Cropdustin' Morphine

Growing up in the South, I remember well those orange and yellow planes that flew over the cotton fields pouring clouds of pesticides and other deadly things. On this hot, humid, and sadly repetitive summer day - I wonder, what if we brought the crop-dusting days back, but spread morphine, or some other peace-inducing drug. Okay, I must write quickly, now, because I'm sure the EPA, DEA, and FBI are now on their way here to probe all they want and leave discouraged when they find out what a true dork I am. Honestly, it was just an idea. don't shoot me or anything.

So, when you have a gargantuant amount of crafting to do in an insanely (yes, I heard you Rabbitch and I say this with love - takes one to know one, eh?)short amount of time - it is only natural to distract yourself with a lesser project. Something spontaneous and wild. Yes, my tree stump is wearing a tam. It is from my own handspun yarn - including the sari silk. I spun this before I ordered the 'wild flyer' that Majacraft just put out. I can't wait to try spinning the sari silk with that... but I have to wait. You know, because I am (presumably)an adult and that means I have to practice SELF CONTROL!

It occurs to me that I may not be the only mother who has a phantom 'favorite'. Maybe it's a blankie, a shirt, a pair of pants. But, kids, just like us, are quirky. They pick a favorite something and our job is to coax their fragile psyche and assure them they can live without said item. OR, you can just cheat. I go for the cheat. So, I cut up thing 3's 'favorite' shirt and am re-making him one, a better one, a GREEN one (because I have very little in the way of 'not flowery' fabric AND the stars are aligned for me in that his favorite color, today, is green). It's pretty simple. Just note when you cut the shirt up the apparent order and any 'special' observances you acquire about its construction. This shirt is a simple little button up with a rounded stand-up collar. Because thing 3 has grown, I leave a little over a 1/2" around every piece and sew only 1/4" seams. I bought this particular fabric for 1.00 a yard and it will take about 1/2 of that to make a shirt for thing3. Pretty smart, huh? Okay, not smart, but at least devoted? If you do this - and I know ya'll are dying to be like me so I'm sure you're a rippin' at every shirt you can find, the easiest way to increase the size on the shirt portions that have the rounded collar (on this shirt it is the back yoke - the small piece at the center bottom of the layout) by laying them on a fold (fold the piece in half, too - duh, I speak from experience) and then pull your pattern piece 1/2" away fron the fold before cutting, thereby creating a stable, round collar. Huh! ME, stable, who knew?

I'm finally going through and sorting out the last batch of fiber I had processed. This was, in my head, a rainbow mix but I am still a novice when it comes to estimating how the big machines process. I spun some up and I think it is definitely a better yarn soft-spun as a single. The two ply is on the right. I'm interested to hear what you think. Double, single?

Well there's nothing for it, I've procrastinated long enough. Time to go cut that fabric and bitch at the sewing machine for a while. When I sew, it becomes clear to me that I may have been a tyrannic war-lord...in my former life, of course.