it up if there were enough interest. After all, we all love fabric!

• 10% off anything in the store
  Coupon Code: 10%AFFAUG
  Expires: September 30, 2007
• Free Shipping with any order over $50.00
  Coupon Code: FREESHIPAFF
  Expires: September 30, 2007
• 25% off Dancewear (excluding faux fur, ultrasuede, and velvet)
  Coupon Code: DANCE25%AFF
  Expires: September 30, 2007

I noticed that right now they have some yummy fabrics on clearance for $1.98 a yard too! Enjoy!

I wrote to her and asked if I could reprint her beautiful words here, and she graciously gave her permission.

Enjoy!

I Am a Knitting Addict by Holly Burnham

If you are a passionate knitter; you know who you are…..you are the person who, just for a fleeting second, wonder if it might be worth taking your knitting into the bathroom with you instead of a magazine. You are also the person who feels a smidgen guilty you spend too much time fondling yarn.

Recently there was a topic thread on a knitting forum I visit asking how much time we all spend knitting every day. I lied. It was a forum; I didn’t know any one personally on it….and I lied. I believe I recorded a quarter of the time I actually do knit every day. That was a clear cry for help.

That was also the day I started to think about my knitting passion and how it affects my life.

I am lucky enough to be a stay at home wife. My children are grown and have homes of their own, so I also have a lot more free time than I have had at any other point in my life.

You might think my house is clean, orderly and well run; that I make a point of keeping in touch with good friends; spend time nurturing my relationship with my children and projecting the essence of grandmothering onto my eight grandchildren by making and sending them cookies as a treat. You’d think my husband would be greeted by a delicious home cooked meal every night when he came home from work and that my gardens are visual delights for neighbors who stroll by my home. You’d think……but……I knit. I knit all the time. When I’m not knitting I’m reading about knitting, or I’m in knitting chat rooms talking about knitting.

I don’t know how many people out there might be quite as addicted as I am, but it’s a serious issue. If I were drinking or doing drugs there would be a number of well intended folks interested in stopping me and helping me to develop a more well balanced and productive life. But, I knit. It looks harmless. I sit in my rocker, and click needles. No apparent need for intervention. There appears to be no hope for a cure either.

I knit a few rows, leap up, put in a load of clothes in the washer, take the vacuum out of the closet and set it in the parlor….then, sit back down and knit. A few rows later I take the clothes out of the washer put them in the dryer and dust the parlor. The parlor gets vacuumed a couple of rows later. Now it’s mid-morning and I finally think about taking a shower and getting dressed, unless I’m turning a heel on a sock, which really can’t be interrupted Exchange these chores for others and my days all pretty much follow this routine.

It far worse in the warm months when I can sit on the screened porch or out on the patio….hours can pass. Also, during this period I am too far from the house to do any chores.

I have a knitting bag in the car for those long trips to the corner grocery store. I sat in a meeting last week in church trying to work up the courage to ask the minister if he really truly would find it vexing if I knitted during services on Sundays. If he were just going to be a little annoyed….well, then I think I might knit. After all, from time to time he annoys me too.

How do some knitters do it? How do they reasonably allot time to their knitting and maintain the rest of their lives appropriately? I have no will power or self discipline; to suggest I work this out on my own would be like expecting I’m only going to take one potato chip from the bag….right…..that’s going to happen.

If my Grandmother was right and we should always look for the silver lining, I do have to say, my husband and I have drawers full of wool socks for the winter, my grandchildren have warm sweaters in every imaginable color and style and even the cats have a hand knit wool pad in their bed.

The dust bunnies under the beds….well….does anyone know if they can be spun and knit?

© 2006, Holly Burnham, http://www.knittinghaven.com

I will be trying her instructions when I finish my son’s sweater. I have had the hardest time getting this right!

Yesterday I was itching to work on my sewing pile, but I wasn’t sure what ‘big’ project I wanted to work on, so I started in on the little tailoring, touch-up stuff. Hubby’s dress slacks have sat on my work table for about 3 months, needing to be refit around the waist, and to have the hems let down. I refit the waist (twice, since it wouldn’t lay properly the first time, pushing me into mutterings of cursing fit for a drunken pirate), and then I ripped the old hems. I ironed out the old creases, pressed in the new hem, and sat at my machine.

I knew that these fancy pants deserved better than my usual straight stitch, but I had tried my blind hem stitch several times before, and ended up damn near throwing the machine out the window each time. Then I remembered the dusty pages printed out a couple months ago, from a link recommended by someone on Craftster. I dug through my binder and there they were. After carefully reading through, I gave it a whirl. Could it really be THAT easy after all my failed attempts? It sure was. I successfully hemmed both legs in an attractive, unobtrusive manner. EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

And now, for those of you too proud to admit you are as clueless about blind stitch hemming as I was, here’s my secret weapon.;-)

My MIL took me to the only fabric store in Frankfurt an der Oder (where we were), and the woman was SO pushy, and things were so expensive. Later that day I stopped in the LYS up the street from their apartment, and the woman was a pleasure, and didn’t even cringe when I forgot to use the formal German speech with her (which hubby quickly corrected). The yarns were beautiful, and so inexpensive in comparison to some of the ‘fine’ yarns here in the states. I got this lovely, soft chunky cotton for a sweater pattern I found in a German knitting magazine I picked up over there, and several skeins of this wild black and grey animal print fabric yarn that was marked down. I have no idea what I’ll make with it, but it was too cool to pass up. I also picked up my first set of Addis (much cheaper than I would have paid here). It was like going to an amusement park for me.

Anyway, we’re back now, and as promised, I will soon be posting my first knit pattern - the Kimono Shrug.