Summer Dress #2 Complete

One package of extra wide double fold bias tape my foot! I'm pretty sure I used more out of the second package than the first one. Anyhow, I think the result is adorable:

Project And Bonus Project

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!  Thank you to those who serve and for all those whose lives were given in pursuit of peace and freedom for our country.

Über productive day today. Five loads of laundry washed and line dried, and nearly all put away. Kitchen chores done AND I even scrubbed behind and under where the trash can lives. Grocery store run. Some business paperwork prepared for tomorrow. Several pages colored with my daughter and some fun books read. All before naptime.

At first I thought I might take a nap, but it's so hot here today there wasn't a comfy spot to rest. (We don't have air conditioning - our 160 year old home didn't come with it and we haven't put it in.) Then I remembered that my project list included a summer outfit for my daughter. Well, it just lists one (setting the bar low for myself), but I have fabric and patterns to make at least a half dozen. I picked the easiest looking one out of the lot and got to work.

Since kids grow so fast and I'm cheap, I didn't want to cut the sized pattern pieces out of the original printed tissue. Instead, I got out some bulk white gift tissue (that I'm sure I bought on clearance on December 26) and used a marker to trace the sized pieces onto that. Then I used those to cut out the fabric. The pattern I made today, McCall's M5419, has six different options in it. I kind of got on a roll and cut out tissue and fabric for two dresses.

Note to self: however tempting, do not use child's coloring table as a cutting table without cleaning it first. At least the crayons are washable and will hopefully come out of the dress.

If your cutting table looks like this, get out the Magic Eraser first or suck it up and go clear off your actual work table.

So, here's what I got done today. This is the dress I got finished. It's view F from McCalls M5419. I used some tutti fruitti cotton fabric I bought at JoAnn last summer. I had two problems with the dress - one mine, the other could be, I'm not sure. The first thing I messed up was the narrow hem on the armhole. The instructions were fine, but after two read-throughs and an application it was clear I wasn't doing it right. The raw edge goes to the crease. You don't have to sew it first, like I did. Got the second armhole and hem just fine. The second problem popped up when I tried it on my daughter - way too big around the chest! It hung WAY down on her back. I had to remove about four inches of elastic and now there is an ugly spot where I put it back together. I'm probably the only person who will notice it, but I'm worried it'll rub on my daughter's arm while she wears it.  So, are you supposed to stretch out elastic when you measure it for a pattern?  This is the third time I've made something with elastic in it that ended up being huge.

Front view

Back view.  Hopefully the ruched back won't cause drama when she wears it in her carseat.

The second dress was actually the first one I was going to work on, but then I picked up the other one and just kept working on it. This one is some poplin I found on the remnant rack at Joann. It's view C, also from M5419. I debated about using the hot pink bias tape or white, but my husband suggested I use the pink and I think it turned out great. Well, it will turn out great, once I get to the store for another pack of bias tape. The back of the pattern envelope says I only need one pack, but I don't have enough left to do both armholes. (Really? 13 inches beyond the edge of each armhole?) I'll do them both out of the new pack to make sure they match.

It'll tie above the shoulders.

Hopefully I won't have to make yet another run to the store for thread.

SO worried I wouldn't have enough, but the hem is done already and I'm pretty sure this will finish the job.

It's Not A Tangled Mess

So happy that they actually look like socks and I'm not spending hours untangling yarn! Hooray for two at a time sock knitting!

Back On The Sock Wagon

Four years ago I had an afternoon all to myself while on business travel in Seattle. I happened upon a little knitting shop right by my company's office building, which turned out to be a great place to while away the afternoon. I think that was my first visit to a small independent yarn store; all my previous craft shopping was at the big stores - Hobby Lobby, JoAnn, and even Wal-Mart. So I was totally unprepared for - and overwhelmed by - the winding aisles full of beautiful, soft yarns in every color imaginable. I wandered for a while, wishing I knew how to work the gorgeous yarns into something other than a dish towel or scarf. I must have looked lost, but the shopkeeper was kind and guided me to a sock project. She set me up with three balls of Cascade Fixation yarn, my first set of double pointed needles, and a pattern.

The color number is no longer listed as an offering on the Fixation page at Cascade Yarn.  That's how long I've had this project lying around.  But I love the stormy blues and I think they'll be really nice.  I'll call them my Seattle socks.

To my surprise she invited me to sit down and knit a while, which was good because I really had no clue what I was doing. But by the time I left, I had a few rounds of ribbed cuff started.

Four years later, I'm ready to actually make the socks. After attempting a couple other patterns, I realized I don't really like the pattern the shopkeeper picked out for me. AND I'm a little worried about how the elastic content of the yarn will affect a pattern not written for it.  Thankfully a good friend introduced me to Ravelry, a wonderful social site for knitters where you can find lots of patterns for free.  AND you can search for patterns specifically by yarn. I found one pattern using I liked using the Fixation yarn, but it was only a reference to a pattern published in a book.

Well I have the book now and I'm ready to go. The premise of the book is that you can knit two socks at the same time on two circular needles. (this blows my mind!!)  I'm excited about this because I'm not good at finishing projects - but the pair of socks will knit up at the same time and they'll match perfectly when finished.  I won't have to worry about when I'll get to the second sock or if it'll be the same length.  I've got the required stitches cast on; we'll see how it goes!

Hopefully this will turn into some cute socks soon!

Blogger for Mobile

Just a test post to see how to post from my mobile. Updates on my projects are coming soon! I may have been quiet but I've been steadily working on things.