Pssst! Check out page 8 of the new Spring/Summer issue of Twist Collective, you might see a name you recognize!
Don't Think I'm Gonna Make It
I've been participating in an Sock UFO (Un-Finished Object) Knit-A-Long in the Maine Knitters group on Ravelry. It was the KAL for the Month of March. I don't think I'm gonna make it by the end of the night....
Introducing: SandDune
For a while now, I've been dreaming about starting my own little knitting pattern company, a today that little dream just got a little more real.
This is SandDune, my first Ms. Cleaver Creation.
Inspired by my favorite Maine beach, SandDune is a lacy self-storing bag, perfect for gathering together your favorite items for those days by the shore that are fast approaching. Though it's cool and rainy in Portland today, I know before too long, it'll be time to head out to the ocean.
Knit from a about 200 yards of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Sunflower #14, the bag is both study and airy. The hemp gives the bag a beautiful earthy look. Knit in the round, the bag is a quick and satisfying knit.
The pattern can be purchased in PDF form for $5.00 USD via my Ravelry store or the store:
I'm very proud of this pattern and am happy to say this is the first of many designs on my pipeline and there'll be more surprises in the weeks and months and years to come!
Purple People
Remember back in January when I said I was in a Purple Phase? It's still going strong apparently. Case in point:
Your honors, I rest my case.
Completion, Progress, and Learning
Completion:
As promised about a week ago - here's my finished a-line skirt. I had to do some adjusting to the waistband (because my waist is not rectanglular), but I love the finished product. It isn't a fabric I would normally pick out or wear, but somehow, here it works.
Progress:
Whenever I'm knitting a sweater, I'll periodically ask Mr. Cleaver "Does it looks like a sweater yet?" Answer right now? : Yes!
Learning:
I mentioned last week I was drafting a tee and trying my first knit-sewing experience. The sewing part was okay, but the tee fit terribly. It was about 2 inches too short (not even counting hemming), the neckline was off, and it was bunching at the arms in an altogether unattractive way.
Mistakes seem less daunting when you have Cadbury creme eggs.
I wandered around the house in a shirt full of pins for about a half an hour trying to figure out where I went wrong. I'll admit that the instructions for this one aren't terribly detailed - I'd suggest measuring a lot of your store-bought shirts first for things like length - and I was dissapointed that there were no alteration suggestions in the book, then I realized what I needed - the full bust adjustment. So I've totally redrafted the top for version 2.0 and purchased some more (probably inappropriately thick interlock) jersey and will hopefully cut it out later this week.
Roadtrip: PKOTT at NETA Spa
This Saturday the lovely ladies of Portland Knitters On The Town took a field trip to NETA's Spa, Spin and Knit weekend up in Freeport, where the Hilton Garden and Haraseeket Inns were crawling with Spinners and Knitters from throughout New England.
Many were day trippers like ourselves, but others from New Hampshire and Vermont came to stay for the whole weekend. The Hilton was sold out - primarily to knitters and spinners. It was great to see so many fiber lovers in one place!
There were also a ballroom full of the usual merchants, but being pretty stocked up at the moment, I only purchased a card of beautiful pewter buttons that made me think of a new sweater design almost instantaneously.
With so many spinner around I was inspired to pull out my spindle, which I haven't touched since sometime in late September/Early November, when Christmas and other deadline knitting kicked in.
So while I didn't purchase any yarn, I did come out of the event with some new yarn. Which as Mr. Cleaver accurately described it, "feel like you hair after a day at the beach." It's llama, and yes, it's a bit straw-like. I'm hoping it'll soften up a bit when I wash it (which it seriously needs - so much dye transfer!!), but I'm proud of the thinness and relative evenness of this skein. Inspired, I started spinning it's companion purple fiber last night.
We also made side trips to a BBQ joint and a fabric store. So all in all, it was a good day. :)
Vivian Row 117+147+88 & the MIL dress
A little over a month in and it's really starting to look like something now. Of course as quickly as they go, I'm not a big fan of knitting sleeves, I can't wait until everything is joined up and I'm working on the yoke - otherwise know as the home stretch. I'd said I'm trying to get it done before it's too warm to wear it, but really, this is Maine (despite our total lack of snow right now).
Unto sewing news.
This is the dress I finished back in January. My mother-in-law requested and purchased the fabric for it in the fall of 2008. After accidentally cutting out half the fabric upside down I purchased a close-match fabric and was too-afraid to cut it out for a while, but finally overcome with guilt and with the MIL’s birthday approaching, I finally cut out it again and then sewed the whole thing up in one (long) day.
The pattern is Simplicity 3673, though it's a bit unrecognizable as I merged two sizes between the bust and hips and added 6 inches to the hem, but otherwise made no adjustments.
Can’t say the corduroy is my favorite to sew (and may have been the cause of the issues with my Brother sewing machine), but the dress turned out well and is a pretty good fit – though if requested I may make some slight adjustments to the back darts.
Speaking of sewing machines, if all goes well I will be picking up a shiny new machine tomorrow!
Vivian Row 117 + 55
Moving along quite nicely.
Going to Marden's tonight for some discount fabric shopping with my Sweater Knit-Along buddy.
Vivian Row 58
I love the part of a project when it suddenly starts to look like something! Of course at this point, that something could be anything, but something it is :)
Vivian Row 24
Does anyone find that after frogging* a section of knitting that you try to knit faster afterward to make up for "lost time"? I do it all the time and I don't think it works.
*Frogging: to remove the needles and pull out knitted stitches. So-called because you rip-it rip-it rip-it.