Randomly Monday| 2.18.19

Randomly Monday| 2.18.19

I did indeed finish my first Thea Rachelle Raglan on Friday. Sewing time was about 2 hours total. Yes, I like it, but I need to make some pattern adjustments. The neck line needs to be a bit narrower and higher in the back, at least for a cold weather garment! I am not sure how easy those things will be to adjust – what with facings and all. However, this exact pattern would make a truly lovely summer top from linen!! So, yes! I will sew this again!

Saturday, we had the most amazing visitor in the tree in my front yard!! A Pileated Woodpecker!! I know – my heart about stopped. I was not quick enough to get a photo, but oh.my.gosh. A Pileated Woodpecker in my front yard! I am pretty sure it was a female, because I did not see any red stripe on its face.

More BIG excitement here on Sunday when the water main that supplies our housing plan broke leaving us with no water for most of Sunday afternoon and evening. I won’t even go into all the complaining that caused. However, things seem to be back to normal this morning and I have laundry underway to prove it!

I have been entirely enamored with Cara’s 100-day Sashiko Stitching Project. You should especially look at her stories…so.much.fun!

AND!! I started listening to the latest Armand Gamache installment, Kingdom of the Blind – I am limiting my listening time each day to make it last as long as possible.

How is your Monday looking?

Weekending | 1.20.19

Weekending | 1.20.19

Greetings from a sunny but very cold wintry wonderland!

The weekend forecast was the stuff of a weatherperson’s dreams – all the weather in one day so, we braved the crazed “Armageddon” crowds at the grocery store to get a couple of things. Really not the most brilliant thing we’ve ever done, but we did manage to survive.

We thought that trip was a fool’s errand when all the predictions for Saturday just sort of fizzled out. No snow but yes, we got lots of rain and the temperatures stayed well above freezing all day. The rains finally turned to ice and then to snow as our temperatures plummeted to single digits overnight. The arctic blast is indeed upon us!

And, so what do you do with all the weather drama? Well, you make comfort foods (i.e. stuffed acorn squash), drink whiskey, and finish projects!

I did some sewing with really lovely results. I mentioned Fancy Tiger Crafts One-Hour Top a couple of weeks ago and I found some knit fabric on sale at JoAnn’s and in less than an hour I sewed up a muslin from the sale fabric to see how it would fit and what adjustments I might need to make. Yes, less than an hour – including cutting out the pattern in that time! There are just 4 seams and then stitch the neck, sleeves and hem with a double needle, which gives a really lovely and surprisingly easy finish! And, the fit is really wonderful so I have been looking online for more knit fabric to make a couple more shirts!

Steve’s mom loved her Christmas Cowl so much she asked if I could make one for Steve’s dad, which I was happy to do. I finished it on Saturday and delivered it early Sunday morning and just in time for the single digit weather we are going to be having this week!

I blocked Rachel’s Birthday Shawl and got the few ends woven in, and it is all ready to be shipped off to California!

I also finished a pair of handspun socks that were two years in the making! That’s right I bound them off on Sunday morning – I still have ends to weave in but at least they are off the needles!

Inspired by Mary, I cleaned up my Ravelry queue and frogged a few items that just are not going to ever be finished for a variety of reasons. It feels infinitely better looking at my queue now and I even feel energized to get these lingering projects finished! All this work deserved a reward so I cast on a new shawl with a skein of handspun yarn that I found in last weekends organization that I had earmarked for this project!

In the “late to the party” category (and thanks to pneumonia!) I have recently discovered how entirely enjoyable Doctor Who is! I am just starting Season 4 thanks to Sunday’s snow storms and wintry blast! I will just say this; The Doctor is a very good knitting companion!

Steve works tomorrow, no day off for him! But if you do have tomorrow off – I hope you spend a little time thinking about MLK!

What did your weekend hold?

Best Nine 2018

Best Nine 2018

Today I am sharing the best of my making. 2018 was a most productive year for me! Ravelry tells me I completed 17 projects – a most impressive number! And, of these 17 items – 9 were sweaters!! It truly was the year of the sweater for me and I plan to work to continue that in 2019 as well!

And, that number grows with my renewed interest in sewing! I made a good number of things for myself and for Genevieve in 2018 – best of all, many of the things I made were repurposed from garments that were too large! I even did a bit of hand sewing with an Alabama Chanin-style top! All in all, I sewed 17 items this year!

But, out of these 34 things, these are my best items of the year:

Today, the making continues! I will be working on finishing a “snowsuit” for Genevieve’s Bitty Baby! Snaps and some elastic are all that it needs to finish it up!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn

Almost as if a switch was flipped, the temperature on Friday went from almost 90 to the 50’s overnight ushering in a most autumnal-like weekend.  And, the weather man has said we won’t be seeing anymore 80-degree days until next year.

That means just one thing, Gentle Reader, SWEATER WEATHER has arrived!  I rocked my Rock the Lobster all weekend long and I LOVE IT! (although I think it needs one more round of crochet at the neckline to snug it up just the tiniest bit more… or maybe I need to do what Lena did at the neckline of her amazing sweater dress)

Also, this weekend I finally reached the GREAT SLEEVE DIVIDE!! Unbelievably, I did not have the right amount of stitches and I am not quite sure how that happened, but my solution was to knit an extra round to decrease those odd thirteen stitches. Now, I hope that my “fix” works because ripping back miles and miles and miles of knitting to figure out where I made my error might mean that Tegna would die in the Frog Pond. I will continue working the back and see how it looks as I get further along.

The Great Blanket Layout is complete and Blanket Assembly has begun (stay tuned for photos later this week!!) I feel a bit like Sybil with the knitting rotation I have going on –Blanket Knitting by day and at night selfish knitting! And, I might be contemplating starting a Guernsey Tam to try to get done before Friday! I have an issue with this tam as written as I really dislike knitting garter in the round… I hate how clearly you can see the jogs between the knit and purl rounds so my solution will be to knit it flat and seam it when I am finished.

Finally, in the TMI category: this weekend saw me doing some of my least favorite shopping on earth – that’s right, the dreaded find a bra that fits and is comfortable expedition. In my weight loss journey – getting a well-fitting bra sort of fell off the list and I have been living the make do with a sports bra theory. It worked well for a while, or at least that is what I thought until I saw myself in some photos. Wow…sports bras really are about the most unflattering thing ever created! However, this weekend I was insanely lucky to find not 1 but 4 (yes… it is feast or famine apparently here!) good fitting (and uplifting!!) bras! They fit well, are quite comfortable, and they were all on the clearance rack for $8.40 each!! There’s a perky joke in here somewhere, but suffice it to say that I am now reconsidering dart placement in any new garments I make!

That is all I have for this first Monday of fall! Have an awesome day and may your list be short and completed early!

On a Random Monday | 9.17.18

On a Random Monday | 9.17.18

The Sedum is just gorgeous this year and I caught this lovely little bee in my photos last week. Summer was full on again over the weekend, which I will count as a blessing especially with the rain we are having today. But, for all the summer weather it was a weekend of thinking, list making, and planning and, yes, my list for this week is long!

This Instagram post made me laugh. 50-60 pairs of mittens??? What??? Maybe I need to up my mitten game…but, all those mittens are surpassed by the airing of the socks…I just love knitters!

There was a bit of sewing and, I even finally got the binding done on Rock the Lobster! I could find no ribbon that inspired me for the sweater, so instead I made bias tape in just the right width to cover the zipper and the steeked edges. I am just thrilled with how this turned out. As for the sewing, I made another Esme tunic – this time with a bit more of a scooped neck from some repurposed blue chambray. It needs some adjustments at the neckline and at the armscyes, but once those are done I think I will be ready to sew a flannel version!

Now, I am off to tackle that list – have an amazing Monday everyone!

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