Weekend Highlights!!

I did not get much done in the line of sewing or knitting this past weekend. I did work a little on my new sewing space compliments of my husband. Once it's finished, I'll take pictures. We are sharing the spare bedroom in our house or more like I'm sharing a room with his containers and my sewing and crafting containers.

Saturday was errand and washing day. Saturday night I went to a fundraiser. A good time was had by all. I made the cable hat in black for a friend, but stupid me forgot to take a picture. Fortunately, I'm making the same hat for Mr. D in some Noro yarn, so I'll have pics in the future.

Another friend of mine has asked me to knit slipper booties for his wife. He's given me the pair she has now so I'm reworking a pattern from them. I'm hoping they turn out as I am in the dark right now.

Although I got no sewing done, yesterday I did take a little drive. I needed my phone re-wrapped against scratching so I took a trip to the King of Prussia Mall for that. Since I was in the area, I drove to Norristown in search of Jomars. I usually go to the one off of Delaware Ave. in South Philadelphia area. I had heard that the Norristown store had awesome designer fabric. I am trying to find a stretch plaid for the Burda jacket. I didn't find any, but I did stock up on buttons. You would have too if you were told it was $2 a cup. I got 116 of them. I also found 6 1/2 inch wide stretch lace at $1.09 per yard minus 20%. In the end, I walked out $20 lighter. I wasn't upset with myself as I'm trying to keep to my fabric diet. I'm trying to work from stash first, and then if I can't find anything, I'll then go on a hunt at the fabric stores. Now I can work up my underwear patterns with the right fabric/lace. I see some dying in my future as I want different colors other than white.

I have to Thank Carolyn for blogging about this book.

I purchased it on Friday night and I was not disappointed. The clothing designs are FABULOUS and Mrs. O's style is impeccable. If you haven't seen this book, check it out.

On a last note, here is my current inspiration. Thanks for the link Rachel.

52 Katherine

Weekend Plans and a New Book!!

First of all, I want to thank all of you for all the lovely comments you left me about my gown. I had fun making it. I'm just glad it turned out nicely. There's always that feeling of nerves when I make something for the first time, and there are a few unknown issues involved. Like, never working with this type of fabric before, no info on the pattern, and I wasn't too clear on the pattern sizing.

So, the holiday season is definitely in full swing and Christmas is only like what, 6 days away? I'm almost ready. I have quite a bit more sewing to do. I'm hoping that I can accomplish quite a bit between tomorrow afternoon and Sunday. We're suppose to get a snow storm this weekend. They're calling for 8 to 12 inches. I'm planning to take advantage of that if I can. I figure I can get the errands out of the way first (if I can get out), and then put myself on lock down for the duration of the weekend. I finished my girlfriend's robe last night. I just have to tack the collar down. I almost had a crisis, with the collar, but I was able to salvage everything without a problem. The original robe only went to the knee and I knew that she would want it longer so I added 3 inches to the length of the robe. This robe doesn't have a collar just a band that goes around the robe. Well, when I cut the band out, I forgot to add the 3 inches to it. Hence, the robe was longer than the band.

I went to sleep Wednesday night thinking I'd have to make another stop at JoAnn's since I didn't have enough material to cut another band. Yesterday I woke up with the light bulb turned on. The original band for the pattern has a seam at the back of the neck, but the back of the robe is seamless. I cut the original band open cutting off the seam I had sewn and added another piece of material making it long enough matching the 2 new seams at the shoulder seams where the sleeves were sewn in. Sorry, I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I can tell you that I think it's really pretty and I like it much better than what the pattern had me doing. Next up is my mother's robe, then I have to cut my MIL night gowns out and put them together. Mr. D will be last because he's in the house and I have time. He already knows he's getting it.

Last week I purchased Design It Yourself Clothes, Patternmaking Simplified. I just started reading it, and all I can tell you is that this book is fantastic. I've only read a few pages but it's got me hooked. After the new year, I have plans with this book, another book of mine, paper, pencil and a few rulers. I can't wait. If you'd like a more in depth review, check out Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S Patterns review.

Have a great weekend, and please, stay warm. It's 28 degrees here right now.

Happy Holidays!!!!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday. I know that I am. Yesterday was a quiet and productive day. Mr. D had to work yesterday morning so I made sure Cobblestone was in full view so he could wear it to work if he would like. To my delight, he did. Here's a picture I took of him after we ate dinner late night. The sleeves were too long so I wash it on Tuesday night. I was going to wash it by hand in the tub until Sheila gave me the trick of using a lingerie bag in the washing machine. Thanks girl!! I then threw it in the dryer and watched it until it was the size I wanted.

I also finished the shawl collar sweater for my mom. She also wanted to wear her sweater yesterday, so my camera was having a field day.

Since I've been behind in my sewing, I put myself on lock down this week and got busy. I finally finished the collar on McCall 5529. The pattern called for doing an invisible hem on the inside to tack the collar down. I decided to do my own thing and did stitch in the ditch instead. Here I am in my favorite jacket to date. I also wore it Christmas Eve at church. I must say it was a nicer outfit than this one, but I didn't have my camera with me, so this one will have to do. One of my co-workers was nice enough to take this picture for me.

Yesterday I made 3 pairs of pants for my mother, also a Christmas gift. Sorry I have no pictures, but she was thrilled. I have 3 more pairs to make for her so I'll be busy over the next few days.

Mr. D surprised me with these 3 books for Christmas. I was screaming with joy. The 1st book is Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, the 2nd is A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker , and the 3rd is Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. It only got better when I got a lovely gift certificate for Webs. I'll be surfing over there this weekend. I have my I on a few things. He also gave me a jewelry box, which I needed badly. My favorite perfume, Cool Water, and my yearly present, pajamas. My mother gave me money to go towards a serger. If you guys have any ideas on what brand name serger to go with, please let me know.

I'm sitting here doing this post, trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my day. Having 4 days off is great, but I guess I'm not use to not having anything to do. JoAnn Fabrics has a sale starting today, but I really don't need to go over there. I got my eyebrows threaded about a month ago and I'm starting to see some growth so I might go get them done today. That will also give me some incentive to stop at Franklin Mills Mall while I'm there and maybe I'll pop into Fabric Warehouse. I really don't need to go there either. I need to pick up a few more storage containers. I have fabric that needs putting away. I also have some knitting to do, and I just might pull my spinning wheel out this weekend. So what are you guys doing this weekend?

So, how was your weekend?

Friday night I went to Joann Fabrics and got stupid. I've decided that I want to try and make my fall wardrobe. There was a sale on Butterick patterns, so let's just say I went to town. This is what I bought:
I plan on making this the way it is, and also altering it to make it longer so I can wear it as a dress. I like View A and C.
I love the dress on this pattern.

I love both style of this dress pattern. I'm thinking of doing View B first.

B4985
I saw this pattern earlier in the summer and even had it in my hand at one point. When I saw Sheila's version, I knew then I had to have it.

I also like the views on all 3 of these dresses but will probably make B and C. I love the sleeves on View C.

I also purchased these 2 New Look patterns.

6648
Robin made this and I thought that it was really pretty, and would look good on me. I want to make View A and C. View A is the one in Blue that the model is wearing and C is the Cream color wrap version.

6828
I really like the black dress but I want to add a few inches to it I think and add the sleeves on like the shirt version.

Joann's also had 30% off on suiting material, so I bought fabric for these 2 patterns, Butterick B5104 (View A & E), Simplicity 4097 (The dress) and the New Look 6648, the pattern shown above. I also bought lining for Butterick 4188 but might wait now till next spring to make it since cooler weather should be on it's way. As you can guess, I'm in fall mode.

Saturday was errand and hangout day with Mom. We left the house at 10am and got back by 2pm. I then did yard work. PSE&G(electric and gas company) had guys out a few months ago trimming the trees back so they wouldn't get into the electrical lines, but I don't think they did a good job. I had a lot of trimming to do and there's branches that were either too thick or I couldn't reach, so I told my mother to call them again.

I finally got home after food shopping around 9:45pm. I was beat. I wanted to soak my feet, but I just didn't have the energy, so I did 2 loads of laundry and went to bed.

Yesterday I did more laundry(I swear I think it never ends. There's always dirty clothes). I also washed fabric and cut out view A for New Look #6648. From there I sorted through my patterns, put them in a container and then put the rest of the fabric I had in bags in another empty container I had. Around midday I took a nap, but not before I got a few pages of New Moon in. I then got up and made 2 dinners. One for last night and one for tonight.

To finish out my night, I played beauty salon. I gave myself a pedicure and got to use my new ped egg. If you don't have one, you should buy one. That thing is awesome, I also washed my hair and sat under my dryer, which by the way gave me a chance to do some knitting.

I'm happy to say that I bound off the sleeves for the minimalist cardigan today at lunch. I have a lot of blocking and finishing to do. I might try to do that first thing tonight so I can finally put these garments together. I also plan to iron the pattern and the fabrics that need ironing. Layout and cut my fabric. If there's time, I'll start sewing. I'm hoping to have pictures up sometime this week. My lovely husband borrowed my cable, so I can't download pictures on to my computer. Right now it's sitting in one of his buddy trucks.

Gotta get going, but I hope you all have a great day/week!!

Wow!! It's Been A While

but I'm still crafting, and staying busy. Now I know that the majority of you crafty bloggers are involved with the ravelympics. I on the other hand decided not to participate in the festivities because quite frankly, I have too many projects on the needles right now. In stead, I like Saun decided to see if I could finish a few projects I already had started. To my surprise, I think I am doing pretty well.

I finished knitting the Nepal Vest from Katia and I even hit a road block along the way. The original back panel piece I started with didn't color coordinate well with the front two pieces so I had to go with a different colorway. I now only have to block the pieces, put them together, tassle (which I'm still not sure about) and then I'm done. I'm also done knitting my version of the VS dress. I finished knitting it on Thursday, and it looks great. I still have to make the lining but that shouldn't be hard. I'm going with a black lining as I went back to the Gap and I didn't have too many choices on the selection of tank tops they had. I'll have pics up soon. I still need to work on the other sizes too. I started working on the sleeves for the minimalist cardi again. The sleeves are halfway done. I want to cast off by the end of the week and get the sweater put together. After that I have plans for the baby overalls and baby jacket with moss-stitch edging. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In sewing news, I'm at a stand still right now but I'm hoping to cut the pieces out for the dress and vest/top by next week finally. I've been so slow in getting this done. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day.

As fall is just around the corner, I've been starting to put my focus more on designing more as it is an aspect of knitting that I've been fiddling with but don't really concentrate on. My day job is really busy and there is so much going on that I don't get too many chances to sit down, create and practice. I'm definitely going to have to change that, by carving time out/planning a schedule that can fit it in to my week. Weekends, would be an opportune time, but I tend to be busy with family obligations then too. I'll just have to see and make it work I guess.

I received my issues of Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits in the mail. I have only skimmed through them, but they look good. I also picked up an issue of Knitscene. That looked really good also, so I'll be given my take on them soon.

I also visited two new online knitting magazines. The first one is Knotions. All the patterns are free. I haven't knitted anything from it yet, but they look pretty good. The articles aren't bad either. If you haven't checked it out yet, go by and visit. I think this is a site to bookmark and keep an eye on for the future.

The second magazine is Twist Collective. An amazing designer came up with an awesome concept (Kate Gilbert) and she told a few other amazing designers, and the magazine was born. The patterns are timelessly beautiful. Of course the patterns aren't free, but who cares, I'd put a dollar or two out for Ysolda, Cookie A and Pam Allen just to name a few any day.

So, have any of you gotten hooked on the Twilight Series yet? I purchased book one and four since I could get them on sale last week. I wanted to see what the hype was all about. Let's just say I wasn't disappointed. I started reading Twilight late Thursday night and finished it over the weekend. I could not put the book down. Knitting even took a back seat to this book. I don't want to give anything away, but if you haven't read the book/started the series, you need to. It's a beautiful story. I can't wait to read Stephanie Meyer's second book New Moon. I'll be picking up my copy by the weekend.

That's it for now, but I hope to have pictures up soon. Have a great week

Saturday and FO#2

I'm sitting here relaxing and thought I'd blog for a spell. I finished this last night. Pattern:Knitted Lace Wedding Garter
Yarn: Misty Alpaca
Needles: #1


I am very pleased. Thursday night I got home, fed the dogs and got to work. I wet blocked the lace then starched one side. That freaked me out at first because I'd never starched anything I'd knit before. I tested a piece first to make sure it wouldn't ruin the yarn, and it was fine. When I woke up yesterday I checked it out and felt it wasn't starched enough so I flipped it over and starched the other side. That did the trick. On the way home yesterday I forgot to stop at Joann's and pick up some bias tape so I made my own with some muslin that I had on hand. It's pretty easy. All you have to do is cut the material on the bias.

I pulled the sewing machine and iron out and got to work. I have to admit, I love the outcome. It's a beautiful keepsake to remember my day by.

After working on this project, it's really peaked my interest to get back into sewing. I ordered one of the books I told you about the other day from Amazon, Sew Everything Workshop.

I also ordered Doodle Embroidery for Beginners.

I want to make a keepsake quilt for the fi and I, and I'd like to incorporate some embroidery into it. I've also bought a couple of things from the Sublime Stitching website. I think Jenny Hart is awesome, and she does beautiful work. She made embroidery cool.

In knitting updates:

I'm almost finish the half-pi shawl. My newest design is coming along nicely. I don't have any other knitting updates right now, but hopefully I'll have more after the weekend.

Thursday night when I got home, I received my first rejection letter. I submitted a design to Interweave Knits back in August for their Summer '08 issue. I'm not upset about it, and it was a good experience. I will definitely submit again. As they say, if at first you don't succeed, try try again.

Lastly, I received this award from the amazing and very talented Amanda.

Thank you girl, you always make my day!! Amanda and I submitted our first designs almost around the same time, and we support each other through the process of having to wait with baited breathe to see if we got accepted or rejected.

The rules are to give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about Blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

Here are the 10 people that make my day or inspire me:

Amanda
Robin
Saun
Stefanie
Adrienne
Sheila
Jennifer
Michelle
Courtney
Mariss
Lisa

That's it for today. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

WIP Sunday!!

Even though I might not have left a message, due to sickness, computer issues, and time constraints, I have been trying to keep up with my blog reading. I know we all love our mindless knitting projects. You know the ones that take no effort and you can actually sit in front of the television and knit without looking. Well, I have noticed another trend too. I am seeing it in the magazines and on some of your blogs. Texture knits, cables, more intricate ribbed patterns and so forth. If you look in the latest issue of Vogue, you will see all of that and even quite an array of lace patterns. I think that we are all striving to better ourselves a little bit and quench our thirst for trying new things, whether it be a new craft or technique/skill. In my search, I started this:That's right, I started a new design this week. It's something that I've had on my mind for a while now, and I had bought the yarn for it some time back. I'm hoping I have enough because I haven't checked to see if the yarn is discontinued. The yarn I'm using is Classic Elite Premiere. The color is Tidal Wave #5226 (by the way, scratch what I said about the discontinued part. I just checked their website and it's listed, so there's hope if I need more.) Let me tell you, cables take a lot of yarn, and I don't know if anyone has had this problem, but as I did my swatch this week, I had a heck of a time figuring out how many stitches I was getting to the inch. I've become a BIG fan of 4 x 4 swatches, especially after this.

In other knitting news, I've been working on my other projects, and they are all coming along. Here is the Pi-shawl that I've been working on.I don't have a picture of the wedding garter as I'm not that much further, but I can tell you that I'm on the 15th repeat, and I have to do the pattern 21 times.

I finally measured what I have done on the sleeves for the shawl collar sweater for my mother. I measured it against her and one of the sweaters that she wears regularly, and it looks like I am up to the sleeve cap part. I hope to have pictures of that later this week.

Here is what I have done so far on the sleeves for the Gedifra sweater that I'm working on for myself.
I want to thanks Amanda for the Noro comment. I hadn't thought of that. I think I saw a couple hanks of Noro Silver Thaw that I like, hmmmmmmm.

In sewing news, I hit a major 50% off sale yesterday at Fabric Warehouse. For around $35 you too can have this:

The red and green material and the red and black material I'm thinking of using for dresses. The brown and teal I think I might use for a top.

The red with white flowers is for a skirt, and the blue material is for a pair of pants.

The material below is all for shirting. The red and white material and the flowers on cream are actually suppose to be curtain material but I want to try it as shirting material.

This last piece of fabric I got at Joann's.

The fi and I went to Borders last night and we did some browsing. I did a major look through of 2 books. The first one is Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. If you are new to sewing or just want a brush up. This book looks very good. What I like most about it are the step by step photograph pictures of the various techniques covered in the book. The patterns are classic and can be used again and again.

The second book is the New Complete Guide to Sewing put out by Reader's Digest. Anything that you want to know is in this book. There are tons of pictures and diagrams on just about every technique there is. I have put both of these books on my list as a must have.

It's Friday!! Where's the Party!!

Hallelujah!! I'm on a quest to blog at least once a week, and as they say better late than never. I wanted to post earlier this week, but I didn't have any pics so that postponed me a little. I hope everyone is doing well. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and remedies. You guys are the best. I'm still not 100 percent, but I am feeling a lot better day by day.

Work is a bear and it's consuming a lot of my time. I feel like I'm doing the work of 3 to 4 people. I can't wait for this season to be over. I've also been gigging every weekend this month. I so glad I have off next weekend, and of course the fi wants to go skiing. It's a plan and I know we'll have fun. We went skiing for the first time last year and loved it. By the end of the day we were on the intermediate slope. If you haven't tried it, you should, but please take a class first.

I have managed to get a little knitting done. I even have my first FO. I finished her last Thursday night. It's the Half-Pi Shawl by new momma Courtney Kelley. You can get the pattern at Rosie's Yarn Cellar.

I used Shimmer from Knit Picks on #11 needles. The color is Flower Garden. It's an alpaca silk blend that feels really nice. If anyone is looking for a lace weight yarn like this. Head on over to Knit Picks because it is on clearance for $4.99 a hank. On Monday, I casted on for my last shawl that I will need. I don't have a picture of that yet. I'm hoping to take one tonight. It's coming along nicely, and I like the color. It's a dark purple, close to an eggplant color. I'm using 2 strands together of Misty Alpaca lace weight.

Here is a picture of my garter so far. I am about halfway done. I promise once the wedding is over I will stop talking about it.

Remember in my last post I said I wanted another project to work on other than my lace projects? Well, instead of starting a new project, I decided to go back and finish an old one. Last year I started this:

It from Gedifra Highlight 023. The pattern is 417 I think. (I'm doing this from memory, and I'm at work). I have all the pieces done except for the sleeves which I did cast on for but had never finished. I like the sweater because of the embroidery and it's something that I haven't done on a sweater yet. I'm still looking for the yarn I want to use to do the embroidery. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'm thinking maybe a thick and thin yarn with dark blues and pinks. The sweater is knit in Debbie Bliss alpaca silk on #8 needles.

I am still working on the sweater for my mother, even though I put it down over a week ago. I got a little bored with it and I need to measure her arms to see how much more I have to knit before the sleeve cap. Let's just say my mother suffers from long arm syndrome (I hope she doesn't read this, she might kill me for saying that. LOL!!).

In other news, I actually sat down and read a book, which is something I haven't done in a long time. Knitting takes up most of my spare, if you can call riding the train, spare time. It was a cheesy chick lit book but highly entertaining. The book was called Something Borrowed and it's by Emily Giffin. I plan on reading the sequel Something Blue soon. I am now reading Vogue Sewing. I just started it, and haven't gotten far, but I'm hoping it helps me with my future sewing projects. The next book on my list that I want to sink myself into is Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman. I purchased the book a while ago, and I've heard nothing but great reviews on it. I've been told that it's a must have for any knitter at every level.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully you'll be hearing from me sometime this weekend. If not,

Have a wonderful weekend!!