Iron Bowl Seamstress?!

I'm watching a man sitting at a really nice sewing machine on the Auburn sidelines stitching somebody's jersey. They had to get him an extension cord apparently, so the announcers discussed it. You can bet I'll bring you some pictures tomorrow!

Got the Pattern Traced...

I've traced the Alabama Chanin fitted dress, but I raised the center front about an inch for modesty (even though it'll be covered in Mardi Gras beads).


One other biggie is a swayback adjustment, and I'm going to have to study up on this, because pinching out an inch from the center back pulls the paper pattern off grain, but in real life, does nothing to affect the hang on my body - perhaps my body made it off grain already? I remember Louise Cutting saying something about not correcting something when doing a swayback, but I can't remember what it was.

In other news, Lucas is all about hacky-sacking, which Drew and his friends do every day after school, so we've had some games around here and needed a new one (little beads going everywhere is not conducive to a clean house for Thanksgiving). I checked Ravelry, and voila - can you tell which one is mine and which one they purchased today at the International Festival?


Yes, I KNOW you can tell, but just because I'm using leftover dishcloth yarn - I could do those fancy stripes if I wanted to!


Drew declared it to look like an onion due to the protuberance at the end, but he didn't seem to mind.


Back to the game!

Help Me Pick a Dress Color!

I've been knitting steadily on that sleeve, but my fingers are itching to stitch, so I'm pulling the trigger and ordering the Alabama Chanin fabric for the planned Mardi Gras dress! I'm using Anna's Garden stencil, and I've already put that in my cart, but help me decide on fabric colors. I was thinking some version of red, but I think that'll be too much, so I'm aiming more for a purplish-blue.

I actually CALLED Alabama Chanin just now to ask for their help and to see if they thought Denim and Blueberry would go together (I'm SO needy, but dangit, they're the experts!), and the girl very nicely put me on hold for a few minutes then came back and said they didn't have that combination in an actual garment on the website for me to see, but she asked some ladies "on the production line," and they said it would combine very nicely - both have a purple tone. WHAT?! The production line ladies think I made a good choice - I can die happy now! This is like a major life moment for me. (I know - I don't get out much, huh?!) So here's what that looks like:


But then, while I was on hold, I thought about Storm Blue with Blueberry - what do you think?


It would be a darker dress I think...ooh, and which color would you put on top? And what color paint would you stencil with? So many decisions, and my cart is waiting! Okay, deep breaths, I'll calm down.

Let's look at the parking lot I was in yesterday. Someone left a Doberman Pinscher in a truck with the windows open. Now, supposedly, he's chained in there, but his paws were spread wide and his glare said, "Are you lookin' at me? Wait, are you lookin' at me?" (That was an homage to Taxi Driver, in case you were wondering.)


Now hurry up and vote so I can order my fabric!

Roughly Six Hours of the Wrong Stitch!

Life is so good, making my own skirt on vacation to wear to dinner, and thinking how smart I am to have brought the knitting along, too, so I can get that last sleeve finished for that awesome sweater...and then THIS happens:


The one on the right would be the correct sleeve done in K1P1 for 21 inches. The one on the left would be what I started on my Asheville flight a couple of months ago and spent several hours during this vacation doing, which is stockinette stitch. I was wondering why this sleeve was so much bigger than the first one, and why the edge curled up...DOH!

The Close-ups

Just to show you how wacky that fold over elastic is - and I never did a zig-zag stitch by hand, but it's functional, so I'll take it. (And do you know how hard it is to stitch elastic by hand when you're stretching it to gather the fabric? Really hard after a coconut punch!)


I guess I can check the internet for solid colors of this elastic, but I'm thinking now that the Mardi Gras dress should be an actual dress, which would be this skirt combined with the white top I'm wearing in the previous post. I'll have to do a serious swayback adjustment...


Now off to work on that knitted sweater sleeve - I got about 8 inches of 21 done after I finished the skirt!

Alabama Chanin Fitted Skirt - Done!

I am so proud that I cut this skirt out of 4 red T-shirts and packed it in my carry-on bag, started stitching it here the day we left, and finished it in St. Lucia while sitting on the beach.


I sewed a couple of hours for 2 days each, and wore it to dinner Wednesday and Thursday nights with different tops.


I found the foldable elastic Natalie Chanin recommends at Hancock, but they didn't have 1.5", so I used 1" instead. They also didn't have any solids, just wacky printed elastic, so mine is green and yellow, which looks weird with red thread zig-zagged over it, but nobody'll see it anyway - not even you! (I just realized I need some close-up pics - will get those tomorrow and then you can see the elastic.)


The knots were a little uncomfortable on my skin after a couple of hours, but that's how I found out I had a sunburn - doh!


I need to experiment with different tops, but I threw on my original AC top just to see - plus they coordinate! Close-up pics tomorrow...

Paradise....?

An in-room iPad with hotel information....and a giant can of bug spray? To be honest, it was camouflaged in a decorative bamboo container, but it's still kind of jarring when you pull it out.

Relaxing

This is a reLAXing vacation where there are no alarms, no schedules, no nothing....but drinking coconut punches and sewing on the beach (is that weird?). And I finished the red skirt tonite in time for dinner!

St. Lucia

This is from the Tet Paul Nature Trail looking toward Petite Piton (the smaller of the 2 mountains) - do you see the double rainbow? One for each decade we've been married!

Alabama Chanin Corset - Done! Skirt on the Way...

It only took about 15 minutes to redo each armhole - I undid the binding over the front princess seam and took another 1/2" out from the middle front and side front pieces.


And I think using a larger size for the back was silly - it's too big.


Oh well, it's still going on vacation with me (20th wedding anniversary trip - woohoo!)


I need something for the plane trip besides knitting a sleeve in the round for 9 more inches, so I discovered I had about 6 red intramural soccer T-shirts from all the years the boys played.


And those are just custom-made for the Alabama Chanin "short skirt!" If this turns out well, it'll be the bottom half of my Mardi Gras dress.


One last thing: have you ever left your phone somewhere? I left mine in a restaurant by accident, but turned right around and went back to get it. They were cleaning up for the night (we were the next-to-last people to leave), and the waitress had it waiting for me. The next day I went to pull up a picture, and look what I found:


They apparently took a picture of the restaurant with my phone - huh?! Was it to be funny? I find it kind of ominous. Has that ever happened to you? (That made me think of the vacationers who developed their pictures to find the housekeeping staff used their toothbrushes and took pictures of themselves! I guess this could've been worse...)

AC Shirt and a Movie Shot in Mobile!

Terrible picture, and I plan to take in a couple of seams, but that involves re-binding....bleh!


But more exciting, Nicholas Cage and Danny Glover shot a movie called Tokarev in Mobile recently. Here's the trailer. (Tracey, note at the beginning that he's in front of Fort Conde picking up his daughter from "school" - that's where the courthouse is.) What's super cool is that one of Drew's friends is the first kid standing on the left end of the funeral entourage - he was an extra. No, no, what's REALLY exciting is seeing buildings from your own city being the scene of shootouts and car explosions with Nicholas Cage - wow!



Lucas said it looks like a remake of Taken. Kid's so cynical....

Halloween and Mounted Police!

No, there's no connection, just random pictures. I hadn't seen mounted policemen in a while and thought it was cool.

And here we are - it was the busiest Halloween so far, and only one kid cried (not because of me, of course).

And here is my finished neckline on the Alabama Chanin corset.

I did a wide herringbone stitch. What I should have done was tighten the front seams near the armhole first before I applied the binding, since that's a little loose. Full picture to come.