Thursday, August 29, 2013

New Projects

I'm super excited about a couple new projects that I have in the works.  Sadly, I don't have any finished projects to show off.  I'm STILL working on my yellow Featherweight.  I'm on the sleeves now, so it's just a matter of time before I can show that baby off!

Now onto the new projects!  One of my besties just had her third baby, yay!!!  For some reason I didn't think about what to knit for this baby until the very day that she was born...I am a total slacker.  Now that she's born, I've decided on the adorable baby sweater, Sweet Pea.



I'm thinking of knitting it in either Cascade 220 or my usual default baby yarn, Plymouth Encore.

Next up, I'm starting a tatting project!  I can't say too much about this, since it's going to be a surprise, but here is the pattern picture...

The pattern is called Fairy-Tale Doily and is from the book Traditional Tatting Patterns Edited by Rita Weiss.  Based on my educated guess, I'll be done in about 5 bagillion years.



Monday, August 12, 2013

I'm Loving...One Sheepish Girl Blog

Have you stumbled upon the blog, One Sheepish Girl?  If not, I highly recommend it!  Seriously, check out this icord knit ampersand!  Life doesn't get any better than that :)



She has a bunch of super cute yarn-y tutorials (all of which I want to do ASAP) and lots of fiber eye candy!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Tour de Fleece 2013

Lately, I have been in a complete spinning funk...I've lost my spinning mojo.  Since December (oh god, has it really been THAT long) my spinning wheels have been gathering dust, languishing in the corner.  That's not to say that I haven't done any spinning whatsoever.  I finished plying some singles (since they were a Christmas present) and spent an hour or so "practicing" before I went to my first spinning guild meeting!  God forbid I would go to the meeting rusty on my spinning techniques...I'm sure people would gawk and stare at my lack of long draw ability.  Other than those two times, I haven't done any spinning, nothing, nada, zilch.  So this year's Tour de Fleece probably couldn't have come at a better time.  I really need to get back into my spinning grove, after all, what's better than spinning and hoarding gobs and gobs of yarn?

For this year's Tour, I've decided I needed a new challenge.  I am re-learning how to spindle spin and am going to spin 6 ounces of Falkland wool, trying to keep the single a consistent thickness.

Without further ado, my progress:










You may be saying to yourself "Dear God, Mary, what in the world HAVE you been doing if you haven't spun since December?"  See below.







Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Paint it Black...Errr, White

I have taken "somewhat" of a knitting/spinning/sewing hiatus.  I say "somewhat" because I'm still doing all of those things, just not at my normal speed.  Why, you say?  Well, another one of my obsessions has struck!  WHITE PAINT!  Yes, paint!  I'm totally obsessed with painting EVERYTHING white!  Anything I can get my hands on its turning white.  I am so obsessed with painting that the Rolling Stones song "Paint it Black" has been my theme song for the past few weeks.

I see a red(natural) door(baseboard) and I want it painted black(white).
No colors anymore I want them to turn black (white).

Ugly baseboards...


BAM!  WHITE!

(Please excuse the mess and fuzzy picture)

Hideous uneven fake wood shelves...

Don't get me started on the lamp!

Now waaaaay more tolerable

Also, more evidence of baseboard painting.  Oh, and the forced air vent too...it used to be brown.

Last, but not least, our new patio set.


Nick and I found this table and four matching chairs for sale on the side of the road for a steal!  I wire brushed it to get the rust and loose paint off and am now painting it none other, but white!  

On the spinning front...I'm joining a local spinning guild!  It's called Common Threads and I'm soooooooo excited!



Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Elsa Jacket

Andi Satterlund has just released a new crochet sweater pattern that is absolutely adorable, the Elsa Jacket.



Super cute, right?  Well, guess what?  I got to test crochet it!!! Crazy cool, huh?!  I ended up using the recommended yarn, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport.  Personally, I thought the yarn was ITCHY!  I won't ever buy it again.  You live, you learn, right? But as for the sweater pattern...it was great!  When I say great, I mean a-maz-zing!


The sweater is a zip up with buttons at the sleeve cuffs, bottom band and neck band.  Obviously, I haven't put those on yet...but you get the idea.



I highly recommend this sweater for anyone..even beginners who have never made a sweater.  It was straightforward and good for mindless crocheting while watching TV or at a friends house.  The textured stripes keep the crocheting interesting so you don't get bored!

I think I'm going to make another one, this time in Knit Picks Shine Sport.  The yarn is cotton and modal, so it definitely won't be itchy on my super sensitive skin!


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Turquoise Renfrew

I sewed up my second Renfrew shirt.  This time I used some turquoise jersey I had in my stash.


I didn't have enough to cut the front and back on the fold, like the instructions say, so I just cut them in two pieces each (plus a seam allowance) and sewed the pieces together.  This gave me seams down the front and back, but whatevs...Yay for stash busting!


To hide the seam down the front, I used some lace (also from my stash!) and sewed it right along the seam.




Quick, easy, painless!

Friday, May 3, 2013

Carpooling

Recently, my husband got a new job which is right around the corner from mine and with the same hours!  It only made financial and eco-friendly sense to carpool.  Of course, an added benefit of carpooling is more knitting time!!  I started the Motte Shawl on April 15th before I went to bed one night.


Since then, I've only been working on it while we carpool to and from work.


It's only been about a half a month since I started and I'm already this far.


 I feel like I've created a 25th hour in each day!!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Pink Amvets Sweater Refashion

I've done my first sweater to cardigan refashion!  I picked up this cute little number at my local Amvets thrift store for $6.


It's a cute 3/4 sleeve cotton lace sweater that hits me right above my hips.


I cut it down the middle front then hemmed it to create a "button band."  (Button band is in quotes since there are no actual buttons)


 I plan on attaching a hook and eye closure.  I was running late for a party so had to settle for a safety pin in these pictures!  I'm also toying with the idea of shortening the sleeves a bit to hit me right above my elbow.  What do you think?


Other than my lop sided safety pin placement, this sweater was easy peasy!  It's a perfect addition to my wardrobe just in time for Me Made May!




 Are you participating in Me Made May 2013?  If so, what is your challenge?



Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I'm Loving...Andi Satterlund Sweaters

Have you seen any of Andi Satterlund's sweater designs?  They are seriously too cute!





One of each....yes PLEASE!  I think my next project needs to be the Marion sweater!

Oh, one last thing... Andi Satterlund also has a super cool blog, Untangling Knots, but be careful, you could lose a few hours time perusing it!

Monday, April 22, 2013

A Beignet and a Renfrew

The title of this post sounds like the beginning of a really corny horrible joke...A beignet and a renfrew walk into a bar.  The beignet says to the renfrew... Hahah!

Anyways, I finally have pics of my grey wool Beignet skirt and my first Renfrew shirt.  The Beignet skirt is made from a thrifted wool skirt which I deconstructed and used for it's fabric, and the Renfrew is made using interlock knit.

Check it out, the skirt even has pockets!!!


I think I really need to work on my pocket construction.  When I sit down, they stick out so much that I think if I had anything in them it would spill out.

 Seriously, what is this pose??!

Other than the pockets, the skirt fits really well.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I still need to add the belt loops, however, I'm having issues with making them big enough.  I think I may end up just adding a thread belt loop and calling it a day.

As for the Renfrew, I would love to know what I was thinking when making this.  I measured myself to be a 12, traced my pattern for a size 14, then cut the actual fabric waaaay larger than a 16.  Hmmm. I then sewed the shirt up, tried it on, and surprise surprise...it was way too big.  In order to selvage it, I created a seam down the middle of the back and took it in about 2 inches.  I found that taking it in along the middle back not only eliminated the gaping in the neck but also narrowed the shoulders and got rid of the excess fabric in the mid section. 


After I made those changes, I'd say it turned out pretty good...if I do say so myself :)

Monday, April 15, 2013

Black Miette Skirt

Over the weekend I sewed up one of my very own Miette skirts!  Have you seen the pattern by Tilly and the Buttons?  It is seriously THE CUTEST!


Ugh, black is so hard to photograph...

I made my skirt out of some medium weight cotton blend (I think?) that I got from the clearance section at Joann's.  I had just enough fabric in my stash to squeeze this skirt out.




It's so hard to tell from these pictures, but the skirt is a wrap skirt with a bow tie front closure and pockets!!!! You can kinda see the tie and pockets in this crappy phone picture.


I loved the pattern, it was so easy to sew...especially with Tilly's step by step instructions.  I will definitely make another one of these, maybe a denim Miette next!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Me Made May 2013

It's here!  It's finally almost May, and that means....Me Made May (MMM)!!  Have you ever heard of it?  MMM is a challenge in which you challenge yourself to wear your handmade garments.  Whether you knit beautiful shawls, sew clothes, or make jewelry, you create a challenge for yourself in which you incorporate your handmades into your daily wardrobe.

I know for sure that I'm going to sign up for MMM '13, however, I'm not sure what I'm going to set my challenge for.  I reallllllllly would love to challenge myself to wear one me made item everyday, however, I'm not sure that is obtainable.  In order to do that, I would have to sew/knit one thing EVERY DAY until the end of April to get a decent sized wardrobe.  Realistically, that is totally not doable.  So far I have the following wearable things:

3 skirts
1 almost finished skirt
1 tshirt
1 knit shawl
1 almost finished sweater

Yesh, I hardly have anything!  I better scale down my challenge.

Is anyone else planning on participating in Me Made May 2013?  If so, what are you challenging yourself to?

Monday, April 8, 2013

Confessions



I have a confession.  Lately I've been into sewing more than knitting and spinning.

During my lunch break at work, I've been frequenting thrift stores to find clothes that could use a new life.  I look for large skirts or dresses that have nice fabric which isn't too worn (no holes, runs, stains, etc.).  Once I find something, I take it home and throw it in the wash...I even washed a wool skirt, GASP!  ...and guess what?  It turned out fine, imagine that...wool in a washer machine!

After the skirt is washed and pressed, I use the fabric to cut out a new pattern.  The last skirt I made out of thrifted finds was a grey wool skirt.  I made it into a Colette Beignet.  Unfortunately, I only have super crappy pictures of it.  I need to teach my husband how to take semi-decent pictures!  I do have a picture of a beignet skirt that I made yesterday though!


The very last step was to sew the button holes and sew the buttons on.  I fought like the dickens with my machine, trying to figure out how to make it sew button holes!  The machine won...those buttons (all 6 are from my stash, SCORE!)  are just placed on the skirt to get the jist of what it's supposed to be like.

Next, I'm planning to make Tilly's Miette skirt in black.

Does anyone else sew?


Friday, April 5, 2013

Twins!

This week, my mom went to help out with lamb birthing at a farm.


The lamb had twins!!!!!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Something Resembling a Sweater

I finally have something that actually resembles a sweater!!  Remember this post about the Seamless Raglan Sweater?  Check it out, it's now more than just a bunch of tubes claiming to be a sweater!


You may be able to see in the first picture that I'm going to put a half zip on the sweater.  After I joined the sleeves to the body, instead of knitting in the round, I turned the knitting when I was at the half way point in the front.  I've also switched from the raglan construction to a yoke construction.  After my husband tried the sweater on, I showed him pictures of raglan and yoke sweaters again.  We also looked at the sweaters that he wears often and decided to go with the yoke.   I'm stoked....yoke construction seems waaaaay easier!

Friday, March 22, 2013

I'm Loving...Laurel

I am sooo in love with Colette's new Laurel pattern!






03-stripe-2-up

It's a simple shift dress, but there are soooo many variations you can make!  Colette even published a free e-book on some variations with tutorials on how to make them.

Damn my new budget!  I want to buy this AMAZING pattern now!

Have you purchased the pattern?  Are you planning on participating in the contest?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I'm Loving...Podcasts

This week I'm loving knitting and spinning podcasts!  I've been listening to the SpinDoctor podcast and Knitmore Girls.  I highly recommend them.  Do you listen to podcasts?  Which ones?  I would LOVE to know, I'm always open to new podcasts!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Apologies

Apologies guys for my lack of blogging lately!  To tell you the truth, I don't have anything to show you.  You see, I have this problem...I always start knitting things then decide that I just don't like something about it.  Maybe I don't like the pattern, or the yarn isn't perfect for the pattern, or my gauge is waaaaay off.  Then I end up frogging it. 

Recently I've decided to use up my stash, so I went downstairs to peruse through said stash.  I have 5 skeins of turquoise Lion Brand Recycled Cotton that I bought at Joanns years ago on clearance for 97 cents/skein!  It was on CRAZY sale, how could I resist! :) 


After I picked the yarn out that I wanted to knit, I searched Ravelry for a pattern.  I wanted to knit something summery with this yarn, since it's cotton, and I wanted to pretty much use it all up. I have about 900 yards, so I could make a tank top, however, I read the reviews for this yarn.  Many ravelers (is that what you call people who use Ravelry??  haha) said that this recycled cotton yarn doesn't keep its shape well after washing.  Some people said that it stretched a ton, others said it shrank...So do I really want spend all that time knitting a tank top, only to have it shrink/stretch after washing?  Eventually, I decided to knit a baby blanket with it.  The pattern I chose was Surprise.  Welllllll, about 10 rows into the blanket, I decided the yarn didn't show off the pattern and decided to frog it.  Back to the drawing board.

Last night I spent ungodly amounts of time surfing Ravelry (again) and finally came up with this...

 

Sophia! What do you think?  I think this sweater will be PERFECT for that yarn!  The sweater is loose enough that if the yarn stretches some, no big deal!  I'll just be super careful while washing, so that it doesn't shrink.

I'm curious, has anyone ever used Lion Brand Recycled Cotton?  If so, what were your results with it?