mcknitster sews

i saw a microwave rice pillow project on creative juice - you know, the kind of pillow that's full of rice or buckwheat hulls that you nuke for a minute to make a heating pad - and after months of stalling, i finally made one. i had all this snoopy material that i've bought over the past few years (for what, who knows) and i had 2 lovely pieces of flannel, one denimy with peanut characters on it and one pink with snoopy and hearts. i went for the denimy piece. so i cut out the 12X13 inch squares, then sewed them up BY HAND. i have no sewing machine (my gram has one but it's far away so i had to do it by hand - never mind that i haven't used a sewing machine since 8th grade many moons ago). it took about an hour, with some fiddly knotty white thread, losing my needle once. i had to restitch around the casing becos i had left lots of holes, and leaky rice is no fun. i bought the rice at the store this morning (i thought i had some, obviously i gave it with the kitchen purge last fall) and mixed some rosemary and lavender, filled the casing and sewed it up. not bad for a rank amateur! i just nuked it, and it feels great on my sore shoulder. i should make a long one, to go around my neck, and i have a tiny scrap left that i'll make a wrist "donut" to wrap around my sore wrist.

i wish i knew how to sew better. i would make my own clothes if i could (ever notice how sucky clothes are in stores lately? designers must think i'm supposed to be 7 feet tall and 100 pounds.) my sewing skills are very rough. i have hemmed pant legs and they don't look very nice. i'll have to learn to do better - my grandmother hems my pants and skirts, and someday she'll be gone and i'll be up the creek with no one to hem my pants. i wish someone around here taught general sewing skills - like i said, it's been years since i handled a sewing machine, and my hand sewing skills could use some fine tuning.

i'm cold, so i'm signing off.