Yarn Along 9

I am not sure if it's just the second trimester energy bump or simple mania, but I have been a knitting/reading fool this week.

I just saw "The Hunger Games" at the theater (a trip to the movies without my toddler which was so, very, thrilling) and now that I have I feel comfortable reading on to the next books in the series.

I also have started one of those girly-feel-good-books.  I tried one a few month ago trying to make a story of strange women becoming fast friends all by being into yoga.  It kinda sucked.  This time I'm reading one about strangers becoming fast friends all by being into walking.  "The Wildwater Walking Club" is not that bad.  It's sorta cute and sorta annoying all at the same time.  My mother keeps getting me these books, so I'll keep reading them.  Even if they aren't the best.

In other news, after weeks of fighting with Interweave to send me something to me actual address instead of some random address they decided I must live at I finally got a copy of their Jane Austen 2011 special issue.  A lot of it is obviously warm weather stuff and I don't care.  I'm making every single thing in that magazine.  All 36 patterns.  (P.S. The articles are also really good if you're into the history of fashion and knitting.)

On the needles...what's not on the needles?  I still have the baby dress going.  Only 20 more rounds till it's finished.  I expect to bind off sometime tomorrow.  On Saturday my husband and I are hoping to go to a party themed around "white" so I made him a white superhero mask (just finished blocking it) and I'm making me a fascinator hat.

It's from an issue of "Knitting Today!"  I saw on ravelry that lots of people tried this pattern but got annoyed at the amount of i-chord it required.  I thought they were crazy.  Then I re-read the pattern:  4 yards of i-chord.  144 inches.  Ugh.  I'm 2.5 yards in and I am quite frankly sick of making i-chord.  And I used to think it was so much fun.  In other news...my toddler just LOVES playing with the yard stick.  So much so that when I use it to find out how far I've gotten she throws a huge fit.  Even if she wasn't playing with it at the time.  Mommy is not allowed to have the yard stick.

Other projects:  Practicing my crocodile stitch in crochet and attempting to put it over a paddle.  Working on two shawls, one in thread and one with said crocodile stitch.  And I decided to re-start the Jan Sweater in earnest...which I didn't do at all because I was making i-chord.  But I decided to be earnest about it.

I also discovered the "que" portion of ravelry, which means I have set up a bunch of new projects and designated my stash yarn to them.  Which is probably better than me just casting on another project...I'm planning to cast on another project.  However, it's not as satisfying.

So that's my crazy knitting mania week.

Baby Alpaca!

I took a trip to Goodwill today.  I was in theory going there to find a large pot in order to cook huge amounts of pasta, but I like to look around and see what all is in there.  A few weeks ago when my parents where here we went looking for some clothes for my Dad.  While he got some shirts I found a skein of italian mohair for 99 cents.  Not a bad find, not bad at all.

Today, however I found a bunch of fun stuff.  Including, for 99 cents, two skeins of baby alpaca yarn.  It is so darn soft and lovely that when I brought it home I spent a good half hour stroking it and rubbing it against my cheek.  I would have rubbed it against my baby bump too...just to give the baby some alpaca yarn, except Emily started to get interested:

Yep, she loves it too.

We spent the rest of the afternoon alternately petting the nice yarn.  I have no idea what project this would be good for, but man is it nice to snuggle with now.

In other news the guy at Goodwill said that they had actually received four huge things of yarn.  I had cleaned out what was on the floor today (and picked up the mohair earlier) and he said there was more in the back.  They package this stuff in a weird way.  I had to buy some skeins of Sugar'n Cream in order to get both of the alpaca.  I also got some alpaca blends, and other pretties that I had to buy three bags to get the whole set.  I worry there may be more of this alpaca yarn in the back...waiting to be reunited with it's other alpaca friends.  Also, it'd be nice to have more than two skeins so I could have more project choices.  

Guess who is going to be haunting the Goodwill all week?  

Yarn Along 8

More Yarn Along!

I'm psyched!  The Bliss Dress I've been meaning to make for Emily is flying along.  I have about 30 more rounds before it's time to put on the straps and  convince her to model it.  After all those cables, just knitting and increasing is a breeze.  I'm liking how it's coming so far.

However, my ulterior motive for this dress has not panned out.  I bought this yarn originally for a blanket for my sister-in-law when she said she wanted yellow for her first child.  Then when it turned out to be a girl the colors changed to pink and brown and I was stuck with a whole lot of yellow, fingering weight, baby yarn.  I thought if I made a dress that should be made out of something thicker it'd use it up.  As you can see...it didn't even make a dent in one skein, much less the other four.

I need a new project.

I think I'll survive.

For reading it's pretty simple: I haven't.  I've cleaned.  I've knitted.  I have not read.  My book club is coming up and we are reading "Attachments" by Rainbow Rowell.  I was super excited by this because it's finally a book that isn't depressing or about a post-apocalyptic world which has been our theme for the past few meetings.  But I've just learned I have a military meeting I have to go to on book club night. It has taken the wind out of my reading sails.  Sigh.

At least I have extra baby yarn.

Knitting keeps me from unraveling

Judging by my last few posts, all yarn-alongs, the most interesting part of my life is currently my knitting.  Or rather the most enjoyable part.  I'm completely, totally, addicted to my knitting right now.  

A few weeks ago I told my husband I was getting depressed.  Either left overs from 1st baby PPD or a new beginning of 2nd baby PPD or it could be pregnant-lady hormones.  Whatever it is I'm slipping into the sad world.  It doesn't help that my husband's current schedule is really crummy.  5 days on at various times (Midnights, Afternoons, Early mornings, you name it) and then 2 days off.  Then 5 days on.  Then 3 days off.  Then another switch.  And another change.  When he isn't working he's sleeping and that means I'm awake with the baby alone - even when he's here.  

I'm lonely.

I'm depressed.

I'm pregnant.

I'm a little cranky.  

So one particularly bad day when I was lonely, sad, and had run into some real ugly in a person I don't really like I picked up my sticks and made a ball gag:

I'm calling it the STFU gag and it's for people who quite frankly need to, you know, STFU.

I felt better.

Then I casted on a baby blanket.

And a shawl.

And some odds and ends.

Then I bought some clearance yarn.

And I took some yarn off of someone else's stash.  

Then I did it again the following week.

I do a little work around the house and I then I search for patterns I want to make.  When I find one's I like I cast them on.  If I can't cast on right away I will go through my yarn and plan when I will cast on.  The other night I dreamt about some soft yellow yarn.  

When my parents came to visit I found myself grumpy again.  I was getting whined at by all the people in my house from age 18 months to 66 years and I was not happy.

So I casted on another project.  And I finished it in four days.  As soon as they left I spent the day cataloging my entire stash.  Today I took pictures of it, you know, for cataloging purposes.

I might be a little crazy over my yarn.  And my knitting.  And some crochet.  But at least I'm not feeling sad.

Proof?  The other day my husband said "You're handling that depression really well."  I responded "I have really pointy sticks."

Yarn Along 7

 I looked at my Ravelry page yesterday and noticed that I have four WIP's.  That I've documented.  I just like variety.

This is a project I casted on a few months ago, before Emily and I got sick, then sick again, then sick some more.  I actually think it's worse than that, I started this before I got pregnant.  It's a dress for Emily and it's very cute, but I'm using fingering-weight yarn for it and the cables and such are a pain to do.  Very slippery.  I am at the point where I only have three more rounds to do of the bodice and then I start on the skirt which is just increases and knits.  Over and over.

Yes, the bodice is short.  My kid is a toddler.  My Mother is appalled!

The book is "The Knitter's Life List"  I just got through the yarn section and now do indeed have a life list of fibers I want to play with.  Pineapple anyone?  Musk ox?  Yes please.  I've always wanted to cuddle with a musk ox.  

Actually, I've never been a fiber person before.  I tried to be practical.  I like to make clothes and I don't like to hand-wash them so I stuck to acrylics and cottons.  An occasional wool here and there.  Honestly, I mostly liked baby yarn - it's always care friendly and soft.  But now I am really into other types of fibers and yarns and getting into designer things like that.  Which is terrible.  You don't find that kind of stuff at Wal-mart.  The other day my husband asked if he could spend $160 on a hobby of his.  I shrugged and told him that I had spent $20 on yarn that week so he should be able to buy what he wanted.  If I get into fancy yarn my splurges probably won't be $20 anymore.  (Though I did find a skein of mohair for $0.99 at Goodwill this week.)

Yarn Along 6

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~


I've been busy fighting off the depression monster.  My main weapon of choice has been crafting.  I've been bouncing between tons of projects:

I told myself I would never knit another blanket.  I prefer to crochet them.  But I couldn't pass up this little number and when I found the Cheerful Blue Giggle Yarn on clearance it just seemed right.  I mean, it's made of Cheerful Blue Giggle yarn!  This is a spiral pattern baby blanket, super easy.  I started it last Thursday and am already quite far with it.  So far that I am considering doing fancy things to it like line it with cheerful fabric in the back and add rainbow colored fun yarn all around the edges.  New baby should be quite pleased.  


"Dragonwyck"  is the novel I'm knitting along too.  It's been raining like crazy here in Hawaii so a dark, gothic novel full of silly young women and brooding men seemed the ticket.  But so far it is far less depressing than "Wuthering Heights" and that's helpful.  


That's all.  Brooding novels and blue giggle yarn.  Take that depression!

Yarn Along 5

This week I actually started two projects - from total non-knittyness to two seems like a gigantic step for me, but that's probably just my head talking.  

The first is a second one of these.  No not the baby.  Well okay, yes the baby.  I am in the process of making a second one of those - hopefully just as cute and giggly as the first.  But what I meant was this week I started making a second bunny.  For the second baby.  I might make some hats for them too...or bows...just so each kid has their own special rabbit.  What super adorable about this is Emily hasn't really played with the rabbit I made her in awhile, but when I pulled out the big skein of boucle yarn at knit night this week she insisted on cuddling with it.  I think that's the sign of some good baby yarn - it's cuddly even before it is anything.

My second project is this.  It's a crocheted evening shawl.  Looks like it doesn't it?  Actually this yarn used to be a different crocheted evening shawl, but when I went back to work on it I had forgotten the pattern and hadn't written it down anywhere.  So I frogged the whole thing and started anew with a new pattern.  I bought a TON of magazines when Borders closed.  Anything that looks remotely pretty I bought.  They were 90% off - you would splurge too.  So I went through my stash of patterns and picked the River Walk from Interweave Crochet.  It's pretty enough.  I think it will do nicely for a vanity project.  

Also at the close of Borders I bought books I always sorta wanted to read, but not enough to actually actively go out and get it at the store or library.  Sarah Vowell had those books.  "Assassination Vacation" was the only one they had at the sale so it's the one I got.  Honestly, it's not that great.  It's quirky and witty and there are some interesting tidbits of information I pick up on, but it feels a little like being forced to see photos of someone else's vacation.  It's a travel log.  But it's not about the place, it's about the opinion of the author of something that happened at that place.  I'm less than hooked 88 pages in.  

However, it's my bath book.  Does anyone else do this?  When Emily takes a bath we splash and play for a little while.  I somehow convince her to wash her hair and get clean, then she is no longer interested in playing with me and just wants to swim around on her own.  So I sit back against the wall next to the tub and read a book.  Usually not anything enthralling, I have one eye on the swimming toddler, but I read.  It's about the only time I do.  Does this make me a bad mother - oh probably.  Whatever.  At least I made her a bunny from scratch.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

I stopped making the typical resolutions a few years ago.  Honestly, why start the year off feeling bad because after the holidays I am simply too tired to start a big new regimen of stuff.  Besides, despite all the depression and insecurity, I actually like myself the way I am.  So there.

Instead the new year is a great time to resolve to do things I want to do.  So here is what I'd like to work on this year:

Learning to knit Continental style (I've always been an English knitter, I know how to do it the other way, I just need to perfect it)
Sew more
Sing more
Make more yummy salads for dinner
Sleep one full, complete night, all the way through (this is really a resolution for Emily)

That's it.  Happy New Year!

Boo!

I love Halloween.  I love it.  I adore it.  I love the fact that there is a time every year where my obsession with costumes, goth, hay, and candy are all perfectly acceptable.

So the other weekend while D was napping and Emily and I were running out of fun things to do.  I collected a bunch of stuff and made myself a scarecrow.

He is wearing my father's gardening pants (that were hanging in the guest room), my snuggly flannel jacket, a kerchief, and my father's gardening gloves (that I found hiding in the pockets of his pants).  I stuffed him with plastic shopping bags and his shoulders are made from a palm frond with the leaves stripped off.  I think the effect is a little ruined by the fact he's sitting in front of a bunch of palm trees, ti plants, and there are two pink hibiscus trees behind him.  No colored leaves or spooky trees in Hawaii.  However, D managed to convince the little boys next door that this guy was real and if they came too close he'd jump up and grab them.

Since this picture I've given him some pumpkins to hang on to and I want to add some lights and my other decorations in the front windows.  12 days left till Halloween and that's as far as I've gotten.

Boo.

Yarn Along 4

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading...

Linking up with Ginny at small things again

Same project, new book.  I gave up on the Shakespeare book for awhile because Emily is in a particularly whinny/clingy phase that does not allow me to pay attention to books easily.  Unless they are children's books.  In fact I have book group tomorrow and haven't even acquired the book yet.  I started reading "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" though and last night Emily ran around me over and over while I read chapter two out loud.  It seemed to work well.  So we'll read that book for awhile.

Project wise I'm humming along nicely.  The back bodice piece is now showing the pattern (sets of yarn-over holes in a V pattern).  I'm loving the dark blue color.  The black looks dull compared to it, but I hope once all the banding is on it'll tie the piece together.  I also love the puckering the pattern is creating.  In the pattern photo it didn't look puckered.  So maybe I'm doing it wrong but it is awfully pretty. I also started the ribbing for the front bodice piece.  Mostly because once I finish the back I'll want to continue working in pattern for the front rather than doing more ribbing. This sweater is tight around the waist, which is why the bottom ribbing is so long, and it's a bit annoying doing so much of it in teeny-tiny stitches.  

I also finished the red sweater.  I gave it a bath before installing the zipper and it's still drying so I can't put it on or lay it out for pictures.  But it is finished!  

Yarn Along 3

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading... 

Yarn Along with Ginny again

My Goal

 Once again this week I'm working on the new 1930's sweater.  I got the pattern from a knitting magazine I bought when Borders was going out of business.  I like the pattern as a whole, but it's been a whole week of knitting (including a Monday night with the Aloha Knitters) and I'm still not past the bottom of the ribbing on the back yet.  I have 1.5 centimeters to go.  (Oh yeah, it's a british pattern too so there might be extra math for me later on.)

My Distraction

Still reading "Contested Will" this week.  Haven't got far.  I like James Shapiro, but he is super academic.  I have a pretty big vocabulary and I'm running across new words in this book.  Also, it's the kind of book where you need to follow the little details to get the full gist of the hoaxes and conspiracies - in other words you need to pay attention.  I can't even get through one row of ribbing without getting distracted (see the cute kid running away with the wool and a knitting needle) so getting through this book is going to take some doing.  Or some serious nap time.

I am also this close to finishing the red sweater.  I did a lot of construction stitching this past week which 1) kept me from ribbing and 2) did not get me to finished.  I have about 4 more inches of the last zipper flap to sew up.  The flap isn't long enough though, so I really have 4 more inches of ribbing to do on that first.  Then sew.  Then weave more ends (there are a lot of ends).  Then sew the zipper in.

Didn't I say I was almost finished?

Yarn Along 2

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading...

I haven't finished my red sweater from the last yarn along yet.  I still have some construction sewing to do on it.  However, since my Mother was here last week I got excited to start a new project before the other was done.  (I spent about an hour showing her my stash and patterns.)

So this new project will someday be a sweater from a vintage (1930's) pattern.  I found the yarn at Savers for cheap and am rather excited about the project.  The yarn is wool and a darn bit scratchier than I originally thought.  So much so that by the time I finished casting on I was ready to stop because I disliked it so much.  Now after two rows I am falling slightly more in love with it again.  I intend for the ribbing to be black (the color in the picture) and blue for the body.  I like the blue better than the black - it's far more vibrant - but am unsure I have enough blue to finish it all. 

For my book I'm reading Contested Will by James Shapiro.  It does say "Who Wrote Shakespeare?" on the cover but the book is more about why people want to believe someone else wrote Shakespeare and when they started.  That is a question I often ask myself too.  I believe that William Shakespeare wrote the Shakespeare plays.  I believe it not just because I have only see credible evidence of this but because believing that a man from a small town who had no formal training, travel, or access to the uppercrust of society can still write something amazing is believing that anyone can do anything.  It's a belief in the human spirit.  The spirit and amazement of genius.  It also speaks to my inherent Americanness - it doesn't matter who your father was or what circumstances you were born only what you do with it.  That's a simplified view of it I know.  Even in the most democratic of places it still matters how you grew up, but I still believe in the ideal that people can rise above and that upstart crows can be read for millennia.

I only just started this book and I like it.  My Dad read it cover to cover when he came to visit  and he enjoyed it too.  I usually take his advice on books because he is a writer as well.  Here is his book review on his blog he writes for The Maui News.  

Yarn Along

I decided to join the Yarn Along over at small things.  Reading and knitting together!  Awesome idea!

Do you think it's a sign of the times that I actually don't have a "book" to take a picture of?  That is my Kindle.  I'm currently reading ""The Piano Teacher" by Janice Y.K. Lee.  It's a book club book for the Oahu Women's Literary Society and I'm enjoying it.  Or I was.  It starts off like an interesting romance, then gets terribly bleak and depressing following the trials of WWII in Hong Kong.  

On the bright side my Little Red Riding Hood Sweater is almost finished.  I started this sweater two years ago when I lived in Korea.  There I could have worn a hooded sweater and it would make sense.  Hawaii doesn't give me much occasion to wear this, but I want to finish it either way.  I've finished all but half of one zipper band and the two pockets.  I missed knitting Monday this week so I haven't gone far this week, but I hope to have it all done within the next two weeks.  

Project: Squid!

I've mentioned a few times that among my chores I've been making squid.  I was not talking about an awesome new calamari recipe - I was talking about these:

That is a blue squid with fins and a yellow squid without fins.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but they both have eyes made with a collection of gathered double-crochets.

A fellow yarn crafter started a Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef here in Hawaii.  I sadly had to miss out on being part of her show at Mark's Garage earlier this year, but I did get lucky enough to help out with the latest show happening tomorrow at Waikiki Aquarium's Family Night: Meet the Molluscs.  They/we are giving away crocheted squids for the event.  I got to make some squid.

They aren't hard to make, though I really admire the crafter for building her own pattern for them.  I made about eleven squid in various colors mostly using baby yarn because I had some lying around.

Now that I've been doing nothing but crocheting squid I am quite frankly sick of crochet.  I need my knitting needles.  I don't think I'll want to crochet for a long time.  But the squid are cute.  I hope the aquarium kids think they're fun.

K.I.P.

K.I.P.  or Knit-in-Public.  It's my new defense against all things...well...me.

Social things are hard for a person like me who is 1) Shy 2) Anxiety Prone 3) Shy and 4) Really Shy.  Public or social situations can really work me up.  I never know what to say, sometimes I can't think of conversation starters, sometimes I can't think of conversation responses, sometimes I can't even get over my shyness to excuse myself long enough to go to the restroom.  Despite all this I get crazy when I shut myself up in the house too long and I get wildly lonely when I haven't had some sort of interaction other than my cat and my baby.

But when you are knitting (or crocheting) social situations are easy.  When I can't think of anything to say I can knit, when the conversation lags I can always talk about yarn, when I need a minute to come up with something in response I just knit till the end of the row then speak.  No one minds - I'm knitting!

Earlier this week I tried it at church.  Normally time before the service is uncomfortable for me.  Every one wants to say hi, every one mostly wants to flirt with the baby, but then they expect me to continue the conversation.

"Hi!  She's cute."

"Hi!  Yes she is."

Cricket.

Obviously I suck at this.  But with my yarn this week we talked about squid, and yarn, and colors, and then the service started.  It was great.  And I also finished two squid.

Later I went to a mom's group thing at the beach and the conversation went towards schools and what teachers everyone liked.  I don't know any teachers because Emily does not go to school.  There I was, standing knee deep in the ocean, holding a baby, and thinking man I wish I had my yarn.

So K.I.P isn't that practical for all situations, but when I figure out how to knit in the water life will go, er, swimmingly.

Project: Patches

My husband recently (okay like a month ago) officially promoted to Master Sergeant.  It is a big deal and I am very proud of him.  When he finally got to put his new rank insignia on he announced it on Facebook (again, what else would he do?) and said it a little something like this:



"...finally sewed on my new rank as MSgt (E-7)..."



When I spoke to my Mother that night she asked "Why did he say he sewed on his new rank?  You sewed it on!"

Which is true.  While my husband is working very hard to be the best Senior NCO he can be by working even harder than before, putting in even more hours, and striving to be a good example of USAF for me the new promotion means sage green thread and new patches.

On base it costs five dollars a sleeve to sew on a new patch.  My husband has five or six blue shirts, two ABU blouses and two jackets.  Five dollars a sleeve adds up quick so, since I have the fancy new sewing machine, I got to sew them on myself.

Looking online there aren't any best practices for sewing rank patches on.  Probably because, while it is a time consuming and detailed task, it's pretty easy.  However, for all you other spouses out there who are celebrating a promotion with thread here is how I do it:

1) I cheat.  There are a lot of very specific rules to the size of rank.  For instance on an ABU men wear the large insignia, women the small.  However, on the service dress everyone wears the small patch on the shirts and men wear the large on the jackets.  This is all very confusing so I make my husband look it up and just tell me what to buy.

2) I cheat some more.  Again, the placing of the patch is pretty specific and needs to look really neat.  Since I was changing the patches from TSgt to MSgt I just cheated.  I placed the MSgt patch over the TSgt patch matching the bottom curve and the bottom corners.  I lined the point of the "roof" with the dip of the "wings" to find the center (which ought to go right down the crease of the shirt).  Then I tacked everything down at the corners with contrasting thread.  Start at the bottom corners and add an extra stitch in the middle of the curve.  Then move up to the upper corners. These won't line up with the previous patch because you're (hopefully) adding an extra stripe or roof so the patch is bigger.

2a) Tacking might seem like an unnecessary step where you could just pin the patch in the middle, but sleeves are tricky to maneuver in a machine and the patch has to be centered and straight so those extra hand-stitches will make life so much easier later.

2b) You can't tacked the new patch over the old patch on blues.  ABU's (or the new ones at least) aren't supposed to be ironed so the patches will come off easily in the next step.  On blues the shirts have probably been ironed, dry-cleaned, steamed, and starched multiple times.  Surprise!  All of that glues the patch onto the sleeve.  You will have to take the patch off first.  However, the patch also dyes the shirt underneath and you have a lovely pattern of where the old one was placed.  Use that to mark where the new patch should go and tack away.

3)  Remove the old patch from underneath the new one.  I love seam rippers!

4) Sew it on.  I start with a straight edge them work slowly down.  End at a straight edge too...it makes the back stitching easier.  Stitch at the "seam" between the rolled thread edge and the background fabric of the patch.  That way no one can see where you sewed it on.

4a) I use matching thread for the patches, but I realized after removing the old patches that the "professionals" just use black for everything.  At least they do in Korea.  I don't recommend it.  If you make a mistake and go offline a little it won't show with matching thread.

5) Snip threads off.  Then snip again.  Then snip again.  Threads are bad.

6)  If it's an ABU congrats, you're done.  If it's a blues shirt iron the sleeves down the middle and get a good crease in the patch.  Then do it again.  And again.  You'll probably have to do this every time it's worn for awhile.  It's hard to get that crease into the patch.

7)  Okay, now you're really done and you saved some money. Yey.

My First Dress

I know I've been complaining lately about not doing anything because my job is mostly play with baby-nurse baby-play with baby. But surprisingly I have managed to do some things.

I have what would be called a classic, hourglass figure. The irony in that description is that the hourglass figure is so "classic" it apparently doesn't exist. Or at least fashion designers don't think so. I have a small waist, full hips, and plenty up top. If I find clothes that fit my waist it won't fit my top. If it fits my top, I look like I'm wearing a potato sack everywhere else. Fitted is in style now and nothing fits me. It's annoying.

So, now I am teaching myself to make my own clothes. Never one to do things the easy way I started with a dress. But even with a pattern my shape is in the way.

On this dress the finished size the would fit my bust was a 16. In pre-made clothes I wear anywhere from a 6 to a 10 depending on the cut and style. 16, however, is always too big. But, since I was going by my largest measurement (my bust) and following the finished measurements of the pattern I did most of my cuts for a size 16. For the most part this dress was easy to put together. The hardest part is laying out the pattern with a baby in the room. I'm particularly proud of the darts on the front. They look really cute.

I had to do a lot of pinching and tucking once the garment was together to fit it to me. About two inches each seam. Because of that I folded the excess over rather than sew on seam. With white thread on pink fabric it gives a nice detail on the side and actually gives the waist more shape when I'm wearing the dress. The part that still bothers me is that I have a short torso and the midriff is just a tad long. However, I don't want to take it up too much because then it ruins the line of the skirt. Decisions, decisions.

This isn't done. I want to hem the skirt higher because mid-calf just isn't my style (I prefer just below the knee). I also think a white or pink sash will look very nice, and perhaps some detail at the straps. Otherwise, for my first garment, I think it came out quite well.

Projects: Curtains

I made some really pretty curtains for my craft room. They are white voile with ribbons of flowers over them. I lined them in magenta. My craft room is painted pale pink so when the sun shines through the magenta the room really pops bright.

Unfortunately, the homeowner/condo association people have cited me for having pink curtains so now I have to change the color.

I could line the magenta with white so the magenta will still show through the voile on the inside of the window, but hopefully not show through the lining towards the outside.

I could put up a white blackout curtain on a different rod behind the actual curtain.

I could change the curtains altogether.

Or I could take them all down and make everyone look straight into my pink craft room.

Don't know what I'll do, but that's my new project.

Clothes Horse

My daughter has the cutest clothes. Being a girly-girl myself I like pretty dresses and frilly shirts and such. However, it's easy to find cheap frilly dresses for little girls. It's hard to find them for grown women. I also have a secret hippy in me who enjoys those mix-n-match'd peasant shirts and dresses. Unfortunately, those never look good on women with hourglass figures. They do look good on babies though. So I often find myself jealous of Emily's wardrobe whether we're dressing up or down.

Now I'm really jealous. Yesterday my daughter wore a dress that was hand-sewn by my mother for my sister. It was worn by my sister, myself, and now it's Emily's. It's adorable. Made of lacy fabric (but not too lacy), with a peter pan collar. The skirt has cute, small, darts. The sleeves are puffed. The whole thing was hand-stitched.

Which means my daughter isn't even a year old and she's already sporting vintage couture. I am so jealous!