Miscellaneous Design Studio

Year of Projects: Week 10

Nothing From the Checklist.

We had a family adventure at Dinosaur Land this morning. It was damp, dreary, and quite chilly out. But the dinosaurs didn’t seem to mind. There were some other people around, but everyone did a good job of social distancing AND mask wearing.

Up close with everyone’s late-Jurassic era favorite.

I was able to get a couple fun outdoors pictures of some knits in action for upcoming patterns. Yay!! I’ve been sitting on them for no special reason. Except photos.

The Merry-Unbirthday Hat has been impossible to photograph outdoors, until today!

But I digress. I finished up the small chaos cables cowl I was working on. I started a mini (same diameter, just shorter).

Unblocked Chaos. Its warm!!

This week had me working on a few additional masks for school donations. I finished up the first set (29) and they have all be sewn, washed, IRONED, and packaged for their trip to the post office tomorrow. The second set (34?) I’m working on has the light colored ones complete. I’m on the pleating step for the dark color ones. I believe I am nearing the end of my quilting cotton fabric stash! I do not, however, believe I am nearing the end of the elastic spool I purchased this spring however.

Non-craft related: I’m still podding along on a semi-modified “Minimalist Declutter”. Some days I do multiple days in a row, or I group items from multiple purges into one day. I am seeing progress with my cosmetics, underwear drawer, and sock drawers…. as evident from my overflowing bathroom trash can. Additionally, I wonder if I can count shipping random yarn based crafts to my friends as decluttering- I say yes…. Up next: Purses. Maybe. But not the expensive ones.

This coming week will see a trip to the post office, finishing up masks, mini-chaos, the Chaos Cables pattern draft, (fingers crossed) testing release of said Chaos, a car based Trick-or-Treat Event, getting ready for my littlest’s birthday on Friday, and preparing for my parent’s coming to stay for the weekend. I might by busy??.

Cinna Knits

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22 responses to “Year of Projects: Week 10”

  3. This was the week for mask making. I also made some “for men” masks that my church gives out at our weekly meal. Kinda nice as a break for knitting. Those are my two crafts if you don’t count my kindergarten level note cards, stickers are wonderful, I made a for my family members. Thought they might like something in the mail other than bills and political ads.

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      • I like the fabric masks because they are washable and reusable. The idea of creating SO MUCH extra TRASH from disposable masks gives me pause. I have started thinking of them as accessories and really like wearing them. Particularly when the weather is damp and chilly!

        At this juncture, I am struggling to find gender neutral fabrics in my stash! My spouse dislikes things that are patterned, and would be happy if I just made him a handful of plain (i.e. BORING) black masks. Once I’m out of fabric, I’ll buy some “boring” stuff to make them more appealing to more people.

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    • All my mask sewing is destashing fabric (seriously, I haven’t had to purchase fabric YET) AND feeling good about giving something (even something small) back to the community I live in.

      And I agree that sewing gives my knit and crochet muscles a break. Getting a repetitive stress injury is NOT of my 2020 To-Do list!

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  4. How cute is that unbirthday hat?!?! I love your yarns and the Chaos cowl is also so pretty. How did you manage all those masks? Are you selling them? You got a lot done plus de-cluttering? Superwoman! You will have a busy week ahead but try and enjoy it too. Love the dino park. Happy Halloween!

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    • Thanks! AT Haynes House Yarns has some really AMAZING colorways, the UnBirthday hat was a limited edition colorway called “Its Nobody’s Birthday”. Its outside of my usual color wheelhouse, but it may turn out to be my GO TO hat this winter!

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    • I haven’t sold a single mask. I’ve made quite a few for family and friends, the rest have been donations to schools. Being able to do something small for others feels good. Altruism aside, I have destashed at LEAST 20 yards of fabric in the making of masks.

      I batch make the masks. Spend an hour cutting out the pattern (a 6″x9″ rectangle), collate the 3 layers (mixing up all the patterns), spend another hour cutting elastic in 6″ lengths. Sew the body and add in the elastic ear loops, trim the seams and corners (make a pile). Then I’ll fold and clip the pleats and topstitch all the way around, tacking down the pleats. I iron them after I wash the finished batch.
      If I was to do one without stopping, it would take about 10 minutes each mask including the cutting. By batching the process, I cut some time off and work over the course of a few days.

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    • All of the donation masks this go around are the simple rectangle type. 3 layers of cotton, ear loop elastic, 2 pleats- nothing fancy or complicated. Back in March/April, a friend of mine made a video on facebook explaining how she made them. They can even be sewn by hand.

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  7. Oh… I like seeing the whole Chaos Cables Cowl – I was loving the colors in your progress pictures, but wasn’t visualizing what the final cowl would look like. That looks fun to wear. And your Merry Unbirthday Hat looks like a pretty stitch. And all those masks are cute; it’s so generous of you to make all those for the school children. I would definitely count mailing off yarn to a friend as decluttering. There should be a better word, though for rehoming stuff that’s good, honest, useable stuff. 🙂

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    • I like that I can tuck the ribbing inside to make it EXTRA warm! We get some wickedly windy days that just bites through my knits. I’m not sure how I would manage winters in the actual north of anywhere.

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    • I think of it as sending love and hugs. Because getting into my car, driving a few hours and actually hugging my friends isn’t something I feel responsible about doing. Like I said to the lady at the post office: Its way less expensive (using the postal service) than the cost of fuel and tolls!

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