Sunday, December 18, 2005

What I've Gained From This Experience

I'd like to think I've gained a few new brain cells, but after my little buttonhole fiasco today (see below) I can honestly say I haven't. What I have gained is a bunch of pounds and and an even fouler mouth! Did you hear me today? The table of contents should have been a breeze. All I had to do was use the first three levels of headings and it's good to go. Yeah. Once I learned how to lock the fields the going was easier.

So the buttonhole problem. You might remember me saying that my new Janome wasn't making buttonholes. It would only do one side and not do the turnaround. I bought this last spring, attempted buttonholes in August, and just got around to trying it one more time before taking it in for repair. I read through the directions ten times and still it didn't work. Then I saw buried in the middle of 27 steps, pull the buttonhole lever all the way down. Oh. That. And here I was complaining that the manual was written for idiots. I guess I'm right.

So here's just two of the buttonholes it can do. Once I finished marveling at my stupidity, I finally got the zipper in on my Zipper Jacket, but stopped working on that and hopped over to the loom.

Sarah just finished redoing her kitchen and I'm making two of the towels for her. Josh painted it when he was home for Thanksgiving and he put a couple of dabs of paint on a piece of paper for me. I haven't seen it yet but she's having an open house on Saturday so I'm hoping to have both done and hemmed by then.



I love this variation on the pattern. That's a purple, let's call it eggplant, on the bottom, then gold, and then a forest green. I did three repeats and after 30" of pattern I'll reverse the order for the other end.

8 comments:

  1. Hey, look at the nifty buttonholes! :) Towels look great - what a wonderful gift.

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  2. I have an Elna; it also has a buttonhole feature, and also has a special pull-down lever. I have to go back to the manual *every* time because I never remember how to make the buttonholes! :D

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  3. I can relate to the buttonhole story. There are some obscure things to remember when doing buttonholes on my viking...I'm sunk if I lose the book that came with it! Love the towels....and the colors are "my" kitchen colors(except a light gold would be my white). I've been promising myself to weave new towels and placemats for the kitchen since we put up the new wallpaper....about 4 years ago now. With the current issue of Handwoven and a New Years resolution or two, I just might get them woven!

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  4. I DID hear something from the Southwest...that was YOU?!?
    Your dishtowel is a treasured item in my kitchen. I am sure Sarah will adore hers'.
    I hate machine instructions that use tricky details like oneliners buried in the directions.

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  5. If you are doing the TOC, its done. WAY TO GO!

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  6. That's like me finding the lever to drop the feed dogs on my machine, after TEN YEARS of convincing myself that it couldn't be done. I feel your pain!

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  7. Yup, I didn't see the instructions for that on my machine -- but the LCD panel said "pull lever" (I then had no idea where the damn lever was or what they were even referring to). Thought it was my own stupidity, now I see I am not alone ; ). Congrats on being done!

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  8. Isn't sewing FUN! All those little details that we must remember, they're all designed to make our lives easier, right?
    Love the towel. There's a floor loom in my immediate future :-)

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