Sunday, July 29, 2012

cute little baby things

and a cute little baby (finally)!  




latvian baby blanket. fabric side






latvian baby blanket again. knit side


and my two favorite FOs =)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

not dead...

not quite anyway...  where have i been?  quite frankly nowhere good.  our impending move has been moved from next month to this, which isn't a really big deal except i'm increasingly overdue to have this baby and as such have been busting ass to get the move done asap...

of course baby still hasn't budged so perhaps i needn't have been in such a hurry?

we are almost completely moved which will only leave some cleaning to be done after baby's born and i think with everyone chipping in we can handle that.

what else have i been up to though?  don't think that my moving chores didn't include some sewing ;-)

i turned the huge pile of scraps on the floor under my ironing board (isn't that where everyone keeps their scrap pile?) into this


hopefully this pile will become a couple of quilts eventually.  i've mentioned this before, but i cannot bear to throw anything away.  i assume that's why quilting came about in the first place...


i've also been making --don't judge me-- diapers!  i am considering cloth diapering little miss late to the party so i've been whipping these out really quickly when i have the urge to do some sewing.  i've got 7 prefold diapers so far (seen above) and 3 pocket diapers/diaper covers (see below) with lots more of both cut our ready for sewing.


we'll see how it goes.  they're so cute, aren't they?

i'll be making some more once i get my sewing machine unpacked.  that's right, i took the plunge and packed my machine.  and i won't be unpacking it until tuesday <whimper>


but that leaves me more time for knitting.  i'm almost done with sock number one of these big fish.  i'm modifying the pomatomus pattern for a men's size 12.  actually this is my second pair as such.  there will definitely be a blog post with specifics at some point.


this is just for giggles.  my mom gave me this nightgown, presumably because it doesn't fit her.


i know what you're thinking: that's not the reason she didn't want it!

but i promise it's actually quite pretty and i'm sure it'll make lovely baby stuff.  plus it's almost a paisley print and i love paisley!


i love the border.  i'm actually thinking of making some of those "bandanna shorts" i've been seeing all over lately. 

 we'll just have to wait and see.  

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

little plaid shorts


Fate smiled upon us today: sun on the 4th of July (it's been pouring rain for the past two days) and I finished these little heartbreaker pants this morning.  Obviously they're shorts not pants.  

I struggled with the decision for awhile and finally decided that I would make them the next size up (size 4/5) and hope next summer is warmer than this one.  In the meantime I think they fit fine.  That's how the kids wear their shorts these days anyway, right?  Extra long.


They seem to work just fine for diggin' in the sand.


Playing on the playground...


And eating dinner.

As you can see we take advantage of sunny days around here.  You never know which will be the last one before the rain comes back.

I did a couple of things differently for this pair.  First I made bias tape to match the lining fabric.  That's just for fun.  It makes me happy to see such well coordinated insides.


Pretty guts huh?  Almost too pretty for boy's shorts.

More importantly, instead of machine stitching down the waistband I slip-stitched it by hand.  So instead of looking like this...


Or this...


That's right I meandered off of course not once, but twice.  Almost too painful to look at isn't it?

It looks like this (front)


And this (back).


See how much neater the stitching is?  Oh wait, no you don't!  Haha!  

I have not been able to get the waistband sewn on neatly the way the book describes.
The number of layers is changing and you have the waistband to line up with on the outside and the turned under edge to sew through on the inside.  I finally decided it's easier to just hand stitch it in.  It doesn't really take that long.

Is it worth it? I guess that depends on how crazy you are.  I know that when he's wearing the khakis pictured above no one ever notices the wandering stitching line but I know it's there.  Apparently that's enough for me.

I also tried to match the plaids on the fronts and backs. 



Obviously I failed to do so on the sides though =(  I just forgot when I was laying out the pieces.  And what was I laying the pieces out on?  A large men's button up shirt.  I actually had to make the legs a wee bit narrower to fit all the pieces and line up the plaid.  The legs on this pattern are plenty roomy, though, and it was just a little bit.  I actually think that might be just as well since they're shorts.

Oh, and no cuffs: the shorts are rolled up a bit in these pics, though.  They're really long on him right now.  I'm hoping they get their wear this year and next, then maybe two summers for the next one!

So there you go.  Total cost I'd put at about $5 for buttons, elastic, and everything.  They're exactly what I wanted.


Another fortunate coincidence: this month's Sewing for Boys Sewalong pattern?  Of course =) Challenge accepted and completed.  I actually want to make another pair this month, though, so we'll see how things go.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

the sound of settling


or at least socks of settling.  i think we all get in funks.  you see a lot of people say they lose their sewing/knitting/whatever mojo.  


here's the project page if you'd like to relive the excitement and here is the pattern which is free.  it's just a basic stockinette stitch sock pattern worked from the cuff down with an afterthought heel, except mine are done toe up.  obviously i did an eyelet row (yo, k2tog) on every light green stripe to add some interest.  oh, except for the first two after the heel turn on the back of the second sock.  i realized i had forgotten half of two eyelet rows on the sock leg and just kept going.  now that's settling for mediocrity.  surprisingly it doesn't look all that bad when the sock is on but it was mind-numbingly boring to knit while still requiring me to actually look and see what color i was on.


also known as a bull's eye heel for obvious reasons.  it's pretty much the only thing i don't hate about these socks.  i bought this yarn when i was first starting to knit socks...  before i realized i really don't like self striping sock yarn.


oh, haha, and i bought a ton of it because it was on sale at my lys's mother's day sale and obviously i lost my mind.  i mean a handknit green giraffe (with no tail btw).  there's obviously something wrong with me.


mmm..  ill fitting.  maybe because i'm a million years pregnant and my ankles are all swollen out of proportion.  you can see that the heel itself is baggy yet the same point on the top of the foot is tight.  wtf?  i appreciate how the heel allows the stripes to continue uninterrupted though

what broke my mojo?  a pair of shorts that i believe will be too small even after  baby's born (with flat-felled seams and a lapped zipper that's already inserted no less) a button up shirt for dc that is too small (actually i figured it would be i made it to check the fit and then couldn't get him to wear it even long enough to check fit) and it doesn't help that he still won't wear the awesome fishy henry shirt i worked so hard on.  would that it were my size i would wear it.

i remain optimistic, though.  i've started a quilt (that's right, now i'm a wanna be quilter too!)  i'm currently knitting not one but two blankets.  we'll see how far this one gets.  i started it this morning because i was tired of wading through piles of fabric scraps trying to get to my ironing board.  you've actually seen all of these fabrics before.


and something i actually know a little bit about: a second pair of big fishes for my dad from shibui sock which is too yummy to not cheer me up =)  at least some of my handmade fish clothing is appreciated!


and here is some other stuff that doesn't suck.  my little dj, passiflora in my garden, giraffe made from sock yarn seen above, and lots of dc on the beach =)


here's hoping that better things are coming...  more beach and less bitch