Pure Silliness

OK, before I get a zillion emails that say 'congratulations,' let me just say I AM NOT PREGNANT! But, my best friend is! I have so much knitting and sewing mojo going on right now, I thought I would attempt to make her some maternity clothes as well as a few baby things. So, first up are the maternity clothes. I found this nice pink jersey at Affordable Fabrics ($3 total!), so I whipped up Butterick 5196 on Sunday. I had to take the pic before I finished the hems, because we had to leave to go to dinner, but you get the point:

(My favorite salad bowl is substituting as a baby bump). I could not stop giggling when Joe was taking the picture; you should have seen the look of horror on his face! I really hope she likes this because I think it's ADORABLE. The knot part drove me a little batty, but I think I have the hang of it now. She and I are basically the same size, but she is nearly a foot taller than I am, so hopefully the length will work for her.
In knitting news, I finished sleeve #1 on Anniversary, and am on to knit the back now. I fear running out of yarn on this one, so I figure if I knit the back + one sleeve, I will have knit exactly half of the sweater and will know if I need to order more yarn.
I can't wait for next weekend because Joe & I have a Harley trip planned to go to this fabric store in Massachusetts. Yay! So, how was your weekend?

FO: Labyrinth

Well, we can thank the Yankees and the basketball playoffs for another FO! Actually two FO's! Friday night, as Labyrinth finished blocking, I cut out the fabric for another cute skirt, and Saturday afternoon, I HAD another cute skirt!

I searched high and low for the identical fabric from the pattern sleeve (Amy Butler something-or-other):

But, since I couldn't find it, the Michael Miller water lily print had to substitute. I think I actually like it better than the Amy Butler fabric!
And then, Labyrinth was done blocking:

(I was squinting in the picture, so I cropped my head out). I need to get a different bra to wear with it though; If you look closely, you can see my current "everyday" bra peeking out of the corner of the neckline. The neckline is very low, but since it's square, it's not what I'd consider even remotely trashy.
The details:
Pattern: Labyrinth
Yarn: Ella Rae Bamboo Silk 7 Skeins of Velvet, One skein of Baby Mauve
Size: 36
Needles: Knitpicks 7's for everything except the neckline, which were Knitpicks 6's
Mods: Only did 4 rounds of ribbing on the neckline, then bound off.

In other news, I found the match to my sock in progress, so they are finally together again! (I don't know if I mentioned this on the blog, but I lost one of them for a few months. It turned up in my pool bag over the weekend. Yay, and also, DUH!)
Then, I couldn't possibly sit still for 5 whole seconds, so I wound the yarn for Joe's anniversary sweater, which happens to be Knitty's Anniversary Sweater. I figured with all those cables, I better start early, even though our actual anniversary isn't until November.

The yarn is Blue Sky cotton in black, and there will be an orange stripe on the chest only (he doesn't like the arm stripes for some reason).

Road Trip!

Joe & I made our annual road trip to Dover this year for the NASCAR race this past weekend. Last year, we got there way early on Saturday (the race is Sunday), and we were so bored that we went to the movies. This year, I went with a list of fabric shops that were less than 3 miles off the highway so that wouldn't happen again! Our first stop was in Norwalk, CT at Banksville Designer Fabrics. I REALLY liked this shop, as they have a great selection and are super friendly. Plus, they're an easy motorcycle trip from our house, so I will definitely be visiting again soon. My haul from there are two lycra/cotton blends; the first one is to make a bathing suit bottom to go with a bathing suit top I already have and LOVE (but the bottoms, not so much):

And the second is to make the new Jalie Empire Crossover Top:

Then, we stopped in NY at Hartsdale Fabrics. This place was crazy busy. Anyone that thinks sewing is dead needs to go here. They had a lot of apparel fabrics, and to my surprise, a LOT of swimsuit fabric. Since I'm on the crazy swimsuit kick, I bought this to make another bikini, Jalie's Choice of Bikini's Pattern, view A:
Since it was $22 a yard, that's all I got there. Our last stop was at J&O Fabrics in Pennsauken, NJ. I was completely overwhelmed in this one. I even got a little lightheaded the way I do at Rhinebeck. They had a zillion cotton prints to choose from, but I finally narrowed it down to this Michael Miller one to make another Cute Skirt:

More swimsuit fabric; I maybe have little spandex obsession now (all purchases must be sniffed by Rocco for his approval):
And some more lycra for another Empire top perhaps:

Now, don't go feeling bad for Joe for all this fabric shopping. There was a Harley Dealership (they also sell t-shirts & other various crap), as well as a leather shop along the way for him. Then we were off to the races!

Our guy came in 7th, so we were pretty happy!

Sewing Extravaganza

Thank God Joe had to work all weekend because the sewing bug hit me HARD on Sunday! It all started on Friday night; work released us early, so I went home and finished the body and neckline of Labyrinth. The whole point of this was to find out if I had enough/too much of the Ella Rae Bamboo Silk because I knew I was going to WEBS the next day & could get more or return the excess. I found out when I got to WEBS that you can't return sale items, so it was a moot point. Oh, well, no biggie. I got a lot done anyway:

The whole purpose of the trip on Saturday was to go with Karen, Kris, Paula, Peggy, Audrey, and Amy to the Mass Sheep & Wool festival. It was so much fun! The festival's great and all, but I really look forward to going to the little fabric store & WEBS afterwards. I bought a skirt pattern and some fabric from Valley fabrics:

And some CotLin from WEBS to make some of those grocery bag thingies (like an everlasting bagstopper, for instance). I cut the skirt pattern out Sunday morning and it really motivated me to sew some UFO's that were hanging around in my sewing bag.
Like Simplicity 4189, view F:


View C:


And, of course the one that started the whole works, Favorite Things "Cute Skirts" pattern:

I really like this pattern, and am already in the hunt for more fabric to make another one. FYI, it does run closer to RTW sizes, not typical pattern sizes. I didn't realize this until it was too late, so mine is super roomy. But, it's elastic in the back, so it's not going to fall off or anything. ;)

Action Packed Weekend

What a crazy weekend! The craziest part is that I'm NOT tired today. We started Friday night with dinner with Joe's parents, then his mom & I hit the going out of business sale at the local sewing center. Six hundred dollars later, we went home and caught up on our Tivo'd shows. Oh, right, you want to see the haul:

(I obviously borrowed the photo) It's a Janome 1110DX serger, snagged for 1/2 price since I'm on the mailing list! I also got a ton of accessories and notions, but they're still in my trunk, and they're not that exciting anyway. Saturday morning, Rocco and I went to the vet for his shots (he was SO good! The vet asked him if she could see his belly and he rolled over on his back with his legs out so she could rub his tummy. She looked at me a little shocked that he did what she said, but I just shrugged since it happens all the time). Saturday evening I went to Laser Tag with some work people and then watched the Nascar race with Joe. Sunday morning, we got up super early and went to the local Harley Dealer for a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital. Motorcycles everywhere!! This is our third year riding in this, and it was by far the best organized it has ever been. The local and state police did a fantastic job keeping us together and safe. This is my favorite part, riding by the children's hospital and waving to the kids:

After that, we took a power nap and then headed to NYC for the Yankees/Mets game. They got beat (badly), but we still had fun!

That is a LOT for one weekend for me. I can't believe I'm not tired. How is this possible?

MD Sheep & Wool 2008

I am just now finally recovering from the Maryland trip. It's not like we had to fly far, do very much, or exert any energy to speak of, but I was TIRED when we got home. I guess any weekend not spent on the couch watching Food Network counts as "activity" to my body & therefore wears me out. Anyway!
First off, my mom is a little, um, nuts (it's ok if she happens to find the blog; she knows I think she's crazy). We got a suite for the weekend, and within 5 minutes, she had the place fully stocked for a month-long stay:

I took the liberty of stocking the fridge:

Aren't the little beers adorable? I couldn't resist them! The festival was of course amazing. I got to meet Jess from Ravelry:

I tried to get a Stew Leonard's bag picture with a sheep, but in true animal form, she turned her head at the last second:

And, the yarn! My God, the yarn! I love to just go for the "experience" and not necessarily to buy anything, so I ended up buying stuff I could have easily picked up on my lunch break at Creative Fibers. Whatevs, I had fun!
I got some SWTC Bamboo for the CrochetMe Babydoll Top:

Some Lorna's Laces sock yarn (Black Purl to match the Clapotis):

I also got my WEBS sale purchases a week or so ago:

It's Ella Rae Bamboo Silk to make Labyrinth by Wendy Bernard/StitchDiva:
(Stitch Diva Photo)
I started this last night, and Joe commented that everything I am making lately has been purple (28Thirty, Clapotis, the babydoll top, the sock yarn, and now Labyrinth). I didn't even realize it! What can I say, purple makes me happy.

FO: Clapotis!!

I can't express how excited I am about finishing this! I have wanted to make one ever since I learned how to knit, and I even asked for the yarn for a Valentine's Day gift last year for this specific purpose. So, it took me over a year to get motivated to make it; big deal. Do I even need to post details? I will anyway:
Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, color Black Purl, almost 4 skeins
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony size US 9
Mod's: 3 extra repeats of the straight section
Here is is as a scarf:

As a shawl:

In a sexy pose:


And, as a wrap (my favorite):

In other news, I finally had to just go over to my friend's house to take a picture of her doggie in the sweater I made him because she doesn't "get" the instant gratification knit blog readers require:

Is Oy not the cutest dog ever? I'm not really a dog person, but this one makes me melt like buttah. :)

Answers & Updates

You guys did pretty good on the movie quote game! The ones no one got were 1. Muriel's Wedding and 4. Party Girl.
I don't have the promised sewing FO's to show because my last class was unexpectedly cancelled. And by unexpectedly I mean I went to a restaurant, ate dinner, knitted in my booth for 30 minutes, then went to the sewing center and saw the sign on the door that class was cancelled. NOT cool!! They did give me a refund for the session, but I would much rather have 4 finished skirts right now. Sigh.
I have been religiously working on my Clapotis, however, and am LOVING it!
I'm a little over half way in a little over a week. Not bad! My goal is to drop one stitch per day, and I think that will put me way ahead of my MD S&W deadline.

Movie Quote Game

I saw this on Stephanie's blog the other day & had to steal it. My best friend and I sometimes have entire conversations in movie quote, so this is our kind of game. The rules:
• Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
• Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
• Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
• Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
• Looking them up is cheating. Please don’t.


1. Stick your drink up your arse, Tania. I'd rather swallow razor blades than have a drink with you.

2. Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin' there in your ghost manger, just lookin' at your Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors. I would like to thank you for bringin' me and my mama together, and also that my kids no longer sound like retarded gang-bangers.
Jen got it--Talladega Nights

3. You expect me to believe that scantily clad, in the arms of another man, in the middle of the night, inside an elephant you were rehearsing?
Jen again! Moulin Rouge

4. I'll have a falafel with hot sauce, a side order of baba ghannouj and a seltzer, please.

5. Somebody beat him to death and stole a bunch of files. Must've dug up garbage on the wrong guy. We’ve got it narrowed down to a thousand suspects.
Courtney got it.... LA Confidential

6. Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.
Jennifer (jsins) got it! Old School

7. Little wimp. He wouldn't know a new idea if it hit him in the pachenga...
Jen rocks the pachenga...... Dirty Dancing

8. If you hold back anything, I'll kill ya. If you bend the truth or I think your bending the truth, I'll kill ya. If you forget anything I'll kill ya. In fact, you're gonna have to work very hard to stay alive, Nick. Now do you understand everything I've said? Because if you don't, I'll kill ya.
Jennifer got this one too...... Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

9. Teenagers. They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you.
Nicole got it! The Little Mermaid

10. I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.
Courtney got this one too! Zoolander

Life after Hermione

First off, thank you guys so much for all the compliments on Hermione! I absolutely love it and have worn it tons. As for life after Hermione, I have been pretty scattered. I started 28Thirty, got the body done, started one sleeve, purchased some cool purple buttons, and then nothing. I just have no desire to finish it.

So, I started a dog sweater for a friend at work. Word to the wise: never trust measurements taken by a non-knitter. Just sayin’. After a few frustrating attempts at the sweater (pattern and bad-measurement related), I got an email from Knitting Daily with a free pattern for garter mug cozies. I had to make one. HAD TO!!

Then, I got back on track with the doggie sweater. It started out life as Howie’s Knit-to-fit Sweater, but after the neck ribbing section, the pattern made absolutely NO sense, so I scrapped it and designed my own. Here it is sans-doggie, but I only finished it yesterday, so the recipient is yet to get a chance to model it.

In the awesomest of awesomeness category, a co-worker of Joe’s grandmother died (not awesome), and she had this huge yarn stash that the family had no idea what to do with. She happens to know I’m a knitter, so she asked if I would like to have it. Um, YES!! Duh!!

OK, a lot of it is acrylic, but not all of it. There is some pretty nice wool in there, as well as 3 projects that are very close to being done. One is a men’s vest, one is a ladies’ tee, and one is an afghan that happens to be in the EXACT colors of Joe’s daughter’s bedroom. Hello, graduation gift! This is just half of it; she couldn’t fit any more in her car, so she’ll give me the rest later. Yay!

In other news, I FINALLY started my Clapotis. My mom asked me if I wanted to meet her in Baltimore so we can go to the MD Sheep & Wool this year, and I just couldn’t think of a reason not to. ;) So, Clapotis will be my must-finish-before-MD trip project so I’ll have something hot off the needles to wear to the festival.

My last sewing class is tonight, so I hope to have some FOs to show from that next time.
p.s. There's a Ravelraiser going on in blogland. Show some love (and maybe win awesome prizes)!

FO: Hermione's Gryffindor Striped Hoodie

Hooray! I finished! I think it came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.
Joe & I went to Lancaster, PA for the weekend to try to catch a little glimpse of Spring (because Lord knows we won't be seeing it in CT for a while). We found this alley near a little fabric shop I wanted to go to.

I thought it just screamed 'Diagon Alley,' and we both agreed this was the perfect backdrop for the FO shoot.

I haven't written up the pattern yet, but I do have it in chicken scratch form, ready to go as soon as I get a little pocket of time to type it up. I had lots of fun designing it. I'm not sure I'm going to design all the time now, but at least i know if I find a sweater I MUST have, I can whip it up whenever I want.
STUPEFY!!!

I'm such a dork.

And, We're Back!

Joe had to go to Vegas on Friday for a conference, and at the last minute, he asked if he could take the laptop and my camera. I said, "SURE!!" before I realized that OMG, those are my main blogging tools! Whoops! Not very much goes on when he's away anyway, as I make sure to watch girl TV/movies the ENTIRE time he's gone. But one thing did happen that I felt awful that I couldn't blog about. I got my package from Maryanne! I won the kit to make the Lana Knits fingerless gloves (with hemp and cashmere yarn-yum!), but it came with lots of bonus goodies!

I got a little magnet, a handmade soap, lots of Dove chocolate hearts, a really sweet card, and a set of those interweave wordy magnet sheets. Thanks so much, Maryanne! I love all of it!

I forgot to take pictures of my WIPs, but Hermione is so close to being done that I think I'll just do a FO shoot in a couple days instead.

Look who else wanted a do-over!

Thanks inept cookie place! You redeemed yourselves! :)

Valentine's Day Do-Over

Despite the awesome start to Valentine's Day, the rest of the day did not go so well. I got home to find a very cranky Joe screaming at a very inept cookie bouquet delivery establishment on the phone. Apparently, I was supposed to get a cookie bouquet by 4PM, and they just couldn't handle that request. He also had a little bug or something, so he had no appetite for the surf & turf I made for us. He felt REALLY bad, and requested a do-over on Saturday. I reluctantly (HA!) obliged. ;) He was dying to go on a road trip because he just got his car back after a month of being without it (car accident; he's fine). I suggested WEBS, and HE suggested WEBS and Yankee Candle village. Woo-hoo!! I ordered some Blue Sky Cotton for a sweater for him, and got some of WEBS' Deerfield yarn. It's something like 80/20 alpaca/silk, and it is sooooo soft (and on sale, btw). Yankee candle was awesome (winter clearance; yeah, buddy!), dinner was awesome, and renting the Heartbreak Kid was a little disturbing, a little pornographic, but still funny. I'd say Joe's do-over was a big success!

I bought the Deerfield yarn to make some fingerless gloves, and before I knew it, I had fingerless gloves!!


They're Maine Morning Mitts from Clara Parkes' Book of Yarn, but the pattern is also available here for free.
I worked on Hermione yesterday, but I have to rip all of my progress on the sleeve. It's just way too big. No big deal. It's just one day's worth of knitting. I can handle it. :)


In other news, I won another contest!!! Am I the luckiest blog contest winner or what?! I asked Maryanne of Knittymuggins a question for her Un-blogiverssary, and her hubby drew my name out of the Ikea pot of awesomeness! I won this pattern and yarn to make them with! Yay!
Wow, that was a really big post for me! Thanks for listening to me ramble if you made it this far!