Wednesday, April 10, 2013

WIP Wednesday and Yarn-Along: Unveiling the new machine

Look at what came home with us from Aunt Carol!  A Bernina 707 Minimatic, for Quarta to use.  I've been enjoying figuring out how it works.  It's solid, built to last.  What a great gift for a girl who likes to sew!
It has a bunch of feet and attachments I haven't figured out yet, and a manual and extension table that go with a different model of Bernina.  I was able to find the 707 manual online, but parts of it are illegible.  So I'm going back and forth between the two manuals to figure it out.  It's been a nice distraction from grading.  The only other quilt-related thing I've been doing is collecting signatures on the Cedar Tree auction quilt.  I had a 1st grader ask me how to spell his last name yesterday.  This was after telling them to print first name and last initial.  I had another 1st grader say she didn't know what her last initial was.  We worked it out.  Kindergarten tomorrow!
Quarta (before her 24-hour bug, anyway) enjoyed making some 6" string blocks on squares cut from an old phone book.
Taking the temperature this morning.  No fever, so hopefully tomorrow she'll be back to school.  She stayed in pj's all day long.  I would like to do that sometime.
Tertia grinning to show off her teeth.  She had lots of practice holding her mouth in odd ways at the orthodontist yesterday, and she got two little expanders put in between her back teeth.  Temporary bands will go on next week, I guess.
New socks for Steve, started on the last leg of our Spring Break trip.  These are from the Knit Picks yarn that they sent to replace the sadly felted first socks of 2013.  It's Stroll tonal in Kindling.  The pattern is Farmer McGregor from Socktopus.  I am breaking with the book's instructions and making them toe-up.  I will probably have to knit them one at a time after I get past the instep, and figure out how to adjust for the twisted stitch pattern as it is carried over from back to front.

And of course, I'm celebrating having finished my argyles.  Just to sneak a gratuitous argyle photo in if you haven't seen it already:
On break in the car we listened to two audiobooks: The Man in the Iron Mask by Dumas, and The Innocence of Father Brown, part 2, by Chesterton.  I have a certain bias against Dumas (and this book did nothing to improve it), but Chesterton is always fun.




1 comment:

Renee said...

What a cute sewing machine! So perfect for small hands. :-) Looks like she is thoroughly enjoying it!