This week we have had unseasonably warm weather, and we are close enough to “the real thing” that I am feeling the need to get to work on so many things at once. I’ve never had a spring third trimester before. Will this be like having nesting urges on steroids? There’s still knitting, and then sewing, and gardening, and house projects galore that Jonny wants to complete before the new baby arrives in May.
Right now my desk is a mess of things to do. I clear it, and it piles up again with all the bits and pieces. I push the bills and things of that sort to the back and try to focus on the knitting and the fabric of course. What a bummer to need to sit down and worry about getting the taxes done when I have so many better things to do!
I carry Bea’s in progress sweater with me everywhere right now, and I am looking through my fabric stash trying to decide what summer dresses I want to sew for the girls. I have realized though that my stomach is becoming a bit of an obstacle. If I am going to sew, I guess I better hurry up and get it all done! Last night, I was just finishing up a little project when I stood up and barely leaned over the table, my stomach knocking a full cup of hot tea all over the floor.
Last night’s little bit of sewing was a couple of simple ten minute project bags for two little students that I will start teaching to knit today. Around 10:30 p.m. last night it dawned on me that they would probably be really excited to have something pretty to put their knitting in.
I’ve been volunteering as a knitting instructor once a month at a womens’ shelter for nearly a year now, and I have to confess, it’s not fun. The ladies are at the class because they have to be, not because they want to learn to knit. I am often on my own with a room full of reluctant students (some with amazing bad attitudes!) and their small children and infants. Still, I think it’s important, and last night I was discussing with my friend who also happens to work for this shelter, (and also happens to be the mother of my new little knitting students, and also happens to be my piano teacher and Seth’s!) about the importance of these classes just for these women to learn how to interact with others, nicely and politely! It’s not really even about them learning to knit, but if some of them do, that’s great!
At any rate, I am excited that my friend and I have this new little barter going. In exchange for my piano lessons, I will teach two of her daughters to knit. I will be teaching them weekly, which is far more effective than trying to teach a room full of women once a month. (The shelter ladies all have the option of contacting women who have volunteered to give private lessons for free, but it’s the rare few that actually take advantage of that opportunity, and between that and the high turnover rate, I don’t get to see much progress.)
I know that my new little students will be excited about their little pink project bags. I love how easy it is to make children happy. Ten minutes at the sewing machine is all it takes sometimes!
I know I mentioned sometime in the past year that I wanted to sew Larkspur a Nurse Nancy outfit, at her request. That is my ambitious sewing project for the next couple of weeks. Ambitious, because there’s not a pattern that I am aware of. Wouldn’t that be a great business though? Designing sewing patterns to go with children’s books like this one? Not for me, but someone ought to do it!
The apron should be simple enough to draw up and sew. The parts that worry me are the hat, and the dress. I don’t really know how to make a hat like that at all. I could make the dress really simply and leave off the white cuffs and the little white collar, but then it wouldn’t be perfect. Maybe I will figure out the collar, and leave off the cuffs…Do I need orange socks and black mary jane’s? I am definitely making the dress with a very full skirt that hits above the knees, despite the fact that I usually make them much longer. I will sew white bloomers to go underneath. I will be thrifting for a nurse’s kit, and maybe making some little homemade salves for cuts and burns. Larkspur would like that, especially if she gets to help. But see? This is getting too ambitious, and I might ought to just make it for the fun of it, rather than for her birthday…We’ll see how it goes. Tips are welcome!
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