Whoops, I Did It Again

But not Britney Spears style.  And I wasn't singing at the time, either.

Scheduled: work on the jacket for the girlfriend today, planning to get it done before my son went out to dinner with her family for her birthday.  Most of the day was taken up by errands, though, including one to get more embroidery thread.  I learned yesterday that these designs need at least a spool and a half of whatever color I'm using (it's a one-color design), so I figured I'd get an extra spool before I even started.  Only that necessitated finding out exactly what color the girlfriend would want on the jacket, without telling her what she was selecting it for.  HA!  I left that conundrum up to my son - which meant I couldn't go to the fabric store until he came back from walking her to school.

Round One:  before I could get the thread - chiropractor appointment for me and for my younger son (whom the chiropractor has nicknamed "Gumby," since he is so incredibly flexible), and then a quick trip to Ikea to eat breakfast and browse entertainment center ideas (a recon mission - my husband HATES to shop, so I have to do all the legwork in advance and present him with a couple of options).  Stopped at Joanns on the way back and bought the extra thread the girlfriend liked, then headed home to start work.  Only I didn't have much time - younger son needed to be up to the high school for an impromptu sectional rehearsal.  Knowing how long the design would take, I decided not to start it yet so I wouldn't have to leave it - and just worked on my sock until it was time to go.  I dropped my son off, then came back home to eat lunch and start sewing.  I had just hooped up the girlfriend's jacket and sat down to sew when I got another call - apparently, my son didn't need to be there for another hour and I needed to pick him up again.  So, back I go.  Got home, checked my email while he was doing some studying & eating lunch, and got a message from a client that she wanted a different length of zipper.  Darn.  Should have checked my email sooner.

Round Two:  Dropped younger son off again at the high school, swung by the gas station to turn over most of my last paycheck, went to Joanns again to exchange the zipper (and no, they were not surprised to see me again - they are quite used to my erratic ways now), came home, rehooped the hoodie three times (my brain was temporarily out of order), and sat down to sew when the phone rang again.  It's the younger son; sectional rehearsal is done and he needs a ride home.  And now it's raining cats & dogs.

Round Three:  pick up the younger son, then back home again. I set up the embroidery and get the machine started.  This time, I decide to sit down and supervise the embroidery all the way through so that I don't end up with another embroidery hoop/bobbin/throat plate cluster-explosion on my hands.

So far, so good!

Older son finally gets home (soaking wet - he rode his 250cc scooter to college and didn't realize it was supposed to rain) and I tell him to clean up while the embroidery is finishing up.  About ten minutes, I say.
I should have known - I opened my mouth and THAT was all it took - with ten minutes to go before I needed to wrap the gift, and only the head left of the tiger to do - BAM!  That familiar clanking sound starts up again and I can tell by the upper thread that there is a problem - it is looking a bit wonky, skipping stitches, and there is that suspicious clankity clankity sound.  I stop the embroidery, thanking myself for not hooping it the same way as yesterday (this time I did NOT hoop the jacket, just the stabilizer), check the upper thread, the bobbin thread (thinking maybe I ran out, but no...), and setting everything back into place I started the machine again.  CLANKITY CLANKITY CLANKITY CLANKITY CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK!!!!!!!  Whoa, Nelly!  This time I stopped the machine, cut the threads, pulled the hoop off the assembly (without unhooping the jacket), turned it over, and Oh.  My.  Gawd.

The underside of the embroidery.  That is NOT fuzzy yarn.  That is yards, and yards, and yards of rats' nest cluster-clucked RUINED THREAD AND THROAT PLATE TRAPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL.

Ugh.  One.  More.  Time.  Had to send my apologies with my son to his girlfriend, since her gift wasn't going to be there until tomorrow morning.  Then I spent the next half hour very carefully clipping little, tiny, shiny threads.  Snip, snip, snip.  From the bottom.  Snip, snip, snip.  From the top.  Yank.  Pull.  Snip.  Yank.  And repeat.  My work room trash can looks like I gave a crew cut to a couple of Troll Dolls.
                     


I get all the thread out.  I rethreaded the machine, rethreaded the bobbin, put the bobbin case & the throat plate back into place, put the hoop back in, backed up the stitch count to where it first started "nesting," and started up the machine again.

Clank clank clank clank clank STOP - OH NO YOU DON'T, NOT AGAIN!  


< pause >

When all else fails, change the stupid needle.  It probably got ruined clunking around the throat plate.

Bada bing, bada boom!  That was the ticket!  The rest of the embroidery buzzed along with no further interruptions.  Sometimes what seems like the biggest problem often has the simplest solution.

One Daring Damask Tiger, sneaking out of the jungle foliage!

Said tiger is now wrapped up, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting birthday girl.

Next up:  finally - a photo of the faux fair isle sock, and then....younger son has requested the wolf design in this same design pack for the back of his favorite jacket.  

I'm gonna keep extra needles handy.  Just sayin'.