Oops

I didn't mean for this to happen, but somehow it did.

I bought a sewing machine.

Yesterday morning, I got up  bright and early to go to a garage sale.  Last weekend I had good luck at a sale, and found cute green and white curtains for my cabin, as well as a very pretty green, red and yellow bull's-eye plate--all for the low, low price of $4.50.  I went to yesterday's sale hoping for the same sort of luck: to find a few small, inexpensive and useful but attractive things for the home.  Major furniture was not part of the plan.

But when I spotted the sewing machine past the old skis, behind the tables of unappealing junk, perched on its own little hinge-top table, my heart skipped a beat and I just knew.  I had been thinking of getting a sewing machine--some plasticky new thing with a cover that could tuck away under the bed when not in use--but was reluctant to invest in another activity, when I've already got so much yarn and knitting projects on the go (not to mention this new rag rug thing, although I think rugging will be an infrequent venture).  I certainly didn't intend to buy a vintage sewing machine with its very own attached table.

Part of the appeal was definitely the retro look of the machine.  The model is very similar to the machine my mom has (I used to use it when I was in highschool to make pajama pants) and the table itself is just so pretty.  It didn't take me long to decide that the ugly, rickety set of shelves next to the door in the cabin was going to get moved outside to the shed, and that the sewing machine would easily take its place.

It just tucks into the corner underneath the coat hooks, behind the heater and without an inch to spare by the door.  For the most part it will stay burried under piles of books from the library, heaps of shawls, outgoing mail and materials for my radio show.

I will have to pull it out into the middle of the room in order to use it--adding wheels to the legs might be a good idea.  It did come with its original manual, and all sorts of different attachments, like a button-hole thingy and a few extra feet.

I even have a sewing project winging its way towards me.  Last weekend I ordered a birthday present for myself from Purl Soho (because if there is anything I know how to do, it is indulge): two skeins of Cascade Baby Alpaca in Pacific, and one of their adorable Lovely Liberty Coin Purse Kits in Amber, with an extra purse frame in Jade.  The coin purse looked small enough to hand-stitch without too much agony, and will now be a total breeze on my new machine.  Shipping from New York to the Yukon will probably take forever, but I think I have enough on the go at the moment!