Not Much New...

Not a lot of knittng going on. Work has been crazy with this threat of a teacher's strike, unpaid days etc. The crisis of Portland Public Schools has even been lampooned in Doonesbury. Check out Monday, Tuesday, and today. It turns out that there is a tentative contract that teachers will need to ratify before everything is settled. And even then some things could go awry. We'll see. I'm getting ready for my trip to St. Petersburg, Florida for the wedding where I get to wear my new dress. I leave on a redeye tomorrow night. I was thinking about bringing the dreaded pillow project because I'm sure I'd be able to finish it on the flight there or the flight home. And I need to finish it so I can start a new project!

Knit Picking

A NY Times magazine article that focuses on Anne Rubin, a onetime model in her 70s, whose vintage collection of clothes includes knits, scarves, and woven suits.

Pillow Talk

So I picked up the pillow project again last night. I was able to finish half of the back and only have the other half of the back to finish before seaming all the parts together and then felting it. Since the project is all stockinette stitch it was easy to watch TV (I'm so glad Trista picked Ryan!) at the same time. I think the embroidery will be fun to do too.

Dress #2

I finished this second dress last night. I used one of the other dress patterns, McCall's 3297, I had bought on my outing to the fabric store that last time. I also wanted to work with more crepe back satin. Needless to say, sewing is much cheaper than knitting right now. All the materials for the red dress only cost about $26! I could never make a sweater for that same amount. And my finances are super tight now, considering I blew a head gasket on my car yesterday and I have a month coming up where I won't receive a paycheck. Arg!

Dressed Up

In the Groove

I feel really good about this dress project, which I started last night. I would have started earlier, but I was worried about altering the pattern because it was way too long. I have had sizing issues with Vogue patterns in the past and I just wanted to be extra careful with this dress. So, after I was confident that my calculations were correct, I pinned the pattern pieces to the fabric and cut them out. Then I started sewing. There are only four main pieces to this dress, so it was pretty easy. I sewed the back facing to the back and the front facing to the front. This morning, I sewed the front to the back, and at lunchtime I finished the hem. I just have some slip stitching left to do at the shoulders, as well as attach the second strap that attaches to the waist strap. It's probably taken me about seven hours to make this dress. Not too bad! The flowers will take longer though. I love working with this satin too. I'm going to make a skirt and possibly another dress out of similar material.

A New Sewing Project

I have this wedding coming up on March 1 and I thought it would a great opportunity for me to check out the latest at the fabric store. I made a trip to a local JoAnn's to browse through pattern books and I bought five: cute blazer, slip-style skirt, and three great dresses. The dress on the left, the version in the middle, is the one I plan to make. I bought some black crepe back satin and some black organza and red tulle to make a couple of different flowers. This patterns seems very easy, considering there's no zipper or any other superfluous stuff. Just pull it on and use the flower pin to attach the right side to the left. The biggest hassle will be pinning and then cutting out the fabric.

Finished Object!

I wore this hat several times this weekend. It was perfect for the brisk, sunny days we had here in Portland.

Another Hat

I started my hat project a couple of days ago. It has a neat picot hemmed edge and an I-cord drawstring through the top. I should be able to finish it up this weekend. Then I'll try to work on the pillow some more and start up on the socks again.

All That Jazz

I did stop by the yarn store. The new Rowan hadn't arrived yet, so I looked at yarns instead. I ended up with one hank of Artful Yarns Jazz in Thelonius (blues and purples). It's a very pretty color that will turn into a cute hat!

Field Trip

I need to stop by the LYS at lunchtime to check out new magazines and yarns. I really can't buy any yarn for a big project right now with the impending work furlough coming soon. But at least I can look. And maybe, I can buy the new Rowan book.

Weekend Update

Got a little knitting done on the pillow during my outing to the coast. But stockinette stitch is not the most exciting thing, so I only worked on it during the drive home. I need to frog the socks so I can start those over again. Then I will allow myself to purchase some new yarn to start a new, fun project.