pondering knitting

Me and knitting have reached a weird point in our relationship. I have a couple of UFOs that I just don't feel like working on at the moment, about half of the projects in my Ravelry queue are pullover sweaters (which are obviously out for now), and I'm not really sure what to do next.

So I recently swatched for a cardigan that I already bought yarn for, the Rocky Coast from the Coastal Knits book. Amazingly, the gauge actually worked on the first try! But I wonder if the yarn/needle combination makes it look too loose of a knit. The trials of almost always having to substitute the suggested yarn, I suppose. I may go ahead and start this one anyway, because it has enough cotton in the yarn that washing could tighten it up. And knowing me, by the time I finish knitting this, it'll be just in time for fall 2016 and my body will probably be at its new normal anyway.

I also had this random single ball of yarn that I bought at the beach shop a couple of years ago, and I figured a bulky yarn would knit up fast and get out of my stash. I wanted to take advantage of the yarn's ability to change textures--it kind of knits up like a t-shirt yarn, but can open up to more of a lacy mesh. And I haven't been able to find any patterns I liked for the amount that I had, so I attempted to design my own cowl pattern. The pattern itself worked fine--it's a combination between a moss stitch, to show the closed texture, and a drop-stitch to hopefully allow part of the yarn to open up. I think I'd have to block this to make that happen. The problem is, I only had enough yarn to do three repeats of the pattern before I had to bind it off, which makes for a very narrow cowl! So I've had this sitting on my table for something like a week, trying to decide if I should go ahead and block it and see what happens, or to unravel it and try to come up with a different project. Any thoughts?

Either way, I'm feeling kind of mental blocked on anything yarny until I make decisions about what to do about these two projects. So in the meantime, I've been tracing out patterns that I was given for Christmas for geeky baby quiet books instead.

ooh, sparkly.

First of all, thanks for the advice offered on my last post! You gave me some great ideas for what to avoid (my entire wovens stash, I'm looking at you), and there were also some rather brilliant thoughts on how to make some of my ideas more nursing-friendly, and therefore able to be worn longer. Yay!

Today, I actually have two finished projects to show! Late last year and after I already knew about the pregnancy, I got lured into buying a couple of knits at Joann's while there for an unrelated shopping trip, because I knew that the bulk of my knits stash were solid colors and I was craving some printed goodies. Also, look how sparkly they are! My original intent was to get these done in time to wear for Christmas, but due to all the sickness issues, that obviously didn't happen. So I decided to get these sewn up quickly. I need some color in my extremely pared-down winter wardrobe anyway.

The cardigan is McCall's 6084, and the top is Simplicity 2852. For the cardigan, I didn't really change much of anything, other than add a little length to the sleeves to accommodate my monkey arms. I do that pretty much automatically for long-sleeved things now, but in this case, it looks like I actually didn't need to! So I just gave it a bit of a wider hem on the sleeves than it called for.

The pattern claimed it could be made up in an hour. It took me a little longer than that. For one thing, this knit was really awful about clinging to itself, so it took me awhile to smooth it out enough that I could cut the pieces well! I did construct it completely in one sitting, and it especially helped that I was able to skip a couple of awkward-looking steps due to having a serger. But then I let it hang overnight so the hem could settle a bit before finishing that.




The top is one that I actually have made before, though I did view E for that one. That's actually one of the shirts I already had that I've been continuing to wear anyway, and so far, it's worked. I do think that I'll have to toss that shirt at the end of this cold season, though, because the fabric is getting horribly pilled. Especially now that I'm wearing it at least once a week! I honestly didn't think this view was one I'd ever sew, especially because I hated that bubble hem trend! The gathered front made it look like it would give me some room to grow, though.

I made the sleeveless view so I could wear this into the warmer weather. I even already had another cardigan that coordinates! I did make a couple of changes to the pattern to maternify it even further--besides leaving out the hem elastic, because ugh, I added 2" width to the center front and 2" to the hem. I like this a little longer, actually--if I was the type who wore leggings as pants, this would actually work! I think I'll stick to wearing it with things that cover my lower half a little better, though.

Honestly, if I wore it with a belt to cinch it in, this top does have some non-maternity potential as well, I think. We'll see whenever I get a waistline back. (Actually, now that I'm looking at this picture, it probably needs a belt somewhere anyway, doesn't it? It really is kind of a sack. A sparkly sack in a fun print and a color scheme I love, but a sack nonetheless.) In the meantime, I had nothing but scraps left over from both of these pieces, so at least they didn't live in the stash long! Between the two pieces, that's 4.25 yards down.

The belt really highlights that the bump doesn't want to hide anymore, doesn't it? I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok to not suck my stomach in for pictures! The more exciting thing is that we have the ultrasound scheduled for next week, so hopefully we'll be finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl soon!

I think I also need to work on the camera setup--Doug's been working hard to get the former office/library ready to turn into a nursery, so all the furniture there has been cleared out and the room is repainted. So these pictures are in the sewing-now-slash-computer room. (At least I still have one!) But I think I'll have to experiment with where to put the tripod so I don't look like such a giant next to the door. I already feel like I look big enough!

The slowest refashion I've ever made

I mentioned in my FESA post that I had finally finished a knitting project, and here it is!

This is the Roheline cardigan, as modeled by the floor. I tried to get a good picture of it on me, but I was completely unable to avoid the canine photobombs today. Plus the sky is about the same color as this sweater right now, and that really doesn't help on the lighting front! Oh well, you can see the drop stitch detail better this way anyway.

I call it the slowest refashion, because the yarn is actually recycled! Several years ago, I bought three sweaters from the thrift store, as a cheap way to experiment with how my skin would react to some different animal fibers/percentages of wool.

I ended up tossing the yarn from #2, since it unraveled into a gross tangle of cheap acrylic and just enough wool to annoy me. I still have the yarn from #3 and love the colors, but I'm leaning towards tossing that one as well, since I suspect that even a measly 8% wool is going to be too much for me. So this all came from sweater #1. It's a mostly cotton/acrylic/viscose blend, with a little bit of rabbit hair. And I guess I'm ok with rabbit, because this one didn't bother me to knit with at all!


Making this was definitely a learning experience. I already knew how to do drop stitch, and had experimented quite unsuccessfully with short rows in a failed sweater attempt before. But I did finally learn how to do them properly on this. I had to learn Kitschener stitch for the underarms. I also taught myself how to do "magic loop" knitting so I could do both sleeves at the same time, which was mostly successful. I guess I still need to work on that, because I was unfortunately left with this obvious line down the sleeves where I was jumping between the two circulars and the stitches are a bit looser/sometimes look like I left holes. Is that normal? I did sort of try to block this when I finished, meaning I basically just dumped it in the sink, ran some water over it and squished it around, and let it dry. I know the yarns I can generally work with don't block as nicely as wool-based ones, but I guess I should try actually washing this for real and letting it dry to see if I can smooth that out some more.

For the most part, I knitted this straight off the pattern, since I frankly don't really have the knowledge to add extra shaping to knitting yet. But I did add a little extra length to the sleeves, about an inch, which I think was a good move. It's nice to have my wrists completely covered when it's cold outside!






And here's my attempt to get it as an outfit photo. This was seriously the best out of the multiple tries. Crosby really wanted to model today, I guess! Considering how long it took me to knit this sweater (a full 15 months!), and current events in my life, I am SO glad that I decided to do a cardigan for my second sweater, so I can actually wear it this winter!

I'm in a weird place right now, wardrobe-wise. I'm pretty firmly in the camp of having to wear maternity stuff on my legs already, since the waistbands of everything else are just getting too uncomfortably tight. But I'm still able to fit into my regular tops very well, as long as I'm ok with the "I ate one too many cookies" look. (Just minus the fun of actually getting to eat the cookies, sadly, since I'm still waiting for that nausea to go away.) So this is maternity leggings (from Old Navy) and a maternity denim skirt (from Goodwill) with my regular purple Sadie tank. I'm slowly in the process of trying to assemble a wardrobe that will be as mix-and-match as possible, but I think that will have to be a separate post for later. As of now, I have a lot of holes to fill. But since this cardigan fits very nicely with the palette that's emerging, at least I have one layer to work with.

FESA plans!

It's that time of year again! I do love this sewalong, and this is the 3rd year I've participated. You all know how I feel about the cold, and my ironically wool-phobic skin doesn't help matters. (I say ironic, because since I got married, my last name now starts with Wool! Go figure.) So this is a great way to keep me focused and excited about making things to get me through the winter.

So without further ado, here are my plans for the next couple of months. I'm keeping things rather conservative this time, so maybe I can actually finish everything?

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather: I have some stashed knit to try out the Espresso leggings, and I'd like to knock out a pair or two of them. Since woolly tights are a sad no-go for me, I think this could be a great way to keep my legs warmer for wearing skirts. (I wear boots with skirts a lot, so the no-foot-coverage thing won't be an issue.) Not to mention it's a layer I can wear under my jeans while I'm shivering my way through the last bit of October at the outside register at my retail job. (I have some black, too, but it's a much bigger bolt since I'd also bought this fabric with that aborted attempt at a Red Velvet in mind. Oh well. I can always use black knit somewhere, right?)

Chic Chemises for Cool Climates: The definite is that I'd like to finally finish up the Roheline cardigan that I've been knitting since August 2013! (Though I really didn't get it started until last September, since I had to restart no less than 7 times.) I'm so, so close to finishing the sleeves, which means I only have the yoke and buttons to go, so it's not unreasonable. Depending on how the time goes, I also wouldn't mind trying out the Archer blouse, since I didn't get to that in my summer plans.

Fabulous Frocks: I would like to do a Darling Ranges dress if at all possible, since the colors will be great for taking it into the winter. Also, I meant to make it last year, so it's time. I'm hoping to knock this one out next month, since The Monthly Stitch's theme is "Frocktober" anyway. I'll just need to find a layer to go over it--I have yarn to knit a yellow cardigan that will pair nicely with this, but there's no way I'll be able to finish 2 cardigans in this time span.

Baby It's Cold Outside: My old peacoat that I made in 2007 is starting to fall apart. Replacing that will be first priority! (Even so, 7 years, including the polar vortex of wintry doom that we had this past year, is not bad at all for my first me-made winter coat!) I'm hoping to play around with a few more tailoring techniques, but I'm using the exact same pattern as the first one, so at least fitting won't be an issue. I actually have started cutting this one out already, but since there's 4 layers involved, I'm still on the outside. (The black and white tweedy fabric has been cut, but I'm underlining most of the pieces with that greyish silk organza that's right next to it. And that's taking a little longer. Especially given that I haven't been able to touch it since Saturday.)

Other projects: I'm hoping to knock out a skirt before the end of the month, because a long-standing project I've been making for my sister-in-law is perfect for Scraptember! I may knit up a scarf, too, since I'm strongly leaning towards a one-skein project to take on my upcoming trip to France. (Next weekend! Eeeeee!) After all, I have a lot of plane/airport time, and at least 6 hours on a bus to get to Normandy and back, and I'm not sure how well my Kindle battery will hold up for a cross-continental flight. Also, I know from experience that I sadly cannot read on the bus without getting sick.  Maybe I'll have better luck with just keeping my hands busy.

I'm also beginning to plot out what I'm going to make for the Disney sewalong that Katie and I are co-hosting in November, but that project is still a secret!

happy accidents

Trying to catch up a little here, and I figured it's better to have phone photos than none at all, right?

Anyway, this month's Stashbusting Sewalong theme is knits, and since I've been pretty short on sewing time lately, I thought it would be good to try and knock something out. I had a striped ivory knit tee on my capsule wardrobe list, and decided that it might be more useful as a layering piece rather than a more traditional tee. So here's what I ended up with!


I still based this on the Plantain pattern, as originally planned, with a few modifications. I got the fabric from Kerilee in last year's Sewing Surprises swap, and there wasn't a whole lot of either piece. So I used Heather's yoke modification again, so I could work in the polka dot mesh and use that to stretch the stripes. (I'm print-mixing! It's a start.) Short sleeves, obviously, which are bound at the edges with the striped fabric.













The polka dots look cooler from the back, obviously. I like that it lets some color from whatever tank top I'm wearing show through, and I think it will be a very versatile summer layer as a result.


















Ugggh, I look so tired in this picture! Anyway, the collar/front was sort of a happy accident. My pattern drafting skills aren't the hottest, and when I was cutting this out, I had the presence of mind to slope the neckline downward to the center front, but I forgot about silly little things like adding seam allowances! So when I tried this on partway through, the front looked pretty wonky because it was so skinny. I had a fairly largeish, mostly rectangular scrap left. So I cut it in half lengthwise, seamed it in the middle, and basically made it a big wide binding strip. The inner edge is just a fold, so it looks pretty nice and clean. I'm actually really happy with the finished look of it, so one of these days, I might actually draft this as a pattern piece to use for a future pattern hack!

So now I just have one other fairly quick project and a refashion to post, and I'm all caught up. Unless I actually have time to sew something else. We shall see, since I haven't been able to sew a single stitch this week.

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)!

Of winter wardrobe planning and wool allergies (and a giveaway winner!)

Now that it's getting to the end of the year, my mind is already turning towards my goals for next year's sewing. I usually do a post about this closer to the end of December, and I'm sure I still will, but one thing I've already realized/decided is that I really need to focus on beefing up my cold-weather wardrobe. This isn't to say that I won't sew anything for the summer months, particularly since I have quite a bit in my stash that's better for that and I still want to stashbust. But I had the very sobering realization recently that I'm already bored with my clothing options for the colder weather. And it's only November. I may have to do some thrift shopping soon to give myself a few new things to mix in, but of course I want to make some new things too! Though much of this may have to be for next winter. Look at me, planning ahead.
The other complication to my plans, which you know if you've been reading this for awhile, is that I get cold ridiculously easily. And I also can't wear wool. Honestly, I can hardly even touch the stuff, because my fingers start prickling and itching almost instantly when I do. (Ironically, there's now "wool" in my new last name. Go figure.) So my constant challenge is to try to put together outfits that keep me warm, are still at least somewhat stylish, and won't make me break out in hives if I leave it on too long.

My big challenge for next year is that my peacoat that I made back in the early days of this blog is getting rather worn out. I can make it through this winter, but I'll have to make a new one before the next cold season. (Still, 7 years, not bad for my first me-made coat!) To get that coat warm enough, I had to basically make a quilt for the lining with a double layer of batting, under polyester suedecloth. It's warm, but it's also very bulky and started off so stiff that it could literally stand on its own. It's softened since, but I don't really want to do that again. So I need to figure out a good option for the outer layer especially, and then any underlinings that I choose to do. I actually am seriously considering sucking it up and underlining my outer fabric with wool, in hopes that I might not feel it once it's completely enclosed by other fabrics. It would be awful to sew, though. My hands are itching just thinking about it. I suppose fleece could be an underlining option too, but wind just cuts right through fleece for me when I'm wearing that as an outer layer.


I'll probably just go with the same pattern again (view A, in lavender here), since I've already gone through making and fitting it once, and it's a classic style. I'm probably also going to stick with mostly black, since that means I can mix and match colorful knitted scarves on a whim. I think Mood Fabrics is out for me this time, since I haven't found a coating on their website yet that isn't at least blended with wool. I have found a few options elsewhere:

Polyester/Acrylic boucle coating from Fabric.com. I like the texture, though it would be quite prone to raveling and would certainly have to be underlined for warmth.

Black Heavyweight Rainwear from Denver Fabrics. On the plus side, it would keep me dry. Though I already have a cold-weather raincoat.

"Poodle Fur" Knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. Though, honestly, I'm not really seeing this as an option. The thought of a fur-looking winter coat just isn't working for me.

So, yeah, I guess that boucle is the best option so far. Any thoughts about other fabric options/what I should underline and/or line with? I will gladly take any and all help I can get, because my only other somewhat fashionable option is something like this.

And the last thing I want to look like in the winter is this.

On a cheerier note, I did find a solution to another planned wardrobe addition recently. I've been thinking that once I finish the cardigan I'm currently working on, I'd like to make a mustardy yellow one next. It would go with this, the two fabrics I bought for Darling Ranges and Reglisse dresses, and my totally wear-again bridesmaid dress from the most recent wedding. (Mine is a charcoal grey.) I'm pretty proud of myself, because even though it took quite a bit of scouring through a closeout section, I found a fully cotton yarn in just the right color, and for half price! I got the "Impala" color. The plan is to make this cardigan, from my Coastal Knits book. I know I won't have it for this year, but hopefully I can manage to knock this out before next fall, because a cheery yellow cardigan sounds just perfect for combating the winter blahs.

Edit: I ended up having to switch yarns, due to the supplier not having enough. I guess someone else ordered some around the same time I did. So now I'll be using this, in yellow. The person from Webs who helped me out was great, though--she even offered wool-free alternative suggestions to me! Thanks, Jackie!

Speaking of knitting, I do need to draw a name for that KnitScene giveaway!  I'm a couple of days late. My excuse is that my grandfather passed away on Monday, so it's been a bit of a rough week so far. Since I'm home alone right now, and dogs aren't the most helpful name drawers, I'm resorting to the random number generator as usual.

That makes the winner Laura, who said she liked the Rosemary cardigan best. (I don't blame you. That was a very strong contender for that yellow cardigan! I just loved the Rocky Coast one first. It'll get made eventually.) So congratulations, and I'll be in touch with you soon.

I need a distraction

First off, the good news: While by no means perfect, my welt pocket is looking much, much better than yesterday. (Though is the dart supposed to go crooked like that where it splits?)









The bad news: After struggling with it for a solid half hour, at least, plus at least another 15 minutes of staring vainly at Lauren's tutorial post, this is what my pocket lining is doing. I just can't make heads or tails of it, and this is the only way I could figure to get the brown showing through the welt, rather than the print. I don't think I sewed it backwards or upside down, based on the illustrations, but I'm obviously missing something here and I'll feel really dumb when I figure out what it is. (Well, more dumb, because I am honestly rather discouraged with this entire thing right now.)

So, to distract myself, here's my tentative plan for the rest of the FESA sewalong.

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather
Trousers, skirts, legwarmers and more! Anything that keeps your lower portion fashionably cozy fits perfectly here! The chilly weather necessitates the donning of bifurcated bottoms and sassy skirts!

Obviously, I've got this one covered by Pantsapalooza, assuming I can make it past this first pair of pants and actually start working on the other 4!

Chic Chemises for Cool Climates
Blouses, tops, vests, cardigans, and sweaters! These wardrobe essentials can carry you from day to night, not to mention provide necessary layering to keep out the chill.  

I've got a couple of things planned here:

These two knit prints are tagged for long-sleeved Renfrew tops. The black striped one, which was part of a Christmas haul from my parents a few years ago, will have to be a layering piece out of necessity. It's pretty thin. The green is a little thicker, with a crinkled texture, and has been in the stash for several years. The nice thing is that I can use black thread for both, so I can assembly-line construct these as well! I'm thinking maybe a scoop-neck for the black and a v-neck for the green, since I've only made the cowl neck variation so far.


I also have a new knitting project! Would you believe this one has been in progress for a few weeks now? This cardigan pattern is called Roheline, and it's proved rather difficult to get going, though it's completely not the design's fault. The first time I cast it on, one of the dogs somehow got the yarn out of my nightstand drawer early one morning, and in the ensuing tug-of-war between him and my husband, the yarn broke. So I had to start again. Then I had a couple instances of misreading the chart pattern and having to rip it out. And at least once or twice casting on where I just didn't have enough of a tail to finish. All together, I think I started this sweater about 7 times! But I've made it up through row 7 or 8 as of tonight, so I think I'm good now. I hope.

Fabulous Frocks
Dresses of all styles; mini, short, or long! Keep yourself warm in your modish designs, layering with tights and boots!

I meant to get this one done near the end of the summer, so hopefully putting it on my fall list means that I'll get it done sometime before the end of next summer, right? Anyway, this is the Darling Ranges dress. And of course I plan to overcomplicate things for myself by attempting to fully line it. That blue bemberg rayon was the closest match I could get without actually using white (which, actually, Mood didn't have at the time). And it's a pretty lightweight rayon print, so those white streaks are just a liiiiiittle too transparent for my comfort. The fact that it will add some extra warmth doesn't hurt either, since elbow-length sleeves in the middle of the summer around here just aren't happening. Which makes this obviously a fall dress.

Underneath It All
When you're spending months covered from the neck down, a glamorous underpinning of your choice adds a secret, luxurious touch that chases the cold away!

Tender Tootsies
Let's not forget your frosty feet! Socks, slippers and the like are the order of the day. Keep those tootsies warm and dry!

Those Cozy Nights
Is there anything better than snuggling up in a cozy pair of pajamas with a hot drink and a book whilst Jack Frost works his magic outside? I think not! Sleepwear of all types are the way to go here!

I don't currently have any plans for these few categories, but we'll see if I change my mind. After all, despite my long-term anti-leggings stance, the upcoming Espresso leggings are tempting me to give them a shot.

Baby It's Cold Outside
Coats, hats, and mittens donned to keep the cold at bay, especially when out enjoying the spectacular fall colours!

I don't think I care enough to bother matching stripes. It's just to keep me warm at the retail job. #knitting pic.twitter.com/m3Zpi475AH
— Becky (@sew_and_so) September 17, 2013

I do have a pair of handwarmers in progress that I'm frantically knitting for work, but I keep that at my parents' house as a project to do while I wait for flute students. So this Twitter shot is the only pic I have of them for now. A matching hat may follow. And I do hope to knit the beginner scarf for my Craftsy class soon, too.

So, I know this is a hugely ambitious list, and last year I was crafting for FESA well into the winter. But that's ok. Especially because there is one more pile...


Just as a sneak preview, these are the three things I have tagged for the Doctor Who sewalong. But I'm not going to tell yet what I have in mind, or what categories they fall into. Because, as River Song would say, spoilers!

MMM, Day 2: The holes in my wardrobe

To be perfectly honest, this isn't my favorite outfit. (Nor my best expression-- my boyfriend was kind enough to take pics on our way out to grab some dinner and spend an hour or two together, and I guess I was in the middle of blinking. But this one does show the whole outfit the best.) 

Shirt: "Flowery Explosion" top, blogged here
Cardigan: Old Navy
Pants:Lee, from JC Penney's
Shoes: Naturalizer, from Maryland Square (I think)
Necklace: Me-made
Earrings, which you can't really see here anyway: Lia Sophia



Here's how it went down: I had my outfit all picked out and ready to go for after work at the garden center today. But when I picked it, it was supposed to get up to around 70 degrees. In actuality, it didn't even crack 60. (And yesterday, it was around 80! The weather in my little corner of the mid-Atlantic is pretty whacked out this year.) So I had to improvise, and fast. And I mean fast--the cashier who was taking over for me got there late, which meant I got out late, and I had the span of about an hour to refuel my rental car, take it back to the repair shop where my little Honda was getting its reconstructive surgery after its fender bender, drive home, change my clothes, grab the vacuum cleaner to give the floor a quick once-over before teaching, and then immediately have to put it away before cleaning, because my first student arrived earlier than planned. It happens sometimes when they stop by on their way home from school.

I knew I wanted a colorful top, because this day has been very dreary--either rain, thunderstorms or clouds all day. I wasn't in the greatest mood, either, because work was pretty craptastic today. Bright clothes with cheery prints just make me feel better! It was way too cold for sleeveless, though, at least for me. I originally had cuter shoes on (my silver gladiator sandals), but by the time I got through my couple of hours' worth of teaching in the basement, my feet were cold! So I changed to the more practical shoes before going out for dinner. I think the concept of the outfit is ok....it's just that it's too pale overall. I'm going to blame the pants--for what is supposed to be a neutral pair of pants, these are so hard to fit into my wardrobe! I think it would have worked better with my camel linen pants, color-wise, but I haven't ironed them since I last washed them and certainly did not have time to do so today.

I do think the necklace was a good pick, though. This was a fun one to make-- basically, I took all of the white/clear/light tan glass beads I had that didn't go with anything else, made 3 strands of bead links, and then stuck it on some decorative chain to make this necklace. Since this top verges on too low-cut for my taste, it fills in the space nicely! I also think the half-buttoned cardigan looks a little odd/unflattering in the pic, but it looked weirder to have the minty green band halfway up from the tieback sash. Oh well. It's honestly not my favorite cardigan, either, and I also have found this surprisingly hard to fit into my wardrobe!

Over the last few months, I've been taking a close look at my clothes to see if I can identify the holes in my wardrobe, and I think this outfit illustrates a couple of them. For both the pants and the cardigan, these wouldn't have been my first pick of things to buy--they were both cases of I needed something fast (a pair of khakis, a cream-colored cardigan to wear over that Modcloth dress that I just shortened, when I was wearing it as a dress to a friend's wedding), and this was the best option I could find at the time. And even though the khakis don't seem to really go with the rest of my clothes for some reason (and are a little too short even with my flats), and I just don't like the way the cardigan's looked with anything so far (too preppy, I guess), I've kept them because I don't really have anything else to fill those holes yet. Especially for the pants-- I have a list of 6 things I've often wished for in my winter wardrobe, and half of them are different colors of pants to replace ill-fitting or just worn out ones that I have now.

I'm on my way to remedying that-- I looked through my stash notebook and found two pieces that would make good pants, in addition to the charcoal lightweight denim that I specifically got for that purpose for Christmas-- a more camel-ly khaki corduroy, and a chocolatey-brown twill. I had also recently been debating buying some fabric, and ended up getting twill in grey and olive, and a lightweight denim to replace the too-short trouser jeans that I have now. So once I get through my palette challenge and have the jeans-fitting technique down, I'll find a good pair of pants, make some test shorts like I did for those linen pants that I mentioned earlier in this post, try it on one pair of pants once I get the fit, and then go assembly-line style and just knock them all out. I have it in the back of my mind to knit a new cream cardigan at some point too--something a little more interesting, like maybe this, or this, or perhaps this. Though I don't think it will happen any time soon, since I have two other bigger knitting projects in the works, I need to find some nice non-wooly yarn that will work, and I already have yarn that I can use to make a grey cardigan, which I also need. (Hopefully as this. I've been eyeing it for awhile!)

So, yeah....in the question of frosting vs. cake, I think I'll be ok with sewing more cake from here on out. Especially if I can get a nice tried-and-true pants pattern to work from, or maybe two, since jeans fit differently than the average pants. I've been finding lately that store-bought clothes just don't work for me long-term!

All sorts of random

Because it's Wednesday, I wanted to answer some comments anyway, and I have all sorts of craft-related thoughts floating through my head. Comment replies first:

Kelly asked me how many pairs of pants I've made so far. If you don't count pajama pants, I've had two pairs of pants that I would consider successful. Yes, one of them was the Anthropologie greatness of last summer, And the black pants I made for my pantsuit turned out pretty decently, though I would like them better if the waistband had been a tiny bit longer and the fly had turned out nicer. As it is, they fit me so absolutely perfectly that if I gained a pound or two, they probably wouldn't fit anymore. (Good thing that my weight doesn't seem to fluctuate much.) I've also had a few failures, like the jeans I made a few years ago that tore in a bad place pretty quickly.

Carolyn, Donna and Mary all suggested that maybe I drew the pants a little short in the croquis and that adding shoes might help. I haven't had a chance to play around with that yet, but I'll keep you posted!

Ginger suggested the Grainline Tiny Pocket Tank as a potential solution for my yardish of lining fabric that's left over and screaming to be made into a top. It's a cute pattern, but I'm not sure it would work for me--I've found that tops/dresses with little to no shaping at the waist just don't quite work on me. I may have something in my pattern stash that will work, so I'll have to pull that out and see. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Now, on to the random thoughts....

• Why am I suddenly having a slew of ideas for things to do with my fabric stash now that I have a whole bunch of projects queued and very little time to actually execute them?
• I did have about an hour to sew today, and got the 4 seams needed to assemble the knit dress stitched up. Though I'll have to take it in a bit because it's gapping pretty badly under the arms. Then it's just hemming and finishing the arm/neck holes, and it's done.
• I think I am going to have to see about getting my serger repaired. Again. Said 4 seams are also going to be reinforced with my regular Bernina.
• To try the Colette Palette Challenge, or not to try the Colette Palette Challenge? That is the question. Particularly since I don't want to get too far off-track as far as dealing with all of those fabric/pattern pairings I already have goes. So if I did this, it looks like my palette would have to be rather limited, like black and white and maybe one of the other more-or-less solid pieces I have queued. (I'm not sure how well red and sky-ish blue will go together.) And I'm not sure how fun that would be, to go so neutral.
• I'm suddenly finding myself in the mood to do some weeding in my wardrobe, and figure out where the holes really are. I've managed to pull several things out so far, including a few things from my mending pile that were there more for refashioning purposes and I've decided that I just don't care enough.
• I'm also finding myself with a rather strong urge to buy some fabric, even though I'm still sitting on about 208 yards. I think a large part of it has to do with the aforementioned weeding/the realization that nearly all of my store-bought pants are too short for me, and a large part of it has to do with Tasia's recent post about sewing frosting vs. cake. Let's be honest here: as fun as sewing dresses and skirts can be, realistically speaking, when it comes to my working wardrobe, pants and jeans are my "cake". For well over half of the year, when I'm looking for things to wear for my teaching, I'll reach for those too-short pants because I'm too cold to contemplate a skirt, even with tights. I've been trying to branch out there, and in the summer, I am more likely to reach for a skirt or dress than a pair of shorts. But I'm overall more of a pants person. Other than church, I more or less live in jeans all weekend long. And that's ok if that's my style. Except I need more pants, and most of those store-bought ones just aren't cutting it in terms of holding up and being an ok length. (I'm pretty sure they shrank in the wash, if they were even long enough to begin with. That's what I get for also wearing boots a lot.) The point is, I think I only have one, maybe two pieces of fabric that could make a good pair of work pants both in terms of weight and yardage. And I know of at least 3 different colors that I need as neutrals to make all of my great tops work. So I'm very strongly tempted to go ahead and get some bottomweight fabrics in those colors. But part of me is thinking that maybe I should knock some more of these things off the queue first. Like, you know, the pair of jeans and the pair of pants that I already have queued. And then I'd have a better idea of what sort of yardage I really need anyway.
• I'm getting some help on my Onyx sweater via Ravelry. I'm still trying to figure out if that means I need to rip the entire thing out and start over, again. One of these days, I hope to make a sweater that I don't have to start 3 times. That happened with the Cadence too.
• I went ahead and cast on a new project anyway, and am pondering the odds of things turning out ok if I deviate from the pattern to add some shaping in the waist area. I've seen multiple comments on Ravelry stating that the pattern would have benefited from such. Thank goodness I live in the internet age, where how-tos are only a few mouse clicks away!

in between

I seem to find myself at an in-between point on several projects.

• I'm actually pretty close to finishing up the blue jacket! I got a nice chunk of sewing time yesterday, and so all I have left is one hand-stitched seam and 3 buttons to sew on. No pictures, because at this point I'd rather wait until it's done.
• Regarding the Onyx sweater: I still don't know what I did wrong. I spent a good chunk of the evening chatting online with my KAL-partner-in-crime tonight, and the solution we came up with involved cutting the yarn and treating the wrong side like it was the right side. Which worked really well in that it put the mistake stitches on the wrong side, and I was able to just knit an extra row to get back on track. Only problem is that once I got caught up, we went on to the first row of the next section, and where the instructions say to knit the reserved stitches for the back in the same row as the front, the back section is doing that exact same thing! So far, we're both having that issue. At this point, I might just purl all of that section instead, since I can't make heads or tails of it otherwise.
• I cut out the Butterick convertible dress today. I had to do a last-minute change of plans on this one. My mom gave me two pieces of fabric for my birthday specifically for this pattern, since I had no stashed pieces of knit that it would be ok to show the wrong side of. I was originally planning to go with the blue hemp jersey, but it was cut so crookedly that I basically lost a quarter-yard of fabric once I got the fold to lie flat. And since two of the three pieces were cut on the fold, that part was kind of important! So I went with the green rayon instead, and I'll have to come up with a fun top to make out of the hemp. Maybe some kind of Anthro-inspired embellished Renfrew... The dress should sew up pretty quickly, though, given that it's basically 4 seams, 3 edge finishes and a hem. The drape itself is left completely raw-edged, so other than getting it in the side seams, I don't even have to mess with that. It'll probably take me more time to get the serger rethreaded and the tension right than to sew the actual dress!
• I am reknititng my swatch for the knitted tee, purposely forcing myself to knit less tightly. It's a little early in the swatch to tell, but I think that the width may be good now. (So maybe what I can do is just knit more tightly on purpose when I hit around the waist, to give it some shaping!)

 I did also decide to go ahead and rework the dress I wore on Saturday a bit, which is essentially resulting in my taking a dart out of the bodice seam. I realized pretty quickly that it would actually be a lot easier for me to stitch the new side seam by hand than for me to undo the entire lining in order to get to it by machine. So I'm taking the opportunity to practice a couple of the stitches from my Couture Sewing Techniques book. The bottom row of stitching is my backstitch, since that's supposed to work the best for a strong, permanent seam....how am I doing?

I've also been playing around in the last couple of weeks with my croquis. And, well, I'm not sure how helpful this is! I was sketching out the pants and blouse combinations from two different Vogue patterns that I have, in order to help myself decide what to make with the charcoal denim and coordinating silky print I was given for Christmas. And, well, the pants on both just look awful in my sketch! So either this means that I took the picture at an oddball angle which apparently gives me more of the little teapot look (i.e. shorter and stouter), or maybe pants just don't work on me. At least the straight-legged ones. Isn't that supposed to be the cut that looks good on everyone? So I'm wondering if maybe I should ditch that idea altogether and go bootcut or something. (I am still kind of inclined to like the top in the middle sketch better out of the two options.)

At least it appears that my Beignet will look good.

Anyway, I'm hoping that maybe I'll have time to squeeze in that regular pair of pants shortly after the convertible dress and jeans, because I did sign up for Me-Made-May this year. Hopefully I won't totally flake like I did last March. I'll have been back to work longer, so hopefully that means I'll be more adjusted to the schedule and can squeeze in some photo-taking!

March in review

Since I'm doing the monthly round-up thing now, figured I'd start the new month off right! So here's how I did on my goals for March, as stated here....

#1: The Renfrew top--done, great pattern, will definitely use that again sometime.

#2: Finish knitting the Camille shrug--check. And since I had a request from my Onyx sweater partner-in-crime, I did get an action shot of it with the dress at the wedding (this was at the reception, in a side room of the church.) Overall, it worked very well with this dress that I'd originally envisioned it with. (Aside from some fitting issues in the dress bodice itself, which I'm now in the process of resolving since I was apparently too lazy to do it right the first time. Basically, I'm taking in the side seams above the black waistband, stitching it by hand because I have to take apart less of the lining than I would by machine. I need practice on handstitching anyway, right?)

p.s. The sleeves are actually full-length, I just had them pushed up in this picture since it ended up being a bit warmer than I'd anticipated.

#3: Reconstruct that brown suedecloth skirt. Check, although I still need to do something with the lining.

#4: The next step of the Onyx sweater. See previous post for the reason I didn't finish this. (I have a phone date with my KAL partner tomorrow to see if she can help me figure out what on earth I did wrong.)

#5: Blue corduroy jacket. It's not quite done, but it's getting close.

#6: Swatch for my Strafford Tee. I did actually do one earlier this week, and am now debating what to do--according to the swatch, I had about a stitch more per inch than I was supposed to. Which honestly doesn't seem like a big deal to me, and I might just go with it since I was trying to figure out how to incorporate some more fitting into it anyway. It looks like it's pretty loose at the waist.  So I guess this confirms that I am a too-tight knitter.Maybe I should just re-knit the swatch and try to relax a bit, since I'm actually using the right yarn for once...

Essentially, though, I got 4 out of 6 done, and the Onyx was pretty much due to circumstances beyond my control. Not too shabby at all!

So here are my goals for this month:

#1: Finish the blue corduroy jacket.

#2: Go through the Jean-ius class that I have from Craftsy. Which will hopefully result in a new, well-fitting pair of jeans!

#3: I'd like to get a quick project in between the jacket and the jeans, since they're both pretty detail-heavy projects (and that's been on my mind since reading Tasia's post last week about how long sewing projects should take.) I'm not entirely sure which one yet, but I'm thinking either Butterick 5606 or a reconstruction project. (I've decided to hold off on the knit shirt I already have cut out, since that's long-sleeved and it's increasingly unlikely that I'll get any use out of it in the next several months, by the time I finish. So I may just knock that one out later in the summer when my brain turns to thoughts of preparing for fall.)

#4: Get my Onyx sweater sorted out so I can continue that.

#5: Cast on my Strafford Tee.

#6: Finish putting my fabric swatches in their new notebook.

#7: Make one scrapbook page. Gotta start somewhere if I'm serious about getting myself back into this.

One last note: The patterns have all been claimed. Sarah and Muireann, I'll get those to you asap.

a case of the blues

 First of all, thanks for all of the lovely, encouraging comments on the shrug! The latest update there is that the sleeves are sewed together and it's back on the needles to knit the last bit of ribbing.

And thanks also for the feedback on the word verification. I did get a gentle reminder from a blog-less friend of mine who regularly comments that not all anonymous commenters are bad (at least the ones who leave a name and a real comment), and have since switched it to no word verification but full comment moderation so I could allow for that sort of anonymous commenting. I'm still a bit concerned that I've been getting extra pop-up windows since I initially turned the verification off, and I am still averaging about one spammy comment a day, but at least I can easily mark them as spam and delete them. (Carolyn, to answer your question, what I meant by the pop-up windows is that I'm getting additional open windows when I did not click on anything to bring them up. Usually it's more annoying, for things like Amazon.com (except I'm not sure it was legitimate, because I certainly did not open a page for baby clothes!), or for a "click here to claim your prize" type thing. I did get a pretty nasty one the other day, though, and so far my virus scans have turned up nothing other than tracking cookies. Gtt.)

Computer issues aside...Now that the shrug is almost complete, my attention is drifting to other knitting projects. Namely this sweater that one of my online friends and I are making as a mini-knitalong. And, as it turns out, I have a lot of new techniques to learn here. So far, it's been invisible cast-on, and short rows, and that's just on the first page! (And here I thought this would be easy because basically everything is in knit stitch with no purling!  And, of course, I've already had to start this one over once. We're taking this at a snail's pace since we both have real life stuff and other projects going on, so even though it represents about 60 rows, and a lot of them are short, it's a month's worth of work that I'm trying to redo here. The problem came with said invisible cast-on. When I joined it together and got to the end of the second section we'd decided on, I looked back and realized that oh, wait, this looks wrong. Instead of that nubby garter stitch look, suddenly it had a smooth stockinette look for about 3 rows right around where I did that invisible cast-on. So obviously, I did something wrong.  I attempted to stick the needle in right before that section started and rip back to there, but that didn't work so well. So I just decided to rip the whole thing out and start over, since those two sections didn't take me very long in actual knitting time.

And wouldn't you know, even that part didn't go well!  I kept ending up with these weird loopy knots like this, where I was having to shove the entire ball of yarn through there just to rip out the next part.

And then I realized that I was supposed to rip it out in the opposite direction that I'd been knitting it in, I was doing it backwards, and that was why it was being so uncooperative. Palm, meet face.

So I've got it re-knit up to about 6ish rows before I'm supposed to switch back for knitting from the opposite side of the invisible cast-on. Hopefully it will go better this time, since I tried a different technique for the cast-on in the first place.

I'm having better luck with my blue corduroy jacket, which, oddly enough, is pretty much the exact same color as my yarn. This picture is a little outdated-- I meant to write this post a couple of days ago. Since then, I've added the sleeves, and stitched the two layers of the peplum together. I took a chance on just going ahead and sewing it together as is, with just a bit of a smaller seam to attach the sleeves to the body, since the brown jacket was so easy to fit and it was also a Burda pattern. My gamble is paying off so far, since it looks like it will work just fine from my couple of times I've tried on. A rather fitted jacket, to be sure, but I think it has to be with the peplum. And since this is a rather lightweight corduroy, I'm thinking of this more in terms of a spring/fall layer than winter warmth. (Besides, apparently I'll have a sweater in exactly the same color, so I can just wear that when I want blue then!) So this is moving along nicely, and I think I'll quite easily make my goal of finishing it before the end of the month.

The one thing I need to figure out: In the interest of new techniques, I'd like to try bagging the lining somewhat. I think it will be easier than usual, since I had to cut the inner peplum from the lining fabric and therefore I'm planning on just hand-stitching the lining down at that lower seam. So all I'll have to sort out is the sleeves and sewing the lining to the inner facings. I know I have some resources to figure out how to do that lying around here, so I'll just have to look into it. I was thinking about trying a bound buttonhole as well, but I think I already screwed up my chances on that by sewing the facing in. Oh well.... I wanted to work on my machine buttonholes more anyway. (The jacket is actually supposed to have snaps to close, but I've decided to go with the buttons being functional instead of purely decorative so I can leave the jacket open when I want to. The snaps look kind of funny when I do that, IMO.)

I do have a blog award I recently got that I need to share, but I'll do that on the next post, since I'd like to actually have some time to sew this afternoon! (There's also going to be a low-key giveaway, so stay tuned!)

the wearability factor

I think I was on the right track with my Cadence, in purposely making it longer. It's rather loose up top, and the belt is quite necessary for this to work on me! I like the styling of this--though you can't quite see the whole outfit, I'm wearing it with my skinny jeans and my taller brown boots and it's just very comfortable, but still nice enough for flute teaching later. For what ended up being such an open knit, it's surprisingly warm--hurrah for being able to wear alpaca!

My main concern with this is the neckline. It's stretching like crazy as I wear it--it was about 2" higher when I put it on this morning, and if not for letting it dip lower in the back, it would quite easily be falling off my shoulders by this point! So I'm trying to figure out what I can do about that--whether it would be better to weave some of the leftover yarn into the neckline to try and tighten it up, or attempt a row of crochet around the top to cinch it in, or what. Because that's the sort of thing that could take away the wearability factor in what is already a much looser sweater than I would have preferred.

But aside from that, the knitalong is complete. So I wanted to publicly thank Kristin for her expertise and patience with us newbies, and Sarah for coming up with the idea! Despite the frustrations, I did have fun and learned a lot!

So, moving on. I did a bit of swatching and then cast on my next major knitting project last night. This is the Camellia Shrug from the Winter/Spring '11 KnitScene, and I'm making it in a nice-feeling (and washable!) cotton/acrylic blend that I picked up at the yarn store on Tuesday.  I'm 14 rows into it so far, and other than the annoyance of trying to cast 4 stitches onto 3 double-pointed needles without them sliding off and making me start over a couple of times, once I got it going, it's been a fun knit so far. But I'm really glad that I had the Cadence to work on first so I could get used to reading a chart! The diamond pattern actually isn't all that dissimilar, either. It's just a lot more increases, since it starts in the middle and goes out from there in the round.

I've also got my raincoat "muslin" done! This is the sleeveless version of it. And it looks a bit big, but I'm actually going to leave this as is with no adjustments. For one thing, this is being made to wear over bulkier winter clothes. For another thing, it has a belt anyway. So all I need to do is take this apart, trim the seams back down to normal from the 1" that I allowed for test purposes, and I can get started on the actual cutting out! (And then figure out what to do with that main front piece, since I'm not sure if I'll need to line or underline that or not.)

One final comment on the next several posts in general... I know there's occasionally a debate amongst sewing bloggers about whether it's better to show all finished projects, or in-progress things. And I know there are people out there who have no interest in seeing unfinished projects. I'm one who tends to show more of the process. And I'm ok with that. For me, the process of putting a garment together is as significant a part of the enjoyment as wearing the finished product. I had a nice reminder of that recently when talking about my sewing with a newer friend. (Well, boyfriend, actually. I seem to have stumbled into one of those relationship things over the last month--thus my quasi-resolution to just keep things as pressure-free as I can this year!)  So I'm unapologetically going to keep writing about things like how this raincoat comes together. And my barely-started Anthropologie-esque refashion. And this shrug that may not look much different than it does now the next time I take a picture of it. And whatever other sewing or knitting projects I end up doing this year. Because most of us who sew aren't solely about the destination most of the time, are we? It's about the journey and the learning process, too. And that's something that should be celebrated.