Readers, please. You have to understand that the Selfish Seamstress is an extremely important and busy woman. And now that she has landed in Europe, she finds herself absolutely swamped with new responsibilities. Think about it. It’s been a long time since Europe has had to contend with the Selfish Seamstress for more than a few days at a time. She’s got a lot of ground to cover- new colleagues from whom to alienate herself, new students to frighten, new friends to avoid making, and countless waitstaff and service industry people to annoy. Gifted as Selfish may be at rubbing people the wrong way, it’s still quite a lot of work.
Now, you in comparison, dear readers, are easy. All it takes for me to frustrate and anger you is to simply stop blogging and ignore you for a few weeks. And judging from your recent comments, I can’t help but pat myself on the back and think, “Job freakin’ well done, Elaine. Go treat yourself to another croissant.” Oh, this continent is utterly teeming with croissants.
But as you know, the Selfish Seamstress has never been one to rest on her laurels (hence her need to find new parts of the world to abuse), and she therefore thinks that there may be more effective ways to get under your skin than simply ignoring you. So allow me to introduce you to my new friend Envy.
Yep, I’m still without my beloved sewing machine as it slowly makes its way across the oceans, but knitting continues in its usual plodding and mind-numbing fashion. A couple of chilly mornings sent me in a panic to a nearby department store for two skeins of Lang Jawoll Magic sock yarn with which to make my own knockoff Missoni scarf. (I’ve been rather fixated on Missoni knits lately. More on that later though.) The traditional fan and feather pattern is easy enough, though a scarf made from fingering weight yarn isn’t exactly an overnight project.
And while I’m bragging (which is pretty much always), allow me to point out that a similar-in-flavor actual Missoni scarf retails for about $270. (My yarn cost: approximately $22. Haha! Take that, Italy.)
Green with Envy yet? If not, perhaps you haven’t looked closely enough. Here’s the Missoni-licious money shot:
Mwahahaha, miss me much?
58 comments
Comments feed for this article
October 4, 2010 at 1:05 am
Katarina
Aha, ok, now I got it. After Peters hint about cheese, I thought it would be switzerland but france seams to be more obvious, now in retrospect.
October 4, 2010 at 1:34 am
selfishseamstress
Hahaha- the beauty of Europe is that LOTS of countries have great cheese and an abundance of croissants :)
October 4, 2010 at 1:26 am
Pam in Napoli
This lurker is glad to see you back and keeping it selfish!
October 4, 2010 at 1:31 am
inkstain
Glad you’re in our time zone. But I’m pretty worried now about myself, checking to see if you’re back, about twice a day. I mean, get a life, me…so I’m thinking you’re in Germany again, but Katarina says it’s France because of the croissants.
October 4, 2010 at 1:55 am
Dora
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one who missed your posts. I bought the October Burda and couldn’t wait to see what you thought about it!
October 4, 2010 at 3:35 am
Alexandra
Ha! You won’t say where in Europe you are. Your sewing machine is still on its way ? Let me tell you that if you’re in Paris (cheese and croissants ?), I could share the address of a nice place, a pretty knitting and sewing shop, with an atelier where you can rent space, sewing machines and sergers. Just saying…
October 4, 2010 at 3:50 am
Peter
Oh, thank goodness you’re back! People were starting to make thinly veiled accusations that I’d slipped a little something in your Pad Thai that night.
Which I DIDN’T!
October 4, 2010 at 4:07 am
vero
By chance, are you in France? If so, welcome!
This scarf is gorgeous, although I would prefer it in red, but still, it is gorgeous. I itch to touch it, it must be so warm!
October 4, 2010 at 4:24 am
kathleen
Lovely scarf, but they have cheese and croissants/ cornetti in Italy and Switzerland , too.
October 4, 2010 at 6:24 am
selfishseamstress
And in the Netherlands, and Germany, and Belgium, and Denmark… believe me, the cheese and croissant situation throughout much of the continent is extremely favorable ;)
October 4, 2010 at 4:37 am
Gaylene
she’s ba-ack……..(small child cowering in fright) – sorry Poltergeist 2 was on last night
October 4, 2010 at 4:38 am
Meredith P
Well, we’re glad you’re back. I wasn’t worried, however. As much as we need you to flog us and berate us, when you run out of people in Europe to abuse, I knew you’d come crawling back. :-)
BTW, is that an ombre yarn? If so, and I could master the stitch pattern, I could probably make that scarf. Not good at color changes.
October 4, 2010 at 6:25 am
selfishseamstress
Yep- the yarn goes through about 4 different shades of green. I have no love of dealing with lots of tiny yarn ends either.
October 4, 2010 at 8:55 am
Meredith P
I don’t want to feed your ego, but I like yours much better than the original. I think perhaps because the original reminds me of the 70’s–not a good decade for many fashion related things.
October 4, 2010 at 5:34 am
Fran G
I have nothing particularly witty to say just happy to have you check in..I have missed reading your blog..always motivating! Beautiful colors in your scarf!
October 4, 2010 at 5:38 am
Patty
Ahhh… everything is feeling right in the world. The unfailing support of sewingblogland (grossly exaggerated by scads of people admiring every outfit worn through september and oohing and aahing over muslins with ginormous lapels looking like they were sewn by my five-year-old self) was lulling me into a false cozy place, where I again began to trust in the general goodness of humanity. Thank you, your selfishness, for the cold dose of non-flakey reality to go with my morning coffee…
More scarf! More sweater of the horizontal cables and baseball bat sized needles!! More! More! More!
October 4, 2010 at 5:44 am
Bernadette W
You. Crack. Me. Up. Always.
Sie amüsieren mich immer.
Vous m’amusez toujours.
Tu mi divertono sempre.
M-ai amuza mereu
Вы развлечь меня всегда.
Vostè em diverteixen sempre
October 4, 2010 at 6:08 am
Vanessa
I’m thinking that scarf should have been knit in yellow. Reminisant of the amount of butter you will be consuming with your croissants. Missoni … suffer in their jocks.
October 4, 2010 at 6:26 am
selfishseamstress
In theory, I’m with you on the yellow. But as yellow belongs nowhere near my face, if I were making it in yellow, it would have to be for someone else. The very thought sends chills through my veins!
Yellow ripple knit skirt however…
October 4, 2010 at 6:17 am
Lauren
Gorgeous! I must learn to knit…but first I must learn to sew!
October 4, 2010 at 6:39 am
Amanda S.
Glad to see your selfish self blogging again. The scarf is GORGEOUS!!! I am utterly green with envy!
October 4, 2010 at 6:46 am
Funnygrrl
I’ll have you know that I agreed to take in someone’s Halloween costume. I blame your lack of selfish motivation.
Now, please, berate me.
October 4, 2010 at 6:53 am
Liara
Welcome back! I’m betting your in Germany, based on your previous history, but what do I know? Will you share your scarf pattern with your little minions?
October 4, 2010 at 6:58 am
Susannah
Welcome back… The blogosphere has been too quiet and needlessly generous without you!
October 4, 2010 at 7:17 am
Tanit-Isis
Oh, good, you’re back. Although, now you may see what I perpetrated, I mean made, with your fabric. The scarf is lovely, much nicer colours than the pricey one. Speaking of which, in Banff this summer I happened to walk into an upscale shop that sold hand-knits exclusively made from musk-ox wool. The feel was amazing—soft, delicate, delightful. A single scarf rather like yours, but without the different colours, was upwards of $400.
We got out of there pretty fast.
October 4, 2010 at 7:42 am
sisters4saymoreismore
totally missed you! i have been working on my kids halloween costumes and thinking “what would the selfish seamstress do?” to keep me from cutting too many corners… i am lazy AND cheap… good to have you back!
~selina
October 4, 2010 at 8:21 am
Nikole
Thank God! Peter’s been enjoying all the attention and not even sewing much, so It’s nice to see you back
October 4, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Peter
Yes, only a shirt (on a 1920 treadle), a pair of corduroy dress pants, and a Burdstyle dress!
October 4, 2010 at 9:20 am
Catharine
Thank God, you’re back! I was almost having panic attacks!! I thought: Is this the end? No more selfishness? Does this mean I have to start doing stuff for others now since there is no more support??? Ahhhh!
But luckily, all is well. Calm again. Pulse back to normal…
DO NOT frighten us like that again!
October 4, 2010 at 9:23 am
Carol
Love the scarf. And I, too, prefer yours to the original. Your colors are nicer.
Do we get to see your finished sweater from before?
October 4, 2010 at 9:53 am
Raquel
It is so wonderful to have you back in the blog world. Your selfish presence was certainly missed. Envy…that is a well suited name for your scarf which is coming along beautifully by the way. Keep up the fantastically selfish work!!
October 4, 2010 at 10:04 am
Branka
Wherever in Europe you are… welcome!
October 4, 2010 at 11:05 am
magdamagda
the only way i’m able to control my Envy is the reward of Indian weather in my life, aka no autumn-winter for me this yr:D:D so get a hf croissant! 2 complains: colours are too lovely, the pattern is too wonderful… see what you can do abt it!
October 4, 2010 at 11:12 am
Venus de Hilo
Welcome back, we missed you!
Gorgeous scarf.
October 4, 2010 at 11:40 am
CGCouture
Glad to see you back again. :-) I do like the scarf, perhaps I should just learn how to knit already….or crochet…but, I suppose I’ve currently got my hands full enough with woodworking tools that I don’t have room for knitting needles or crochet hooks.
October 4, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Mazzygirl
haha!
Your beautiful scarf that only cost you $22 in wool IS gorgeous!
But how much of your TIME did it cost you to make it? (& in fact, its still going, isn’t it???)
So how much an hour do you charge for your time?
perhaps the huge savings you tout are all in the mind?
(Sorry, seeing you back got me feeling all selfish & bitchy again!)
Keep up the croisants, wherever you are, Europe will fatten you up in no time!
October 6, 2010 at 12:15 am
Pepija
Honestly, the time is priceless :) however, usually that idle time would be anyway wasted away. as in “a man saves a minute to have an hour wasted”, hehe.
October 4, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Treasure
You’re back! I missed you SOOOOOOO Much! I hope you are getting settled and your machine(s) makes it to you very quickly
October 4, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Sarah M
I’m glad you’re back!
October 4, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Weaverbec
So glad to hear you are alive and doing selfishly well. You could have at least made a tiny post. For all we know you could be lying in a ditch somewhere! (Sorry, did I sound like a scolding mother?) Hope you get your sewing machine soon.
October 4, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Katherine
TFG.
October 4, 2010 at 7:08 pm
queentanya
It’s about time. Your selfish ways have reduced me to reading a food blogger from Seattle who is a self-centered, rude ego-maniac with no sense of humor. You know you’re in for it when the only commentor on his blog is his mother, but I digress….
I knew you would stick it to us for lamenting your absence, but I am still glad you are back.
October 4, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Tasia
Glad you made it over there in one piece – if you count being without a sewing machine as ‘in one piece!’
Gorgeous Missoni scarf – love it! Love the blues and greens together :)
October 5, 2010 at 7:08 am
Trudy Callan
Wow! Totally gorgeous. I am totally jealous.
October 5, 2010 at 8:36 am
DNA lady
The scarf will be beautiful. What about the brown/rust colored sweater with the huge cables and pencil size knitting needles?
October 5, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Katherine
Pattern link, please.
October 5, 2010 at 2:45 pm
PetitePear
Phew! That means I can cancel that anonymous tip to the interpol. The color(s) you picked for the scarf is gorgeous. It’s great to see you back.
October 5, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Susannah (the other one - from Australia)
It’s most unfair that you knit as well!
I would also put in a request for a link to the pattern – it’s hard to find a nice lacy pattern that looks good on both sides (fairly essential in a scarf), and this one looks as if it meets this criterion.
It wouldn’t be unselfish of you to share it, Elaine. We are pandering to your ego!
Glad that you made it to your undisclosed european destination, and that you are continuing to be a woman of mystery (and selfishness!).
We are all glad that you are blogging. Not because we care about you, of course. We are just being selfish about the entertainment you provide for us all!
October 5, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Marla
Your scarf is gorgeous! Love the colors. Is that a self striping yarn?
October 5, 2010 at 4:28 pm
TrixieRocket
Hmmm…I’m as green as your scarf with envy. Now how can I make you talk with respect to how to get that delightful scalloped edging?
(Plus – the best thing about knitting scarves is that it doesn’t matter how many croissants you eat, it will still fit you when you’re done).
October 5, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Lee
You’ve been terribly missed. Now hand over the instructions for that scarf!! lol
October 6, 2010 at 10:47 am
Lemur
Honestly, your scarf is soooo much prettier than the original. And such neat, uniform stitches!
October 6, 2010 at 11:39 am
InfamousQBert
n’thing the request for a pattern link please? pretty please?
October 6, 2010 at 2:20 pm
nommh
Ah selfish, I like your scarf much better than the Missoni original – nicer colours.
I still hope your sewing machine will reach you soon. I knit a little bit myself, but it is awfully plodding.
October 6, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Kim
Finally…I was lost for soooo long now that the abuse is found again…It feels like home. Groveling and gobbling raptuously.
October 6, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Kim
oops-rapturously
October 7, 2010 at 12:23 pm
lorrwill
I know, I know, I am supposed to say you suck you selfish little twit but I am far to mesmerized by your jaw droppingly gorgeous knock off.
Although I knocked off an over priced Anthopologie scarf first and am working on a second as we speak.
I failed in my selfishness and made the first one for someone else. I never learn.
That wool may just be the ticket for my next project. It’s luscious.
October 7, 2010 at 3:32 pm
amber
She’s aliiiiive!
Nice to “see” you. ;) Hope the move is going well!