Drunken Beginnings

A couple of nights ago, I finally switched from number one to number two needles. I have never been so thankful for anything in my life! The two and a half inches of 1x1 ribbing was done with the teeny needles and it took me about three evenings to finish it. With the nearly 200 stitches I had cast on, it was just taking forever. If you look closely at the photo, you can just barely see where the argyle diamonds are starting to form in knit stitch. Things are moving a little bit faster now!

A Sewing Revolution

"Betsy Ross, Aimee Dolby's line of chic user-friendly clothing patterns, is one of the most recent additions to the growing DIY institution. Thanks to O.G.s like ReadyMade magazine, new kid Make, and the Renegade Craft Fair, modern crafty products like Dolby's have an established market. Her stylish kits, which include two skirts, a blouse, a dress, pants, and a tote, all come with a detailed instruction booklet, a bookmark featuring a glossary and technique, and a sturdy well-designed pattern that can be easily sized to fit. Betsy Ross' thorough guides take the intimidation-factor out of sewing and, thanks to Dolby's sweetly charming sense of humor, even make it fun. Look out for a circle skirt, another blouse, and a fall coat in the near future." [via Cool Hunting]

I'm Dressed

Dressed Up

The dress is finished except for the zipper. I would have sewed it in yesterday, but I bought the wrong length. I love the way it turned out, with the two fabrics, but I'm not sure the halter neck style suits me.

Drunken Madness

I got this yarn yesterday afternoon in anticipation of making the Drunken Argyle vest from knitty. It's Elsebeth Lavold Designer's Choice Silky Wool. I had been planning to buy the Lion Brand Wool-Ease Sportweight for this project, but the Fabric Depot didn't carry it like I thought they did. At first, I didn't spot any other yarns that would make a good substitute and found this in an overlooked aisle. It feels soft and there was a good color selection. The review in Knitter's Review gave it good marks too.

PS In dress news, all I have to do is sew in the zipper. I am a little worried that the fit may be a bit tight because I bought the pattern in a smaller size hoping to make some alterations, compensations, and customizations. I probably should have bought a bigger size and worked down from that. Oh well. We'll see how it turns out!

It's Almost a Dress

I stayed up way too late last night working on this dress. I was on a roll: first, I slipstitched the underarm facings to the bodice; then, I sewed the waistband pieces together and attached them to the bodice; next, I put the skirt front and back together with the pockets. I kept going until I got to a good stopping point, which was sewing the bodice to the skirt. I was supposed to add two rows of decorative topstitching to the contrasting edgings, but decided against it for now. I think I like it plain. Anyone have any opinions about that? I hope to get the top and bottom sections together and the hem done tonight. If I'm feeling super ambitious, I'll put in the zipper and call it done!

Sew Sew

I always have a hard time starting sewing projects because I tend to think they are going to be more complicated than they really are with all the marking of the pieces, the staystitching, trimming seam edges, ironing, etc. But once I get going, it seems that I have a hard time stopping. Such was the case last night. Here's part of the bodice with the contrasting edging at the top. Next I'll be adding the contrasting waistband. I really like the tropical print and polka dots together.

My Aching Back

I think it took me over an hour to cut out this pattern. My back was aching afterwards because the table I had everything laid out on was a dining table and rather low. Once I cut out the main pieces, then I had to pin pieces to the contrasting fabric, then unpin those same pieces to cut out the interfacing too. It seemed to take forever. Hopefully, I'll want to start sewing this week!

Patterning

I finally got around to cutting out the pattern for the dress last night, but was too tired to actually pin it to the fabric and cut it out. I will leave that for one of my weekend projects. I'm looking at Drunken Argyle as my next knitting project. I think I will substitute Lion Brand Sportweight Wool-Ease for the Baby Ull. I'm already preparing myself for all the intarsia!

Labelled

I haven't decided on my next knitting project yet, but I still have that dress I need to start. Anyway, here is an easy Craftster tutorial on how to make your own personalized labels.

New LYS

I forgot to mention that a new LYS opened last week. The Naked Sheep Knit Shop is located in my neighborhood at 2142 N. Killingsworth. The shop is closed on Mondays, but is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Their Knit Nite is Thursdays from 6-9 p.m.

Tivoli T-Shirt

While the Tivoli was still a little damp yesterday afternoon, I threw it into the dryer on the lowest setting to tighten up the stitches and even them out a bit. The care instructions for the yarn said not to put it into the dryer, but I didn't think it would harm it in any way. I love this tank, expecially the raglan styling and shaping. I have also included a close up of the crochet edging, which I think helped prevent the edges from curling so much. You can see where I added the edging to the armpit, but not the top of the armhole. I ended up making gauge with size five needles, so my fit is a little looser (okay by me!) and my length is a bit longer than the sizing in the pattern.

Rolled Up

I finished weaving in all the ends of the Tivoli tee yesterday and also added crochet edging to the neckline, hem, and the armpit portion of the armhole. After being bound off, the top of the armhole already had a nice finished edge. Then I gave it a gentle handwashing and have rolled it up in a towel. Once most of the moisture is gone, I'm going to throw it in the dryer for a quick fluff to set its shape and stitches.

Teed Up

I was able to get more Cathay yesterday afternoon. I got two skeins, though I only needed one. I finished the knitting of the sweater last night and started weaving in some of the ends this morning. Once I get the rest of that done, I can get the blocking done. I'm contemplating adding a crochet edging to the neckline, hem and sleeve edges. I'll have to test it out and see how it looks.

Forget Your Needles?

Interesting post on Craftster about using your arms as knitting needles.

I Love Shoes

Last year I had done the YakPak Bag Special where you get three random bags for $10. The fun was in not knowing what you were going to get. They also have a random shoe special where you get two pairs of shoes for $15. These are pictures of what I got in the mail last week.

PS Tivoli is rolling along, but I ran out of yarn on Sunday night. I plan to head over to the yarn store at lunchtime today.