A (mostly) Handmade Holiday (Christmas!!)

With the exception of the pictures of my daughter we gave out as presents and my brother's Starbucks gift card, oh and my husband's two shirts and two books I got him, everything was handmade. I'd have made my husband's too, except I can't make books really well. :)

So here is Handmade Holiday (Christmas!!), Part One:


The ipod case I made my sister-in-law. I have no idea if it fits or if she likes it. I sent it home with her in a gift bag, along with the other gifts for my in-laws, and I guess she waited until Christmas to open it. She didn't say anything to me about it and when my mother-in-law called on Christmas she didn't mention it. I felt funny asking, so I just left it alone. Oh well.


I made my mom an apron for Christmas! It's made with Santa Clause printed cotton and coordinating green cotton. She seems to like it! It was fun to make.


I made a half-apron for Connie, because everyone needs a girly pirate apron! Not as much fun to make. I don't know how to sew on curves. I need to learn this.


For my daughter, the daughter of a friend of mine, and the little girls across the street, I made Ruby Dolls. So darn cute and so much fun to make! These are the pieces laid out. The one for my friend is on the left, my daughter's is in the middle, and the neighbor girls' is on the right.


Neighbor dolly all finished with embellishments! I was going to use a little leftover piece of lace from Connie's apron, but used ribbon instead. I also found a little pearl button to sew at the neckline. I think she's sweet. :)


And here is the finished dolly for my daughter. So far she has no embellishments. Since Isabel is in the teething-let's-put-everything-into-the-mouth stage I wanted to avoid anything that might come off or be yucky, like buttons or felt. :) I will embellish her dolly when she's a little older. For now, though, I think she's a cutie little doll.

I have yet to finish the aprons for my mother-in-law, Katrina, and Caity. The last two are very nearly done, I just ran out of time. Fortunately I will be seeing them this weekend and can give them then. My mother-in-law is coming up mid-January so I have until then to finish hers. No biggie. :) I also need to finish my friend's daughter's dolly and mail it out. I feel badly, but I told her it would be sent late. I hope she understands. As soon as the two half-aprons are done (tonight? maybe?) I'll work on the doll and then my mother-in-law's apron.

I'm not sure what to do for my sister-in-law's birthday. I may give in and buy an itunes gift card like last year, though I kind of want to make her a rice pillow or something like that.

So Handmade Holiday (Christmas!!), Part Two is forthcoming! Stay tuned!

Oh! And my husband got into the handmade spirit and made me a FABULOUS bench for Christmas!!!


It fits under our key/mail holder by the front door and has a little seat and underneath is a slanted space to hold our shoes! Ingenious! It isn't stained yet because he wasn't sure what stain I'd like. He's also in the process of making our daughter a little table she can sit at that will graduate into a kind of breakfast-in-bed tray when she outgrows it. Fun! :)

Fabric Store Jackpot!

I went to Jo-Ann's yesterday with absolutely no intentions of buying anything. I went mostly to check denim and courderoy prices and to see if I could find any fabric appropriate for my mother-in-law's Christmas gift.

MAN! Little did I know they were having a huge sale! And me without my coupons...They wouldn't have done me much good, anyway, since everything I bought was already on sale.

I found this pretty lilac cotton with a darker lilac rose pattern to use for my mil's apron. I got 2.5 yds of it, though I probably only needed 1.5. Oh well...this way I can make it lined. This fabric was my ulitmate sale - $2/yd with an additional 50% off!

I also found this super pretty dark rose knit. Super pretty. I'm going to use it for a wrap skirt, I think, if it doesn't stretch too much. I may have to use something else for the ties. I'm not sure. I'd like to cut the front wrap on the bias and see if it'll do what i have in my head, but I'm doubtful. I need to find a picture and bring my question to the all-knowing Craftster. I got 3 yards of this (at $1.50/yd). Hope it's enough!

And I got 1.5yds of this home decor (I think) fabric. It's in a block pattern and the blocks are in turquoises, greens, blues, and browns that match our house. I'm going to use this fabric for more napkins. Hooray for cloth napkins! This was also $1.50/yd

I also got a fabric remnant of a dark green cotton to use for my mom's Christmas present. 94 cents :)

So I made out like a bandit. I wish I had gotten some thread and batting, but oh well. The silk brocade stuff was on 60% sale, too, and I sooo wanted to get 2/3yd of a pretty color pattern to make a mei tai, but I didn't. Maybe I'll go back. :)

So I need to get with it! I have my Advent Calendar cut out, just needs to be sewn. I haven't decided how to do the lettering. I guess I can figure that out when I'm done sewing on the pockets. I need to do the aprons and napkins. And I found an adorable doll tutorial on Sew Mama Sew that I'd like to make for Isabel. I forgot to print the instructions! Hopefully tomorrow...

I'll edit this later with links :)

Just in time!

I made an apron tonight! Just in time for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It isn't perfect, but it's sweet and it's useful. I used standard cotton fabric, but it's really thin, quilting cotton I think, so it's not sturdy. And I copied a sturdier ready-made apron, so it kind of hangs weird on me, but it works. I think it's super cute. Since it was pretty much my own pattern I can tweak it as I need to. I'm happy! Hopefully there will be pictures up soon. Some were taken tonight but I am in my pajamas and they were not cute.

Hooray for aprons!

I also found a stash of fabric remnants while I was going through stuff in the sewing room, trying to organize. This makes me super excited, as many remnants are perfect for cloth napkins. Yay!

I started working on my shawl but I can't access the webpage where I saw the pattern. I don't know why but it's asking me for a username and password, even though it was someone's blog. Oh well. I remember the pattern being something super easy, but I don't quite remember what it was. I know I'm supposed to cast on three stitches and increase from there, but I'm not sure where the increases are supposed to happen or how often and I'm not sure about bind-off. I'm also not sure of the direction I'm knitting....am I knitting from tip to tip, meaning I knit increases until halfway and then decrease until I'm left with three stitches and then bind off? Or am I knitting from the bottom point up, leaving me to bind off the entire top length? I just don't know! I wish that website was up. It also had a link to a site for neat knitting notions. (how's that for alliteration?) Like shawl pins. Dagnabbit!

Ok, it's so definitely bedtime you don't even know!

Brr!

I think I'm going to abandon all projects and make a shawl. Cozy!

And aprons. My fabric is looking mighty forlorn in the sewing basket. I need to iron, measure, cut, pin, and sew! I'm really looking forward to it, I just wish I had the time/opportunity to do it.

A Look I'm Catching On To

I got this from someone's blog, who got it in an email forward:

I remember aprons do you?

I don't think our kids know what an apron is... The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old time apron" that served so many purposes.

I'm totally into aprons right now. My mom wears them all the time and I've caught onto their practicality and fun. I have one apron, a half apron I made last year (I'll find the link for that later), and I think it's about time I made some more.

So, guess what everyone is getting for Christmas? ;) At least the women on my list.

Napkins galore!

Well, not really galore.

But I have been making some. I've made two sets so far:



One is green with plaid and the other is gray and yellow.



They are really quite fun to make! The green I made like a pillow cover, sewed up all sides inside out with a space left to turn it right-side out. The gray napkins I used the zig-zag stitch on my machine to "serge" the two fabrics together. This was my first time doing this and, while they didn't turn out as perfectly as I'd have liked, they don't look half-bad for a first time try. I have to get used to how the fabric feeds through the needle because it's slower and a little different.

I also must learn how to CUT ON A STRAIGHT LINE. Geez! Especially when I'm sewing the two together like that. You can see where I cut unevenly and if I sew in a straight line, intending to cut the excess fabric off, you can tell the napkin is a different size than the other napkins. I've got to get better at measuring and cutting.

I also must get my scissors sharpened.

And my sewing room organized. It kills me that there are still boxes in there and I can't get in to find stuff or even set up the ironing board and the sewing table.

Speaking of ironing....The gray napkins are supposed to have little appliques on them. I bought a thing of Heat 'n' Bond to use for this and I followed the directions correctly. However, I didn't use a lot of common sense. I laid the fabric to be appliqued on the ironing board, backwards like you're supposed to. Then I laid the Heat 'n' Bond paper on top, paper side up like you're supposed to. Then I ironed. And as soon as I lifted the iron I realized I just Heat 'n' Bonded the appliques and paper to the ironing board. I cut the paper off and peeled off the paper backing, which left the sticky plastic stuff and the appliques. I was able to peel off the appliques, since only the back side was bonded, but that left a nice square of bond paper stuck to the ironing board. Duh. So now I have to iron with a piece of fabric pinned over it so it doesn't get stuck to my clothes until I can get another ironing board cover.

Bah.

I haven't made any headway on my knitting lately and I haven't done much with scrapbooking, though I'd like to. I've got a bunch of things for my daughter I'd like to put into a book, but I haven't been able to do it yet. Hopefully soon. I also haven't made any more slings or pouches. I'd like to, especially before Wednesday because I'd like to take them to La Leche League and see if any of the new mamas there are interested in buying. Maybe I can make a new pouch to show and then see if they are interested. The pouch would be made to my specifications, but I can at least show them that I make them. I wish Jo-Ann's had the rings to use for ring slings. I guess I'll have to order them online.

And that's it for today. I'm really trying to update this more often, though I know I'm failing miserably.

Works that have progressed. One that was nearly completed.

Baby blanket. I forget what the pattern is, I have it linked somewhere if you go back a few posts. It'll be cute when I'm done, but I've decided it really isn't worth the effort. Cute but maybe too Aunt Mildred's typical knitted Red Heart Christmas gift cute. You should be thankful I didn't feel up to making the matching bonnet and booties.




The progress of the felted tote. It's loosely based on the felted striped tote of One Skein, but not really. Pretty much I'm just using the pattern to get an idea of shaping. I'm excited for it to work out, though. The brown is the bottom, which I ran out of. So the majority of the tote will be magenta. Eh, not such a horrible color. Especially for fall!


The pouch, on the floor. It's sewn in half so you can't see the other side. However, you can see the concave seam that was supposed to be convex, making the pouch about two inches longer than it is. Ah well. Live and learn. Don't cut when baby-tired.

Good night.

No title today

Well, I made my pouch. It worked! The only onlyonly thing wrong with it is I cut it concave rather than convex, so it's shorter than it's supposed to be. I don't know how I brilliantly did that, something with not lining up the pins right and folding on the right curve. Not too much of a problem, though. I can still use it and Isabel seems to like it. Except she's getting so big I'm afraid to put her in it! I'm not completely convinced the material I chose is wide enough. It will be when she can sit up in it and not have to have her head supported, but she's not quite there yet. Almost. I wore it to a La Leche League meeting with great success. Now I just have to hem it. :)

I'm going to make some more, I hope. Sometimes the sewing machine wakes her up and sometimes it doesn't so I'm always afraid to risk it and then have to spend another hour getting her to fall back asleep, at which point I may as well just go to bed myself. I would so love to make them and give to people. I wish I could sell them! I see so many women out with their babies and the babies are always stuck in a car seat or in the shopping cart or stroller or the poor mum is lugging the baby around on her hip, struggling to keep a firm grasp while maneuvering a cart or reaching for things on shelves. I just want to say hey! I have a solution for you! I may start doing that.....If I can reliably make some at different sizes and use them out and about. I can be my own advertisement. I would love to sell them, though. The problem is there are already a bunch of moms online who make and sell slings, not to mention the huge market of professional sling-makers who use so much awesomer fabric than me and whose workmanship is at the mass-production level. But who knows? Anyone know of anyone looking for a sling?

I may have blogged about this before, but I set aside my sweater and baby blanket to start on a felted tote bag. I don't know why, other than to do something different that didn't require me looking at a pattern after every row to remind myself of what I needed to do next. This I just knit and knit and knit until I get 9 inches. Then there's some uncomplicated shaping, knit some more, add straps, bind off, hooray! I'm done. I'm using left over skeins from my sweater, Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool, so the color combinations may be a little interesting. We'll see! I'm still itching to use up Julie's yarn that she gave me, but I really want to finish that baby blanket first. I just can't bring myself to do it, for some reason. I guess I got bored with it after two pattern repeats. Too much counting. :)

I still want to make something with the yarn Katrina gave me, too. It's "sweater yarn" and I was thinking about either a nice cozy cardigan with fun buttons and a pocket or the Under the Hoodie from SnB, but now I'm starting to lean towards a comfycozy shawl. We'll see, I suppose. I always fancy myself a shawl person, until I actually have one in my hands and then I don't know what to do with it or feel I look stupid because I'm the opposite of gracefully tall and willowy.

I've been looking for ways to earn money through blogging. (Keep clicking the Google links folks! I've got $9 so far....only $91 more to go and then I get paid! :) I signed up for this pay per post site but I'm not sure about it. It seemed a little odd and you have to be willing to blog about products for different companies. That's ok, I kind of expected that, but I don't want to blog about things I don't know too much about or that aren't relevant to my blog. Also, I feel a little weird trying to sell you all stuff. If it were something I really liked or would recommend anyway then that would be different. Oh I wish a fabric company or notions company or something would ask me to promote their stuff!

I'm slowly trying to decorate our new house. I bought fabric to re-cover a pillow in the living room. It has turquoise, brown, blue, and off-white stripes and really helps tie together all the different colors of the room. The couch is a khaki color, the lamps are greenish, the curtains on the lanai window are navy blue and the curtains on the front window are turquoise, and the other pillows on the couch are green and brown. I found some fabulous fabric that's seafoam green with coral print on it but it was - gasp! - $17.95 on sale for half-off! So no to that...I would have loved to re-cover the seat cushions of the dining room chairs in that. Oh well. I found a book on how to make furniture and upholstery and hoped it would give good information on slipcovers. Unfortunately it's mostly on how to make your own furniture or re-design the furniture you already have. Handy, if that's what we needed. I'd like to re-cover the old-fashioned chair we have in the front room. It's a pretty chair but the fabric is a little too Victorian flowery vomit for me. I shouldn't say that. It's a very nice fabric, just doesn't fit in with the rest of the house.

In an effort to be more frugal and more waste-conscious we've switched to using cloth napkins. It's also more fun, every meal feels like a tea party! :) I have some fabric remnants I'm going to use to make my own napkins, since right now I just have two sets. I just have to figure out how big to make them. The two sets I have are different dimensions, so I guess it doesn't really matter, so long as it folds up into a napkin shape and unfolds to cover the lap of the person using it. If I knew how to crochet I could make fun edging around them, but I don't. And I'm not likely to pick it up, either, with everything else I have going on.

I wish I knew if people read this thing. I get weekly updates on how often the site has been visited and viewed but it doesn't tell me much. I wonder how I could get this out into cyberspace. I don't know what I would do if there were more readers, but it's kind of fun to think about.

Ah. Good night. I should do something crafty, instead of just talking about it.

Measure twice, cut once. Huh what?

SO

It's been awhile. I had a baby. And moved. And now here I am again.

Today I made curtains for our kitchen. Yeah, I totally flipped the dimensions. 37"x52" became the other way around and whoops...now my curtains are too narrow and too long. And I can't fix it. Grrrrrrr......



And, also, I sewed one curtain with the hems facing one direction and the other curtain with the hems facing the other direction. I can't just flip one around, either, because to make these curtains I cut an existing one in half and had to cut through the middle of the cut-out pattern. So you can see where it matches up.

Sigh.

I'm going to sally forth and attempt to make a baby carrier pouch. I shall not be discouraged by one failed try! I have cute fairy and tree fabric, too. How sweet would Isabel look carried around in that?! I can't wait. I hope it works out. If it does, I'm totally making one for Jenn.



I'm done with Katrina's thing. FINALLY. I was going to mail it to her, but since she's coming to visit in a few weeks I may as well wait. However, that means I need to get crackin' on Connie's!!!! It should NOT take me this long to make these! I want to make one for my friends who just had a baby girl last Friday, too. I hope I hope I hope!

I've been inspired to start up knitting, again. I'd love it if I could either make the 5 hour baby sweater or finish up my baby blanket by next Saturday, in time for Sarah and Jon's wedding, but I know myself better than that. The most I can hope for is to have them done by Christmas.

I did, however, manage to make my mother-in-law a little mini-scrapbook to give her this weekend. I think it's super-cute, but it definitely looks homemade. I need to get real scrapbooking glue. All I have is Mod Podge, and while I love it, it sometims turns out funny. And I need to get better photo stickers because the ones I have don't stick to the back of the photos. Maybe we just have weird paper. I dunno. Anyway, I hope she likes it!

Dulcecitos Agrios

Or "tangy candy."

I'd like to take a minute and update, just to catch up on what I've been doing, having problems with, what I'd like to do, and just generally what's going on. The whole point of this thing is to have a record of stuff I make. It's time to start recording.

As I've previously mentioned, I finished the pink maternity shirt. It toook me a year and a day to get the straps and ties turned rightside out and the darts are kind of wonky. Another problem is it seems the straps are too long. If I make them shorter, though, then the darts will be too far up. This is my first time doing side darts, so I'm a little confused how to fix this. I wish I had a pattern book or something that could help. If the darts were up and down in front I could easily move them in whichever direction they'd fit best, but on the side means the pattern has this weird cut to it and I'm not sure how to adjust that.

The pattern was rather easy to follow, though, so I made a dress from it and wore it to Bridget's wedding. The lining and the dress fabric actually worked well together, even though they were completely opposite fabrics. The fabric for the lining is this heavy cotton and the dress is this flimy sheer cotton. The lining seemed to give it structure, though, which I liked and needed. I don't like it when you have these flimsy dress fabrics and then the lining is something silky or flimsy, too. Then it pulls and tugs in all the wrong places. Again, though, the straps were too long and the dress was overall just too big. I somehow managed to sit on the dress weirdly and it caused one of the straps to pull and snap out of place, so I had to wear it all day with one strap anchored to my tank top. I'll sew it back into place one of these days. I'd like to wear it again. Maybe next week? I also managed to sew the lining inside out to the dress, so the hem is in front. Fortunately the dress covers the hem, but it's a little obvious sometimes when I move.

Another thing I don't like about this pattern is I have to wear a tank top underneath. I probably would anyway, just to cover bra straps, but I have to mostly because of the straps and darts not being in the right place. Maybe the sewing book Carrie gave me has some tips for adjustments.

I really need to stop being lazy with my hemming and linings and piecing together. I fully appreciate a well-made garment, but I just get impatient and lazy and want whatever it is I'm making to be done with so I can wear it or use it. Most things I make I just fold the hem once and sew it in place, so the fabric starts to unravel and there are all these little strings. That, I think, is more annoying than the time it takes to just hem it properly, but I never think of that while I'm sewing.

For some reason, I cannot accept the fact that I am not a fast sewer or knitter or anything, really. I guess I see other people who make things at lightning speed and think, "Well if they can do it, then I surely can." But I forget that I have a different temperment and attention span and ability than they do. They may be at a more beginning stage than I am (which is rather hard to do, frankly), but maybe they are better at concentrating or something. I, on the other hand, am not. I love to sew and knit and make things, but I just can't do it for long stretches of time. Or even all at once. I'd love to be able to sit down and make a skirt from beginning to end in one afternoon, but I just can't. I need to stop and look at other things and give my mind a break from the concentration of cutting, pinning, ironing, and sewing. I need to read for a bit, or listen to some music and eat a snack, something that lets me re-focus. So most of my projects that should or could take less than a day to do end up taking about a week.

This is especially frustrating with my knitting projects and the thing I'm making Katrina. Neither of my knitting should take me very long to do, a month at the most for each, but it's taken me several months. I just can't sit there and look at the same thing and do it over and over again and be done with it. I need to take my time, enjoy the process, and finish when I finish. Rushing or speeding things up or trying to do too many projects at once just makes it worse. I think that's why a list is good for me, but not deadlines.

So I have one sleeve finished on my Pinwheel Sweater and an eighth of my baby blanket done. The sweater looks ok and looks like it will fit, but it will not be the big, baggy, comfortable, wearable blanket I was hoping for. I don't understand this, since I followed the pattern exactly, only altering it to increase the size. My alterations should have made it bigger, which bothers me. If it is actually bigger, what size is the original? I'm wondering if there's a way to un-do each color band and knit a few more rows of each color and then re-join them. Did I talk about this already? It seems familiar. That would help make it bigger, but then the sleeves may be out of place. Also, I may have to go back and change my bind-off. Though it's a loose bind-off, it's too tight for the knit of the sweater and that's what's creating the mushroom-cloud shape, rather than it laying flat on the ground.

The baby blanket has actually gotten fun to make. I love the color and the yarn (even though it is acrylic - it has to be easily washed!) and the pattern is interesting enough to keep my attention yet repetitive enough to let my mind wander and watch a movie or listen to a book on tape.

Books on tape have become my new best friend. I love listening to the radio and watching movies, but I love to read even more. It doesn't replace the joy of reading, but it does somewhat recreate the feeling. I just like stories, I think. The last one I listened to, though, I couldn't stand the reader. She enunciated perfectly and never stumbled or mispronounced things, but her voice and inflection was all wrong at times. I guess that's the actor in me. I kept thinking how I would say it. I wonder if that's a lucrative job market and how would one get involved in becoming a narrator?

Two weekends ago was Bridget's wedding and while we were in Tallahassee Julie took me to the BEST yarn shop ever. I forget the name now, something like Woolly Bully or something, but it was awesome. For my birthday she gave me two skeins of lime green (I guess, the color number is 302 I think) (edit: evidently it's called "wintergreen") Mission Falls 1824 Cotton yarn. Well, I picked it out. :) But anyway, I have enough to make the five hour baby sweater with it. This is very exciting. :) I may be too excited to wait until the blanket is done to start on it, even though the needles I need are currently knitting up the blanket.

If you go to the mission falls website, not only does she sell cotton and wool yarns, but also amazing buttons that look just perfect for a cardigan or sweater. I'll probably order some when I decided what kind of sweater I'd like to make with Katrina's yarn.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures or links to add here. Hopefully I can get some soon. I could get links, I suppose. I'll have to do that before I post this. In the meantime, happy crafting and don't forget to click the links!

P.S. somehow my side bar has moved to the bottom. does anyone know how to fix this?

Aw do I have to?

I said I'd update so here I am.

Don't expect any pictures, though.

I don't feel like getting my camera out and taking pictures of half-completed projects. I finished the pink shirt and am in the process of making a dress from the same pattern but with the turquoise flower material. That's almost done, I just have to hem it and sew the lining to the dress. It isn't done, though, because I don't want the hassle of dragging my sewing table the six inches across the hallway so that the plug can reach the outlet in the bathroom and then having to set up the ironing board in the foot-and-a-half of space left between the wall and the table so I can plug the iron into the bathroom outlet as well and then having passageway into the bathroom and the bedroom blocked by cords and the door to the table. It's not really a hallway. It's a squareway. A very small one. Probably less than 4x4. And it's a pain. When we move a corner of the second (or third???) bedroom will be set up specifically for sewing/ironing/crafting and it will be left set up so there's none of this hassle. It will just be. Oh how I long for the day...

So, anyway. The pink shirt is finished. My mother-in-law's birthday present is finished (on time, even. whoo!). The dress is nearly finished. The baby blanket is started. The pinwheel sweater is annoying me. I've discovered the closer I get to being done the less I actually want to finish it. Seriously, all I have left are the sleeves and I just don't have the motivation. Part of that is I'm a little worried how it will turn out. I followed the directions exactly, with the exception of increasing each color band by two rows, and I didn't use all the yarn it called for. In fact, I have four balls left over, completely untouched. And it looks horribly small. It looks like it will fit but it doesn't at all look like the big, comfortable, slouchy sweater pictured on the site. It looks more like a regular cardigan. And it doesn't lay flat. I'm unsure if that's because of something I did or because half of both arm holes are closed because of the afterthought method I used, and therefore makes the sweater bunch up.

I finally had the interest and desire to finish up last night (because I was ignoring the dress I should have been finishing instead) and lo and behold - I couldn't get my Denise extenders to unlock! I love my Denises. I really and truly do. They're pretty much the only needles I use any more (though I'm itching to try some bamboo) but the extenders are driving me crazy. One has an end that locks and unlocks perfectly and an end that will not lock at all and the other has an end that locks and unlocks perfectly and an end that will not unlock once in position. Ugh! I tried the paper clip trick they describe in the instructions, but nada. I cannot get it to come loose, so I can't make the cable smaller, so I can't finish the sleeves. I could do the Magic Loop thinger again, but I really just want to be done and not have to maneuver cables and needles and yarn. I may have to, though. I guess I should buck up.

I NEED to get started on Katrina's thing so I can have that in the mail before Connie's birthday. I can't give Katrina hers after Connie, Trina's birthday was in February! I'm a horrible friend. I'm sorry guys.

I did figure out what I'm going to do with those silly armwarmers, though. I decided what I was doing was NOT right for the yarn I was using. Way too fluffy and furry and hot, so I'm making something more lacy that matches the type of yarn better. I hope, anyway. If not, I have no idea what to do with the rest of this yarn. Webs Valley Yarn sends some huge amounts of yarn!

I can put up a picture of my mother-in-law's birthday gift. I already have a pic saved on my computer. There's this song by Cindy Morgan, Praise the King, that reminds me of her every time I hear it. I told David that once and he said that's funny because that's one of her favorite songs. So I had the fabulous idea to embroider the lyrics of the song onto muslin for her. I had this whole idea in my head, but time and logic restrained me. I just did the first verse and the chorus. I may make another one with images from the song to go along with it. I don't think I'll finish the song but I wanted it to be more decorative than just thread on muslin. She, however, loves it (she cried! holy cow!) so maybe it doesn't matter and I need to tell the crafter perfectionist in me to be quiet and go away. :)




So I guess I'll go finish up my dress and work on the baby blanket and ask people in various areas of the web what to do about my Denises. I should check my to-do list and see how much I have left. Then I can add more. One major lesson I've learned in the last three months is I do NOT craft well on a deadline. It completely takes the joy and creativity and calming effects away from the activity and those are the reasons I make things in the first place. I suppose if I were getting paid it would be different, because I grew up in America where money is the biggest motivator, but I'm not. I'm supposedly doing this for my own enjoyment and out of the goodness of my heart. Or some sappy junk like that.

P.S. Don't forget to keep clicking the ad links! I've made $6 in the four months I've had AdSense. ;)

I guess it's been a while...

I took a loooooooong break from my Pinwheel Sweater and just came back to it yesterday after a week of unproductivity (that's a word, right?). Certain life events just kind of make you want to put things aside for while. However, those life events for some weird reason spurred me on to completely finish my navy blue dress in two days. I believe it would have been one if the power hadn't gone out last Thursday afternoon. It went out at 330 and they didn't have it back up until 7. Ridiculous! Evidently a main line was broken or something and 1700 consumers were affected. I want to know what they all did about dinner. We had an interesting time trying to remember everything we needed out of the refrigerator so we could grab it all at once as fast as we could so as not to waste the insulated air inside. It was really sad because I had cooked a WHOLE chicken for the first time ever in my life in the crockpot and had yummy vegetables planned, but all we could have was the chicken. Who wants just chicken and no veggies or anything to go with it for dinner?

Anyway this is not the point of a crafting blog. So the blue dress was finished! I didn't realize just how cheap the material I had was until I started really sewing with it. It frayed at the slightest touch and was very stiff, even though it had been washed. But, it was $0.50 a yard at the dreaded Walmart and I bought it specifically to use for practice.

The pattern was rather complicated, as all Simplicity patterns seem to be. I don't know why they're called Simplicity when they leave out important directions or misprint their pictures so when you should be looking at the inside of the garment you're looking at the outside. The top collar took me nearly a half hour just to figure out which way it attached to the shirt front. None of the notches matched up, even though I had cut very precisely along the line of the pattern. Really silly things. You'd think they'd take the time to go over everything before printing and selling. On top of the pattern difficulties, I added my own.

First of all, I did NOT use interfacing like the directions instructed. I dislike it and I dislike linings and I dislike cutting out additional material and sewing additional things. Patience is not my strong point with sewing (funny - I have loads of focus but no patience when I sew and loads of patience but no focus when I knit) so I try to eliminate as many minor steps as I think are possible. Usually all I can eliminate are the linings and interfacing, so I do. Mistake #1. And you know, it's so stupid! I specifically bought iron-on interfacing because I know I'm too lazy to sew it all together, and I still didn't use it! So the collar around the neck turned out funky because there was nothing to hold it up. It wouldn't lay flat at all, which is bad because it looks funny and like I said before, the fabric is cheap so any movement pulls the stitches from the fabric, so I had weird little pulls at the V of the neck. Fabulous. Mistake #2 was once I had figured out which way to sew the collar, I kept sewing it backwards FOUR TIMES. I had even chalk-marked which was the front left side and which was the front right side and I marked it on the wrong side of the fabric so I knew how it faced out and I STILL sewed it together wrong. Once I had finally gotten a grip on myself and sewed it the right way, the power went out. If it had just stayed on for a half hour more I could have gotten all the hemming for the top done. So it was postponed to the next day. I finished all the hemming in the morning and tried it on and surprise surprise - it fit! In fact, it was actually a little loose under the arms, even though it was just barely fitting over the bustline. So, encouraged, I began the waist band and skirt. Mistake #3. I sewed the waist band and ties all correctly just fine and attached them to the top. Everything looked hunky-dory so I went ahead to the skirt. Yeah....It took me TWO DAYS to figure out I had sewn the waist band onto the top backwards! The tie instructions said to just hem the sides and one end and then stitch them at the sides of the waist band when stitching the waist band together. I neglected to mark which was the front and which was the back of the waist band, and they're indistinguishable, so I sewed it backwards. This made the tie hems face out, rather than in. Oh well, once they were tied no one could tell.

When I tried the dress on I was surprised to find out how well it fit, even though I'm six months pregnant and the dress is a pattern size 12 (I never go by measurement sizes with Simplicity - there's too much ease. I go by finished measurements and make my own ease. 5/8 is HUGE! I much prefer a smaller ease). In fact, the waist band was a little big, in addition to the under arms. Weird. But it was done and I was happy! I finished the blasted thing! Yaaaay.

And then the dress ripped. I wore it all day Saturday and when I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror at the end of the day, there was a huge horizontal tear under my right arm. The funny thing is, and this tells you just how terrible this fabric was, it didn't tear along a seamline, like when a dress is too small, but in the middle of the side of the waist band! Ah well, it was a learning experience and that's ok. Now that I've made it, I'm not sure I really even like the dress. Maybe I'll make it again with a different fabric and see how it turns out.

I don't have any pictures of me wearing it, but I do have one of it on the hanger just after I finished the skirt hem and ironed the whole thing. Kinda looks like a graduation robe or something. You can't see any details and I didn't add any trim.

After all that, do you want some more?

I am ready to start the color round that has the sleeves of my sweater! That's another reason why I've put the sweater off for a whole week. I'm really secretly scared of the sleeves and am afraid I'm going to totally screw something up. So I put it off, hoping it will somehow magically get easier all by itself and will let me know when it's ready for sleeves so I can just jump in and knit them up perfectly with not even a second glance. *Sigh* I was looking at the sweater yesterday and I was thinking, it does NOT look big enough for sleeves just yet! I'm a little concerned. I know that these colors are supposed to be in the center of the back and are no where close to being the edge of the sweater, but it just doesn't look like there's enough room to go across my back for sleeves. It doesn't help that my circs are already too small for the sweater and the yarn is scrunched up around the cables - and I have the two longest ones connected to each other already. I don't know what to do for the rest of it...I guess add another cable and then keep scrunching until I'm done. In any event, I really like how it's turning out, despite my mistakes and misplaced yarn overs. I can't wait to get past the sleeves and see how all the colors fit together!

And finally, I bought more things.....I shouldn't, but the Hancock Fabrics in Daytona is closing and they were having this HUGE 60% off sale. I was able to get three different fabrics, three yards each (one is just a plain white cotton to use as a lining...yes, I know....the other two are 100% fine cotton. very breezy, kind of feels like a pillowcase), two patterns, a zipper, and embroidery needles for superduper cheap! The white fabric with the orange and red and green flowers will be used for a nightgown and the turquoise flowered fabric will be used to make another dress like the one I made with Abby. I bought the baby pattern just to buy. I figured I could make it on my own without a pattern, but I'm unsure of the slope and placement of things so I thought I could use the pattern to get an idea. One day I'll take a pattern drafting class to learn all that stuff.

Oh! And this is the yarn 'Trina sent me for my birthday!!! It's wonderful chunky wool and I'm thinking of making the Under the Hoodie sweater with it. Of course, this will be after everything on my to-do list is done! :)

Yay! Geez. THE END!

Cast on, Cast off, Cast on.....

YAY!

I have cast on for my Pinwheel Sweater! Not just cast on, but on row 20. Of, like, 40 million.

I realized that Magic Loop is NOT hard to do and that I already, in fact, knew how to do it. I just didn't know the name and thought I had thought it up myself. There is nothing new under the sun, evidently. I don't like DPNs and when I made Connie's hat I didn't have DPNs and therefore had to creatively figure a way to decrease the top of the hat. The only difference is I didn't use a super-long cable, just a regular sized one for the project, so that made it more difficult.

So I cast on! And knit a couple rounds! And then frogged it. I had somehow done something wrong that I can't remember now. So I cast on again! And knit EIGHT rounds! And was excited! Until I realized I had 55 stitches and needed 48, with no idea where the extra seven stitches came from. So I had to frog four rows to get back to where I had the right amount of stitches and start back over. Luckily Katrina was online and she is much more clever than I and suggested that maybe when I had frogged a few stitches in one of my rounds I had accidentally made several increases (M1: picked up a piece of yarn in between loops and used it as a stitch, thereby increasing how many stitches I had). She was extremely right. So I frogged and re-knit. And got all the way to round 16, when I realized I had somehow turned the yarn around and my wrong side had magically become my right side, so the knitting was backwards. UGH. So I frogged, yet again, and worked my way back up and now here I am!

If I didn't make so many dumb mistakes this really would be an extremely fast knit. My "deadline" of having this done by the end of February is very realistic. That's enjoyable. I like things that are fun and look pretty and go fast and teach me something in the process.

Katrina was also instrumental in offering moral support when I was trying to figure out the math to make the sweater an inch larger all the way around. Moral support is very important in knitting. The pattern says it fits most sizes conveniently in small/medium/large, but it doesn't explain what the actual size proportions are for s/m/l. So! I'm going to take a chance that this is made for those slightly more compact than I (and not pregnant) and increase the size a bit to make it more comfortable. At first I thought I could just add a couple extra rounds of each color and that would do the trick. Then I realized I'd have to make sure the sleeves are where they're supposed to be and not too far forward or back. That means math. Yay math. Not really. So I figured out the stitches per inch (actually, I don't have to figure that out....the pattern tells me). For some reason I thought I should add an inch of each color. I guess that worked out in my head somehow. Then I thought about it and realized that would give me five whole extra inches all the way around and the sleeves would definitely be in the wrong place (I think it was five...maybe it was seven). So if I want just an inch over all..............I knit two extra rows of each color and move my provisional cast on (eek I'm scared) up two rows. Ta-da! I should have at least a proportional sweater, if not one that fits decently.

I think that's all right....I forget what the specific numbers all are, but I KNOW I knit an extra two rows per color. It works out, I promise. Katrina was with me all the way!

So, that's my story so far of my Pinwheel Sweater. I'm feeling good about it. I hope it turns out ok. I stopped at round 20 because I have to join another color and I'm not confident in that ability just yet. So I'll do that tomorrow or Sunday when I have the brain function and time to sit down and focus on it. I know it isn't hard to do, but I don't want to keep screwing up. Focusing is going to be the life lesson of this project.

And for no reason, this is what I made David for Valentine's Day. It's just a little thing that I felt like doing, no real special anything. I used the Brighton's tin which contained the bracelet my brother gave me for Christmas and painted it green with an airplane dropping heart bombs. It's Valentine's-y, right? I put medicine in it because he gets headaches and heartburn at work sometimes and never has any medicine to combat them. Yay.

Happy Friday. Have a great weekend! And don't forget to click the ads...

A tale of two lists

The to-do and the have-done....

Today I:

1. Ordered the five skeins I needed for my Pinwheel Sweater. Decided on the Dusky Lavender over the Victorian Rose and got three more skeins of Peridot after realizing I mistakenly ordered too few.

2. Went to Michael's looking for yarn for the baby blanket. Didn't find it.

3. Went to A.C. Moore looking for yarn. Learned I could use Michael's coupons there, but could only use one coupon per day. Bought one skein of baby blanket yarn and two little bags of beads to make more eyeglass chains.

4. Went to interpret an emergency DCF situation.

5. Went to my cousin's house and COMPLETELY SEWED MY MATERNITY DRESS*!

I just wanted to have the dress cut out and finished by the end of February. Abby is great! I really enjoyed my time there today. And I feel so productive!! So productive I'm not doing anything tonight except updating this and the other one and going to bed. :) Tomorrow I will go back and get my other skein and the missing pieces for Caity's project and finish that up so I can send it Monday. Then I will cast on for the baby blanket and the Pinwheel Sweater, provided they don't take the same size needles. I've decided to go ahead and post pictures of Caity's thing when I'm done. I'm sure she doesn't read this and even though 'Trina does, it will be different enough to still be a surprise.

So what do I have left on my list?

Baby blanket, Pinwheel Sweater, Caity's thing, pink maternity shirt, navy blue dress, arm warmers, cloth pads, and 5 hour sweater.

I bought the yarn for the blanket and sweater, so I can consider those started. If I can get the shirt pattern cut, I'll consider that started, too. The navy blue dress has the shoulder seams sewn, so that's started. And I have 3/4 of one arm warmer completed. I'm getting there!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.....The pictures! Excuse the ridiculous look on my face. I was laughing. For this dress, I used a heavier fabric than the pattern called for (I used a medium cotton and it suggested rayon or georgette), omitted the lining (which wasn't the smartest, but makes it more comfortable and is easier to sew), and omitted the sleeves. I also made the zipper two inches longer than it asked for because it was what I found. The zipper is my favorite part of the whole construction. I found it for 50 cents at a thrift store yesterday while we were walking to the beach and it is the PERFECT yellow of the pattern. Yay!

Yay! Dress! It looks better without the t-shirt under it, but I didn't want to put my sweater over it because then you couldn't see the dress. It's really cute and David likes it. Thanks, Abby!

Oh, incidentally....The yarn I bought for the baby blanket is TLC Cotton Plus in Spruce, although I'm thinking of taking it back and getting the Thistle I used for the Christmas washcloths. I'm

not sure. I haven't taken a picture of it yet. Once I get started I'll try to remember to do so.

Ok....Time to update the other one and head off to bed.

*Abby did the darts, zipper and hemmed the neckline and arm holes. The dress is also unhemmed at the bottom and is still missing a hook-and-eye closure.

edit: I'm too tired to update the other one. Maybe tomorrow.

Timeline is a-movin'

So!

The shelf and scarf were completed and happily received! That made me very happy, even though neither were completed to the perfection I would have liked. That's ok. My dad was kind of unsure of the intense color of the shelf (I'm actually surprised he could even see the color with his color-blind-ness), but he seemed to warm up to it and said he would put it up in his office "just as it is." I have no idea what that means. but I'll take it as a good thing! He really seemed to like the scarf, which turned out better and worse than I expected. Who knew basketweave stitch would roll the sides with Lion's Brand Homespun? And I still feel awful I didn't have it in time for their trip, but he's going on another and maybe he'll get to use it then!

So there are two projects finished. Caity's isn't done, as I knew it wouldn't be. I have to run to the store and get two things I didn't realize I didn't have. Then I'll be done. Should I or should I not post pictures? I really want to, but I really want to make others the same thing, so I don't want to ruin it for them. Of course, since it's individualized and personalized, it won't really be the same thing, just the same idea. What do you think?

I didn't cast on for my sweater, either. I forgot I would need DPNs for it, which are still in use. So I have to figure out the Magic Loop technique, which doesn't sound too complicated. I think I may have accidentally done it before when I didn't know what it was called. I decided on the Lavender color, the middle purple in the first column of choices on the other post. I think that will help it flow a little more. Now I need to order it!

I didn't cut out my pattern or call my cousin, either. It's amazing how quickly the week gets past you! It was Thursday before I realized I hadn't called her yet. I thought it had only been a day since I had said I would. Nope, it was a week. I think I'm going to email her instead after I post this. I have an easier time remembering to email. Sort of. I need to email her daughter and I still haven't done it and it's freaking February! I've been meaning to email her since Christmas. I'm horrible.

And that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have more to say by the end of the week!

Oh, I forgot to tell you....If you click on the link at the top of the page each time you visit, I get paid! It's not much, but it's something. I'm not allowed to click on it myself, I hope I'm allowed to tell you about it (I don't see why not), but it'd be cool if you did. They're all craft-related links Google adds to my site to generate business for them and pay me for bringing in the business. Danke shoen!

Egad!

It's green!

Rats. Blogger is having image uploading issues. Well, when it's fixed, I can show you pictures of my dad's stuff. I hope my dad doesn't read this. I doubt he does. Right mom?

If you saw my room in Orlando, that's the green the shelf is painted, with a spring green trim. The trim paint could have been a little neater, but I didn't have a small enough or angled enough brush to get in the small parts. so....oh well.

Until then...

Edit:

Whatever the problem was, it's fixed! Yay!

See how pretty? I actually really love it. I hope my dad does. I hope he likes the scarf, too. I finally decided what I'm going to do for a duplicate stitch, so I'll work on that this afternoon along with Caity's thing. Then I'll vacuum, cut out my pattern, vacuum again, and call my cousin to see if she's available to sew with me this week or next. Yay! :)

P.S. I bought the shelf at A.C. Moore with the paints and sealant. The sealant is Folk Art Clearcote Acrylic Matte and the paints are something about Apple Crate or something, in colors Leaf Green (darker) and Kiwi. Both acrylic, also. Regular foam brushes were used for the base color and a cheapie Crayola paintbrush was used for the trim.

For posterity, y'know?

No, wait

You can help me!

I need help deciding what color to replace the Boysenberry with. My choices are Dusky Lavender and Victorian Rose. To aid in the decision, I've added the surrounding colors so you can see how well they flow.

Choice Lavender:

Choice Victorian:

I don't know why the formatting gets all screwed up. Google/Blogspot need to get crackin' on tweaking their applications, like Gmail and Blogger.

If you need a refresher of the other colors in the sweater, here's a reminder of the colors I bought.

If you look at the pattern and the picture of the woman, this is how the colors are arranged :

Light blue center: light brown (Serengeti Sand)

Light pink-purple: dark brown (Nutmeg)

Light purple: dark green (Cedar)

Dark purple: light green (Peridot)

Light grey: light pink (Dusty Rose)

Dark grey: ??? either the Dusky Lavender or the Victorian Rose

Black: dark purple (eggplant)

Whatcha think? Opinions, please!

To do or not to do....

I have been so unproductive. No....I've been slowly productive. So here is my list of projects I'd like to complete sometime before the baby gets here. I should be more specific, but I won't meet the deadline anyway, so why put myself through the hassle? I can't even get a Christmas present done before the person's birthday. It's pathetic.

Can't I stay home and make things and get paid my regular paycheck for the things I do? Things would move along so much more quickly.

THE LIST:

1. My dad's scarf (almost done! just have to figure out duplicate stitch or adding a border)
2. My dad's shelf (which is in the making.....I've put off painting it, but right now it has the first coat of paint on it so it shouldn't be too much longer)
3. The navy blue dress
4. The pink maternity shirt
5. The reddish and yellowish patterned dress
6. Caity's thing (I choose not to elaborate because I intend to make more for other people)
7. Pinwheel Sweater (which I'm actually about to cast on, though I still need to find replacement yarn for the Boysenberry color)
8. Heart baby blanket
9. 5 hour baby sweater
10. Possibly a child-sized version of the Pinwheel Sweater....I think it's a little awkward on newborns and infants, but it's absolutely adorable on the one year and up crowd
11. Cloth menstrual pads
12. Arm warmers

Rather ambitious, I guess. But since the deadlines are open-ended, I don't feel overwhelmed or under pressure. On second thought, maybe I should have flexible production completion dates, just to have something to work towards?

Numbers 1 & 2 need to be done by next Friday. Number 6 ought to be finished by Monday or Tuesday, though I had the same days of completion for last week and I didn't even get it started until then. I'd love to have #5 and 7 started by then, with both completed by the end of February. Number 4 can be started any time, but I'd like to have it completed by the end of March. Numbers 8, 9, 10, and 11 can be completed any time before the beginning of May. I don't anticipate wanting to do too much throughout May, but who knows? Maybe I will. And finally, #3 and 12 can be done any time before the baby gets here. I'm in absolutely no rush for those.

That's not too bad, right? Those are just personal projects to have completed. I didn't include stuff like eyeglass chains and other things that I want to sell.

Speaking of which, I really need some advice on those. I bought wire with my AC Moore 40% off coupon and wire cutters on sale. I'm hoping really hard the wire is better than the jewelry thread. I have a hard time getting the clamshell on the end, after I've beaded and I'm ready to end the project, close enough to the beads so there's no space. There's always a space. It drives me nuts.

Hm. No pictures. Well, you can look at the links above and see the beauty of my to-do list. I'm confident I will get things done! Less naps and videotaped tv shows, more crafting!

When I've done more than a coat of my dad's shelf and I have the scarf cast off, I'll put up pictures. Today or tomorrow. I promise.

Grr

Can I just complain for a minute?

One of the eyeglass chains I made for my mom broke already. AGAIN. I'm using jeweler's thread, it's supposed to be thick and strong and hold up to 5lbs. So why isn't it????? It keeps breaking with the slightest pull or pressure.

Are there other twines/threads/etc. out there I can use? I've been looking at the wires they have out and some seem flexible enough to be used for necklaces/eyeglass chains. I'll have to look into this more.

It's so disappointing!!!

It's also disappointing that I didn't finish my dad's scarf in time. I just have a really hard time with scarves. Either that or I have a really hard time with the Homespun yarn. I don't know. Some scarves look so pretty or interesting and mine isn't terribly so, but it should be enough to be quickly completed and it wasn't. So he'll get it eventually, but he won't be able to use it because it's so darn hot here.

Grrrr.......