little bit of crazy leaking out

Over the last week I have actually been doing some knitting and sewing. I know, shocker.

It started with the what not to wear post, after that I decided I really needed to get some clothes made for my daughter.  The dresses I made for her almost 2 years ago are just not cutting it anymore, even for play dresses. 

              

I pulled out the Ottobre magazines and traced off a pattern and did a sketch.

     

I started cutting, I was not paying as close attention as I should have been and mis-cut one of the side panels and didn’t have enough fabric left to re-cut, sigh. So now I have this beautiful pink velour that cannot be made into what I intended it to be made into, sigh.  I did cut out 2 other dress, rethread the serger, and start on the sewing up.  The bulb on my serger blew out so I went to the store to pick up another one. I asked Hubby to watch the kids while I was gone.  When I got home I was putting in the new bulb when I noticed a small pair of scissors sitting in front of the serger and all of the threads had been cut. Honey, thanks for watching the kids, sigh.

I am getting closer to finishing Daughter’s sweater, only one sleeve left to go, and weaving in all those ends.

 

The bottom rolls a bit too much so I am thinking of ripping back and putting in some wide ribbing before the rolled edge, but not till I get the other sleeve done and the ends woven in.

I needed a break from all those bright stripes, so I started some socks.  I finished the first one last night.

 

The foot with the sock is Daughter, the foot without a sock is Son, who wanted his picture taken too.  I have to make him some socks too, he kept saying “my sock, my sock!”  I’ve been a bad mommy, need to make socks for him too.

Oh, and I joined another KAL, two actually: Project Spectrum (not just knitting, tho), and the Aran Weight Victorian Lace Shawl KAL.  I was also going thru the Yahoo!Groups I a lurker member of, I totally forgot to list the Monthly Dishcloth KAL and the Kiri Shawl KAL.  Then there are the Blog based ones I forgot:  Branching Out and Sock it to Me.  Ok, most of these I don’t really consider KALs as they are perpetual and people come and go, more of a knitting support group for the pattern in question.

The new Spring Ottobre is up on their site.  I am so excited, but now I just have to wait for it to get to my mailbox from Finland. *sigh*

You can see the ‘all deisgns’ pdf, here. I am loving this issue, so many cute things.  I think I have to make: cute coat #22 for Daughter, shirts #25 and #33 for Son; skirt #12, leggings/bloomers #13, and shirt #21 also for Daughter.

Maybe I’ll actually use up some of my fabric stash . . . who’d a thunk?

No, really, I am. Case in point:

About a year ago our DVD player gave out (ok, the kid killed it) and Hubby bought a new (cheap) DVD player.  One really cool thing about this inexpensive DVD player is that it could play zone 2 (european) DVDs.  This meant I could order trinny & susannah: the rules from Amazon UK . . . woohoo.  I bought it, I watched it, the DVD player died and we had to return it, they were sold out so we couldn’t just exchange it.  waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, no more Trinny & Susannah.

Today I was cleaning off the computer desk and found the DVD, and it dawned on me as I looked at my computer screen, ‘hey, maybe I can play this on my computer’s DVD player.”

IT WORKS, I CAN PLAY THIS DVD ON THE COMPUTER . . . YAHOOOOOOOOO! I AM BRILLIANT! Ok, I loose points for not figuring it out last year.

I finished 4 pair of pants/bloomers for DD today.  DD likes to wear dresses but also like to climb and tumble and play, so I figured bloomers would be the answer.  From L-R: eyelet border, light weight chambray with ribbon border already applied along one selvage, and the last 2 are seersucker.  I will be making tops/dresses to coordinate with them in the next few weeks.

I also made this tote bag as a gift for one of DD’s friends.  I found this dragon fabric at my local quilt shop, it is perfect for him as he loves knights and dragons.  The lining is orange and the handles are red to match the bright colors in the print.

This is modified Butterick 4173.  I changed the pants so they have no side seams (as described in KSSFK), as to not interrupt the border print.  I also used a bias facing (from instructions in Sew Beautiful Magazine) instead of the standard facing.  I really like the bias facing, IMO it looks more professional.  The length of the top was cut between the pattern’s top and dress lengths.

The fabric is from Daisy Kingdom, a border print and a co-coordinating all over print.  I used the large border print along the hem on the pants and used the small border from the other selvage as the ruffle on the top.

 

 

This is a smaller bag to go with the large duffle I made last month.  The woman I am making it for is going to use it as an “around town” diaper bag. The pattern is from “Easy to Make Totes with Zippers” by Cindy Taylor Oats of Taylor Made Designs.

I am very happy with these Quick Snap PUL covers. I’ve had the fabric, pattern and FOE in my stash for a couple of years because I was intimidated by the FOE. I could just kick myself for not making these earlier, they went together so easily . . . grrrrr.

My favorite are the white with the wide light blue FOE, I think the wide FOE looks better (and it’s easier to sew on IMO).

As soon as I can get some more PUL I will be making more covers in XL as these were all L.

I had quite a few largish scraps so I also made a NB size Quick Snap and 2 preemie Quick Wraps, these will be put away for future children, gifts or charity.