Socks!!

I finished!!

Unfortunately, as you can see from the following photo, I obviously didn't know about checking dyelots way back when I purchased this yarn:

The gauge was also a little off, probably because of the long delay between one sock and most of the next. But, really, socks aren't that tough! I need to take the plunge and get into some of the yummy sock yarn I have.

These were knitted in Cleckheaton Country Silk 8ply (85% wool, 15% silk), to be nice soft warm house socks for winter. I'm wearing them now; they're definitely snuggly.

Today I went through a tub of unfinished projects and ripped out three that I just wasn't going to finish (and in fact I couldn't remember what pattern I was knitting from!), which now leaves me with NO unfinished knitting projects. Meaning I need to cast on for something new ... or get stuck into the sewing projects.

I don't think I posted about this boring yet nifty little project I did. Evie's been wriggling out of the 5-pt harness in her carseat. I was going to buy a 'seatbelt wrap' thingy, but they're $15 or so with no guarantee that they'll work.

So I made my own.

It's simply two rectangles of polar fleece, sewn together and turned right way out. Fold in the sides so they meet with about a 1.5cm overlap, and mark where you need to fold it. Sew three rows of strong 1.5inch Touch Tape, hook in the middle and loop on the two sides. Attach four snaps to the overlapping part.

Hurray!



She hasn't managed to get out of it yet. (Oh, and that's her "cheese!" face, not a grimace of pain.)

UFO#1 finished!

Here's UFO #1, a shrug knitted from this pattern. (Warning: link goes straight to a PDF download.)



I even blocked it! I tried to take a photo of it on, but all the mirrors in the house are in shocking locations light-wise:



It was knitted in "Earth Sky" on blue-faced leicester, light aran weight, from The Yarn Cafe/evoke yarns. I knitted a size medium, and the only change I made was to knit a garter stitch border of five stitches on both sides to prevent the edges rolling. It used about 130g of yarn.

Next: the Thuja socks that I started knitting two years ago. I've now made it down to the heel flap on the second sock (wait! Since I saved the draft post I'm on to the foot. Yay!). These will be nice warm house socks for winter.



The problem I can see with having left the second sock so long is that my gauge seems to be a little different; I'm knitting tighter so the sock is a bit smaller. They're stretchy, though, so both will fit and they're only for around the house.

Pyjama pants and a cardigan refashion

The cold nights of autumn have come upon us suddenly and the kids needed some new pyjama pants. I've got loads of printed flannelette so off I went:



Pirates for Alastair



Duckies for Evie and a girly print for Emma



Puppies for Evie (I cut them upside down to fit into an oddly-shaped fabric remnant. Still, they'll be right way up to her, when she looks down at them!)

Alastair's and Evie's were made from a basic pyjama pants pattern I copied out of a friend's magazine a couple of years ago. Oddly enough, the two of them are about the same size except for leg length (Alastair is 4 and Evie is 20 months)! They both fit in a size two and I just lengthened the leg a lot for Alastair. Both of them still need room for a cloth night nappy, but these are a loose-fitting style.

Emma's I just made by tracing around a pair of her old ones and adding leg length, which is all she ever outgrows. I only JUST squeezed her pair out of a metre of flannelette; she is TALL.

They all wanted to wear them right away, which is always a good sign.

I also took two items off the alteration pile (trackpants for Alastair that used to be Emma's, just tightened the waist elastic, and took the legs up a couple of inches with a long stitch length; easy to let back down as he grows), and accomplished a refashion for myself.

I bought this cardigan (Millers, size L) in an opshop for $5. The chunky knit was what I'd been looking for, and I liked the huge collar thingy and the batwing-style sleeves, but it was too big and bulky. You can't really see all the extra fabric on the sides in the photo. If it had been wool, I'd have shrunk it a bit, but it's acrylic.



I took it in at the sides on an angle, so that instead of fastening all the way down it fastens at the top and then flares out. I've seen cardigans like that in the shops this season and I really like them (but not enough to pay $40 or $50 for one). I took off the extra buttons/press-studs so it looks like it's meant to be like that, and not like it's just too small for me ;)



It still doesn't sit quite right when it's on; I'm considering sewing the little pockets shut to see if that helps. But I'll wear it, and I wouldn't have before. This is the first winter in a while that I'll be really wearing cardigans/jackets, because I don't wear Evie everywhere anymore (winter '06 and '07 I wore Alastair everywhere, winter '08 I was hugely pregnant which kept me warm, and winter '09 I wore Evie everywhere), so my wardrobe is sorely lacking in them.

Daggy dress --> swingin' 50s

OK, OK, long time no post!

I finally cleared myself a craft area and did a little refashioning project. I was after a 50s dress for a themed hen's night this weekend; I scoured the opshops and even the more expensive vintage stores and didn't really find anything. Then I saw this spotty dress calling me and snapped it up without trying it on (because I was sweaty from going for a run, and had Evie with me).

Weeeell, the 'before' pic isn't very promising:



But I noticed the skirt had a decent 'kick' to it down the bottom and thought I could make it into a swingin' 50s rock-and-roll style dress.

I chopped it in half at the weird elasticated waist, and then cut about 4 or 5 inches off the top of the bottom section, keeping the bottom hem intact. I kept the shoulder seams and the neck facings intact (because I hate sewing facings), cut the sleeves off, and cut the top part into a basic darted bodice shape.

First mistake: I cut the back on the front and the front on the back. That's why it has the slightly weird collar - otherwise it was choking me!

I had to add a zip, too, so I cut down one side seam of the top and part of a side seam of the skirt section. The zip was nearly the death of me, and I'll not be lifting my arm much tomorrow night, so no-one can see the mess I made of it!

Added some more darts on the skirt so that it matched up with the width of the bodice, and then joined them together and added the zip.

Finished result:



If only I had the waist of my dress form!

Christmas shirts

I'm a bit pushed for time this Christmas so I wasn't going to make shirts, but my oldest asked for one, so I scrounged up three new white T-shirts from around the house, in the right sizes, and had a go at some reverse applique.

I'm converted! It's so much easier (for me and my machine, anyway) than regular applique.

I used this tutorial.



The Christmas tree is a size 4 for 3.5 year old Alastair, the bell is a size 2 for 17-month-old Evelyn, and the star is a size 6 for 7 year old Emma. Emma usually wears about a size 8 but this is technically a 'boys' t-shirt and pretty roomy.

Still waiting for my mojo to return ...

... but I finally finished a sewing project.

This is a doll/toy mei tai for a little girl's second birthday. Reversible - and I figured the brown straps would hide the red dirt well where she lives up in the north of Western Australia!

Something I never thought I'd make myself ...

... bathers!

And I'm just a teeny bit reluctant to keep pasting the photos 'round the internet (but it just doesn't work on my dressmaker's dummy), so I'm just going to link, because a link is easily removed:

http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/alison-swimsuit--2

The link to the free pattern I used is there. The pattern instructions were awful! I did find a blog with some hints on construction, thank goodness, but I still made a bunch of errors that I'll do differently next time. There probably will be a next time, because despite the shortcomings of the instructions, it went together quite easily, and with a few adjustments, could be quite flattering. As flattering as any swimsuit is when you've had three children, anyway ;)

I do really like the cut of the legs - true boy-leg styles make my legs look really short, but I'm not a fan of high-cut these days.

We're heading to the Gold Coast in two weeks, and my old bathers have completely given up the ghost, so I figured it was worth a shot. The fabric cost about $10.

New things I've made to sell

For two custom orders:





Loving these new fabrics, they are polyester PUL so suitable for nights, and super-flexible and soft.

I should have some up in the Madeit shop soon.

I have been battling really bad headaches lately, so haven't managed to post much.



I made these all-in-one nappies for a friend (she supplied the fabric - funky, huh?), I hope she likes them!

They are true AIOs:




I also made a gymnastics leotard from lycra remnants for Emma from a 1980s kids sewing magazine:



I altered it from the original by finishing the edges in a narrow fold-over elastic. Super-easy! I don't know why the photo program cut the top off ...

I made this Iggle Piggle (character from a BBC children's TV show) for Evelyn's birthday, which is in TWO DAYS! Eep. I feel a little guilty, because I'm not quite as excited as I have been over my other two children's first birthdays. Here isn't really the place to go into it, but the birth trauma somewhat overshadows the excitement.

Aaaanyway, on the lighter side, here is a somewhat wonky, but made with love, Iggle Piggle.



All fabric from stash, including gorgeously soft pale blue cuddle fleece I picked up as a remnant for $2 a couple of years ago.

Better late than never?!

I knitted this cushion cover for my friend's wedding present (the blue and red are almost identical to the theme colours they had for their wedding):





The buttoning bit is a bit wonky, and it's a bit big (I was paranoid it'd be too small for the smallest cushion insert, so I guess I over-compensated), but I made up the pattern myself and I'm pretty chuffed. Except for the funny part ...

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The wedding was 18 months ago (I did buy her a gift at the time as well, I'm not a completely sucktastic friend). So, Tam, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I suck and we should meet up sometime soon so I can give you the world's most belated wedding present.

I had made an error on it, and I really, really hate undoing knitting, so it sat in the unfinished basket for ages. D'oh.

Refashioned skirt

You'll have to take my word that this looks better on me than on the dress form! It *was* a size 22 Innovare skirt that I found on the $1 rack at my local op shop. Made in Australia, and simply gorgeous soft fabric. I am not a size 22.

I took all the seams in the required amount (which taught me a good deal about how a facing is sewn on to a skirt - I had to unpick the facing all the way round first), then tried it on and realised the length was unflattering too. I chopped a few inches off and now it hits just below my knees, which left a few inches of the slit in the back, just perfect!

Now that I have finished uni, it's vaguely conceivable I might do some out-of-the-home work at some point soonish, and all the stuff I wore in previous jobs is too small now :( (In all honesty, even if I were skin and bone, it would still be. My hips have expanded too. Not to mention my boobs.)

On a separate trip to the same op-shop - and purely by chance, as we were sheltering from the rain after Evelyn went to the chiropractor - I found the motherlode of secondhand Tupperware. Thirteen Modular Mates for $41! (Retail value: $266 new.) Made in Australia, interesting, cos it's not anymore.

Now envy my budget-priced organised pantry. I already owned some black-lidded ones, and these ones had green lids, but I'm not complaining:

A birthday gift

Emma has a birthday party to attend tomorrow, and of course I left the gift to the last minute. Enter the 1-hour bag tutorial, adapted a little to be child-sized. I also appliqued a matching T-shirt.



I got 1.5 metres of the pink canvas for $1.50 in the remnant bin at my local fabric store, so expect to see a lot more of it, hehe.

Playing catch-up

I did manage a few small projects while in stress-induced hibernation.

A library bag/tote bag - a birthday gift for one of Emma's school friends:



I repaired moth holes in a pair of longies that had been sitting in my repair basket forever:



Just for fun, here are the same longies on Alastair when I originally knitted them two years ago - he would have been about 15 or 16 months old.



Oh, and I converted a woven wrap to a mei tai:



(although the body length is too long, so I need to find the motivation to unpick it and fix it properly)

We're doing a Nappycino knit-along for a headband, and what better reason to procrastinate on the uni assignment I should be doing??



Pattern: DROPS 86-10 headband
Needles: 4.5mm 40cm Addi Turbo circulars (circs not required, but it made the project more portable)
Yarn: some New Zealand 12ply felted lambswool leftover from another project

A nice easy knit, it only took me 48 hours and it's not as if that was un-interrupted.

And here's the zippered pouch I mentioned in my last post:

'Tis the season ...

... to make pants?!?

Well, the changing of the seasons tends to be the time when one needs to make things for children, when you realise they've outgrown all of last winter's things! I thought Evelyn was going to need a whole 'new' (i.e. op-shopped or homemade) wardrobe, but then I discovered three tubs of clothes in the shed, that I'd forgotten about. Woohoo.

I did still make her these two pairs of pants from the Little Comet Tails Crescent Moon Yoga Pants pattern. One pair is polar fleece with ribbing for the waist - it's only one layer of fleece so not really enough for a nappy cover, but cozy all the same. The other is a gorgeously soft wool jersey, slightly felted. I ran it through a warm wash, but not hot, so it's still stretchy. I used two layers in the 'crescent', and lanolised it, so it should hold up as a daytime nappy cover.



(The wool pair is showing the back of the pants, a perfect pattern for cloth nappies.)



Excuse the half-plastered wall in the background. We'll get it finished one of these days. I wish I could make the children stop being cute in front of it.

I made one more pair of pants last weekend for a little birthday boy (or not-so-little, since he turned four). He likes bright colours and bold prints: I think these fit the bill.



All these fabrics have been in my stash for ages.

Can I have more time, please?

Baby girl (now nearly 8 months old) hasn't been sleeping well at all lately. She's always been a night waker, but this week it was ridiculous - no daytime napping, and she'd wake up at 5am bright and alert, refusing to go back to sleep.

So I would like more time, please. I suppose technically I'll gain an hour when daylight savings ends!

I also broke my laptop, which makes blogging less convenient. I'm using an old laptop, but I miss my bookmarks, and it doesn't have enough memory to run all the browser windows I like to have open.

I received some absolutely scrumptious bamboo jersey and ribbing in the mail last week, and I am thinking winter long-sleeved T-shirts. I made this for Alastair using the pattern I bought at the op-shop:



I quite impressed myself with the freehand guitar! The ribbing at the neck is a bit messy, need to work on that. Ignore the line down the front, it's a crease that I was too lazy to iron out. The long sleeves wound up too tight, so I'll adjust the pattern and probably chop this one to short sleeves. Although, really, I think I should have sized up to size 4; I'd say it's a small-fitting pattern.

I tried it on Alastair before finishing the hem and sleeves, and he refused to take it off, so it's since been worn and washed and landed back in the sewing room to be finished properly. I should be glad he likes it!

I also finished my Fetchings, in time for cold mornings:



These annoy me because I'm SURE the two balls were from the same dyelot, but they've knitted up so differently. It's not so obvious when worn, thankfully, and it was just some stash yarn I had lying around (Patons Jet, wool/alpaca blend).

I also made Evelyn a nappy cover, since she's outgrown her smalls:



and had my first try at melting and moulding chocolate. I am aiming to give fair trade/ethical gifts this Easter, but there's not much of a range, so I bought some bulk chocolate and will make our own shapes and eggs.



This was much easier than I thought, but I think making hollow eggs will be more difficult.

Hand puppets

A present for a friend's little boy who is turning three. Hopefully he likes them, I know my son loves to play pretend at the moment.

A month already?

Whoops, it's been a month since I posted. I just haven't had time to get much done lately. Evelyn's knitted dress for Christmas is coming along, only about 6cm to do now.

Tonight I made Christmas shirts. A peasant blouse for Evie, from this tute, which was SO easy, and I painted a red T-shirt for Alastair. Remember it's summer here, if you're reading this from the Northern Hemisphere! I'm not happy with the paint - it was my first try at fabric painting - but I'll see what it looks like when dry. If I still don't like it I'll applique some Christmas fabric over the top. I'm making Emma a blouse in a co-ordinating fabric.