« November 2007 | Main | January 2008 »
Today was the last day of the sale at Pieceful Heart Fabrics, a quilt shop near me, and I got six pieces of fabric for $6 per fabric or less (five were 3 yards or more, so I can make anything with these - a dress, a long skirt, a blouse...)
Check these out:
Total was $30 and I can make six garments with these!
Back to your regularly scheduled New Year's Eve festivities....
At the beginning of the year, I posted my goals for the year, so now I thought I would take a look back at those and see how well I did with them.
2007 Goals
1. Knit from my stash - no yarn shopping (unless for a gift or if I run out of yarn for a project in process) until Stitches Midwest in August
I did pretty well with this until the first fiber fest in Crystal Lake in July - I did buy a few isolated things, but I stuck to it for the most part.
2. Start and complete one crochet sweater
I started at least one, but ended up ripping them all. There's always 2008!
3. Learn how to do crochet motifs (in the round, granny squares, etc.)
Yep, I did this. I didn't incorporate them into a project, but I taught myself the technique.
4. Learn how to put in a zipper and sew a pair of pants and a skirt
Yep, and then some! I found out about the COD fashion design program and started that in August, which was a pretty big step that I'm really proud of. I also bought and learned how to use my serger.
5. Finish two classes in the UWM state & local tax graduate certificate program (one more to go then in 2008 to finish)
I ended up deciding that I wasn't getting much out of this program so I dropped it. Part of achievement is flexibility, in my mind, and focusing on things that do work rather than doggedly pursuing things that aren't.
6. Finish at least two more NIU MBA classes and consider taking another in the summer to finish in Spring 2008 instead of Fall 2008
Done - I finished the two classes and considered taking a summer one, but decided it wasn't going to work on the accelerated summer time frame. I'll be finishing this December instead!
7. Go out at least once a week for a nice dinner "date night" with Jim
Check!! We have really done well with this one and have discovered a lot of great new restaurants while maintaining our health and weight (a key factor for me!) You can enjoy discovering new tastes and cuisines while eating just enough to feel satisfied and not overdoing it and feeling sick. At the same time, we try to have simple, light meals when we're eating at home and stay on top of the exercise routine.
8. Be a more consistent blogger - with more posts and pictures about my non-knitting life while continuing to show a lot of pictures of knitting projects...more like a diary of my life including knitting than solely a knitting blog.
I think I definitely accomplished this. When I compare my old blog entries (on Blogger, moved over to this blog without the formatting, in case you want to check them out) to my current ones, the current ones present a much more well-rounded picture of my life, which is what I wanted. It is so interesting for me to go back to see what I was doing a year ago through my blogging history, which is what I really wanted to accomplish with this. Yay!
I'll post about my new goals for 2008 tomorrow. Jim is back to normal (could have been a 24-hour bug or possibly just too late of a night the night before) and so we're going to Blu Coral for dinner. Happy New Year everyone!
Here they are, all 35 of them, in (mostly) chronological order - one for every year of my life, I just realized:
1. Jim's RYC Soft Tweed sweater
2. Charlotte
3. Wicked
4. Eiffel
5. Green Gable
6. Kochoran Skinny Rib Sweater
7. Ines
8. Rusted Root
9. Turtleneck Tube Vest
10. Ribs and Lace Tank
11. Textured Tunic
12. Airy Wrap
13. Carie Cropped Cardi
14. Tomato
15. Tube Top-Orini
16.Alexandra
17. Lace & Bobble Jacket
18. Fibertrends Lamb
19. Lace & Cable Sweater
20. Fifi
21 and 22) One Shoulder Tunic and Waterlily
23) Coquette Lace Tube Top
24) Juliet
25.)Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet
26.) Karolyn Vest
27.) Spicy Fitted Tee
28 and 29) Sushi Wallet and Tempting
30) Tree Jacket
31,32) Fetching and Felted Bucket Hat
33, 34, 35) Drive-Thru, Cabo Hoodie, Bounce
OK, now I'm exhausted. Off to work on potential FO #36, the Jawbreaker Cardigan (I doubt it...but maybe!)
I started a new project - the Jawbreaker Cardigan from a back issue of Interweave Knits.
I had some Colinette Prism in my stash in "Cezanne" so I decided to cast on a few days ago. Already I have the back, both fronts and one sleeve done!
The first picture shows the color best, and the second one shows my most recent progress:
I'm still figuring out the camera - I got the wireless feature set up, but it actually doesn't let you email the pictures themselves as attachments. It just sends a link to the picture, which is uploaded to their site. You can then go to the link and download it to upload it to Flickr, which will still be helpful if I'm away from home. It doesn't seem that there is a camera yet that sends the attachment itself, except for the cameras embedded in camera phones. Which I don't want to get as my work already gives me a Blackberry and I don't want to get another phone, as I generally hate phones. I'm a email person, not a phone person, and I rarely talk on the thing. I love being able to check email wherever I am though.
I also went to JoAnn's today and bought some $2/yard flannel fabric for three more pairs of lounge pants but it's being washed so I don't have a picture. Vogue patterns were on sale for $3.99, so I bought this, as I'd heard good things about the sizing on Patternreview.com and I have pants in this style that fit me well.
I have two other Simplicity patterns I want to buy that Jenny told me about (the dress and skirt she talked about on her blog) but I'm waiting until they go on sale for $1.99 at Hancock January 21st. I had a nice conversation with the girl working at JoAnn's about the fact that she bought her prom dress pattern on sale for $1.99 and that in middle school now, they require students to take two years of sewing! I said I thought that was great, and that I wished they did it when I was in school. This could definitely explain the sewing expertise of a few of the girls in my sewing classes who are only in their late teens. Every time they come to class they are wearing something they made and it looks great!
Jim's friend Tim is taking us out tonight to Topolobampo, a highly rated restaurant downtown that I haven't tried yet, so that should be fun. We're going to dinner at Blu Coral (our favorite sushi place) tomorrow night, but are not staying for the New Year's party. It's like $110 for the party from 9-1, and I kind of have a problem staying up that late out somewhere these days and I seem to never like the drinks they serve at those parties. It's ok if you drink standard mixed drinks or don't mind drinking whatever wine they happen to be serving, but I don't usually (as I have gotten picky about wine lately and have been off martinis for awhile) and also there's nothing worse than being stuck at something that you want to escape from when you're tired, especially when everyone else is getting crazy around you. Plus I kind of dislike being out on New Year's with all the crazies driving around...I sound like an old lady, but oh well! If the shoe fits....
Oh, one other thing - I had purchased one of the Kerastase treatments for my hair on Ebay that I usually pay big $$$ for at the salon and I decided to use it yesterday.
This stuff ROCKS! My hair is so soft and smooth. This is good stuff. I just left it on for like 5 minutes just like they do at the salon, after working it into my hair in the shower, and it completely worked. I've become quite the hair do-it-myselfer. It costs like $35 at the salon, plus tip, and I bought it for $10 including free shipping. I just bought some more and I think I will do it like every other week now. I used to just do it at the salon when I was there for my regular stuff, every six weeks or so, but now I can do it more often. It might end up costing me the same thing, but it will make my hair stay nicer more consistently. I highly recommend it for dry and/or color treated hair - the seller on Ebay that I like has a store where they sell all of the products in the line and their name is on the picture I posted. And everything is less than half what it costs at my salon (which is the only one in the area that even carries it.)
Tomorrow, I plan to do my big recap post of my FOs for 2007 and revisit how well I did on my goals for the past year, as well as coming up with some new goals for 2008! I am also trying really hard not to feel blah about going back to work on Wednesday - at least it will be a short week, right?
ETA: Jim just got sick so we won't be going out tonight. I hope he doesn't have what I had. Bleah.
I am so happy that we're not going to have to do conference calls over this next week and that I can truly enjoy my week off. Well, I can't really talk (the cold is almost over but it's all settled in my throat now) and I do happen to be on a little thing called VACATION but we finally got everyone on the same page about that fact.
So now on to some serious knitting and relaxing!
I got my new Nikon Coolpix S7C with WiFi access, so now I can actually take the camera with me and email pics to my Flickr account using a special email address they give you instead of having to plug it in to my home PC to upload. This will be good for taking pics during the day like the infamous bathroom mirror FO shots, etc. and pics of in-process knitting worked on during CPE webcasts.
The camera is still charging now, but I am looking forward to getting it set up. Jim and I did a pretty traditional gift exchange this year, unlike other years where we decided what we were getting ourselves as a joint gift, or went on vacation as our joint gift - and we both did an excellent job with each other's gifts. It's funny how over the years you really get to know someone so well and pick out such perfect gifts without even having to be told what to buy! It's been twelve years now (including five of marriage) and our gifts for each other really reflect our knowledge of each other's tastes!!
So on to the knitting projects - first off, I ripped the Tilted Duster yesterday after seaming the top pieces and deciding I didn't like the fit. It wasn't long enough, and I would have had to rip it out to make it longer as it wasn't covering my chest completely length-wise, while not making it wider (as it was already pretty wide even making the smallest size). I tried ripping it out but when I had wet-blocked it must have somewhat felted together. So I couldn't even recycle the wool for it - no big loss - it was probably a total of 3/4 of a skein and I still have five left at almost 200 yards each so I've definitely got enough for a sweater. I've learned now that I don't like designs that have you knit three pieces for the top section, then pick up for the bottom part. I tried one other one like that from Knitting Lingerie Style and it didn't fit well either (and actually ended up the same place - the garbage can!)
Needless to say, I have enough other projects that I listed the other day - but I am kind of itching to cast something else on. Maybe something with that Rowan Plaid I bought the other day.
Tomorrow, (blog-free) Lisa, me, Heather and a few of Lisa's other friends are going to Long Grove for tea, yarn shopping, possible chocolate shopping, and lunch at a place that sells wine from local wineries (can't remember where we went last time.) It should be a great time, and we had a fun time the last time we visited.
I also plan to do some sewing when the mood strikes...I still haven't cut out the pieces for Shirt 2.0 yet. My second sewing class starts around the 14th of January already and we will be making a SWIMSUIT at some point during the semester!! That just seems like such a cool thing to know how to make for yourself. Just imagine it, no more dressing rooms (I've pretty much eliminated this step anyway as I usually just order a bunch of Victoria's Secret ones and then return all the ones I don't like) and a perfect fit every time! I have a few standard two piece styles that work well on me and it would be great to be able to replicate those in different fabrics. We also are going to be making a structured, lined jacket, and a evening dress too, I believe. How exciting! I am really excited to get started again with it. I still don't know what my final grade was for last semester - I got an A on the purse, a B+ on the skirt and a B on the shirt, but I got full credit for all the samples we did, which I think were worth quite a bit - so I may still get an A yet. If not, no biggie!
Oh well, off to start my vacation in earnest now!
Without further ado, here's the modeled FO pics:
McKenna (my girl) wearing her Drive-Thru:
Noah in his Cabo Hoodie - it fit him perfectly!!
Mia, wearing her Bounce skirt as a layering piece:
All the kids with their dad, Walter:
With their mom, Tracy:
The whole gang (all looking different directions):
And Jim, taking it all in...
I've spent the last few days "unplugged" at Jim's suggestion, as I was reading my work email too often and getting stressed. Also, I caught a pretty nasty cold on Thursday, which hit me all at once, despite vigilant efforts to keep it away with Vitamin Cs, etc. I've been doing a lot of knitting though, and I hope to have some FOs soon. Here's what I finished:
First, our tree (Jim did the heavy decorating, I just help with the ornaments):
The Fetching gloves for one of the ladies at the party tonight:
Another Chic Knits felted bucket hat for another lady at the party:
Finished grafting the hood for Noah's sweater using kitchener stitch and I LOVE how it turned out:
closeup of the grafting - except for a bit where the Malabrigo went through a fuzzier phase, it is invisible!
McKenna's Drive Thru, after weaving in all the ends:
Mia's Bounce skirt, after sewing in the elastic:
And the cat blanket, complete with cats:
I also made one of the SNB Newboy cabled hats from a skein of light cream Berroco Peruvia in my stash - I skipped the brim on this one as I liked it so much without it, I decided not to add it. I'll show a modeled picture of that later.
Now for the WIPs:
Almost done with the Back to School Vest:
I sewed the first shoulder seam, then decided to try grafting the second one instead using kitchener stitch. On one hand, I like the grafting as it is so much flatter and invisible, but on the other hand, I like that the seaming keeps the pattern going - it is bulky in real life though. I think I'll be undoing the seam. Does anyone know how to modify kitchener to do some purls? Would it just be reversing the sequence for the ones you want to be purl stitches??
Grafting:
Seaming:
Ok, here's the middle cable waistband on Corsica - about halfway through the second repeat.
and a closeup of the cables:
Tilted Duster, after a bath - next step is to pick up around the edges to get a feel for the sizing on this.
Picked up around first armhole of Cherie Amour to knit the sleeves down - that's as far as I got:
Started first sleeve of Mirepoix as I needed more mindless ribbing - am at the point on the body where I cast on for the steeks, but the body looks pretty much the same as before.
Whew!! I'm exhausted just detailing those. There's even a few more WIPs that haven't had any progress, but I hope to finish a few of them in the next week as I am still off until January 2nd (hopefully with minimal additional commercial interruptions, LOL.)
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! My next post will be showing the kids wearing their new knits!
I had thought that maybe I would participate in WIP Wednesday for maybe the first time ever, but decided I had too much sewing news today to do that. Maybe tomorrow can be WIP Thursday instead!
Last night was the final sewing class, and we didn't do anything except pick up our shirts. I got a B on mine, which was generous given that I had ripped through the buttonholes with the seam ripper (will use exacto knife next time) and made a few other little mistakes.
Here's pics. I was between sizes 12 and 14 (like 6 and 8 in RTW; 34 and 36 bust measurement, respectively) and had gone down one size. My buttons are a little farther over than they should be, but I can still button it without any problems - the back is pulling at the armholes when it's buttoned though. Also, the lower body is a little too tight. The darts in the front and back change the amount of ease significantly, so next time I will realize that before going down a size as the finished measurements were pre-darts (not fair!) This would fit great in this size if the fabric weren't a woven, though - even a little bit of stretch would have helped.
Here was the critique my teacher gave me, which I thought was super helpful:
I'm thinking I'm going to make another one now in this fabric, in the next size up.
And the jumper? Here it was (this word is significant) prior to figuring out that I sewed (serged - that word's also significant) the seams in the back incorrectly, on two layers (the lining and fabric). I tried to fix it a couple of different ways but it's now a very dignified cat blanket as I didn't have enough leftover fabric to recut the top section. Oh well. I can always try again. I even basted before I serged, but I didn't try it on the model to realize that the back pieces were in the wrong place. It can be confusing to figure out how something will lie after it's turned right side out (after the lining is pulled through) when working on the inside out version. On this one, I determined that I should have gone with the smaller size anyway, once I had got to this point, so it's not a total loss.
I was supposed to be on vacation yesterday, but ended up working from home all day instead. Another day to carry over to next year, so no big deal. Today though I'm hoping to have more uninterrupted time to work on my projects.
Check out this article from today's Wall Street Journal....
The parties on Saturday night were fun - I got to meet/know some of my neighbors better at the second party so that was especially nice. Even though it was a pain to drive in, I liked that it snowed all night as it added to the cozy feeling of being inside with a nice glass of wine. It was fun!
I am almost finished with the bodice section of my dress after a few messups on the direction I sewed the seams. I figured it out when I tried to pin the lining and the dress fabric together, right sides together, and one side wasn't lining up right. So I ripped it out and redid it, and now I have the two layers pinned together ready to sew. The top looks like it may be a little large, but I can always take it in, I guess - or since it's worn layered over another shirt, it might not matter. The next thing is the bottom "skirt" part of the dress and another zipper (will be practicing first, and I think I will do an invisible zipper this time) and then I think I will try to use my serger's coverstitch feature to hem it or the blind hem foot on my regular sewing machine.
So before Patti came over yesterday to do our gift exchange, I worked on Mirepoix again. I really was on a roll and I got about six rounds done. I really have to be in the mood to do anything that requires following a chart, etc. but I happened to be that day. Here's where I am with it so far:
I think I will try it on in another 1/2 inch or so, to see if that's indeed the right place to divide for the armholes as the pattern says. There is a section where it's just plain rounds of solid color for a few rounds, and so that should be a good time to transfer it to waste yarn and try it on.
I got three books from my Amazon wish list from Patti and they are great. I really love the Built by Wendy book. There are a ton of great sewing tips in there, and she claims that the pants pattern she includes will become that elusive "perfect pants pattern". I have to admit I'm skeptical about that, but I'll try it!
I realized that all three books were added to my wish list as a result of reading about them on other people's blogs. So thanks, Amanda and Bobbi, for the great book ideas!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
