Friday, April 27, 2012

winter sweater


i'm a bit late posting a photo of this project which i finished about 6 weeks ago. it took me the whole winter to knit as i could only work on it in short spurts. i've done some colour-work knitting in the past but this is by far the most complicated i've done thus far. getting the tension consistent took a bit of deliberation at first but afterward i didn't even have to think about it. the pattern was from the Debbie Bliss Fall/Winter 2011 magazine, a publication which i look forward to twice a year! my only complaint is the small collar which is hidden under my scarf...the small collar looks a bit odd with the bulky set-in-sleeve design. but ah well, i love the nordic design!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

sewing!

for the first time in about 15 years, i sewed myself an article of clothing! i used to sew all the time in highschool, but not so much lately. life got in the way. but i had in mind the type of top i wanted but couldn't really find it, so i just made it myself. i found a pattern and voila! here it is! i love a dress/top in the summer. i hate how most of the ones i buy have straps that are too long and always fall down. i have no patience for the ones with hooks/eyes that dig into my skin and hurt. so i made sure to make it functional, comfortable and cute. i loved the end result so much, i went out and bought some more fabric yesterday to make another one!

the fabric for the one shown below is a simple eyelet cotton that cost about 7 dollars on sale, plus a zipper ($1.50), elastic ($1.50) and thread (already had it). the hooks and eyes cost next to nothing. so all in all, this shirt cost about 10 bucks, way cheaper than in the store. i had to sew it in about 20 stages because having 2 children isn't conducive to sewing. but it wouldn't have taken more than a couple afternoons if i could have concentrated on sewing alone. so it was totally worth it! i figure that the second time around will go much more quickly because i've got the rhythm down. the pattern is SIMPLICITY 4127.





so my son has been sick...feverish, sore throat and lethargy. so i'm letting him watch tv. ALL DAY. anyone who knows me knows how much i limit his TV viewing. i have these crazy ideas that if he watches too much TV his creativity will be totally zapped and he'll become this raging zombie who can't think for himself. crazy, right? i realize it's not all bad. but still have the anxiety. so because he's sick, i'm letting him watch all day to his heart's content and maybe he'll get the obsessive urge to watch TV out of his system? maybe? thank goodness for youtube. they've got everything on there! he's really into puff the magic dragon, one of my favourite childhood programs.