Kimono Robe

A couple weekends ago, I made this:

You all probably think I only wear lounge clothes.  At the rate I am going, I just might try it.  Admittedly, I do love sewing some lounge wear.  I think it is in part due to the fabric.  There is such great fabric out there but not all of it translates from the bolt to out-of-the-house wearing.  But with lounge wear…you really can play around with just about any fabric.

Here are the stats:

Pattern: Kimono Robe

Source: In Stitches by Amy Butler

Fabric: Anna Maria Horner, Good Folks AH24Sea

Size: M

Mods: None

I love this fabric.

I know it seems like all I am doing is sewing but that is just because 1. I am sewing a lot and 2.  it doesn’t take as long to finish stuff.  As for my knitting, I am currently working on seaming my latest sweater…this WIP has been a long time coming and if all goes well I will be able to reveal it this weekend.

Okay, that’s all for now.  But trust me, there is fun stuff coming up. Blog soon.

Sewing with my sister

I am crazy.  This is a fact I am reminded of from time to time–especially when in the fog of a new obsession.  You see, when I love something, I really really love it.  Take knitting, for instance.  Within the first three or four months I had learned to knit, knit scarves for almost every member of my family for Christmas, knit a hat, started leg warmers (seemed like a good idea at the time), shopped at every local yarn shop in my area, and started knitting my first sweater.  I was all in.

I am starting to feel the exact same way about sewing. I think I really really love it.  And when I love something…well, let’s just say, sewing and me, I am in.

One of the things I love to do with my crazy obsessive tendencies is share it with other crazy obsessive people. Like Kara.  For those of you that read my sister’s blog, you will already have seen a preview of our super crafty weekend. I taught Kara to sew last weekend.  (Fun side note: I also taught Kara to knit and it was about two months after I learned how to knit–just like with sewing!)  We had a blast buying fabric and sewing together.  Due to both an error that needed correcting and the intoxication from Japanese fabric we ended up sewing for not one day but two.  I am sure Kara will unveil all her finished items but here is what I accomplished last weekend.

First, more lounge pants.

Now I know you probably think I have thousands of pairs of lounge pants by now but you have to remember that most of them I made for other people.  This is my third pair…and I think my favorite.  I mean, look at this fabric:

I love fabric.

The pattern is again the Amy Butler Wide Leg Lounge pants found in her really wonderful book In Stitches.  I did make a slight adjustment on these where I took the legs in by about 4 inches total per leg to make them slightly less wide legged. I could wear these all the time.  In fact, I am wearing them now. Love.

You might think we stopped at each making a pair of lounge pants but no.  I also made a skirt.

The pattern is Amy Butler Barcelona Skirts, the a-line skirt version. You might think I am a little Amy Butler crazy but she really does have some great patterns.  I am sure eventually I will expand outside of her design bubble but I am not done with her quite yet.  I really think this pattern is a perfect one that can be used as a basic start to create all kinds of skirts with varying fabric and embellishment.  My mind is racing with all the possibilities.

I love this…I mean I can make my own skirts now!  Matching skirts for sweaters that I knit (don’t think I have forgotten about knitting–knitting and I are still BFFs.)  I am sure all my non-crafty friends are amused by my enthusiasm right now but come on, we all have our things. I just love that I am not fully done discovering mine quite yet.

This weekend’s sewing project: Kimono Robe.  Wish me luck.

Help people…and win yarn

One thing that is awesome about the internets is the ability to reach a wide group of people and in some cases, use that connection to do some good.  The very talented knitter and Australian blogger Jacqueline has organized a incentive contest to donate to the Australian Red Cross, helping the victims of the bushfires that recently devastated areas of Victoria. 

As if the warm fuzzy feeling you get from donating to a wonderful cause isn’t enough, in addition you could win all kinds of yarny goodness.  Yeah, I know.

Learn how to donate and to win yarn here.

P.S. I promise I will be back soon with a new post.  It has been a pretty busy and intense week but I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.  (This particular light happens to be a certain sister who will be arriving in my town tomorrow for a long weekend of knitting, sewing, movie going, DVD watching, restaurant trying, cookie making, target shopping, and whatever else we feel like.)

Gum Drop Pillow

Here’s the thing about sewing.  You can decide to make a pattern, buy the fabric, and have a finished object all in one day.

It’s a pillow/mini-ottoman!

While knitting will always be my first love, I have to admit that sewing is beginning to be a serious competitor for my affections.  Yesterday I went fabric shopping with my sewing sensei Tricia and saw the Gum Drop Pillow pattern by Amy Butler.  On a bit of an impulse I decided to make it…that day.

This is a great pattern and didn’t take too long–I love Amy Butler’s pattern instructions.  Very intuitive and clear.  Making the pillow was interesting and fun–the only part I would prefer to not do again was stuffing the pillow.  If anyone has any tips on how to stuff a pillow evenly please feel free to share them with me.  Stuffing took forEVER.  It is not stuffed perfectly but in the end I just had to call it close enough.

Side View

I promise there is knitting going on too.  All in all, January was a very crafty start to 2009.  As for sewing, I have enough fabric to make 4 pairs of lounge pants, one skirt, and a kimono robe.  Making stuff is fun.

Bella’s Mittens (except they are mine now)

I have always had cold hands.  People comment on it all the time.  I can’t help it–I am just cold blooded I guess.  It is a good thing then that the first two knits of 2009 will help to make my fingers less chilled.  You saw the first of these knits.  Here is the second:

Bella’s Mittens.

So I saw the Twilight movie.  (Didn’t everybody?) I immediately noticed the gloves Bella wore in the scene where she almost gets killed by the car in the school parking lot.  I gave it a couple days and then I went in search of the pattern as I was sure some person had figured it out and posted.  This is how I found Bella’s Mittens (ravelry link).  Oh how I love the internets.

Movie or no, these mittens are just plain cute.  And SUPER fast and easy.  Warm too.  The only drawback is that knitting with bulky yarn on smaller needles makes for some finger cramping moments.

Thanks so much to my friend Teri for modeling these for me and for lending her way better camera to the cause.  Teri is not so much a knitter but a talented multi-crafter so she gets it.  Thanks again Teri!

The stats…

Pattern: Bella’s Mittens

Source: Subliminal Rabbit

Yarn: Berroco Peruvia Quick

Needles: US 8

Mods: The yarn I used was slightly thicker than the suggested yarn.

Notes: The end result is really cute and very warm but the fabric is a little stiff.  Although, once I washed them they did loosen up a bit.  If I were to knit this again I would probably try it with worsted weight yarn to make them a little squishier.  But as is, I still think they will make great snow day mittens.

Oh, hello Teri.

Norwegian Wedding Gloves

I am not getting married.  Nor am I Norwegian.  But folks, who really cares?

I LOVE me some Norwegian Wedding Gloves.

I tried on a sample glove at my old Salt Lake LYS over Thanksgiving and fell in love.  When I found out it only took one skein of this super silky soft decadent yarn–well, there was just no other option but to make myself a pair.

My friend Teri (and my photographer for this shoot, Thanks Teri!) asked me where I was going to wear these.  I couldn’t really answer her, I mean, these are not what I would call everyday gloves.  But can you imagine a world where they are?  I would have to replace 90% of the clothes in my wardrobe but it just might be worth it.

So if you can’t tell, I really, really love these gloves.  I love the short hole-y cuffs.  I love the beautiful v-shaped lace pattern on the thumb.

I even love how elegant the underside of the gloves are.

There is nothing not to love about these gloves.  They were even really fun to knit.  I am sure me not liking something about them or some huge mistake I made would make this a more interesting post.  But I got nothing.  I just love them.

The stats…

Pattern: Norwegian Wedding Gloves by Nancy Bush

Source: Piecework, November/December 2008

Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk Solid, Ecru

Needles: US 0

Mods: I lengthened all the fingers by about 4 rows each.

My Christmas Thorpe

Christmas day I decided to cast on for a quick project.  I had brought with me some yarn that I had been wanting to use for a while and my Knit Picks options needles–so really I had a lot of options.  After a little ravelry browsing, I decided upon the much knit Thorpe earflap hat.  My yarn was thinner than the suggested size so I had to knit with two strands and increase to more stitches but in the end I am pleased with the result.

I LOVE this yarn!

This project was super quick and easy.  I finished in two days.  It has cute long braids that make me feel like Heidi.  Very satisfying.  The day after I finished the hat I went out for a day of shopping, lunch, and movie with my family.  While waiting for some shopping to be completed by their parents, my nieces and I decided to play with my camera.  Our game was, the person taking the picture had to say an emotion and then the “models” had to show that emotion on camera.  I happened to be wearing Thorpe that day so in concert with this post I thought I would share some of my favorites.

Very mad:

So, so sad:

Surprise!:

Whatever:

Super fun activity to pass the time.  Okay, back to Thorpe…here are the stats:

Pattern: Thorpe

Source: Kirsten Kapur (free ravelry download)

Yarn: Plain and Fancy Sheep and Wool Co., Sport weight

Needles: US 7

Mods: Used sport weight yarn, knit with 2 strands, and increased until it seemed to be the right size (real scientific I know.) I also decreased a bit towards the end so the brim snugly fit my head.

Tiny Needles

I am not scared away by tiny needles.  If I want to knit it bad enough, I will knit a sweater on size 1 or 2 needles.  Sure.

My sister Kara sent me a link to a video that has forever altered my thoughts on this subject.  I would wait for Kara to post about this but she has pretty much given up on blogging (yeah, I said it Kara.)  So instead I will introduce you to my new idol.

Click here. (after the trailer–or skip it if you are so inclined–scroll through the films and click on “Miniature Knitter”

Yeah, I know.

Lounge Pants Quest: Accomplished.

Long time readers of my blog know, I am just a tad obsessed with tall lounge pants.  I explain my frustration in detail here but in summary: I have really long legs, stores don’t make lounge/pj pants in tall sizes, and I hate wearing flood water pants even if no one sees me in them.  I have always been a touch afraid of the sewing machine but I knew that if my dream of long lounge pants was ever going to be a reality, I was going to have to learn.

Well folks, it might have taken me a couple years but I finally did it.  Thanks to my awesome friend Tricia, I learned how to read, cut out, and sew a pattern from start to finish.  I made my lounge pants and they are awesome. You know what else is awesome?  Sewing.  Who knew?

Of course, my obsession didn’t end there.  I had such a fun time making my pair and I started thinking about how much I love them and how I could use like 15 more pairs.  But it was December and in the spirit of giving I thought about Sister’s Night fast approaching (a made-up holiday celebrated on Christmas Eve–and in its 21st year I might add–where my sisters and I celebrate, well, us.)  So I think, before I start sewing my entire lounge pant collection I will make lounge pants for sister’s night gifts!  And then I do!

Bri rockin’ her perfect Lounge Pants

I am on the left, Kara on the right.

And then after, since I had a few hours on my hands I decided to sew a pair for my fellow long-legged friend (she is 6′2!) Holly for her birthday!  And I did!

Can you believe it?  Four pairs of lounge pants and only one of them for me.  (Apparently sewing makes me really selfless.)  Now I have dreams of tailor made skirts, dresses, and of course, more lounge pants dancing in my head.

I think sewing and I are going to have a lot of fun in 2009.

In case you are wondering, the pattern for the lounge pants seen above are all Wide Leg Lounge Pants found in Amy Butler’s book In Stitches.  I LOVE this pattern and think the end result is super comfortable and flattering.  It can’t be too hard either if a beginner like me was able to do it.  Yay sewing!

A Sweater for Ryan

For each of the past three years, I have picked a family member and knit them a sweater for Christmas.  I find this to be much more satisfying than knitting loads of smaller projects for gifts.  I get bored you see.  And if the knits don’t interest me, I won’t finish.  I have learned this.  So tackling a bigger project but for only one recipient seems to be more doable for me.

This year, I knew pretty early on who I wanted to knit for.  Ryan, my only nephew and the youngest of my brother’s kids turned 3 this year and is so adorable, he makes my ovaries hurt (thanks to my friend Alicia for naming this particular brand of pain.)  Yes, this year I wanted to knit Ryan a sweater and I knew just the pattern:

George!

I bought a Jaeger pattern booklet for kids (by one of my fav designers Martin Storey) a few years ago and fell in love with most of the patterns in it.  George is easily one of my favorite patterns in the book and I always wanted to make it.  It dawned on me that Ryan was the perfect age for this sweater and so I decided this was the year.

Doesn’t it look like a little grandpa cardigan?  I love it!

Check out one of my favorite features…pockets!

He even did the “turn your head to the side” model pose that is my go-to pose.  (Totally unprovoked by me I should add.)

Here are the stats:

Pattern: George

Source: Jaeger Handknits JB29, 27 Designer Garments by Martin Storey for Babies & Children

Size: 3-4 years

Yarn: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool

Needles: US 2 & 4

Modifications: I used a thinner yarn than the pattern calls for but when I knit up my gauge I realized I could follow the directions for the largest size and it would come out close enough to the size I wanted.

The minute I saw Ryan on Christmas morning, I worried the sweater would not go over well.  He was in a bit of a Christmas gift/toy frenzy and I am aware that it is not every 3 year-old boy’s dream to get a hand-knitted sweater from his aunt.  I would love to tell you this was not the case, that Ryan squealed with delight and immediately tried his new sweater on…alas no, he absent-mindedly put it to the side and then later refused to try it on.  I wondered how on earth was I going to get him to wear it, let alone let me take pictures of him with it on.  But thanks to a little time and a pinky swear we made on New Year’s Day, Ryan suited up and posed for pictures like a champ.

At least for a good solid five minutes.

It’s okay though.  He likes it, looks adorable in it, and he knows I made it for him.  Even if he never puts it on again that is enough for me.