zippy

The Goob likes this sewing thing. She likes that it's zippy and adaptable. From my perspective, it's like magic because she prefers to figure it out all on her own (with or without a pattern, which she'll buy, with babysitting money, by tagging along with Scott on bakery deliveries and being dropped off at the fabric store near one of his accounts) and only occasionally pops into my office to rummage through the fabric stash, but then she shows up with nearly finished garments that surprise me.


She made this top one afternoon before vacation. I remember she bought the fabric at the CT Sheep and Wool Festival last year or the year before. She tells me she bought a pattern, but only used it for the shape and size of pieces, not following the instructions for sewing, so she still has much to learn/discover about construction, facings, etc., but she came up with a perfectly usable handmade top in an afternoon. The bottom edge has yet to be hemmed, but that didn't stop her from happily wearing it in Florida and feelin' fine!

split personality

A couple of people have asked what projects Leah's working on lately. Mostly she's been sewing, some by hand and some by machine. She's been dabbling in a bunch of little things that have given her good practice and plenty of room to explore, but hasn't really focused on anything in particular. Last week, though, she scored her first stitch-for-pay ($2!) job and she is oh so proud. Here she is with the pair of shorts she hemmed for our neighbor. Coincidentally, she's wearing the dress that was made as a gift for her by the owner of this darling, tiny coffee and ice cream shop, who we met in Alaska last summer. This dress is actually what spurred on the Goob's interest in sewing.

The title of this blog entry refers to the weekend's split personality, partially spent in VT and partially in CT. We did this shucking and jiving to minimize exposure to water from the sky and maximize exposure to water in natural pools. There was knitting (and fishing) on the shore of Lake Champlain while Jesse was diving...
and more knitting on (and fishing from) the boulders at Cotton Hollow while the kids sat in waterfalls, climbed rocks with friends, and explored our favorite natural playground. Fresh trout for campfire dinner...mmm. I'm about 15" up the back of Bella and Leah is now nuts about knitting mittens. She's more than halfway done with her first mitten and can't wait to make more. Jesse is researching Bushnell's Turtle because he remains fascinated with methods of staying underwater. And no, he tells me, scuba lessons are not nearly as enticing as coming up with his own ways.