a post of small things, part 1

None of these are really the sort of thing that warrant an entire post by itself, so this is going to be more of a round-up. Which I'm actually going to do in 2 parts, because otherwise it's going to be super-long. So I'm going to start with what I've actually been working on or finishing up lately, and then move to the things I have to think through a little more tomorrow.

1. First off, my most recent completed sewing project. I've used this bib pattern before, though I think this may unintentionally be the last time-- I left it on the kitchen table and now it's not there, so I'm thinking that the dogs ate it. (Our dogs are the type who would have legitimately eaten my homework when I was a kid. They recently ate our checkbook, as evidenced by the fact that we recently found a quarter of one check with a chewed-up edge on the floor....and we haven't found any other remnants of it!) I hope I can find it or something similar again. It was an online freebie, though I can't remember from where since I downloaded it years ago. I like that it's a larger size to keep clothes cleaner, and this has become my go-to for the homemade portion of any baby shower gifts. And I have another friend who recently found out she's pregnant, so I know I'm going to need it again in the next few months!

I made this set for one of my oldest friends, who is expecting a baby girl in May. It's kind of neat when you unintentionally choose perfect fabric--I needed a little more on a recent order to get free shipping when I picked up something for my Tauriel costume, and knew this was coming up, so I ordered half a yard each of this owl fabric and some coordinating flannel to back it with. The owls were cute and on sale, and I figured the colors were neutral enough that she could continue to use them if she has a boy somewhere down the road. Then I found out that she's decorating the nursery in an owl theme! So there was a lot of owl-themed stuff at her shower. (And a lot of pink. So yellow is probably a nice change!)

2. My mom and I are working through a Craftsy knitting class together. We agreed that it's probably a little too easy for us, though I have still learned some useful things. This was the main scarf from the class, which I finally finished a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since I used a more textured yarn and the ends were lacy, but I kind of like the funky look of it. Also, I managed to knit the entire thing continental-style, and I'm pretty proud of that since continental purling is the weirdest hand motion. I still don't really feel like I have the hang of it, but the ability to switch back and forth from my usual English-style might be useful with my carpal tunnel issues.

The yarn is Chacabuco from Araucania, which Ravelry says is now discontinued. I found it mostly ok to work with, though pulling the puffier bits through the loops was sometimes difficult, particularly when binding off. I'll have to keep that in mind when choosing a future project, because I do still have one skein of this in a different colorway. I actually got to this particular skein pretty quickly as far as stashing goes, since I bought it back in August specifically for this class, and I mostly used it up. (There's about 20 yards left. What do you do with 20 yards of bulky yarn? Seriously. There really weren't that many options on Ravelry.)

3. My costume for the Shieldmaiden Sewalong continues to go slowly, but I did get a little further, at least.

Hey, look, actual #shieldmaidenmarch progress. pic.twitter.com/u0bG4714SE
— Becky (@sew_and_so) March 21, 2014

I have two more pieces to cut out, plus any other little decorative overlay bits I may want to do. It's a good thing I'm making this out of bedsheets, because it's a bit of a fabric hog!

February Stash Diet update

Here's my totals for the month!

For sewing, I finished a whopping 6 projects! Three pairs of Thurlows, a Plantain tee, plus an infinity scarf and a tablet case. I love the months off from my retail job. I only used up two pieces of fabric completely, though I made nice dents in the fabrics I used for the pants. I did also buy several pieces of fabric this month--there was my travel exception that I made for Mood, plus I used my regular allowance to buy a piece of faux leather for my March of the Shieldmaidens project. I also bought two half yards of fabric to make a baby gift for a friend, since I needed a little more to get free shipping anyway and I really don't have baby-friendly stuff on hand.

Total fabric out: 7 1/2 yards
Total fabric in: 10 yards
Difference: + 2.5 yards
Total stash left: approximately 327 1/4 yards
Pieces of fabric completely used up: 2 (the cherry print cotton for the charcoal Thurlow pockets, and the paisley knit for the Plantain/scarf)
Patterns used: 2. I believe I have one more to go for my pattern buying allowance.


For knitting, I finally managed to start the sleeves on my cardigan! I also finished up a scarf for the Craftsy class that my mom and I have been working through together, aside from sewing the two halves together and weaving in the ends.. I am so, so close to finishing up that skein of yarn-- if the method for figuring out yardage from weight that I found is correct, I only have about 20 yards of this particular yarn left. Seriously, what do you do with 20 yards of yarn?

I didn't do so well on the yarn in vs out this time. Since I was sharing my beginner knitting Craftsy class with my mom, she decided to buy another one for us to work through together--the "Improve Your Knitting" one, which is probably what I would have gone for in the first case if it had been available at the time. I did check my stash, but unfortunately didn't have anything on hand in the right weights and amounts for the three projects that we'll be making for this class. So I ended up buying another 8 skeins of yarn! Hopefully these will get entirely used up during the course of this class, but I will not be counting these towards my yarn purchase allowance when I do use them up.

On the plus side, aside from my cardigan, I can make my totals a little more accurate now. I was finally able to give one secret project to its recipient--I made these dishcloths for my bestie, who recently bought her first place! So this was part of her housewarming gift, which had a geeky-but-practical theme going. So these have the Earth symbol from Stargate, a TARDIS, the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter, and the Starfleet Academy symbol from Star Trek. (I also bought her this apron--it references both Lord of the Rings and the Big Bang Theory, and is a favorite quote to throw at each other on a regular basis--a cookbook, and a cast-iron skillet--also known as Samwise Gamgee's/Rapunzel's security system!) I basically used up both skeins of yarn on these dishcloths.

I didn't quite finish my Robson coat in time for the end of #bluefebruary, so I'm going to count that yardage total towards March. I also did some dyeing to prepare for my costume yesterday--I'm trying to do my costume on a pretty tight budget, so I dyed some bedsheets that my parents were getting rid of. They did get darker, though not quite dark enough for my intended costume. So I think I might sew the main part of the costume up anyway, and then try the one dye I know works for polyester. (You have to boil it on a stovetop, so I need a smaller quantity than queen-sized bedsheets!)

Everybody else was doing it...

In typical fashion, I'm one of the last ones on the bandwagon. Usually it's either that, or I miss it altogether. But, since I'd already mentioned that I needed a mental break from pants, I made a Deer & Doe Plantain tee!

This was super-quick to make up, even with me modifying the pattern. I used Heather's tutorial for making a contrast yoke, because the busyness of the print made me think that it could use some more solid to tie in the neck binding and elbow patches better. I'd already printed out and taped the PDF together, but I like re-tracing PDF patterns onto thinner paper to make laying out and cutting easier. I was able to get this traced, cut out, and sewn together in the span of one afternoon! It definitely helped that I did the bulk of the construction on my serger, so I didn't have to worry about seam finishes. But it was still nice to knock a project out so quickly.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this pattern, to be honest. The website describes the fit as "loose but elegant", and I don't usually care for a looser fit in my tops. But I figured I'd give it a shot, because the pattern was free, and I figured that as a worst-case scenario, I could just wear this as a bum around the house shirt. But this doesn't hang off me like a sack, like I half-expected it to--it's actually a lot more flattering than I thought it would be. If the knit wasn't as drapey as it is, I don't think it would have worked as well, so I'll have to keep that in mind for any future versions.
A shot of the back, modeled with the charcoal version of the latest Thurlows. It makes me look really curvy!

Aside from the modifications to make the yoke, including a little extra topstitching to make the pieces lie flatter, I made this a straight-up size 40. The only other sizing modification that I made was to add an inch to the sleeves, in what I call my "monkey arm adjustment". It worked perfectly, and I was able to go ahead and use the 3/4" hem allowance that the pattern called for and still cover my wrists in their entirety. I was also surprised that the elbow patches ended up actually hitting at my elbows without any adjustments.








One more shot on Donna, for a closeup of the fabrics!  I love this stylized floral knit--it feels somewhat Asian to me. I've been hoarding both of these for awhile, and had been thinking for a long time about using them together, since the teals are so close in color. My long-term thought had been to make some kind of knit dress out of it, but I've been putting it off for a long time because the print is on the thinner side, and I figured I'd have to try and line it somehow to keep my underwear from showing through. While working through all of the Wardrobe Architect stuff so far, though, I realized that I'd probably get a lot more use out of this as a top. I'm pretty good on summery dresses (even though I do have definite plans to make more), and this fabric is too thin to make a good colder-weather dress. So I guess this process is helping me make smart sewing decisions!






I still have enough of the solid teal left to make a short-sleeved or sleeveless top, since I really only used a tiny segment to cut all three pieces. As for the print, I had less than 3/4 yard left of the full width. So I basically cut the ragged ends off, sewed it into a tube, sewed the ends together--instant infinity scarf! Which will be great for adding interest to more solid outfits, and nice to wear. This knit is super-soft. And since all I have left is scraps that are maybe just large enough to make undies out of (I really need to learn to do that), I shall consider this piece of stash officially busted.

Pattern: Deer & Doe Plantain tee - third pattern used this year.

Amount of time it took to make: A couple of hours from start to finish, plus about 30 minutes for the scarf

Fabric used: Two pieces of rayon knit (one used up, for a total of 5 pieces so far this year.)

Amount of fabric used: 2.25 yards of the print, plus a tiny bit more of the solid

Stashed since: Print was from Christmas 2010, not entirely sure about the solid except that it's been there longer than that.

Current stash total: Approx. 333.25 yards.

Knitting away

Since I'm extending my stashbusting pledge to my yarn, I thought I'd give an update on what's going on there!

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to use anything up. But I did finish a couple of projects.

First up: The Chunky Irish Hiking Hat. I used the same yarn that I used for those handwarmers back in the fall, and still didn't use the stuff up! I'm honestly a little less-than-thrilled with this one. For one thing, the top cable got crossed the wrong way, though I was too lazy to rip back since I was knitting this at my mom's house and using a pencil as a cable needle. For another thing, it's too small and/or too short for my head. I wore this for the first time on Friday night, and it barely skims the tops of my ears, which makes it virtually useless for keeping one's head warm while sitting in a college ice rink to watch a hockey game! (I went with several of my cousins, because the colleges we went to were playing each other. Doug was more than happy to play interpreter.) It also kept riding up to stick up funny, so I had to keep pulling it down. I'm not entirely sure whether I should just rip the whole thing out and make something else with it, or send it to the thrift store and cut my knitting time losses.

I was much happier with the Whittier hat. It's surprisingly warm for a mesh hat, and once you get past the edge, the mesh pattern is pretty easy. The most challenging part of this one was the cast-on. I'd never done a tubular cast-on before, and was pleasantly surprised when I took the waste yarn away and the whole thing didn't fall apart! The yarn is Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends. I'm still surprised I can use this stuff, since I can't even touch wool without reacting. And though it worked fine for my Cadence sweater, I wasn't sure how it would be wearing it on my head. It gets a little itchy on occasion, but if I shift the position on my forehead every so often, I'm fine. So, at least to 30%, alpaca is a go! The buttons were already in my stash, from a thrifted jacket that I replaced the buttons on, and I think they look much better here than on the jacket!

I still have quite a bit of this left (I had two skeins and didn't even use half of one), so I think my yarn usage total for January, not counting in-progress things, was about 101 yards. According to my initial estimate, that leaves me with 19,827 yards...but hey, it's still progress!

While I'm at it, here's my fabric totals for January:
Yards in: 2 (from Stash Diet Swap)
Yards given away: 1 (gave a piece to my mom, since they didn't send enough for my project and I had no use for it otherwise)
Yards sewed up: 4.25. Though I actually used significantly more than that, since I cut up several more yards for more Thurlow pants. But I'll get to those later--I'm quite close to finishing 2 of the 3 pairs.
Net total loss for January: 3.25 yards/3 pieces, plus some scraps for Itty Bits projects. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

(Of course, I'm going to NYC this weekend, so it's a good thing I gave myself that travel allowance! Mood, here I come!)

I do have a few more knitting projects in progress. One will not be pictured here, since it's a gift and also a project I've been keeping at my parents', but here's the others:

I made visible progress on the Roheline cardigan! I finally reached the point where I can divide for the sleeves. I just haven't gotten any further than that, because I need to actually sit down and watch a few videos--ideally, I'd like to do both of these sleeves at once, and I found instructions for how to do that with two circular needles. Way better than wrangling double-points.




I've also started a very basic project--awhile ago, I bought the Knit Lab class from Craftsy, thinking it would be good to help me make sure I've mastered the basics. Of course, since then, they added another class that would probably have been more along the lines of what I wanted. But my mom had mentioned that she was thinking about doing this same class, so rather than both of us buy it, I've been going over there a little early on days I teach at her house and we've been watching through it together. So this is the start of the Lacy Keyhole Scarf project from this class. I like the texture of this yarn! It makes it look way more interesting than just basic garter stitch. I'm also taking this opportunity to try to get the hang of continental-style knitting, since that's what she demonstrates in the video, to see if it really is better for my wrists. We shall see. I haven't had any luck ever with purling continental, so that may be a big determining factor.

Top 5's of 2013, part 4: Knitting and other craftiness

Because those things deserve recognition, too, right? So here's all the things that weren't sewing clothes.

Top 5 hits of 2013: 

1. The Branching Out mitts that I knitted. Look, I did colorwork! And they're soft and cute and from a pattern I already had on hand. And I used the yarn in a fairly timely fashion, so win all around. I did have a bunch of this yarn leftover, but I'm actually using the leftover blue in a current project, which I will blog about when I have more to show for it.



2. The "Project Life" scrapbooking system. I started playing around with this during the summer as a way to try to stay more on top of my scrapbooking and document newlywed life. For those of you who don't scrapbook, the basic concept is that you can get these kits with pocket page protectors, cards that fit into those slots, and then you just add your writing and photos and you're basically done. Most people seem to do one spread a week. I've been doing more of a system of add stuff as I have photos for it or things I want to write down, occasionally mixing in more "traditional" scrapbook layouts, and go on a more month-by-month basis. I can't say I'm caught up, but it really is making it easier to scrapbook on a more regular basis--it's so easy to just grab the stuff, sit in front of the tv, and see what fits where. I'm also able to use some paper and stuff I already have, just slicing it down to size. I haven't showed too much of that on here, so here's a sampling of some things that I've (mostly) already gotten done!



It's not all pocket pages, obviously. The top two show what I've been doing when I have a "real" scrapbook page on one side--I've been making my own cards here and there to coordinate with whatever the main page is. The bottom left-hand corner is a finished page, from a concert that I went to over the summer with two of my closest friends, the bottom lowest right is one of the straight-up Project Life pages, though with a few additional filler cards that I made or printed myself, and the one above that is an in-progress one from the honeymoon. Yes, they're all Instagram pictures of a little plastic TARDIS. Doug and I were having fun with that! I just need to print out the captions and paste them on, and then that spread is done, and same thing with most of my honeymoon pics. I've only gotten stuff through the end of the summer mostly done at the moment, but I'm still feeling much better about this particular hobby than I have for a couple of years!

3. Geeky shoes. My bridesmaids and mom got a huge kick out of our mostly Whovian shoes for the wedding reception! And I have occasionally worn mine since, though not recently since it's been wet and icy a lot lately. Not the best scenario for painted canvas footwear.





4. It's nowhere near finished, but I'm going to add my Roheline cardigan. This is what it currently looks like. I have a long way to go, but once I got past the initial trouble with starting it, it's been a pretty easy knit, albeit slow. I think my stockinette knitting is starting to look pretty nice and even, which is why I'm calling this a win, even if it's still in progress! And now that I finally understand what it means by "wrap and turn" on the short row sections, the top will look even better.

5. Making things for others. Yes, this includes sewing too, but I tend to often be selfish in my crafting, and I did make more things that were gifts for other people this year. So that makes me feel pretty good.

Top 5 misses of 2013:

1. The scarf I knitted for Doug near the end of last winter. It was successful for stashbusting, but he hasn't really worn it at all so far this winter. This isn't a criticism, because he does wear the hat I knitted for him in 2012 all the time! He just doesn't get as cold as I do.






2. The bedroom curtains, to some extent. They do block more light than the blinds do alone, though it still can get way more bright than I like in the mornings. They're way shorter than I would have preferred. Note to self: Next time, be more generous with curtain yardage estimations.

3. Jewelry-making. Mainly because I just didn't take the time to do any this year. Note to self: must start playing with beads again, because I have way too many of them not to!

4. Home decor crafting in general. I meant to do a lot more, but once again, time management and I didn't get along so well, and I only got to the bedroom curtains.

5. Honestly, I can't come up with a fifth thing, because that more or less encompasses everything I made this year! So let's just say the time factor and leave it at that, since having more plans than I finished was a running theme this time around.

Finally, in the interest of not leaving projects unblogged, here's the handwarmers I actually finished to wear to my retail job.

It's honestly not my best work--I messed up the very easy stitch pattern here and there because I was in a hurry, and the yarn is pilling very quickly, because my job is hard on them. The stripes don't match up, and I don't care, because I just wanted to get them done--though I did do a surprisingly good job of getting the thumb gussets to match the stripes without even trying! But they've been keeping my hands warmer than they would have been on their own, especially during October when I was still mostly sitting at an outdoor register. This is how I was wearing them then:

Yes, those are other gloves underneath. Along with a hat, a scarf, long underwear, at least 2 other shirts, and a 2-layer sporty winter coat. Incidentally, one of the main reasons I still want to sew a new winter coat rather than just use this one, other than fashion, is that the inner layer is fleece, and I've found that it's really, really difficult to pull that on over my sweaters and blazer jackets, on the occasions that I forget to bring my "real" winter coat with me to switch to before I go do my teaching!

Aside from a couple of secret projects that I won't post until after Christmas, and a few in-progress things, that pretty much wraps up 2013! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas (or whatever you celebrate)!

First finished project of 2013! Finally!

Obviously, it's not the dress. Given the status of the last update, the only way that would have happened is if I had some talking mice and some friendly birds come in and finish it for me while I was stuck doing chores. But I'm not Cinderella (my feet are way too big, for one), so that didn't happen.

What I did finish was a knitting project. Nothing too exciting, just a striped scarf made from leftovers of the hat I made last winter, at my rather patient fiance's request. This has been one of my main go-to projects for tv hangout time with him over the last several months, as he knew I was making it and I didn't have to hide it. Unlike a certain sewing project.

As far as technique goes, I did learn a couple of things from this scarf:

1. I really don't understand how to join short pieces of yarn. I guess I could have just started knitting it, but I was afraid of unraveling, so I ended up knotting everything together. Which I'm almost certain is "wrong", but at least it's more likely to hold together should he decide to throw it in the wash.

2. My ends-weaving skills need work. I was left with lots of little frayed bits, which I wove in as best as I could and then trimmed off. Again, I'm not sure if this is "right" or not. (But I'm pretty sure it's not.)

It was a fairly decent stashbuster-- I basically knitted it until I was close enough to the end of the green yarn that I wasn't entirely certain I'd have enough for another round. I have just enough left to use as a small amount of stuffing for something. (Can you use yarn as stuffing? I do want to make some pillows for the house...) I do still have a decent amount of both the black and tan left, so I'll just need to figure out what to do with it. 

Surprise-- I'm still knitting!

It's not a really focused thing right now, obviously. But this has become the answer to the conundrum I posted about awhile ago for what I can do in situations where I want to craft but can't work on the dress. Namely those where I'm just chilling at my or Doug's house, watching tv with him and wanting to keep my hands busy.

So I have two in-progress projects to share with you today.

I started this one first, though it's hibernating for the moment. These are the "Branching Out Mitts" from Coastal Knits, which I received for Christmas last year. Over this past year, my best friend and I have become fascinated with the "bucket list" idea, though several years late for the movie, and have been working on creating ours. I've ended up with several craft-related ones on mine so far (yes, including "sew my own wedding dress," though that would have been on there anyway even if I wasn't currently planning my wedding!), and one of the things I've decided I'd like to do is to knit at least one project from every knitting book or magazine that I own. I liked several of the projects from this book so I'm sure I'll be revisiting it, provided I can find good wool-free yarn options for some of those sweaters. The yarn is some that I purchased near the end of the summer, and it's been very nice to work with so far. The biggest challenge has been trying to teach myself to knit with a second color within a pattern, and I'm hoping that I'm allowing enough slack for those little runner strings, or whatever they're called, on the backside, since I do tend to knit rather tightly.

I set it aside for a super-simple scarf for Doug, to go with the hat that I made him for his birthday.  Now that it's getting colder again, he requested one, and I have to take advantage of such rare opportunities. He's flat-out admitted that I probably won't ever be able to make clothes for him! He's super-picky about comfort, and once he's out of work, pretty much all he'll wear are oversized t-shirts and black athletic pants. I've never seen him even wear jeans! (On the plus side, I won't have to feel guilty that I'm sewing all clothes for myself and not for him, right?) Anyway, this is pretty much the perfect brainless tv knitting project, because it's just knit 3 purl 3 rib. The hardest thing has been keeping track of the number of rows before I need to switch colors. And, well, the switching colors. Since that hat is pretty much the only striped thing I'd knit ever, and that was in the round, I'm honestly not sure if I'm doing this right. I've been tying the ends of the yarn together for now just to hold it together, and I have started knitting the tail of the new color into the scarf so that I have one less end to weave in later. But weaving in ends is something that doesn't seem to work too well for me so far, and on the couple that I did do, I have little puffy yarn ends sticking out. I guess I'll just trim those out with scissors, but I'm not sure how this is going to hold up in the long-term...any suggestions from you veterans?

I've been doing the alternating stripe widths on the black and the tan on purpose, so I can use up more of the other. My plan is basically to knit until one of the yarns, probably the green, runs out. Hurrah for stashbusting! (Hopefully it won't be the black that runs out first, since I used the most of that in the hat.) And although he knows he's getting this, since I've been knitting it right in front of him, I am still hopeful that I might finish this around Christmas so that he has it for the coldest part of the winter.

Not that I'll be working on them today, because I have another day not scheduled at the shop. (Even though this time I have to work Saturday instead....boo. Oh well.) So today, other than my teaching, is all about muslin deconstruction!

pictureless progress

It's been fun to see all of the costumey goodness around the blogosphere over the last few days! Nothing Halloweenish for me this year, alas. I had no parties to go to, and I wouldn't have had time to make a costume anyway. I did go back to my retail job yesterday, which is unfortunately still an outdoor register thing, And Sandy apparently decided to bring winter with her, because it was in the 40s pretty much the whole time I was out. So the closest I got to dressing up for Halloween was as an Eskimo while I was at work, as I was wearing FIVE layers up top, the last one being a winter coat! (Though I'd taken the fleecy liner out, thinking that the thermal top/long-sleeved shirt/required work t-shirt/hoodie sweatshirt would be sufficient. That was obviously a mistake.) Plus a scarf, hat, handwarmers, and gloves. And I was still cold. It's ridiculous. I don't know how you people that live anywhere further north of here do it!

I did go to the mall later on Halloween with my fiance, and I wore my Cadence sweater because it was orange. And I was still cold, despite having been indoors for hours and having hot tea. Blah. Anyway.

So I'm doing what is now my 4th bodice front, as well as an entirely new back. I want to make sure the princess seams are going to work, as well as test the pattern change I've had planned for the back. And I also want to make sure the lace idea is going to work, period. I haven't had a chance to work on it since Tuesday, so I haven't taken pictures yet--between a dj meeting, a weekend of rehearsals for this evening's flute choir concert that I'm playing in, and the usual work stuff, I just haven't had time to sew.

I did also go to a craft afternoon yesterday hosted by a casual friend, and started knitting a scarf to go along with the hat I made for my fiance back around his birthday. He's been asking for one now that it's starting to get cold again, and I need to use up the yarn anyway. So I figured that this can be something I work on while hanging out with him and watching tv for awhile, at least until I get to a point where there might be wedding-related crafts that aren't my dress.It's a simple enough pattern, just a striped ribbed scarf, and so far I've managed to get about 6" done, I think. No pics of that yet either.

We'll see if I get more work done on that bodice this week (I haven't even finished cutting out the new pieces yet). It's a bit iffy, since this week also marks round 2 of the dental surgery, and I know that sewing that day is off the table based on how I felt the last time. (That, and having to work one-handed while holding an ice pack to your face just doesn't work. I tried.)

So hopefully I'll have something to show soon. On an unrelated note, I have been reading the reports of how different bloggers fared in the storm, particularly in the New York area, and I'm glad to hear that you're all safe!

just in time for fall...

As promised, two new things to show today! But first, I just wanted to give a quick follow-up to the last post. To all of you who gave me your feedback, thanks so much! Several of you brought up the time issue when it comes to commenting, which I hadn't mentioned. Truthfully, it hadn't crossed my mind while I was at work, but that's an excellent point--I'm not always the best commenter myself, because it's often hard to just keep up with the blogs I enjoy reading, and commenting often falls by the wayside. So that's something I'd like to do better about myself--there's just so many good sewing blogs out there, most of which I didn't even mention by name, and everyone deserves for their work to be appreciated! And it is good to know that people are reading and enjoying what I make.

And without further ado, on to the good stuff!


#1: Near the end of August, I finally finished a knitting project that I'd been picking at on and off for months--not so much for lack of interest, but first I had to focus on the Camille shrug, then spring craziness broke loose, then I got engaged....let's say I got sidetracked. But mostly thanks to some recent hang-out time at my aunt's family beach house with several yarn-crafty cousins, I managed to finish this scarf up. (It was fun....we had my crocheting sister-in-law, a crocheter cousin-in-law who was trying to learn to knit, a knitter cousin who was attempting crochet, and another cousin who'd never tried either but was interested, so I taught her the knit stitch. Also, the five of us girls drove the two guys--my brother and the one male cousin who were there at the time--kind of nuts because we were all sitting there in front of the tv doing crafts!)

The pattern is the Guardian's Tail scarf that I started way back in last October, to use up the leftover yarn from my Counterpoint hat. The pattern was simple enough that I didn't really have any difficulty in following it, except the repeat was long enough that I never did manage to memorize the pattern. I'm sure that setting it aside for several months probably didn't help there. I was kind of surprised that I finished it up at the beach that weekend, actually, because I didn't realize I was that close to finishing up with the skein of yarn! So it ended up being a rather short scarf. The pattern had said it would make a short scarf with the yarn/amount listed, and suggested pinning the scarf. I knew that wasn't going to happen, because I am not going to take the time to pin and unpin a scarf when I can just grab a longer one and wrap it around my neck and go. So, logically, the only thing to do so that I'd actually wear the thing was to make it into a cowl. So that's what I did. Warmth-wise, it would probably be better if it was still even longer so I could double it around my neck without choking myself, but I think it looks pretty good. And hurrah for stashbusting!

#2: I feel like I need a drumroll for this one! Because guess what.... I HAVE JEANS!!!

If you haven't taken it yet, I would very highly recommend Kenneth King's Jean-ius class on Craftsy. It was so amazingly helpful to actually see how he did certain steps, and his method for sewing in the fly zipper alone made the price worth it. (Even though I got it on sale so it really wasn't that expensive. Believe me, it's worth the full price!) I am so unbelievably excited to have jeans that actually fit me! And I love that the class videos never expire, so I can go back and reference those tips again and again.

And here's a side view--pardon the silly poses, Doug was having fun playing photoshoot director and telling me exactly how to stand/what to do with the scarf! I wore these jeans all day today, and I'm very happy with the fit. The gapping is quite minimal, they were comfortable to wear, and they look pretty darn good, if I may say so myself!

For my future reference, since it'll be awhile before I get around to making a second pair, I will need to make several tweaks to the pattern itself:

a) Fortunately, I had the foresight to baste the legs together and try them on to see how it would fit in actual denim vs. the somewhat lighter twill that I'd used as my muslin. As a result, I ended up tapering the seam allowances to 1/2" in the upper inner thigh, and from just below the zipper to about 2/3 of the way up the back crotch seam. (At the risk of TMI, the crotch area had felt a little uncomfortably snug. I don't know if that's because it actually was, or my "strong thighs", as Tasia words it, generally makes it so that I have this unflattering pooch of excess fabric right above my thighs in the front of my RTW jeans, and therefore I'm used to a looser fit.) I also ended up taking in the very top in the back seam more than the 5/8" seam to remove a bit of gapping....rats, I can't remember the number. I'm going to guess a 7/8".

b) Speaking of seam allowances, I learned early in the construction process that if I want to do the flat-felled inner thigh and crotch seams like in "real" jeans, I'm going to need to allow more fabric in those particular seam allowances. I would have only had enough to do a super-skinny, very-awkward-to-sew one. So I serged it and went for the faux look.

c) I need to make the pockets deeper. I can barely get my hand in. Of course, this might also have to do with the curve of the actual pocket cutout itself....or perhaps that I'm not used to my jeans actually fitting in the front, as previously mentioned. So probably a combination of a deeper pocket and a somewhat deeper cutout curvature.

d) Waistband seamed in the back to aid in avoiding the dreaded gaposis = good. But next time, I need to shift that seam over so it lines up with the topstitching, not the actual back seam. I didn't realize until I went to put the belt loops on that lining up the belt loop with the topstitching means that seam is still completely showing. (Good thing I'm not one who usually tucks my shirts in.)

e) A little extra length in the hem could be useful. They were a great length for the flat sandals I wore today. But after serging, pressing, and turning up, I just barely had enough fabric to make that. work with the 1-1.5" (I think) heeled sandals I was wearing at the time. I'll have to check this against my two pairs of boots to make sure this will work. I usually favor lower heels anyway (and Doug isn't a whole lot taller than me, so I'll probably stick to that), but I'm not entirely sure they won't be too short for my favored brown boots that have miraculously held up since my college days.

One more note to myself: I'm happy to report that my serger (which still needs a name) worked like a dream on the denim! Which was a pleasant surprise, because I did something wonky on the Engagement Shirt and parts of it are coming unstitched already from threads breaking because of too-tight tension, Oops. But the denim was flawless. I'm very glad I got it serviced a few months ago. The really smart thing to do would be to write down these particular tension numbers for future reference!

Summer scarf (with mini-tutorial!)

My new scarf!

Once upon a time, several years ago, I saw an article in Threads magazine about how to make a patternless skirt out of randomly sewn-together strips of fabric that the sewist would randomly pleat and stitch over to fit. I already had one piece of eligible fabric in my stash, thanks to one of the freebies passed on to me from my mother, who had in turn had this fabric passed on to her. So I went out to the store and got several 1- to 1 1/4-yard cuts so I could make this funky-looking thing for myself.

One thing led to another, and like so many of my planned sewing projects, it got pushed back because of other things that needed to be made sooner. After a few years, I lost interest in the project altogether. The original free cut got sent away in that lot of 30-something yards that I Freecycled last winter, and one of the pieces purchased met its maker (ba-dum ching) and became the lining to my laptop bag. So that left me with 2 or so random pieces of blue fabric where I liked the print, but there wasn't enough yardage to do much. Including this beachy batik-looking chiffon number.

Fast-forward to the end of Me-Made-May this year, and my thought that I should make some warm-weather accessories that, you know, aren't made of beads. The thought came to me to use that chiffon to make a scarf. I haven't traditionally been much of a fashion scarf person, and I do loooooove me some funky beaded jewelry. But I'm also kind of famous among my circle of friends and family for getting cold ridiculously easily. This includes in the summer, when stores and restaurants and my fiance crank their ACs to insane levels and my body goes into thermal shock when stepping into that from the humid, high 80s-plus-degree weather that we've had pretty consistently all summer. Yeah, warm-weather layers are a good investment.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out, and it was pretty easy to make, albeit a little time-consuming. I don't have a ton of pics of the process, but here's how I did it:

Step 1: I trimmed the piece of fabric to a reasonable width, mainly to ditch the printed selvedges, and trimmed the ends to even it up some. It was cut rather crookedly, as you can see.

Step 2: I hand-stitched a narrow hem on both of the longer edges, leaving about 3" unstitched at either end. This is why it took me all summer--when my carpal tunnel flareup that I've been fighting since July was at its worst, I couldn't even do that. This could probably be done by machine or even serger, but I wanted the control. (And with a wedding dress to make, I probably needed the hand-sewing practice!)

Step 3: The most fun step: Those unstitched ends? I unraveled them. The full 3". I'll admit it, I sometimes have a destructive streak, and this was a good tv-watching activity. (My fiance was rather confused about what I was trying to do, which added to the fun!)

Step 4: The most tedious part: I hand-knotted all of that frayed fringey edge into this, to finish the ends and give it a more professional look. The really tedious thing about this is that the polyester chiffon is kind of slippery, and so they kept coming undone. I had to go back at the end and dab some fabric glue into all of the knots to make them permanent. So that's what I spent my time after work doing.

And there you have it! I do wish this scarf was a little longer, because its length kind of limits my styling options. I may have to invest in some kind of scarf slide, like maybe this one. (I like that it doubles as a hair accessory, and I'm afraid a pin would leave some serious holes in this fabric.) So I may have to play around with this idea again sometime!

The days of small things

I finally finished this little keyhole scarf today, to go along with the handwarmers I made for my friend Shantelle. It completely used up the rest of the yarn, which is nice. And I like how having to go with two half-skeins of the self-striping yarn enabled me to make the stripes symmetrical here, too.  It's nice to get this done.

The Cadence is coming along. I've got about 10 rows left to knit before the sleeve increases are done and I can be on the current knitalong step. (Hopefully I can catch up before Kristin posts the next one!)

I've also been making some progress on my little mending binge. So here's what I've done so far:

I shortened this skirt from this weird lower-calf length to this much nicer around-the-knee one.


I stitched down the facings on this top so they'd stop popping out and being generally annoying.

I sewed along the topstitching above the buttons on the teal skirt I recently made so it would fit a little better, and finally added the hook-and-eye.

I resized a skirt that a friend recently gave me because she couldn't wear it (pics to come), and fixed a little bit of trim that was coming unstitched from a random knit top.

I added some topstitching to fix the zipper that was tearing out of my weekender bag, and sewed a button back onto my self-stitched jeans jacket.

The repair that made me the saddest so far: that laptop bag that I only made, oh, 3 1/2 months ago and have only actually carried around about twice. (It generally hangs out next to my bed to house my laptop, since my primary computer is still my desktop with the much greater photo/music storage capacity.) I have no idea how it happened, because I stitched the heck out of this, but one side of the webbing pretty much frayed into oblivion and the D-ring was literally hanging by a thread. So I had to buy an entirely new piece of webbing, and I was very careful to seal up both cut ends before sewing it this time. I'm also a little sad that I had to stitch it through the facing and lining, because it doesn't look nearly as nice.... I just hope it holds this time.

I'll blog about sewing again soon, I promise.

I just need to actually have something to show. I did at least start quilting the fabric for the bag my friend is paying me to make. (Two pieces down, one to go.) And I did go to Joann's today to take advantage of their Columbus Day sale and pick up some underlining for my raincoat/some buttons for the teal skirt. (Nothing on hand at home. I checked.)

But in the meantime, I did finish up two of my FESA knitting projects over the weekend!

#1, the Counterpoint hat.

An easy finish, as all I had left to do was put the brim in and stitch the hat closed at the top of the ribbing.

The brim is pretty subtle, so I had to take a profile shot so you can actually see it. And I like the quasi-tweedy but still really colorful effect of the yarn. Even though it makes me want to walk around with a magnifying glass and say things like, "Elementary, my dear Watson."

The other thing I finished was my cable slippers. Not the most flattering shot ever, as they look like deformed socks this way, but this is what you get at 12:30 in the morning in someone else's residence. I'm glad these are only meant to be lightweight slippers, since they feel kind of like they're going to fall off when I wear them. It probably would have helped if I'd stitched them up more, like the originals were, but I was literally sewing the first one of these around my foot and this was as far as I could stretch it. Mental note to self: Whenever I attempt socks, I might need to add a few stitches in that just-below-my-toe area to compensate for the extra width there.

Since I had both of these finished by Saturday night, I spent our tv-watching time on Sunday working on that scarf I'm making from the hat leftovers. It's currently about 15" long. The nice thing is that it's complicated enough of a pattern that I still have to look at the pattern for pretty much every single line, but not so complicated that I couldn't watch tv or chat with my friends.

I did think about picking up my Cadence sweater, but I looked at the directions and the very next row starts the chart. Which I'm still not entirely sure I read right before, and I think that's something I'm going to have to hole up in my room away from people and give full concentration to. Which means this is a great time to sidetrack myself from it completely by sewing, right?

Moving on...

The dress is fixed! I hope. I ended up doing the elastic thing, since I figured the dress is ruched enough that it would somewhat blend in. So I used the facing to make a casing, sewed one folded-under-and-stitched end of the elastic to the zipper (less likely to pull than the knit fabric)...

...tacked it again at the end of the facing, and then just to give it a little extra support, cut the elastic across the front and secured that in the middle where the knot is. I figure it should be stretchy enough that having what basically amounts to a chest stay (as opposed to waist) shouldn't be uncomfortable to wear. The sides do seem to fit me much better now, so here's hoping that's the end of the green dress saga!

So, other than this little repair job, I haven't sewn a thing in a week. Except for this.

This is a piece of plastic canvas edged in bias tape. Otherwise known as the brim for my "Counterpoint Hat."The pattern specifically called for plastic canvas, and I happened to have some on hand from trying to get my earrings somewhat organized. But I didn't want little plastic nubs poking through the yarn or into my head.

Though I haven't been sewing, I have been knitting some. So here's the updates on that:

1. Like I said, I'm done knitting the hat. I just don't have pictures yet since it's kind of wet from my attempt to block it yesterday. Not sure the blocking quite solved the issue of the stitches looking stretched next to the cables, but I was able to stretch it out to fit my apparently big head a little better. Once I add the brim, that's done.

2. My yarn estimation skills are lacking. I had over an entire skein of that yarn left over! So I'm making a scarf just for the heck of it. It's a bit hard to see the pattern, but it's got kind of a dragon-scale look to it. The pattern is called Guardian's Tail. It's got something like a 10-row repeat, and it's complicated enough to keep me from getting bored. I think this is about 50 rows in, so this is going to take awhile! Especially since my plan is to basically knit until I run out of yarn.

And I've made some progress on the scarf I'm making for Shantelle to use up the yarn from her handwarmers--this is pretty much all from keeping my hands busy while we have mini Project Runway marathons. I did use up the first half-ball that was left. Can you see what I did three stripes in from the right, though? The end of the second ball was the right color to add it on, and I couldn't find the other end, so I just went with it. And it's now reversing the colors! Which I kind of like. I'm afraid this isn't going to end up being a very long scarf, probably more of a neckwarmer than anything else. So I'm going to try to do some kind of keyhole to slide the other end of the scarf through. Hopefully I can figure out how to do that.

I'm getting kind of antsy to start sewing again. Next up on my list is a bag I'm making for my friend Jolene. (She is rather generously paying me to make it for her.) I'm hoping to get that cut out today. I'm also making a slight amendment in my FESA plan. Instead of the straight skirt I'd planned for my teal suedecloth, I decided that would be better off as some kind of A-line. So after digging around in my pattern stash yesterday, I came up with this. I think it'll look nice with the patches and topstitching with the somewhat textured fabric, and will keep a solid color more interesting for me. I also found a second skirt in a different Burda that will actually be perfect for the red twill--I wanted a more or less pencil skirt with some kind of pleat or godet in the back, and that pretty much does it for me. With lining and everything! I'll need to draft a lining for the teal, but I think it'll be fairly simple. But if I want to have any hope of getting on that soon, I'd better get to work!

Ok, so I'll go ahead and do that knitting update now.

I probably won't have time over the weekend anyway....I'm entering the part where my next 3 weekends are booked completely solid!

Anyway, here's what's been on the sticks lately.

#1: I started a scarf for my friend Shantelle to go with the handwarmers I made her (which she loved), for the dual purpose of using up the yarn and to give me something brainless to keep my hands busy while we have our Project Runway marathons. Just a basic k4, p4 ribbing, so I really don't have to think about it.

#2: The knitalong sweater! So far, she's just had us do the neckline ribbing, so this has been waiting for the next step to go up. So far, the hardest part has been just casting it on, which I had to do about 4 or 5 times for various reasons (cast on too tightly, ran out of yarn on the tail, etc.) I'll be glad to get to the increase section, since so far this is reeeeeeally stretched out on the circular needle and I've been afraid it'll stay that way from letting it sit!

#3, my "Counterpoint Hat". This is what I've been working on the most--the ribbing is done, and I'm about 5 rows away from starting the decreases. I'm hoping to get this one done by about the middle of October, since it seems like fall weather may actually be arriving soon and I think this will go really well with this vintage 70s leather jacket I have that my mom passed down to me. Plus I'm taking a little solo road trip to visit my best friend from high school for a weekend around then, I'm hoping to come home via Shenandoah National Park, and I think it would be fun to have a cute fallish hat to wear in any of those at-arm's-length self portraits I might be inspired to take on Skyline Drive.

And here's a closeup of the squiggly little mini-cables. I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to block this when it's done, since I seem to keep ending up with a bit of a pull right after the cable, despite my tendency towards super-tight knitting tension. But hopefully that'll even things out. If I can figure out how to block something knitted in the round....

Success!

I finished my scarf today! Not my first one, since I had a disaster attempt back in college. There's really nothing very exciting about this scarf, since it's entirely knit stitch and made out of some worsted-weight acrylic yarn that could probably be found at any craft store. Except that it's the first scarf I ever made that actually worked. It has the same amount of stitches at the beginning that it does at the end, it didn't get wider or narrower, and I only had to rip stuff out once.

A closer-up view of the yarn-this is probably closer to the actual color. It has this one strand of variegated shinier fiber, which I like.

Since I like to name my projects, I'm going to call it my "Winter Winds" scarf, after this song, because the album it came off of ended up being my favorite musical find of last year. And the title is highly appropriate, since this is meant to keep those out. And they just look like they're having a lot of fun in the video.

Next step: learn how to purl. And maybe put the stitches on the needle myself this time. Though I think I'll try it on something smaller. Like a dishcloth.

But not yet. Since it's supposed to be insanely cold tomorrow and I have no plans to go outside of the house, tomorrow is going to be a massive sewing day on the black dress!