I Was Knit Together In My Mother's Womb

Today, I am a knitter who sews. And I'm so glad I'm made that way!  If I was told I could never go shopping again, guarantee, I'd find a way to make a dress from the curtains, just like Fraulein Maria did for the VanTrapp kids (or better yet, like Carol Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara!) Go on, watch the video...you need a laugh for the day.

I have had more fun and challenge getting back to my sewing machine. It's been such an interesting process, and I know I've said it before, but it's just so cool to get these 50 year old brain cells firing in a new direction!  This past week, I made two dresses...wore them both, too, and I'm really happy with the results. For less than $15 each, in fact!

  Simplicity 2725.

My modifications? I hate making facings when I don't have to, so I completely lined the inside of the dress. It's so stinking cute! A very simple sleeveless tent or A-line style. I love the version that Rhaelyn did..made from a thrifted sheet!  I know I will make more of this dress for summer.

   

Loving the invisible zipper. I heard about "Steam and Seam" and used the 1/4" version to secure my zipper in place before sewing it in. It worked fabulously!  No pins to manipulate...the zipper stays absolutely in place, and gives a much cleaner look. I've been using it with every zipper now!

Next is McCall's 5619.  With some major modifications.

   After making the dress as per the instructions, I found that the pleating around the waist really made the fabric stand out too much from my middle. So I ripped it out, and modified the skirt to an a-line, without the pleats. Much better.

 

I need to learn how to take better pictures when my photographer is out of town! It's tough to see the bodice detail on camera given this wild print...it has a wide elastic drawn across the top, so the bust area is gathered on the top and bottom. The other mod is with the bodice....I fully lined it instead of messing with all the facings.

Tonight I will make a muslin for a pencil skirt. After seeing Hot Patterns tutorials on You-tube, I am very motivated to do it. I know that it will be a skirt that I'll make over and over again, so I want it to be juuuust right, and by making that muslin, I'll get a better fit. I have some great black sort of Jacquard  that I'll use for my skirt, with a slammin' chunky zipper from top to bottom in the back seam, just like Trudy did! I'm really excited about this one.

 

So, that's what I've been up to this past week. Creating a Spring and Summer wardrobe on  a budget. I have so much to re-learn after all these years of not sewing garments.  

Oh, and I made Hot Patterns Riviera Boulevard Cardigan Jacket. Wore it Saturday all day, and I love it! But, I have to go to work now, so I'll share that one with you later!

Earlier this week, I declared that it was no longer Winter. I'm done with it. Even though Monday it was 25 degrees when I left for work in the morning, there was no way I could put on one more dark layer of anything. I wore a pink tunic and white jeans.

 I wasn't about to ruin my new pedicure, either....even though it was twenty five degrees.

The first snowdrops popped out last week, too. And the birds? Oh, my...the songbirds in the darkness before daylight....just as loud as can be.

And on my walk into work one day this week, I got yelled at by a mother duck who decided to lay her eggs right next to the sidewalk. Under a bush, of course, but right next to the sidewalk....like I had no business being there.

   

 

So in my mind, even if it's still 25 degrees in the morning, it's official. It's Spring.

I'm really excited about some new warm weather knitting.  I know that the Diminishing Rib Cardigan  and the Whisper Cardigan have gone stark raving wild on Ravelry the past few weeks, but I'm not sure that either of them are really "me." Knitty didn't seem to have any potential for me, either.

So I dug out some stash projects, with the anticipation of rekindling the love. Hope springs eternal, I say.

I found this Rebecca vest project.

And a whole bag of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere.

And  A Rowan Classic Summer Breeze book.

I like Cobweb ( the left). And Floss (upper right).

So now I'm inspired again. I love how Spring does that to you. Everything is new and fresh, even the old stuff. What are you knitting for Spring?

One week ago, I had my fiftieth birthday.

 

I wasn't feeling so good about it last week.

In 2009, there are lots of 50's being celebrated.

Madonna turned 50.

Barbie turned 50.

The Fisher-Price Little People turned fifty.

Alaska turned fifty.

Tom Arnold turned 50.

This week, I feel better about it.  I have not been quite sure how to be fifty, and lo and behold, I woke up this morning to walk and realized...I've been being fifty for a week now, and it's not so bad!

 

In fact, I'm looking forward to the year ahead. And a vacation.

Today's Ten on Tuesday.... Ten things I like doing on vacation.

1. The beach. I love everything about the beach. The sun, the warmth of the sand. The sound of the water. Napping in a beach chair.

2. Eating fresh seafood. Just caught.

3. Disney World.

4. Being awake later at night than normal...especially when it's warm and the air smells good.

5. Reading a big fat novel. and a whole stack of magazines.

6. Browsing local markets...a bonus if they are outdoors.

7. Spending an afternoon at the local yarn store.

8. Bike riding to those places you wouldn't normally go to in a car or on foot.

9. LIstening to music outdoors.

10. Finding the local places to eat.

(JR, this post was mostly for you, working so far away in Virginia... See? I'm doing okay....dreaming of our first vacation together with us both being in our 50's!)

Have you had a milestone birthday? What did you think of it?

Striped Sweater from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss

   

This is the sweetest little sweater. I knit it with two skeins of Paton Grace. I really should have chosen something other than a mercerized cotton, but it turned out okay, and is really cute with it's little button closure shoulders. This is for a new baby boy that is on his way in a few weeks.

You know I love my yarn stash. I could knit from it for a good long time. 

Recently being bit with the sewing bug again, I've now started to develop a pattern and fabric stash. Help me now, I need an intervention!  Now, not only do I have knitting projects lined up in my brain, at the same time, I have sewing projects lined up in my brain. That's a whole lot of projects lined up in my brain. And not enough hours in a day.

 When did sewing all of the sudden get to be cool again?  I learned to sew when I was 11 years old. I had probably the best teacher ever, my mom. My mom could do anything, and could teach anybody anything.  Even though they could be frustrating lessons at the throne of that Bernina, I came to appreciate that you had to break a few needles to learn how to put in a zipper.

And that when something wasn't right, you had to rip it out...sometimes again and again, because it was important to have our handiwork look just as good as store bought.

I learned to press as you go, even though it was very hard not to hurry to get to the next seam.

I learned that I could make anything, with my mom at my side, and then in the next room, and then just a phone-call away. I call her still with my questions, because she was the best seamstress I have ever known. 

This week, I made a dress. With the help of my dummy (which JR so lovingly hung in the office, no doubt creating quite a buzz with our neighborhood Gladys Kravitz  when she saw it through the mini-blinds dangling from it's gallows)

 Anyway, back to my dress.  I was really determined to create a simple dress that fit me perfectly. It's very hard for me to fit into standard sizing, so this was quite a lesson for me  in how to modify  a pattern.

Simplicity 3673, made from a linen blend.

      

My modifications other than for sizing? I lined not only the bodice, but the skirt as well...just to give it more body, to keep the wrinkling at a minimum, and so I don't have to wear a slip.

It's an awesome dress, I will wear it and wear it.

You know when you make something and you want the whole world to see it because it was an inspired idea from the designer, and you found the perfect yarn and it's a COAT and we don't often knit coats...especially with giant cables and flowers up the back?

I want to be buried in this coat.

 

I made a few modifications to Sylvi.  Mine is knit with Lamb's Pride Bulky, so it's incredibly warm and heavy...definitely a fall-winter coat.

 

The original design included a hood with the cabling and floral applique continuing up the back of the hood. Waaay too much going on for me around the neckline, so I created a very simple collar instead....just extending the front bands and seed stitch.

   

My sleeves were modified.  I had to shorten the sleeves, which involved removing the cuff and taking back the knitting in the opposite direction ( you know how much fun that can be). After re-attaching the cuff,  I  decided that the sleeves were too weighty for me with the cuffs. The ( I almost wrote "recipe called for") instructions had a banded cuff. I did a simple rolled edge finish instead.

 

It's a happy day. My coat is finished and I love it.

Sylvi, in all of her hugeness and redness, is complete and ready for blocking. But this week, I've been away Monday and Wednesday, and I'll be away tonight, so she may have to wait til the weekend. I'll give you a hint though, Sylvi is wonderful! I can't wait for  you to meet her!

In other news, I've started the pink sweater of my own (sort of) design, and I cannot tell you how good it feels to get my fingers around cotton/silk DK after working with wool/mohair bulky yarn for these past few months. I'm ready to think Spring and  I'm really having the urge to knit sweaters with a finer gauge...think several of the Rowan styles...knit on size 2's and 3's perhaps.  Just thinking.

I got an email this morning from the mom of Sophia, with several pictures of baby girl wearing her hand-knit sweater that I made for her.

Isn't she adorable?  This sweater is from the Louisa Harding book, "Enchanted Garden."

Amazing, isn't it, how we start out this way?  And end up with the possibility of being a woman who wraps herself in duct tape. Imagine that. I think a lot about how we get to be the way we are. Nature, nurture...genetics, choices.   I can tell you that no matter all of that, I'm different today than I was earlier in my life. And the blessing is, no matter what our circumstances, we get to be better today than we were the day before. Isn't that an amazing thing?  God doesn't see the duct tape, He doesn't see the body, or the sweaters or the make-up. Or our bad choices or our parents or how we were hurt.

He sees the inside...heart.  I was lost, now I'm found and I'm changed because of that alone.

(Lisa, If you're reading this, yes, Carol's little mannequin was lost, and is now found...after all these years!)

While JR was away skiing in Utah last week, I spent part of the week visiting my cousin in Arlington, VA...lending some post surgical support and decorating advise. Not to mention that I was formulating a plan for when JR and I both returned home. I had big plans for him. The happy reunion of husband and wife took place yesterday afternoon.

(This is the part of the story where really share my thoughts and feelings with you)

"Welcome Home, honey! Want to wrap me in duct tape?" I'm not sure that JR had this in mind:

   

 

Well, this was interesting....my first attempt at a duct tape dress form (after quite a bit of research and thanks to some great internet tutorials). I had some unexpected results. I never imagined that I looked like this:

  or even like this:

The stuffed, upright me.

I've always been opposed to human cloning.... Now more than ever. Yet look at me....and my double. I thought this would be a good thing. But now more than ever, I'm obsessing about getting the

Bender Ball .  My daughters have always thought I have body dysmorphic disorder...you know, thinking you look differently than you actually do?  Like, I'm the woman who finds it hard to look in store windows when I walk by. And I am the woman is is ever thankful for digital cameras....because there is a delete button.

Now I have another one of me hanging around in my closet. Imagine that. Like one of me isn't enough for this world.             

For Heaven's sake, put some clothes on that dummy!

  

Since the reveal of my coat, I love that the discussion of "That Girl" has come up...in the comments (Beth) and via emails. Just last week, I saw a commercial for the DVD box set release of "That Girl," which got me very excited. Who didn't want to be Ann Marie? I was ALL about her...living alone in a cute apartment, a boyfriend named Donald, and a fabulous wardrobe that I would DIE for. She was all girl, that girl. And I was totally in love with Ann until  Mary Richards stole my affections in the 70's.

They were the essence of independence and femininity. I love being a girl. I love makeup and clothes and feeling emotions deeply. I love crying during "When Harry Met Sally" even though I've seen it about a million times. I love having pedicures, and playing with dolls, and wearing pink AND fur AND hand-knit when I race go-carts.

 

Do you love all the feminine details in fashion this season? Everywhere you look, there are ruffles and sparkle, frills and  sweet girly bright pink. I'm so glad I ordered this Debbie Bliss Cathay...

  It's going to become this:

   I'm using Marlyn's "Not So Shrunken Cardi" as my base pattern. I'll add a wider set of ruffles, and some deep ribbing.

Katie and Ray are having a baby, as you know.

So, of course, I've been looking through the baby pattern books, and the stash

ready to knit something pink and wonderful, because

She's a girl!!!!!  And I  can't wait to paint her toenails!

Finally...I get to wear a new coat.

  Vogue 5835

I think I like it. After a few weeks at the machine, seaming, re-seaming, agonizing over buttonholes (which I ultimately put on the wrong side of the coat!) and carefully steaming each step of the way, My coat is finished, and sort of cute. It's been awhile since I've tackled a bigger sewing project such as this, and actually, this is my first coat. I think I asked my mom for coat-maing tips for weeks before I actually made it, and many times in the process. The construction of this coat is a bit on the unusual side as far as the lining goes, so I did re-invent the whole lining:

I gave the skirt some extra overlap in the front instead of just seaming the lining to the coat along the front edge. And, forgoing most of the slip stitching of the lining to the bodice seam, I seamed it by machine instead, and treated it all as one piece.

I'm thinking I will add a fourth button on the funnel neck to help it stay in place a bit better.

Now, if only my Sylvi coat would be nice to me! (OH MY WORD! THE NEW TWIST COLLECTIVE IS UP!)

After having to re-order yarn AGAIN, I'm nearing completion. Last night I did the seaming, tried it on, and the sleeves were too long. I always seem to have this problem with raglan sleeves. Don't know why, but I do.  But, in the long run, taking off the banded cuff may suit me better.

 It seemed rather bulky to me, at the end of an already heavy sleeve. So, today, I'm going to the drawing board to come up with an alternative sleeve cuff. And an alternative to the hood.  I'm thinking more of a shawl collar? Or maybe a stand up?   This I can say....I have enjoyed the process of this coat, but I will never be so glad to get something finished!

I have to say a special thanks to  Cybele, one of my awesome blog readers, for blessing me with a little recognition.

  If Cybele only knew what I do to get my knits to fit! I guess the  thing is, I'm never afraid to try something different, detour from the pattern, and then rip it out and do it again if it doesn't work!  If that's being "kreativ" then that's what I am!

Thank you Cybele... I have very much enjoyed our emails...you are  a great encourager!

 Jeanne also  flat out surprised me this week with the fact that I was her 5000th Commenter! How cool is that?  But here's the thing...she blessed me with a gift certificate to the Loopy Ewe! I'm so happy! And, Jeanne, you can't imagine how sweet and generous your gift is! I am having the hardest time deciding how to spend that yarn money! But, Sherry, I'll be in contact with you very soon with my order!

Thank you Cybele and Jeanne...You both gave me an extra smile this week!