Showing posts with label jewelry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewelry. Show all posts

June 28, 2014

back in the saddle

I've long had an issue where if I feel like I failed at something, I have a really hard time overcoming that sense and picking it up again. There was this one time during my college years where I did a week-long music workshop out of state, and one of the people running a masterclass there was the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I picked a piece to play for that with the help of my flute professor, worked my tail off on it, and got ripped up one side and down the other for my performance of it. It was a solid two years before I could pick the piece up again to do even a very small performance at a nursing home with it. I used to draw and paint all the time when I was a teenager, and since I dropped out of being an art major after one horrible semester, I've barely been able to pick up a sketchpad--even though I'd love to get back into that sometime, the inspiration just hasn't been there. And even though it wasn't really a failure, ever since that time a couple of years ago where my best friend and I tried selling our wares at a craft fair, and then I set up an Etsy shop to try to get rid of the many, many extra pieces I had afterwards (which sold nothing), I haven't even really tried to make any jewelry.

But Me-Made-May made me miss it. I honestly got more comments about my jewelry on my Instagram pictures and the Flickr group than I did about my clothes! (Not really sure what that means about my style, but oh well.) So I pulled out a couple of my bead boxes and made some stuff during the course of watching a movie with Doug one night a couple of weeks ago. So even though these may not be anything exciting, they're important to me, because it represents finally getting past a mental block. (Also, they're all completely from stash, which is always good!)

IMG_1414I made three necklaces and a bracelet. I haven't had a chance to wear the bottom necklace or the bracelet yet, but I'm wearing the purple one today and I wore the coral one recently. After all of that palette work for the Wardrobe Architect project, I realized that coral and plummy purple were both things I could use more accessories in!

IMG_1413


Isn't this pendant cute? My sister-in-law gave it to me for either my birthday or Christmas last year. It's actually a little locket, and the package said fairy door, but we all know it looks like a hobbit hole door, right?


IMG_1417





I also made a few pairs of earrings. One of my basic black earrings fell out of my ear and got lost a few months ago, so I needed something to replace it. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for bending the teardrop shapes out of the wire myself! They're also slightly hammered, though you can't really see the texture in this picture. The other ones were basically just making bead drops and dangling them off the pre-made 8 loops.

IMG_1416
And then I also made a few more basic beaded earrings. The spiral loop 8's were pre-made like that, but I did the wire wrapping on the purple pair myself.

So that's it!

December 21, 2012

2012 in review, part 2: In which I talk numbers and stuff

Jeans 1
I know I've posted this picture before, but it has two of this year's finished projects, so I thought it would be appropriate!

2012 totals:
Fabric in: a whopping 63 yards. I blame the wedding dress. And my future curtains. Also, since I'm posting this a few days before Christmas, obviously this doesn't count anything I might receive there.
Fabric out: about 27 yards
Stash total: about 248 yards
Total number of finished projects this year: 21, if I count the dress muslin. Here's the breakdown:
  • Garments sewn: 13, + one very time-consuming muslin. Actually, make that 2 time-consuming muslins...the jeans took awhile, too.
  • This amounts to a raincoat, 2 fully-lined corduroy jackets, 5 tops (2 of which were reconstructions), 1 skirt (also a reconstruction), 3 dresses and a pair of jeans.
  • Knitting projects completed: 3 (Doug's hat, my Camille shrug and a scarf)
  • Other projects: a bridal shower gift, a baby shower gift, a knitting needle case and a scarf
  • This total did not count scrapbook pages, though I did finish several. It's just that most of them were ones I'd already started a year or two ago. And I'm too lazy right now to actually pull them out and count them.
  • The sewing project that I'm proudest of is obviously the jeans, since finishing a pair of those successfully has been on my yearly goal list probably every single year since I started this thing. The knitting project that I'm proudest of is the Camille shrug, because I think that is the most complicated pattern that I've followed so far, minus that sweater I mentioned earlier. And this turned out to be a really fun knit, which surprised me!
  • UFO projects from this year: I have 3 knitting projects (Doug's scarf, the "Branching Out" handwarmers and a "Gap-tastic" cowl that I started ages ago to use up the yarn from my Cadence sweater. (I'm not counting that top that ended up getting completely frogged.) I also have a Vogue knit top that I cut out back in the spring, but set aside because it would be too warm to wear it for months and I never got back to it. And I have a pillow that I started making at a craft day at a friend's house, which won't take me too long to finish but the wedding stuff is higher priority now, and a patchwork skirt for my sis-in-law that I only work on when she's around so I can make it exactly to her specifications. 
Things that surprised me: 

  • I made absolutely zero jewelry all year. I guess this is making up for the year of the ill-fated craft fair/Etsy shop?
  • I barely did any reconstructing, but considering how few finished sewing projects I had, period, I guess it's to be expected. 
  • The sewing projects I did do were rather complicated and involved, for the most part. Due to this, I made a lot more muslins this year than I think I ever have. Which is definitely a factor in the next point...
  • My sewing has slowed way, way down, since I only averaged about one project a month. But I think that has the potential to change after the wedding--I'm sure it will be easier to work in creative time once we're actually living together and therefore see each other on a more regular basis. Plus there won't be all of that travel time between my place and his.
  • Apparently I like knitting complicated lacey patterns. See above. I also really like brainless knitting for tv-watching purposes, but that's not a surprise.
  • A recent surprise is that I've really been in the mood to pick up my scrapbooking again lately. This is probably because I've also been thinking that should be the next major supply stash that I should sort through/pack up/move.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for this year! In the meantime, I'm trying to push through the last week of 2 jobs for awhile, reading up on any tips and tricks that will help me actually get this dress going for real, and going through the flurry of activity that inevitably comes with Christmas! So I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and to thank you for your time spent reading and commenting on this blog--it really means a lot, especially knowing that I haven't had a whole lot to show this year!

    May 15, 2012

    The halfway mark!

    And to "celebrate", I'm having a Blogger fail where I can apparently no longer upload photos to my account, because it's suddenly saying I've used up my photo storage. Apparently the only solution is to buy monthly storage, which makes me rather unhappy. I guess I shouldn't complain, since I've gotten over 5 years for free, but I don't want to spend money just to upload photos! *shakes fist at Blogger* So hopefully Flickr will cooperate from here on out.

    Without further ado, Day 13:
    MMM'12, Day 13
    Dress:   "Titania" dress, blogged here
    Jewelry: necklace/earring set made to match, blogged here
    Shoes: Montego Bay Club, via Payless

    I couldn't let the month pass without giving this dress a spin, since it's still one of my favorite ones that I've made ever. I do worry about how much longer it will hold up--it's not as nicely finished inside as some things I've made since then, and the tie-dye fabric is fraying. I've also had to do a few hand-stitch repairs since I made it, but hopefully I can at least get another year or two out of it! I ended up wearing this all day instead of changing after church like I normally do, and it was surprisingly comfortable!



    MMM'12, Day 14

    Day 14:
    Cream cami: JCPenney's
    Top: "Spiced Chai", blogged here
    Sweater: The brand's literally called "Sweater Project". From Goodwill.
    Pants: Acxess by Liz Clairborne, from Kohl's
    Sandals: Naturalizer
    Necklace/earrings: Me-made, predating blog

    The sweater was added on a whim--it was just a little bit too cold for a sleeveless outfit, and this added just the right amount of warmth. I think it needed the color, too. I'm rather surprised at how versatile this odd little cardigan has been!



    MMM'12, Day 15

    Day 15:
    Camisole: The same one as yesterday. Hey, I only wore it for a few hours.
    Shirt: Studio 1940, from Goodwill
    Pants: The "Corset-Laced Pants (of awesomeness)", blogged here
    Jewelry: See below

    I took my shoes off for this picture, but they were the same as day 13.










    Day 15 jewelryA slightly better view of the necklace--my earrings kept falling into my hair, and laying on the bed was more comfortable. It's been a long workday. Anyway, this is--you guessed it--another craft fair leftover. The pendant was an earring belonging to a friend-- I was helping her move, and she couldn't find the other earring, so she told me to take it home and do something creative with it. It only took me about 4-5 years to follow through...

    So now that we're more or less at the halfway point, here's my thoughts:
    • I really need more me-made bottoms of the pants variety.
    • I thought that taking the pictures would be awful, but it hasn't been so bad this time. It does help that I have a part-time photographer who is more than willing to take pictures of me every time I ask (aka my boyfriend, on the days that I see him).
    • Warm-weather outfits are the most fun for me to put together. I need to find a way to be this inspired for colder-weather ones. (Those pants will probably help, once I make them.)
    • Layering definitely seems to be the way to go for me! Especially since the temperatures have been rather up and down. With that in mind, investing some time in more lightweight layers might be a good way to go.
    • I really need some sewing time....in fact, I'm going to go see if I can maybe get a half-hour's worth of work in on that next bit of the Craftsy course. Don't think I'll get much more than that done, as today has left me rather oddly tired. That, and my carpal tunnel is acting up like crazy today. So I don't want to push it, but this is definitely the better option for me between that and knitting.
    • I also need to start branching out and occasionally making accessories that are NOT jewelry, I think.

    May 13, 2012

    Hey, look, I actually finished something! (And some MMM stuff)

    I haven't had a chance to write in the last few days, so I'm going to do days 9-12 all at once. But slightly out of order, because day 10 features my latest project, and we all know that's the most interesting thing I have to talk about, right? Right. So now that that's out of the way, here's....
    Day 10:
    Top: Me-made, blogged below!
    Jeans: Express, via thrift store
    Shoes: J.Renee
    Necklace/earrings: Me-made, blogged below. 

    I made this top from the blouse pattern in the BurdaStyle Sewing Handbook--the first project I've made from there since the coat I made for the publication. Aside from re-drafting the sleeves and leaving off the ribbon trim, I made this pretty much as is, though I had to taper down the sides an extra 5/8" to where the waist seam split. (I'm mainly writing that so I remember to alter the pattern.) Finishing this off took me more or less literally all day on Wednesday. My plan was to finish this and then watch part 3 of the Jean-ius course so I could move forward on my jeans, but after I tallied it all up, this took me about 7 hours to finish up. I'm not sure how--it's not like I was goofing off! Must have been all that seam finishing. And the sleeve hems took me awhile to figure out, including some unpicking.
     And another gratuitous shot--though I know the sun makes this not the best view of the shirt, or the most flattering view of my face, you can see the necklace a bit better here. And look how red my hair looks! (Ok, I'll admit it, that's my main reasoning for posting this one. I like pictures where my hair looks really, really red!)

    Things I learned from this project:
    1. My pattern-altering skills need work. I was going for more of a flutter sleeve and I wanted a non-gathered sleeve, but I think I didn't take enough off the top to smooth the cap out, and I didn't add enough flare to the bottom. Plus it's way too long to have worked as that style. I think the bell kind of works fine, but still not what I'd originally pictured.

    2. When adding seam allowances myself, I should probably read ahead in the directions first to see where I might need to allow more. The waist drawstring casing would have worked so much better if I hadn't had to make it so narrow.
    3. Partially bias-cut peplums are HARD to hem flat! I had to occasionally take a tiny tuck in the hem to get rid of the extra fabric. It was fine since it's polyester, but if I'd made this out of cotton, I'd be worried about it showing through the front after pressing.
    4. Even though I feel like this shirt took me much longer than it should have, I'm really glad I took the time to finish each seam. This fabric frayed like crazy, and it probably would fall apart within a few washes if I hadn't. Actually, I'm still a bit concerned about it, to be honest.
    5. Sewing the sleeves in flat is good. But I still should have hemmed them with the bias strip in the round, because I would have saved myself a lot of trouble and they would have matched up better in the end. (One edge was slightly longer than the other, and I didn't know until the bias strip was already sewed on, aka too late.
    6. I should probably also make the slit a little longer next time. I don't know if I have an exceptionally large head or what, but this was just a liiiiiiiittle bit hard to pull over!  (See above, since I can't get the pictures to cooperate.)
    All in all, though there are things that could have gone better, I think this blouse was a great learning experience. And since the entire point of the book is altering and manipulating patterns to make the design really your own, I think it was a successful step in that direction for me. Now I just need to come up with a good name for this, since I'm a dork like that--I'm a bit torn, since the print looks kind of vine-like when close up, but from a distance, it makes me think of a computer matrix. I'm currently leaning towards the latter, since the whole "zeroes and ones" thing makes me think of an Andrew Bird song by that title.

    And before I leave day 10 completely, here's a closer-up view of the jewelry:
    I think this one also pre-dated the blog. I somehow got my hands on these purpleish freshwater pearl beads, and in playing with those oblong ones, came up with this flower pendant. So I ran with it.

    Now for a little skipping back and forth in time!
    Day 9:
    Top: Me-reconstructed--a thrifted dress that I chopped into a top, along with some altering at the shoulders
    Shrug: Me-reconstructed, blogged here
    Trouser Jeans: Worthington, I think from JCPenney's
    Shoes: Array
    Earrings: See below

    This was my sewing marathon day, so I wanted a top that was fitted enough that I could easily throw the blouse over top to check the fit. This fit the bill well. Not my best shot expression-wise, but it shows the outfit the best, so let's just pretend this is my model shot, ok? I also discovered that these pants are not too short for me when worn with flats--they just look terrible with my boots.

    And the earrings--another craft fair leftover, but with the two-tone effect that makes them not sure if they're blue or green, depending on the lighting (as illustrated here), they worked pretty well with this top!

    Day 11:
    Top: The "Doolittle" blouse, blogged here
    Pants: Apt.9, and the only store-bought pants I have that still fit and flatter like a dream.
    Shoes: Hotter
    Earrings: See below

    I was strongly considering changing into jeans after teaching lessons, but didn't. In retrospect, I probably should have, since my boyfriend and I were hanging out at his place, and these pants didn't fare too well against the fur of two golden retrievers! But the truth is that I really only have two pairs of jeans that are ok for outside-of-work wearing right now, since my best-fitting pair are out of commission until I finish the next step or two of the Jean-ius class and can take all of that hand-basting out. I wore the one pair the day before, and skinny jeans with a top this fitted is not my thing. So I stuck with this again.

    The earrings were something a bit different for me. Usually, I try to match my jewelry colors to the colors in my outfit. I decided to play around with contrasting. Once again, these earrings are craft fair leftovers--actually, one of the few things that came back to me after I'd let my mom, my sis-in-law, and several of my friends at the stash. Poor, unloved earrings. And if blue and gold is good enough for my old university, it should work, right? I think this would have worked a bit better if I'd had another yellow accessory to go with it, like a bracelet or a pair of shoes or something, but it was kind of fun to go outside the box.

    And finally, yesterday:

    Day 12:
    Top: The Sorbetto formerly known as Azalea, blogged here
    Jeans: The same ratty thrifted Old Navy ones I wore to work
    Sandals: J.Renee
    Earrings: I forgot to take a close-up pic, but they're me-made with light blue swirly beads.

    I didn't have a lot of time to throw an outfit together, since I ended up with a spontaneous family outing shortly after I got home from work, and then spent the evening hanging out with two of my really good friends. I grabbed this one on a whim, since it was warmer today and I hadn't actually worn it in public yet, despite making it months and months ago--I figured I needed to give it a shot! And looking at this picture, I'm warming up a bit to the Sorbetto pattern-- I'd thought it would be horribly unflattering on me, since it's not fitted at the waist like I usually go for, but it doesn't look too bad in this shot. (Still needs to be a little longer on me though, I think. Just enough that I can raise my arms without flashing midriff. And I'll probably ditch the pleat if I make it again.) It was really comfortable to wear, though, which is great for a weekend top!

    I'll do today's outfit in another post-- truthfully, I haven't even put on any accessories yet, since catching up on outfit pics was a higher priority for now, so I'll have to get that picture later!

    May 8, 2012

    MMM, days 7 & 8

    Day 7: 
    Shirt: The seafoam pintuck top, blogged here
    Sweater: Sonoma, from Kohl's
    Pants: Thrifted, and me-altered to fit a little better
    Shoes: Hotter (a British import that I recently discovered, and amazingly comfortable. It also makes me happy that nearly every shoe comes in wide! I know they're pricey, but that's why I got them in black-- so I can get maximum usage out of them!)
    Jewelry: The "Air" set from my elements series, blogged here

     Not the best picture, since it was so grey and dreary out and I had to use my flash in order for things to show up at all. This is a new combination for me-- I always wore this shirt with tan on bottom (with the occasional exception of this), until today. I think the combination looks better without the flash making it look all pastel!


    Day 8:
    Shirt: Forever 21, via thrift store
    Cardigan: The "Sweater Song" reconstruction, blogged here
    Jeans: DKNY, also via thrift store ($11!! Hands-down the best find I've ever had at a Goodwill!)
    Shoes: Softspots
    Belt: ModCloth
    Necklace and earrings: Me-made

    My boyfriend is being very gracious about taking pictures on the days we see each other, and it's working out very well in that I'm getting some more interesting photo locations! This was taken outside of the place we met for dinner after he got off work and before I did some teaching, since we were in the same area and I would have had to drive up there for just one today otherwise. It was neat--the place was called the Purebread Cafe, and all of the sandwiches were named after dog breeds! I got a "Great Dane", which was a ham-and-brie panini with tomatoes and super-spicy mustard. Yum! Anyway...
     This necklace almost feels like cheating, since all I really did was add a closure and a pendant to this chain. But it still counts. And I like that it added some color to my outfit!


     I don't think I've blogged these earrings before. I originally made them for my mom, to go with a necklace I'd made her. But she stopped wearing earrings a few years ago and gave her entire collection to me. I think the beads have a sort of Van Gogh look to them too!

    In other news, I actually did some sewing tonight! All it's been so far is doing some understitching and pressing of the neckline, and the next step involves hand sewing. It's the sort of fabric where I can't really cheat and topstitch over it, because it will look better if I don't. So I'm hoping I can finish that tonight so I can just focus on the machine with my day off tomorrow and knock out as much as possible. Imagine that--I might actually finish a sewing project soon!

    May 4, 2012

    MMM, Days 3 & 4-- To Be(ignet), or not to Be(ignet)?

    I didn't have time to post yesterday, so I'll have to make up for it today.
    Day 3:
    T-shirt:
    From Woot.com
    Jacket: "Floral Fantasy" jacket, blogged here
    Jeans: The Gap, via Goodwill
    Sandals: Birkenstocks, via Amazon.com
    Headband: Me-made from scraps of a reconstruction, blogged here
    Earrings: Me-made, see below
    Wristband: courtesy of Union Transfer
    My big exciting thing yesterday was that I headed up to Philadelphia with two of my friends for a concert! So this was taken at the Union Transfer, which was a new venue for us. We got there early enough that the seats in the balcony were vacated, which gave me just enough time to hand the camera over to my best friend so she could kindly oblige me on the outfit shot. This was the first time I've actually worn this jacket as a jacket-- until yesterday, I've worn it as a shirt a couple of times. I wasn't sure how it would go with the neckline, but one thing I'm trying to do with this month is wear things in new ways, and I think the jacket looked pretty good with this particular t-shirt! It's an owl with headphones and a wooden record player in a tree, and totally cute. And very appropriate, since we were going to see Andrew Bird!

    So this is what I got to enjoy last night. If you've never checked out his music, you really should--the man is a genius, and can do amazing things with a violin and whistling. Yes, whistling. This is "Orpheus Looks Back", which is one of my favorites so far off of his latest album, Break It Yourself.  (If I can get Blogger to cooperate in loading it...)


     



     And here's a closer-up view of the earrings-- pretty simple, just some bits of goldstone and jasper.








     And here's today:
    Day 4: 
    Blouse: "Puzzle Pieces", blogged here
    Dress: Wet Seal, via Goodwill
    Belt: Sash from said dress
    Shoes: Softspots, I think from Maryland Square
    Earrings: Me-made, see below

    It's gotten warmer again here today, and I was thinking at work today that this would be a good blouse to pull out. I was originally thinking of going simple with my black capri pants, but I guess they're still under the bed or something because I haven't found them in the pile of things to put in the closet. (With this yo-yo spring, switching out my wardrobe is being quite the drawn-out process!) So I decided more color might be good, and on a whim, I pulled out this strapless red dress that I picked up on my last thrift store run. I didn't want to wear the dress as is, because a) I didn't make it and b) I'd like to add some kind of strap, just for my own personal comfort--although this particular dress is fitted enough at the top that I might just safety pin them in to cover bra straps, because it's not going to fall down! In fact, it might be too fitted. I hope this won't be a problem for breathing at rehearsal for flute choir tonight... Anyway, I think this dress works amazingly well as a skirt. So much so, that I'm wondering if I really need to make the red Beignet skirt that I have pulled out for the Palette Challenge. I know it's a slightly different silhouette, but do I really need two red skirts? On the other hand, I'm not sure what else I would do with two yards of red twill. And I did buy some really awesome buttons to go with it. They're red, and they're sparkly. And my machine actually makes decent buttonholes now, since the shop discovered that it was actually the original replacement buttonhole foot that was defective and not my machine. Decisions, decisions....

    What do you think? Should I stick with the challenge and make the skirt? Or try to come up with another use for the fabric?

    Oh, I almost forgot--today's earrings!




    May 1, 2012

    MMM, Day 1

    And away we go! Kicking it off with an almost entirely homemade day.

    Top: "Lizzie" blouse, skirt-to-top refashion, blogged here
    Skirt: Quasi-me-made...I'll explain below.
    Bracelet/earrings: Me-made, blogged below
    Shoes: Payless, I think?

    Going from top to bottom here. One of the things I'm hoping to do this time, since I have plenty of warmer-weather me-made stuff, is to focus on putting together some better outfits. I used this shirt during my last challenge month, on Day 16 of Self-Stitched-September '10. And that ended up being one of my least favorite outfits days, so I'm trying to redeem the top here. The major problem with it was the crossover bit--it always sagged and was just generally unflattering. So as part of my mending binge that's been going on and off for the last several months, I hand-stitched that crossover bit in place, and I think it works so much better now!

    I'm still proud of that hand-beaded detail. I was sorting through my bead stash (with a LOT of help from my boyfriend, who actually enjoys organizing things) to try and consolidate it on Sunday. And I was thinking to myself that I should use beads on clothes more often. It's not like I don't have a bajillion of them.

    The earrings and bracelet are both from the December before last when I was making a ton of jewelry for that craft fair. And these were among the many items that didn't sell.  Since then, I took the things I liked for myself, and then let my mom, my sister-in-law, and a couple of my friends go through the rest-- I was at the point where I would rather give it away than store it, and at least I know that the people who got those things are using and enjoying them. I have to admit that I'm not too sorry the bracelet didn't go, since I was pretty happy with how this turned out!

    The story behind the skirt: My mom was teaching a sewing class for awhile for the homeschool co-op that my church hosts. This skirt was a project that came out of that. Though I can't remember if she'd just cut the pieces and I sewed it together, or if she mostly sewed it and I just hemmed it, or what. I'm pretty sure it was a McCall's pattern, and I'm guessing it pre-dates the blog, since I'm pretty sure I never wrote about it....thus the quasi-me-made. Apparently, being a "cake" project, this one didn't really stand out too much in my head!

    To improve the chances of successfully navigating this month, I'm going back to my teenage habit of choosing my outfits the night before. It worked well for today...by the time I got home from my retail job, I basically had an hour to change out of my rather unfashionable jeans and work t-shirt combo, take these pics, eat a snack, and write this post. I have a couple of lessons to teach this afternoon, which I'll need to drive around to, and then I'll get home around 7:30 to eat dinner, actually get some practicing in today, and shower. I'm hoping that maybe I'll have enough brainpower left after that to maybe knit a little. Welcome to my Tuesdays.

    February 13, 2012

    knitting update (and a surprise)

    I've been finding it a lot easier to find time to knit than to sew lately. Probably largely because my boyfriend's and my schedules have worked out over the last month or so that we can find several hours to hang out on Thursday in the late afternoon into the evening. So we've been keeping it pretty low-key and basically just cooking dinner and then watching some favorite tv shows or movies. He doesn't mind my need to keep my hands busy while I'm sitting for long periods of time, and I feel like it's easier to be social while knitting. At least at the point I'm at on this project. So except for some time yesterday when my best friend was also over and I was resizing some t-shirts on the serger for her, I've mostly been just knitting while he's around.

    This is where my Camille Shrug is at right now-- the back is completely done for now (until the end when I have to finish the edges with some ribbing), and I'm about 30 or so rows into the first sleeve. It's pretty brainless for now, just a straight stockinette with a 2-stitch decrease every 10 rows or so. What's got me a little stumped as I work is that I think I may have to add some length to the sleeve--the largest size has something like a 20.5" finished length, I'm knitting the smallest size, and from shoulder to wrist, my arm measures at a whopping 24". (Told you I have monkey arms!) Unless I'm envisioning this completely wrong, since it does look like a long-sleeved shrug on the model. If my measurements are right, the lace chart plus ribbing should end up taking about 8", which is pretty much elbow to wrist on me. So I guess what I'll do for now is get it to the point where I'm supposed to start doing the lacy bit again, maybe knit the other sleeve to the same point, and then hold it up and see where it's at.

    I am pretty proud of how the back turned out. Despite all of the counting, this was actually really fun to knit the whole way through. And after the nightmare that was the Cadence chart, I didn't think that would be possible! But I think it looks really nice so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks once it's all blocked!


    I also made a secret knitting project that I couldn't write about until now...my boyfriend's birthday was this past Thursday, and so I made him this as part of his birthday present:
    He's been rather curious about my crafty habits since he found out about them, and has been asking me all sorts of questions about it. And he did mention at one point early last month that he wouldn't mind if I made him a hat sometime. So I finished this right at the end of January. (After several bouts of basically having to lie to him over the phone about what I was working on. And I am a terrible liar.) It was pretty simple to make, other than just picking that third stripe color in the first place. (His favorite color is green, and he was wearing a black coat a lot at the time, so that was easy. Finding something manly that looked good with those two things was surprisingly hard!) This was the first project where I've actually done multiple colors where it wasn't variagated yarn, and that was surprisingly painless. The hat pattern (the Strib Hat on Ravelry) had a link to a good tutorial for how to start and end the stripes when knitting in the round, so that helped immensely. He was pretty happy with it--he's been wearing it around every time we've been outside since, and wants me to make him a scarf with the leftover yarn (of which I have quite a bit of the brown and green in particular!) I was going to attempt this, but I think that intarsia may be beyond my skills for now, so I think I'll just do something stripey and basic instead.

    He ended up giving me a surprise on Thursday, too. After lots of questions about my various hobbies, I found out that he made me this:
    He said he'd wanted to see firsthand what it was I enjoyed about making stuff, and figured attempting jewelry would be easier than, say, getting his hands on a sewing machine and trying something with that. So he found one of the simpler-looking projects with instructions on the Fire Mountain website, got the materials it called for, and gave this a go. He admitted that he was pretty frustrated while he was working on it, and said this isn't going to become a regular hobby for him, but that he definitely felt a sense of satisfaction when it was done! I've never had a guy make anything crafty for me before, so I thought that was pretty sweet!

    December 26, 2011

    Year-end crafting

    Now that Christmas is over and all gifts have been given, I can show the rest of what I've been up to this month.

    1. Herbal eye pillows. They're filled with flaxseed, lavender, and peppermint. I got the idea and the basic instructions from this blog that I found while Google-searching how to do it. The pillows themselves are bits of muslin from testing out that little black dress at the beginning of the year, and I was able to use some 100% cotton scraps from several projects over the last couple of years. I made one for myself, one for my mom, one for the cousin that I got in the family drawing on my mom's side (as part of an after-work relaxation kit--she's a nurse, so she has to put in some long days), and one that I'm not sure what to do with yet.

    I usually make a necklace or two for my mom's stocking every year as well. So here's this year's--she mentioned she didn't have much gold-toned jewelry. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the chain is broken up here and there by some antique gold-colored freshwater pearl beads.

    I also got some lovely sewing and knitting (mostly)-related gifts this year from my family...

    New fabric! From left to right, 3 yards of a lightweight charcoal denim that absolutely has to become pants, a black/white/grey silky print (I think about 2 yards), and a yard each of 3 cotton prints for me to make a new bag, of this style. It's kind of cool that I basically have an entire outfit here! I'll just have to make sure to choose a pants and top pattern that will work well together.

     And I got new yarn! 2 skeins each of this really thin bamboo yarn (I'm guessing for socks)...
    ....and 2 of this lovely colorway of the Serenity yarn I like. For acrylic, it's super-soft and I love their color palettes!

    A few other miscellaneous things: 3 knitting books (2 with some really lovely patterns, and one that's a pocket-sized tips book), a tiny circular needle which I'm guessing is also for attempting socks, 2 pairs of scissors (a badly-needed pair of new fabric scissors, since mine are rather dull, and some pinking scissors so I can stop stealing Mom's all the time), and a little pendant from my sis-in-law.

    Here's the close-up-- we both love Van Gogh, and I already had the "Starry Night" pendant. So this is the "Sunflowers", of course. I love that it came with two little sunflower charms so I can make some earrings, too! (Sunflowers are my favorite flower, as you've probably figured out by this point.)

    So that pretty much wraps up the holidays. My seasonal retail job is basically done for the year, so unless my job hunt proves more fruitful over the next couple of months than it's been so far, I've basically got no work other than my flute teaching until March. So I think a lot of my non-job-hunting/non-work time will probably be spent playing around with some of these things. I'm hoping to get that mock-up of the raincoat cut out this week. And I have one more holiday-related project up my sleeve, which must get done this week. I'm also planning on doing the traditional year-end wrap-up post at some point this week. But first, I need to figure out where to put all of this stuff...

    September 14, 2011

    The Frankenblouse, and other craftiness

    Well, here we are--the big 600! I wanted to wait to post it until I actually had a finished project to show. And since I've been working on other stuff in the meantime, this one's going to be a bit pic-heavy. Also, just as a reminder, there's still time to enter my 5-year/600 post giveaway, which is open through Monday! And now, on with the show...

    This is the blouse I finished today (about half an hour ago, to be precise.) It has the distinction of being on both my Summer and my Fall Essentials Sew-Along lists, and was kind of a transition between the two. It was also a mash-up between two patterns and my own improvisation. And, well, like the literary monster it's named for, the results are a bit less than pretty. I'm hoping it looks less lopsided on me than it does on Donna! But I did have some issues with this, probably due to the pattern merges I made.

    Namely that it ended up huge on me. I had to chop this much off of the sides just to get it anywhere remotely close to fitting! And it still doesn't quite have the look I was hoping for. So this probably would have worked better if I'd worked with two patterns from the same company. Or maybe a more fitted lower half. Oh well...you live and learn.

    I'm not entirely convinced about the back either, due to the two lines from the stitched-down pleat. But it'll probably work better when I'm wearing it, because unlike Donna, I'm not blue-skinned.


    And there are details I like. Like the button closure, which was the detail from the original RTW blouse that inspired me to do this. It could be a bit neater, and probably would be with skinnier button loops, but it seems like it'll hold the front closed pretty well.

    I'm also pleased with the sleeve, which is pretty much straight off of the New Look pattern. Except I cut the band/tie longer so I could actually make a bow out of it, since I'd learned before that it's not long enough to do so otherwise.

    So I wouldn't say this is a complete failure, and I'm still planning on wearing it. And it did bust a piece of stash fabric that I've had for well over five years, so that's certainly a good thing.

    (While I'm at it, the update on that: I added in about 4 yards for the raincoat fabric, and it probably should have been a bit more for the things I got for the Vogue dress. But since I'm planning on using those up next, I didn't bother to add them in. I did completely use up this metallic stripey fabric, so that leaves me at about 253.5 yards, down from 275 at the beginning of the year. Only about 150 yards to go to reach my target....this is going to take awhile!)

    It hasn't been all sewing around here by a long shot. I whipped up a quick necklace last Saturday:
    Super-easy, since all I had to do was put a clasp on it, and link the pendant to the pre-made chain.

    I just couldn't resist this pendant when I saw it on a more recent Joann's shopping trip, because it's my favorite painting by my favorite artist. There were actually two pendants in the pack, the other one being a small circular one with the moon from this same painting. But I gave that to my sister-in-law (who also loves Van Gogh and this painting in particular), so no picture of that.

    And I've been doing a good bit of knitting, too. Back on Labor Day, I finished this:
    It's the first of the cable slipper pattern that I found. I had to leave a bigger foot opening than it called for (I was literally sewing it shut while it was on my foot, and well, my feet are wide so I couldn't take it as far), so hopefully they'll stay on all right.

    I think the cables turned out really nicely, though, and this really was a perfect beginner cable project.

    Though the second one is started, I haven't worked on it since Labor Day, though. Mainly because I'm getting sidetracked....

    I finished the first of my two swatches for the Newbie and the Knitter knitalong. As it turns out, since I knit rather tightly, I had to take this up a full two needle sizes from what the pattern called for! This is the pre-blocked swatch...

    And here's the post-blocked one. This is going to be a much more open knit than I thought, so I think this one will be another one I'm going to have to wear camisoles under! But it does knit up lovely, very soft and drapey. And the alpaca isn't causing me any allergy-esque trouble except for a slight tingling in my hands when I've been working with it for awhile straight. Since I won't be handling it that long when I'm actually wearing it, I think this means I'll be ok.

    I also went ahead and started the hat I want to make for the fall, because the yarn was just demanding to be played with. I have to say, I love this yarn so far--it's a dream to work with on the bamboo needles, with no splitting or shedding. Hands-down the nicest 100% cotton yarn I've worked with so far. (Probably because it's also the most expensive 100% cotton yarn I've worked with so far.) And the color scheme makes me think of a sunset--it's been fun to see how the colors change and blend together as it goes. I've gotten about 2" done so far, and need to knit another 3" of the rib before I get into the main pattern of the hat.