January Garment of the Month

I don't think I mentioned it, but I joined a sew-along on Patternreview called One Garment a Month (drinking Kool Aid with Robin gets me in trouble every time. hee hee). Anyway, as the name suggests, you pledge to make one garment for yourself or someone else every month. Easy, right? Well, naturally I waited until the last minute, but I finished this afternoon! I made one of those knock off DKNY cozy wrap thingies in some wool jersey fabric. I finished today at 4:30 (just as the sun was setting), so the dark gray fabric is nice and dark and impossible to see. And to make matters worse, my camera battery was dead and we had to use Joe's cell phone. But here it is anyway in various uh, variations:


Not drunk, just mid-blink:

Goofing off with my photographer:

And here's the copied and pasted pattern review:
Pattern Description:
Misses knit top and cardi-wrap with front variations
Pattern Sizing:
XXS-XL, I made the small
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, I think so!
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Definitely. It was so easy.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
No matter how I placed the pattern pieces, I couldn't get them to fit on my cutting table. I had to let some of the fabric/pattern piece lay on a bar stool while I cut the other end on my table.
Fabric Used:
Wool jersey from a fabric co-op
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I didn't finish the edges (which felt so weird, but looks great). I also didn't do the last step of the sleeve cuff because I liked the length as-is.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
If I can get my hands on some more of this awesome wool jersey, definitely!
Conclusion:
I love this cardi. I have wanted a DKNY cozy for a while, but am not willing to spend $200 on something like that, and knitting one would take FOREVER. I was excited to find some wool jersey on sale in one of my fabric co-ops, so I went for it and couldn't be happier!

Recent Projects

Well, after Christmas I mentioned that I had a little pain in my wrist for all the gift knitting I did. Turns out I have a BIG pain in my wrist. Any night I decide to try a tiny bit of knitting, I can't sleep because my arm is throbbing with pain from carpal tunnel. I really thought that knitting Continental would solve my C.T. problems, but that just wasn't the case. I have to go to a hand specialist next week. Hopefully I can get that quick surgery and be back in business soon though!

One beneficiary of the non knitting time is my sewing time! I made a friend at work some reusable zippy bags because she is trying to go plastic-container-free. She also free-cycled her old heart rate monitor to me when I mentioned I wanted one and I've been wanting to make her a thank you present. The gallon bags took one fat quarter each, and I got 3 sandwich bags out of one fat quarter.

I have no clue why that picture won't rotate right. Oh well.


I also made another Snuggie! It's becoming my signature piece. Joe's daughter moved into her dorm this week and she asked me to make her one in case the dorm was freezing. I don't think that will be a problem since it was like 100 degrees in there the day we moved her in, but she's ready if the heat ever goes out:

Joe loves modeling snuggies for me.

Also for the dorm, I did some more free-cycling at work and convinced my cube neighbor to let us borrow his old dorm fridge that he wasn't using anymore. Unfortunately, I didn't know it looked like this:

But a roll of contact paper later, and we have cool retro perfectly girlie fridge:

That roll of contact paper covered the fridge, lined her drawers, made the letters spelling her name on her door, and the letters spelling her name on her wall inside her room. And we still have some left!! I had completely forgotten how awesome contact paper is.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe this, but I actually finished every Christmas project I wanted to this year. I started early-everything I bought on Black Friday got WRAPPED on Black Friday, I made cookies every night for a week instead of all at once the day before Christmas eve, and finished every knitting and sewing project before the day they were to be gifted! I must make a note to do this every year. It was so nice to not be completely stressed to get everything done on the 23rd. Now, on to the parade of gifts!
Baby (now toddler) Hewen got a new hat & mittens:

They are made from Socks that Rock in Strange Brew. A close up of the mittens:

I made his Mommy a sweet OWLS sweater out of Cascade Eco Wool. LOVED the Eco wool!!:

I knit our bowling league organizer a bowling pin from Vickie Howell's book:

I made Joe's Godson a couple tie dye Yankees shirts with homemade iron-ons:


I also made a few snuggies-for-hire for a guy at work (who happens to know how to fix furnaces, in case ours ever dies in the middle of the night in February again). I have no pictures of them, but you guys know what snuggies look like, I'm sure.
Rocco took his usual spot under the tree for the last 33 days:

That's his carrot I made him a few years ago. He still attacks it regularly!
I'm currently back to working on Joe's belated anniversary sweater, but am taking it easy because I'm a little sore from all that knitting in such a short time. Which reminds me, did you guys see this?:

Unfortunately, I learned to knit AFTER I chose my mate. Oh, well. :)
I made a few goals for 2010. I never keep my resolutions, so I'm calling them goals now. Ha, ha.
1. I want to knit more and sew more than last year. Shouldn't be hard since I hardly made anything last year!
2. Work out at least 4 times a week. This one has been almost enjoyable lately, so hopefully it stays that way.
3. Learn to ride a motorcycle, or at least a scooter. I have this dream almost weekly that we are out somewhere and for whatever reason, I have to drive the motorcycle home. I would like to stop having this dream.
Happy New Year, Everyone!