So tiny.
Three little diaper covers for my bib-receiving pregnant friend (kind of cool – I also made the bridesmaid gifts for her wedding 3 and a half years ago!). I used this tutorial (0-3 months) and they were super easy. You cannot HELP but say “awwww” when you hold them up (this theory was tested on the crowd at the bridal shower, and was proven correct).
Good stash buster by the way.
(Duh I forgot to link you to the tutorial found via this nice list of baby clothing tutorials)
This is a perfect example of why my previous post about the possibility of being copied is quite ironic… Here I am ripping off Humanoid, yet again (and with the same yarn I used the last time, but only by coincidence).
As usual, I have Pinterest to thank for my inspiration and apparent inability to create anything original!
I used a provisional cast on and used kitchener to join the ends, then sewed a tube of soft cotton jersey and hand-stitched it under the edge of the cowl.
You might have noticed it with my Archer shirt in the last post… I’m loving the color palette of my recent projects. I’m not much of a spring/summer clothing person (I could wear boots, sweaters, and fall colors almost year round). However, for spring I do like this combination of a muted rich color, eartly neutral, and crisp white.
But now that it’s mid-May in Baltimore… this cowl is going in my fall “layaway” stash.
The famed Archer… I LOVED. MAKING. THIS.
Jen from Grainline’s sew-along was awesome and I highly recommend taking a look if you’re going to take a stab at this pattern. I had sewn one other button-down (for Mr. Nice way back in my sewing day) but I still learned A LOT from her. Check out those nice little cuffs up there! I wish I had had the patience to wait for the instructions on the yoke burrito – trying that next time. (What? You don’t know what the yoke burrito is? Guess you’ll have to watch her tutorial!)
The influence of a talented seamstress made me really focus on trying to cut and sew this well, and instead of my usual hack job, I ripped out seams and redid it when it wasn’t quite right. This ended up being one of my better sewing jobs because of it.
And is it embarrassing if I tell you that this little anchor stitch on the upper corners of the pockets kept me obsessed for a full 48 hours? I absolutely adored this detail, thought about it at night, at work, and must have shown it to Mr. Nice about 3 times. That little inch is the most professonal-looking thing I’ve ever done.
What? You want a closer look?
Here are some other notes…
For next time (because there will be a next time) I think I may take in the waist a little and narrow the sleeves. I like things fitted and I would like to practice some of those pattern-adjusting skills. However, the fit is great and the sizing was perfect (fyi this is a size 6).
Look at me. I love my Archer. What a dork!
So many bibs! So many hand-sewn snaps, really
.
A pregnant friend requested some bandana bibs for two of her pregnant best friends, so I threw a few in for her too.
This is a great stashbuster and is pretty cute, BUT I don’t think I’m going to give these as gifts anymore because… new moms do not need to be ironing. I washed these and they were kind of a b&*#$& to iron and were so askew and crazy that I don’t think you can get away without taming them with heat. All the moms in the world, how much ironing did you do during the first year of your children’s lives? That’s what I thought. I have to work on a new baby gift for the future newborns… there are a few good ones on my pinterest board… [Update: Apparently the first friend I gifted these to in October says that not only does she not have to iron them, but she receives compliments on them all the time. Well then. Nevermind]
A couple months ago I saw these handwarmers on Purl Soho and initially was shocked by how similar they were to my… green things? (They need a better name).
‘Was my “design” ripped off?!’ Uh, it’s pretty hilarious that this thought even crossed my mind because a) I rip off other people’s designs all the time (shameful), and b) Really? Someone from Purl Soho reads my blog and copies my design? I’m sorry to say, that is not the case.
So my next thought… could I really have taste as good as a knit designer from Purl Soho?!
Woohoo! I’ll take it. Let’s go with that one. (And if you don’t see a similarity, shh., just don’t tell me!)
The thought of making a self-drafted pattern scares the bejeezus out of me… this is the closest I’ve come. And by self-drafted, I mean I folded over my fabric, traced a top that I like, sewed up the side seams, cut a hole for the neck, and finished the neck and arm holes with bias binding (is that what you call it?)
Other notes… I traced the shirt with a little bit of waist shaping create a little sleeve, and folded the fabric so that the back is a little longer than the front, with a little split at the sides of the hem. There are no shoulder seams – I thought this would make the shirt slip to the back, but it worked out OK… The fabric is sheer, but has a nice drape to it, it’s heavier than you would expect. AND it was in the 2.99/yd remnants at G Street.
And there you have a $2.99 “self-drafted” (ha!) shirt right here, folks. (On Burdastyle here).
A gift made with my favorite vintage fabric ever from What Cheer? in Providence.
I haven’t bought new yarn in AGES, but some yarn I bought a year ago just arrived…. 
… six skeins (1200 yards) of yarn from my share of the Fall 2012 CSA at Juniper Moon Farm.
I’ve struggled for years now over the use of wool and the possibility of humane options and and although I’m getting closer, I have to say I’m still struggling a great deal. But, about a year ago, I bought a share in the world’s first yarn CSA from a no-kill farm whose animals live out their natural lives and are never eaten. It is of course still a business, but pretty cool one as businesses go; I would like to go down to Palmyra, VA one day to check it out.
That is all I am going to say on that subject – I’m not looking for a debate or argument. This is just something personal for me and I am in no way judging or saying what anyone else should do. I’m sure I’ve permanently lost a few of my very few readers at this point, because I’ve stopped reading blogs due to certain personal opinions, but it is what it
is.
Well, back to the yarn, because my next task is… dyeing!! I ordered mine undyed and am going to try to dye it myself (!)…. which I have never done before. Boring as I am, I’ve been wanting a gray cardigan for a while, and love gray, and, so, will be dyeing this gray. I’ve been reading Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece by Gail Callahan and I’m psyched to try it – does anyone have advice and/or recommend a certain type of dye?
This yarn smells strongly of the farm and has to stay locked up because the cats…
love
it.
OK the cats are taking over this blog! Enough! I promise.
Recently Alexis of Spools and Skeins passed on her Liebster to me… so nice! I feel like a jerk though, because I could not for the life of me come up with 11 blogs to pass it on to. And the ones I did think to pass it on to (like Closet Case Files, Sewin’ Steady, Pins and Needles, etc.) have already received one or more recently and I’m sure don’t need or want another (since it is more of a chain letter than an award). And some of those blogs as well as some others I love (tidytipsy, Cirque du Bebe, etc.) have 200+ followers. I did come up with a few random facts and answered Alexis’ questions…
10 facts about me (because I’m really sick of trying to come up with an 11th one!) …
1. My favorite foods are guacamole, cereal, and vegenaise.
2. I could drink orange juice siphoned by the gallon 24 hours a day. This is making me crave some right now.
3. I have moved 15 times in 4 states and I am not from a military family. I am just… unable to sit still? The last 11 were in my adult life and in the last 4 years I’ve lived in 3 different states (MA, RI, and MD). I have also driven a 16 foot moving truck up and down the east coast by myself. The longest I’ve lived in one house was my first 10 years of life – I have dreams about that house to this day and I have a drawing of it tattooed on the inside of my upper arm.
4. In 2007 and 2008 I did 4 sprint triathlons (NOT competitively – I came in the bottom third).
5. I have won a yarn basket, an iPod nano, and an all-expense-paid 4-day trip to Jamaica. And a teddy bear when I was 5.
6. Between the ages of 3 and 21 I had four visits to the emergency room; at age 3 I ran into a wall (genius) and got 8 stitches on my forehead, at age 12 I scratched my eyeball with a pencil and wore an eye patch for a weekend, at age 15 I got hit in the head with a soccerball and had a nosebleed that lasted a week, and at age 21 I was bit by a dog and got 7 stitches on the bridge of my nose. I’m graceful, no?
7. When I was 12 I decided I wanted to be a therapist (I called it a “shrink” back then) and that’s what I am.
8. Mr. Nice and I met on my 27th birthday in my favorite bar. This is funnier to the people that know us, particularly him, because you wouldn’t expect either of us to “pick someone up” in a bar. Although it wasn’t really like that. A picture was taken of us talking to each other that first time, but it was lost when my hard drive burned in November 
9. I lived in Italy the second semester of my junior year in college. I had taken two years of Italian, and took three classes taught in Italian, and became fairly fluent, which of course I’ve almost completely lost now. While there, I met my grandmother’s brother and his family in Sicily, none of whom speak English. I never thought a decade would pass and I wouldn’t have gone back.
10. I used to really, really dislike cats. I thought they were obnoxious and weird and I didn’t really like to pet them. Uh, if you’ve read my blog before you can probably tell that has changed drastically. I am absolutely a cat person now. I still like dogs, but I’m not really into the dog as a status symbol or an accessory, as sometimes they tend to be.
So cute you could barf, right?! Anyways…
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