Weekend Update

I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine wasn't bad at all. I picked up fabric at JoAnn's Friday after work for a BWOF and Butterick pattern. I then went and hung out with my band mates. Sat. morning I started working on BWOF pattern 4-2009-122.


Yes, I have officially started a Burda pattern, can you believe it? I still can't. I'll talk more about that in a bit. I finished Saturday off by getting my hair done, hanging out with my mom and then watched the last episode of ER on Hulu. Sunday I spent the morning in church, it was Palm Sunday, and did a little shoe shopping. I wanted these Keds Hampton Oxfords. I also have them in a mule style as well.To finish out the night I watched the last 2 episodes of Lost. Just when I thought they couldn't do anything else with this show. It just blows my mind that it's still keeping my interest. It's really good.

In knitting news, I worked on Victoria a little, I pretty much am on the border portion of the skirt right now. I have one more pattern repeat to go. I hope to finish that off this week so that I can block it over the weekend. I also got a chance to work on my latest design while on the train going to and from work yesterday.

As I said earlier in this post, I started working on BWOF 4-2009-122. I understood the directions after reading them twice. I think the problem was that there weren't any pictures for examples, but I proceeded forward anyway. I figured if I started with an easy enough pattern, I should be okay whether there were instructions or not. It also helps that they have numbers in the corners where each pattern piece should go together. I traced the pattern pieces out on Saturday morning and added the seam allowances Sunday night using this compass which I found at Staples a couple of months ago. I like it because it has a dull point instead of a needle, so I can easily drag it along the lines already traced, and it doesn't bore any holes. The paper I'm using for my pattern pieces is Canson White Sketch/Tracing paper 24 in x 50 yds, which I purchased at Dick Blick. I love this stuff and it was pretty inexpensive.

Since I was in the cutting out mood, I also cut out the pattern pieces for Butterick 4810. I'm doing view B & E (top left hand corner). I washed and ironed all of the fabric that I want to use last night. Boy was that a chore, but if there is any shrinkage going on, it should be taken care of. I plan on cutting everything out tonight and possibly start sewing, but we'll see how far we get. ( I have to make a trip to JoAnn's tonight. I realized last night that half of the stuff I bought on Sunday to use for 2 projects is missing.) I'm feeling a little weird about cutting the pieces up for view B on the Butterick pattern as it also serves as the pattern pieces for the longer version top and dress, so I might just trace view B out on some of my tracing paper. Let me tell you, tracing patterns isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It kind of made me feel like a real designer. Mr. D came out into the living room and thought he was in a fabric mill/design house.

Except for the crazy rain, hail and cold weather ( I still can't believe it was warm on Sunday. I didn't even need to wear a jacket.), that's pretty much it for what's going on at the couture house of Andrea, What's are you all up to?

All Good Things

I know I've been missing in action quite a bit lately. Some of it was laziness, and some of it was pure exhaustion. I hope all of you are doing well. I've had to double up on my iron intake for the past month. I'm anemic, and it's been kicking my butt for the past month. Aside from that, work's been crazy busy. But all in all, I'm hanging tough.

Anyway, my knitting needles have been a little busy. I'm almost finished knitting Victoria, which means I should have the pattern done very soon for all of your knitting pleasure. This time I'm trying 2 different yarns. One is Katia Samoa. Here's a sample swatch of what the yarn looks like.

It's a variegated yarn. I love the look, but the yarn doesn't seem to go anywhere. I'm hoping that once I block it, it will hang to the length I want. The other yarn I started testing for the pattern is King Tut. Sorry no pics yet. This yarn is a great staple, and pretty much hangs the way I want it to. Overall, so far so good.

I also started another design. I made quite a bit of progress on it this past weekend only to rip out half of it this morning. Oh well, that's what designing is all about right? Hopefully I'll have a sneak peek at what I have done so far by the weekend. I'm definitely in the Spring/Summer mode with my knitting right now.

In sewing news, I finally cut out NL 6828. I just have to sew it up now. I've also been busy picking out other projects to sew, but haven't gotten around to cutting them out yet. I'm hoping I'll have a little time this weekend. So much to do, and so little time. It sure hasn't stopped me from going to Joann's and browsing around. I want to make a Maxi dress. Mimi has an awesome video on how to make one from scratch. I watched the preview last week, and just might give it a try.

I finally broke down and bought a subscription to Burda Magazine. I love their patterns even though I haven't made one yet, and I was paying too much buying it over the counter. Has anyone seen the April issue yet?

I got it in the mail on Friday. All I can say is Oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I love everything. I picked this summer top out that I want to make, but the directions are confusing. I think I might try to put it together anyway. I'm hoping that when I see the pieces laid out, it will make sense. I'm also looking at this top. I think I could put it together with no problem. I also purchased a few new patterns, one of which is the Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag pattern, and I bought my first Hot Patterns. It's the Riviera Once, Twice, Three times a T-Shirt. I saw it on Assorted Notions a while back and fell in love. I just purchased them from Fabric.com on Friday.

I also need to give a huge hug and thank you to the Knit Machine Queen of Smoking Needles for giving me the Sisterhood Award some time back. I apologize for just commenting on it now, but I appreciate it all the same. It was very thoughtful of you.

In non-knitting/sewing news, I started working out last week which is something I haven't done in a while. With my busy schedule, I've been trying to do my workouts during lunch. It doesn't give me a lot of time so I usually do about 15 to 20 minutes of cardio and then I work on different body parts each day. I'm a week in now and it's all going pretty well so far.

By the way, I went to the shower weekend before last and the apple outfit was a hit. I think my brother-in-law wants a sweater now. He sent a message to me through Mr. D telling me his sweater size was a medium. I smiled.

SP Goodies and other stuff

It's been a while. I made it through that major snow fall we had last week. I actually took off from work last Monday. This little joker( He's my little baby Jack) kept me company all day.He loves being the center of attention. This is him trying to get my attention while I was knitting.

I started and finished this dress,

but didn't post it until now, because I had to find the right buttons for the dress. Mr. D's cousin is having a baby, and the shower is next weekend. I figured I'd throw something together for her. Of course I had to make an apple hat to match the dress. I still have to make the shoes, which by the way will be Mary Janes. I'll post them after I make them.

I received a lovely package in the mail the other day,

but this is actually my first time on my computer in days. All I can say is that my secret pal is amazing. I still don't know who she is, because she has one more package to send me, but I CAN'T WAIT to find out who she is. I swear she's my fairy godmother.

The first thing I opened was this lovely Misti Alpaca yarn. I love Misti Alpaca, but I've never worked with 4 ply before. I can't wait to work this up.




This lovely ball of yarn is 100% bamboo. My mine is churning as to what lovely design I can work this in to.


I think this Marble yarn is beautiful. I'm thinking I might make a shrug out of this.


I didn't even know that Cascade had 100% Alpaca. This lace yarn is gorgeous and I love power blue. I'll be saving this baby for a pretty shawl.



When I work with cables, I only like to work with wooden cable hooks or double pointed needles. The metal ones are slippery, and I'm not crazy about the plastic ones. I don't know how she knew, but I needles a new set of wooden cable needles as I've misplaced 2 out of the set I already did have. She sent me bamboo ones. I LOVE them!!!!


The next thing I opened was 8 ounces of Alpaca Roving. I can't wait to spin this baby up. It feels so good.

Last but not least, was Pink Grapefruit body spray from Bath and Body Works. Awesome!!!!! I love citrus scents.


Secret Pal, I wish I knew who you were already. You are the best. Thank you so so much. I love everything!!!!

I should be back in a few days, as I have more to post about. I'm just too tired to type anymore tonight. This time change is kicking my butt.

So, How was your weekend?

I hope you all had a great weekend. Saturday I hung out on fabric row or what we call in Philadelphia, 4th Street. While doing so I got a chance to hang out with my knitting gal pals Lisa and Robin. We had a blast. Robin had asked me to sew her a few drawstring sacks to hold her larger knitting projects in, so we went there to pick out fabric. I made 7 of them last night.

So far I have 2 done for her. I made another 2 that I'll be gifting, and I have 3 leftover. I still need to make a few more for her and for myself.

I didn't get any spinning done this past weekend like I'd hoped. I'll try to tackle that by the weekend. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but my next sewing project is New Look 6828. I'm making the dress with long sleeves.


I have the pieces cut out. I still have to iron them, check the length on the dress and pick out my fabric. I now also have all the material I want to use for the Burda vest/waistcoat 01-2009-124.



I figure I'll try it in muslin first as this is my first Burda. If it turns out alright, I'll definitely be making more designs from these magazines.

In knitting news, I'm still working on my socks and I'm slowly moving along on butterfly, my newest pattern. I had to back out 6 rows today because I forgot a yarnover, but I'm moving along now. That's pretty much it right now. I'm cold and I need a cup of hot chocolate or maybe some hot tea. Mmmmmmmmm...

Fashion Warehouse

I wanted to thank you all for the lovely comments and emails that I've received about my last post. A few of you have asked me about Fabric Warehouse. It's located at 2838 Street Road in Bensalem, PA 19020. There are 2 other locations in Rahway, NJ and Belleville, NJ. You can find the information here. I didn't think they had a website as this is an outlet for upholstery, drapery and fashion fabric from designer mills. They do have an ebay store, but most of the fabric sold there that I can see is the upholstery and drapery fabric.

It's Saturday evening and I'm sitting here getting ready to do some knitting and even maybe some spinning too. I'm watching the Secret Life of Bees. What are you all up to?

A Sewer's Weekend!!

I've been going through some crazy stuff/issues at home and because of that, I haven't felt much like doing anything. Last Saturday I completed a skirt but I'm saving that for another post since I haven't taken a picture yet.

I finally wore Butterick 5247 to work last Wednesday and got lots of compliments.

My one co-worker that knew I made it told me I did a fantastic job. She said it looked store bought. I think the fabric print was the major hit though. You can find my review here.

This weekend was definitely a sewer's weekend. I hung out at JoAnn Fabrics twice, and made it over to Fabric Warehouse for their 50% off sale. Yesterday I decided to make this dress at the last minute to perform in last night. It Butterick 5211Please excuse my appearance. This picture was taken after singing, dancing and sweating the night away with my band. I just finished my review on pattern review which you can read here.

On Friday, I purchased the 10-2008 Burda Magazine from Sew Baby. I owe Mimi a huge thank you for giving that info out last year on her blog. I don't have a subscription to this magazine as I like to buy it by the issue just in case there's an issue I don't like. For some reason, the October issue never made it Borders. I haven't seen the February 2009 issue yet. I hope that's in the book store soon. I saw the preview the other day and think it's one I might want to purchase.

Now, with all this sewing going on, do you think I have had a chance to get any knitting done? You and I both know the answer to that one. Right now I'm concentrating on this.

I have a few more things in the works, but I'll save it for later. Plus I haven't taken any pictures. It's about 1:15 am and I've got to go to work tomorrow, so I'm going to call it a day/night, or whatever. I'll talk to ya'll later. By the way, I want to thank Judy for also giving me the Kreativ Award. It's the second time I've gotten this award. If you have not read her blog, you need to. This woman can knit and crochet her butt off. She is amazing!!!

Weekend Update and Product Review

I had a killer productive weekend. I'm still trying to figure out where the energy came from. I did just start taking flaxseed this past Thursday. I wonder if that's the reason. It's suppose to be very good for you, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try it. The product I'm using is Barlean's Essential Woman.

On Saturday, I finished the waistband and hemmed the pants I had started using the parts portion of Butterick 4604. I wore them to work today. I also made a pair of lounge/pajama pants using the same pattern. I just realized that my hearts are upside down. Wow, I really wasn't paying attention when I cut these out. Can you tell that I haven't worked with pattern fabric much? Oh well, thank goodness I'm only wearing these in the house. I lived in them last night watching the Super bowl. Did anyone else catch that game? The last few minutes were the best I think. During the game I cut out Butterick 5247 . I think everyone and their mother has made this pattern. Overall like everyone else has said, this is a very easy pattern, and I think it's a great staple for any wardrobe. I didn't even need to follow the pattern directions. I will be making this dress again, but in a solid color. I might even make a few tops and maybe the short sleeve dress version. The only problem I ran into was lining the fabric up, but that was my fault not the pattern. I think when I laid my material out it might have been a little of, but It wasn't anything that I couldn't tweak. I lengthen the pattern by 2 1/2 inches. When I belted the dress, it still only reached knee length and that's without a hem. Next time I think I'll add another inch to an inch and a half. I also noticed I might want to add a little length to the sleeves as well. To finish this dress off I might add bias tape to complete the hemming process including the sleeves. I'm hoping that will help. What do you think? If you guys have any better suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

I also took a leap this weekend and ordered fabric from Fabric.com. I've never ordered fabric online before as I like to see and touch what I'm buying, but for $2,74 a yard, I figured I'd give it a try.

Mr. D has asked me to make him a Hugh Hefner robe in Electric Blue. After a few laughs and me asking if he wanted me to throw in an ascot too, which he said yes to, I agreed. I'll be using Butterick 6837. The lining will be black Flannel. We are still picking out the fabric for the actual robe. I think he leaning toward a velvety tie-dye Electric Blue fabric we saw over the weekend.

The only knitting that got done this past weekend was about 3 rows on a sock I started for Mr. D. I'm hoping to have them done in time for his birthday later on this month. I hope he doesn't read this post.

On to my product review. In my quest (and yes I do that sometimes) to be a little more economical. I bought this cone holder back in December. Anyway, I put it together on Saturday and tried it out. Can I tell you, I love it. I'm using of course the 100% polyester thread cones. The cones hold 3,000 yards as opposed to the spools of thread we normally buy that only hold 250 yards. In doing the math, I'd have to buy 12 spools of thread to add up to 1 cone. So far I've been purchasing just my basic colors and I can find them anywhere from $1.99 to $2.50. I think that's a steal. I purchased my cone holder at JoAnn Fabrics with my coupon and only paid $6.00 . If you're interested in trying one and can't find them in your area, give me a shout out, I can probably get one for you.

I've blabbed enough for today. I want to go give my hair a deep conditioning and figure out my next project. Hopefully, I'll have knitting news later on in the week.

Happy Crafting!!

Cool Packages and Awesome Awards!!

They say that big things come in small packages, and boy are they right!!! I received an awesome package filled with lovely goodies from my Secret Pal the other day. I think that she is the best. She sent me this lovely lavender sachet. By the way, how did you know that I liked lavender?

I also got a holder for my circular needles, which I was in desperate need of. Thank you so much.

She sent me this needles sizer. I have been eyeing one of these for a while. I have the regular Susan Bates one, but this is awesome. I can wear it as a necklace and start a new trend. You know these are the latest thing in jewelry, or for sizing my needles. I be using it for both.

I saved the best for last. No one has ever knit for me before. I was in awe looking at your work. Even Mr. D was impressed. First was this scarf made of %0% Alpaca and 50% Peruvian Wool.

Second was this 100% Cashmere beaded hooded cowl.

Secret Pal, you do BEAUTIFUL work. You are an amazing knitter. Thank you so so much. I will cherish everything, and wear it well. I can't wait to find out who you are.


I also want to thank Tanya of Sew Sassy for bestowing on me this lovely award.


I am suppose to nominate 7 other people for this award, so, here it goes.

Amanda
Robin
Lisa
Marissa
Jennifer
Robin
Susan
Stacey

Sheila, you know I'd nominate you, but you were already nominated and I'm not double dipping.


In other news, I'm still in sleeve-ville on burnish tunic, but things are moving along. I started socks for Mr. D at lunch today. I cut out a simple pair of knit pants to sew. I feel like I'm moving at a snail's pace. But I figure somewhere along the line I'll speed up at some point.

Note* This post was written on 1/27, but I was only able to upload the pictures this morning. Since I wrote this I sewed the knit pants together. I now only have to put the elastic in and hem them. I also cut out a pair of lounge pants using the same butterick pattern 4604.

New Beginnings

Today was definitely a date for the history books. It was a day that I never thought I'd see during my lifetime or at least, not this early, but never the less, it was a day of hope, promise and change. Today, I saw an eloquent man, husband, and father take the oath of office, and boy did he shine. These next 4 years are going to be trying for all of us, but after seeing what I saw today, the bonding of strangers, and of family and friends, I think, we're all going to be alright.

Now, enough of my blabbering. I hope all of you are alive, kicking, screaming and crafting large in 2009. Although I've been a little quiet, my hands have been busy. I crochet embroidered on She's Got Legs for my co-worker and added crocheted ties at the top so that they'd stay up with no problem. She loved them.

I finished scarf #1 a personal pattern for my other co-worker Judy. She loved it. She ran around the office all day telling everyone she had an Andrea original. I smiled. It's always so nice to know that something you put a lot of effort into is well received. She been wearing it ever since.

I'm still working on the woodland scarf. I'm on skein #4. I was thinking that I had to do maybe one more skein after this, but I might not have to. I'll see after I finish this one. I'm hoping that I'll be done by this weekend.This past weekend I picked up the burnish tunic that I started before the holidays. I finished the body and am now working on the sleeves.

In keeping with my resolutions, I started a crochet blanket on New Years night. I haven't gotten to far because I haven't worked on it in over a week, but still, it already covers my lap. I started with a granny square, and then built the blanket out from there. I also started spinning again. Sorry, I didn't take a picture. I have 1 1/2 spools done so far, so I'll be plying soon. I saw where Amanda's been dying her roving. That is something I would like to try this year as I purchased some dye and some cormo roving a year and a half ago just for that purpose. But, I'm not ready yet. Plus, I have a ton of roving here that needs to be spun up and knitted.

Back in the fall, I started a new design, but put it down once the holidays came around to get the holiday knitting done. Over the weekend, I pulled it out and reviewed my notes. Hopefully, I'll have something new to show soon. All I can tell you right now, is that I like what I'm seeing so far. I haven't forgotten the pattern for Victoria. I have to have it test knitted. I'm hoping to have the pattern out by this Spring.

As for sewing news, nothing much is going on at the House of Andrea. I'm pretty much just in the planning stages. I picked up the January issue of Burda World of Fashion. I love this issue.

December's issue was really good too. There were a few patterns to relax in for those lazy weekends. I have yet to make a pattern out of one of these magazines, but I'm trying to get up the courage. I'm thinking I might start small first. Like this vest for starters which is in the plaid section of the January issue.I have a bolt of muslin. I figure I can start there first and build from there. What are you all up to?