Stay on target
So: much later post than I intended -- Becky Jayne asked very nicely if she could come shopping with Grandma Tedi and me, and I got done with my interview (which I think went pretty well! Fingers crossed!) in plenty of time to pick her up before nap, so that's what I did instead of blogging. Also, no pics of the sweater (still...dude, I totally lied when I said the first crappy picture wouldn't matter because there would be "lots of pics" of the sweater, didn't I?) because my mom was asleep on the couch when I headed upstairs tonight and I didn't want to wake her up with the flash. Rest assured that I am almost done with the hood, and done with the hood means done with the sweater. I am currently debating whether to do short rows or a join down the middle. Right this very second I'm thinking join down the middle, just because it's easier to keep track of (in that there's really nothing to keep track of) and I'd be doing the "keeping track" part of the short rows tomorrow while trying to keep track of Becky and Zack.
BUT...lest you think I'm leaving you completely pictureless yet again, here are some pics of what I did Friday when I should have been cleaning the house:
I've been wanting to figure out something that's not a net or a closed toy box to put Becky's stuffed animals (aka, "soft friends") away in so that they're not just covering the floor of her room. I hadn't really come up with a great option, but we were walking back from town last Wednesday, which is rubbish day for the other half of town, and saw this delightful wooden crib out by the curb. When we got home I threw the kids into the Canyonero and headed back up the street to grab it. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but it wanted a little decorating.
And here's how it worked out in her room:
Before:
After:
She was properly effusive and thanked me many times for "making her room pretty." Making her smile makes me smile. I'm going to miss her this weekend.
Good news, bad blogger
So, obviously I've just fallen right off the Make'n'Tell wagon. On the one hand, I feel shame (especially when I see everyone else keeping up with it and making fantastic things every day and blogging about them). On the other hand, I'm almost done with my sweater. I'm binding off the neck now, and will have plenty of time to add the hood. Sweet! I've done a couple of other things as well, and even taken pictures of them, but will not be uploading them because I'm really only on the computer to print out resumes for the interview I need to prepare for in the morning. I'm really excited about this one -- it would be an opportunity to combine my fiber arts experience with my customer service experience, which would be totally awesome. So I'm going to go do that now, and I promise - PROMISE - pics and details tomorrow afternoon after I get back from the interview. Well, maybe late afternoon, since I promised my mom I'd take her shopping, so probably after that. But really, I will be a Good Blogger tomorrow. Pinky swear.
This is what happens when I focus
Last night, I completely forgot about MnT, despite the fact that I actually thought about it while I was at Stitch'n'Bitch. Tonight, I completely forgot about it despite the fact that I've reminded myself throughout the day and evening. Still pretty much just working on the sweater, with a little baking thrown in for good measure. No pics today because it's late and I'm going to bed. I've got the sweater done to the armpit, and the sleeves (doing both at once in the round) done to the decreases. Should be able to get the sleeves done tomorrow and joined to the body, which puts me in pretty good shape to be done in time. 6 days to go.
Yes, I know I missed a day
I didn't actually realize it until I laid down in bed last night after a very, very long day, and while I am committed to this whole Make'n'Tell thing, I'm not so committed that I was willing to get back up at midnight, dig out the camera, upload a picture, and write a blog post, just to tell you that the only things I did yesterday were: redesign The Sweater That Must Be Done In Eight Days yet again (it would've been Nine Days yesterday, just in case you're keeping track), spend the day searching stitch dictionaries instead of knitting, finally decide to use seed stitch instead of a lacy leaf pattern in the places where I wanted a pattern, knit one and a half of two bottom "flaps", and find out yet again that gauge swatches are in no way actually indicative of gauge (necessitating a fourthormaybefifth redesign). Today I just knitted. Both "flaps" are done, joined, and decreases have been completed. Now I enter stockinette hell.
I am not yet panicking about getting this done. We'll see how I feel by, say, Saturday.
Also, because I used my "me" time today to knit instead of sorting photos and writing about our vacation, there is clearly no extended post about the vacation today. Maybe I can get that done Thursday, when I'm answering phones in Tenafly.
Vacation, all I ever wanted...
As it turns out, "vacation" does not mean even close to the same thing when you have small children as it did when you were footloose and kid-free. However, I think everyone had a pretty great time, and we certainly came home with some great memories. I will do a proper post with lots of pictures on Tuesday (when I will happily be dropping the children off at school and enjoying some much needed peace and quiet), but here's a preview:
- Elephants make the biggest poops.
- Becky and Zack kissing and hugging and sharing nicely.
- Becky talked Mommy into taking her into the ocean on the same day that Mommy decided it was too cold to bother with swimsuits (It got warmer before we went in).
- We played with starfish, watched seals get fed, gathered shells and driftwood and assorted other detritus, and generally just relaxed and did fun shore things.
I came back creatively recharged: lots of new ideas, some of them involving the aforementioned shells and driftwood. As predicted, I really didn't do much while we were down there except knit (though I did take some artsy-fartsy photos). So without further ado, here is my vacation Make'n'Tell:
That would be:
- Zack's 2009 hat. I'm going to knit it up in a man size as well for Kit, and then the pattern (in both sizes) will be available free.
- The first finished sleeve for Becky's sweater.
- A pair of socks, longer than I usually make, designed to slouch. They're done except for the heels, which I'm saving for Stitch'n'Bitch since several people there have asked me how to do afterthoughts.
Not pictured is the cast on for the front of the lacy grey sweater I was working on last week. It's just the CO and the first row, so not photographically exciting and frankly, I'm not completely unpacked yet and not entirely sure where it is.
Today's make is the design sketch and first few rows of the sweater I decided that I need to make for Otherworld, which is in less than two weeks. You may commence laughing. Especially since I spent a couple of hours of potential knitting time today flipping through stitch dictionaries instead of knitting, only to decide to use...drumroll...stockinette for the whole thing. Sigh.
I realize the pic's not that great, but trust me, you're going to be seeing a lot of this sweater in the coming days. What makes this even more fun is that there are actually a few other things that I really either need or want to get done before Otherworld. And my mom's coming so I actually have to make a reasonable attempt at having a not-too-filthy house. Not to mention packing. Sigh. Again.
Oh, yes, she did!
Today I made a total of 4 pairs of pants and a skirt for me, a skirt for Becky, and deepened the pockets on a couple of pairs of Kit's shorts. (We will not discuss how long those shorts languished in my "to sew" pile before I got that done. Suffice it to say that I only vaguely remembered them when I found them during one of my studio clean-up days, and he didn't remember them at all.) Here's the stuff I made for me -- I didn't think to take pics of the skirt I made for Becky, and Kit's wearing one pair of shorts and I'm not sure where the other one is, and besides, that's so easy I probably wouldn't even count it as a make on its own: just cut the bottom out of the existing pocket, cut a rectangle of muslin twice the length you want the new pocket, fold in half, sew up the sides, attach to bottom of existing pocket. Easy-peasy.
Okay, so the yoga pants-from-tshirt idea came from
an article on Craft. However, I felt that the careful measurements and shaping were Not For Me (y'all know how I am), so I simplified. I simply cut the shape of the crotch seam where the armholes are, cut on the fold at either edge of the tee, then sewed the crotches, refolded the tee so the crotch seams are at the center point, and seamed up the inseam. I did add tops to these (except for the lighter blue pair, which were large enough that I did a drawstring waist) by sewing together sleeve pieces in a band and attaching them to the top. The tricky bit is to sew it right side to wrong side so that when you fold the band over, all the seaming is hidden. The coolest thing about these is that t-shirt material doesn't ravel, so there's no need to finish the edges. Sweet!
Now I'm off to pack for vacation. Just as a reminder, I won't be posting much if at all while I'm away, but will continue to make and document every day, and will post a big digest of the week's projects when I get back. Just so you know, it's probably going to mostly be knitting, since that's easy to pack and easy for me to work on without a lot of big machinery, like, say, a sewing machine. But I have some more big sewing projects, and also some cookie and treat making days, planned for when I get back. Oh, and my mom's coming to visit later this month, so I'll rope her into helping out, too!
Hey, look, more knitting!
I also worked some on my purse socks (those are the socks I carry around in my purse in case I should be somewhere and need something to knit), but am frankly just too damn lazy this late at night to dig them out and take a picture. What do you mean, you thought I was going to make pants today? I have no idea what you're talking about. Lalalalalala I can't hear you! Seriously, it just didn't work out. Some stuff came up that I wasn't planning on, and I just didn't have a lot of time home alone today. Maybe tomorrow. If not, it's not the end of the world. I mean, I'd certainly like to have them for vacation, but I do have other clothes I can take.
Made it to/at Stitch'n'Bitch
Or as Becky calls it, Yarning with the Ladies. I was much less efficient today than I intended to be...I am easily distracted by the intarwubs. I've got two patterns that are just waiting for simple little things and they've been on my to-do list for weeks now. I'm embarrassed for myself that these are not done yet. One's even already tested and just waiting for a schematic to get posted here! So tomorrow I'm going to haul my laptop over to the yarn store and make myself do schematics and pattern writing (I did check with Sharon-the-owner to make sure this was okay with her -- please do not head over to your LYS with your laptop and think it's okay to just hang out there and work for hours like it's a coffee shop. I daresay most of them -- the ones I've been in, anyhow -- would frown on this. Sharon's mi-casa-es-su-casa attitude is one of the many reasons I adore
Creative Knitworks and Sharon.). Oh, and while I'm just around the corner, maybe I'll pop into The Gem Mine and see if they've got any pretties for/on sale.
So tonight I got a few pattern repeats done on the pretty grey merino/cashmere blend lacey surplice top that I started with the intention of having it to wear while I was pregnant with Zack (who, if you're new here, is now almost two). I'm almost done with the back, which leaves just the front and sleeves to do. I'm thinking I'll probably do a cap sleeve instead of the 3/4 sleeve called for in the pattern..it's gonig to have to be worn over a t-shirt anyhow (because of the lacey) and I just think that will look nicer.
One week down!
A full week of this crazy Make'n'Tell thing is now complete, and I've gotta say, I'm definitely feeling challenged. I'm feeling more challenged on the picture+blog entry side of things, but I think I'm also feeling challenged because I'm not content to just meet the bare minimum requirements. I want to do a nice long write up everyday. And I want to have actually completed something everyday. And I kind of want every day to have a new and different thing to complete and write up. Which is really just not happening.
I think my favorite thing so far about M'n'T is seeing what everyone else is doing, and how creative everyone is (even and maybe especially those of you who post that everyone else is more creative than you, because that's just not true -- you are differently creative, but not un-creative. And don't look around like I'm not talking to you -- you know who you are. :P). Everyone else's posts really spur me on to keep up with this, so thanks to everyone for participating!
Now on to today's make, in which one make solves two problems*:
If you have children, you are probably familiar with the limited amount of display space available on your standard refrigerator -- the art gallery of choice for countless families. Especially now that we have two young and prolific artists in the family (one of whom is very insistent about her art being put up right-now-please-no-I-absolutely-can't-wait-until-tomorrow-it-has-to-be-nownownownow) we have a ridiculously crowded fridge door. There are also issues with visibility, magnets not holding as well as we'd like, and children grabbing their artwork off the fridge to show/fondle/dispose of it.
In addition to those issues, we have very empty walls in our living room. When we moved into the house, we knew we would be ripping the walls down and replacing them, so we never put anything up, and then after we finally got the downstairs walls done, I think it had just become habit and we never got around to hanging anything up. We've talked about doing it a few times, but never actually got around to it. I had considered framing a few of my favorite pieces from the kids and putting them up, but (and again, if you have kids this will not be news to you) they keep bringing home cool new stuff that they made.
The other day I was cleaning or moving something and realized that the paperclips I have are flat circular coils, which can be put on a piece of paper such that there's a loop at the top.
I suppose you could do the same with a regular paperclip, but these look
arty. So today I whacked some nails into the living room walls over by their play area and hung up a bunch of their art. I can change it out any time I like, just by putting a paperclip on the new stuff, and I really like that everything is visible and there's room for lots of pieces. Added bonus: this works just as well on oddly shaped/sized pieces that might not fit well in a frame. Yay! The B&Z Gallery is now open.
Yes, I will still be making and writing up the t-shirt yoga pants, but I spent most of the day today cleaning out an area to move my sewing machine to, which meant that I didn't get any actual sewing done. Maybe tomorrow, but I've got the kids home so no promises. If not tomorrow, then Thursday. It has to be Thursday because I have Things to Do(TM) on Friday and then we're on vacation, which is what I'm making them for (because why go on vacation if you can't schlump around?). Speaking of, I will have very spotty internet access (where "spotty" = "pretty much none") while we're on vacation, which will be the 12th through possibly the 20th. I may come back sooner, or I may be able to post from down there a couple of times, but will almost certainly not be able to post every day. I *will* still be making something every day, and will post about everything at the very latest on the 20th. Oh, and also, I realized today that I completely forgot to do a Weekend Link Roundup this past weekend, but I'll do last week's and this week's links on Friday, which should keep you occupied until I return.
Another long day, another short post
I'll make up for it tomorrow, I promise. I really didn't get much made today anyhow. A pattern repeat on a new sock pattern (Punk Rock Socks, planned publication later this month) and the first couple of inches on the cuff for the first sleeve of Becky's new sweater (she picked the yarn herself --
Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR in Spinel -- I'm pretty sure it's Mediumweight), and I also cut several tshirts to make pants out of (the pic is actually of the scraps, as I've moved the cut pieces to the sewing machine in the other room). I didn't actually sew them together, though, so that'll have to be tomorrow, and I'll also do the promised write-up then as well.
Continuing a theme
Today I made a prototype for t-shirt pants:
More info tomorrow (and probably more pants -- I have a lot of oversized t-shirts!).
(Apologies for the poor photo quality today -- Kit was out and the kids were napping, so the only full length mirror I had access to was in the most poorly lit area of the house.) I actually made two things today, both t-shirts repurposed into skirts. I got the idea from
Save This Shirt, which I checked out from the library a couple of weeks ago. Their instructions are to cut the shirt in such a way that the width of the t-shirt becomes the length of the skirt. Intriguing, but after cutting my first tee, it became obvious to me that this was not taking full advantage of the t-shirt. See, if you cut the sleeves and neckline off, the tee is plenty long, and then you don't have to sew a hem, or side seams if you want an a-line type fit. So the first one is a tube skirt -- it's tight enough that I didn't even bother to do a waistband -- with an asymetric hem. I'm not particularly fond of the color, so I've put it in the "to dye or bleach" pile.
I followed my instincts on the second one: removed sleeves and then cut straight across neckline. I sewed up one sleeve hole following the cut line, which was on a bit of an angle, then folded the fabric down to the bottom of the sleeve hole and sewed around to make the waistband. This left me with a pretty big band (about 4"), and it needed a drawstring, so I sewed another two lines around the waistband, one about an inch from the bottom and one about an inch from the top. Then I closed up the top inch and bottom inch by seaming the two sides together (leaving the edges of the casing open) and ran a drawstring (the bottom hem from another t-shirt I altered yesterday) through. Voila! I already wore it to the pool today -- makes a great cover-up!
I = proud parent
When I picked Becky up today, her teacher told me that she had stood up to the class bully. Now, she's one of the bully's favorite targets, and the teacher has been great at working with all of us to decrease the incidences and encourage Becky to stand up for herself and not let this other girl get away with it. So I was pretty proud of her for standing up for herself. But then the teacher clarified: not only did Becky stand up for herself, but later when the bully went to pick on another child, Becky yelled at her, "Hey! It's not nice to hit people!" My kid stood up for another kid who was getting picked on. I'm so proud I could just about burst.
In other news, I spent the day cleaning the house and as part of that, tackled an area of my studio. For a good long while now my jewelry station has looked like this:
Clearly, I was not making any jewelry there. I spent a couple of hours cleaning, organizing, and labeling, and now it looks like this:
All I need is a new propane tank and I'm ready to start making jewelry again! Yay!
Finally, today's make:
A couple of things about this one:
First, the make itself: I've had this tee kicking around for awhile now...I originally used a really cute palm tree iron on applique on it, which dissolved the first time I washed it. Except it didn't dissolve the glue. I was just going to put another applique over it, but I had some t-shirt scraps (see below) right next to me and so I decided to make a nice bunch of three dimensional fabric flowers to cover the gluey area. Then they needed stems, because it looked sort of weird just sitting there in the middle of the shirt, and then they needed that last little touch to finish them off. Buttons! With yellow thread for stamens.
Now, this was not going to be my make for today. I actually cut up a couple of t-shirts to make skirts out of, but then realized that I would have to pull out the sewing machine to put them together (well, not
have to, but I just don't enjoy hand sewing straight lines enough to do a bunch of seams and hems). That was really more energy than I wanted to expend, so I figured I'd go ahead and do the applique thing. It took me about 2 hours to get the flowers made, put on, and embellished. The skirts probably would have been done in about 30 minutes, including the time to take out, set up, and put away the sewing machine. Sigh. I'll probably make the skirts one day this weekend, so you'll get to see them soon regardless. I need vacation wear for the shore next week!
Another day, another make
And it's actually both useful and something that's been on my to-make list for quite awhile. Ages ago I bought a pretty silk cell phone holder that attached to my purse so I could easily find my cell without digging in the vast cavernous maw that is my handbag. That one came unsnapped one day, fortunately one day when the cell wasn't in it (I tend to not actually carry my cell a lot, and this was before I had kids so it was even worse then). So I'd been looking for a replacement for awhile, and finally found one in the dollar bin (!!!) at Target. It's kind of ugly, and polyester, and did I mention ugly?
Also it doesn't fit my phone very well, which means that it's both difficult to get it out when I want to use it and difficult to put it away. I'm always a little scared that it's going to unsnap with my phone in it, because it's just not very well made (not a complaint -- it's certainly better made than I have any right to expect for a buck, but not well enough that I'm comfortable trusting my cell to it). All this means that I've been planning to make a replacement, you know, when I get around to it. Today was the day. I was digging around in my scrap box looking for something (which I don't think I ever found and also can't remember what it was. Oops.) when I came across some felt scraps from a felted (on purpose) sweater. Looking at them, I realized that the neckline would be perfect for the straps, and the scraps were just about the size I needed. So I cut 'em, whip stitched 'em together, cut a button hole, and sewed on a button. I think the whole operation took me about 20 minutes, not including the 15 minutes I spent looking for the Perfect Button, which I did finally find (it's a cool vintage steel button with cream enamel paint on it).
I am extremely pleased with the way my phone fits, especially since I didn't bother to measure anything before putting it together (what is this "meh-zur" you speak of?). And it's stretchy enough that I think it'll fit future phones as well. I'm pretty sure it would fit, for instance, an iPhone, you know, if I ever manage to get myself one of those.
Day Two
I'm just bone tired, so quickly, here's today's make:
This is the base for a crocheted market bag, though I'm disliking it enough that I may rip it out and start over, or change it up, or even just switch to knitting the net part of it. Though I might like the net part more with the crocheting. This is just endless rounds of half double crochets, which I hate the way some knitters hate to purl. And also, according to the pattern I should only have another couple of rounds before I start the body of the bag, but right now it's only about 4" across, which is way not big enough for a market bag. Maybe I'll switch to the netting part make it much bigger and just not worry about the "solid" base being wide enough once produce is stuffed into the bag. Maybe I'll wait until I've gotten some sleep and decide what to do tomorrow.
Just made it
Heh. I'm really glad I made this public and invited a bunch of people to join in. Otherwise, I'd've probably missed the first day of my own challenge. See, I really wanted to start off with a bang. And then I spent all day running errands instead of making, and I realized I probably didn't have the time (or, let's be honest, the creative energy) to make any of the cool things I had in mind. But aha! (I said to myself) I did say that I'd probably do a Make'n'Tell badge as my first make, and I can totally do that. So after I put the kids to bed and sent Kit off to rugby practice, that's just what I did. It's over on the right there, right above the participants list (already out of date, as my friend Sarah Facebooked me that she's in and I have to add her info, which I will do right after I post this. Also, note to self, go through everyone's Facebook info and check out their blogs. I didn't even know Sarah had one!). Here's today's Make (since it started its life as digital, there is no photo. Because that would be a digital photo on a computer of a digital image on a computer, and while I'm as fond of weird irony as the next guy, the amount of hassle it would take to do that far outweighs the potential humor in this case.):
Hopefully, tomorrow's will be more tangible.
