Monkey’s Alive!

Hi All,

It’s been an interesting week or so, since my last post. I finally finished a Monkey Sock! This one has been on the needles for so long it’s not even funny. I had finished it up to the point of the heel and just kind of put it aside. I heel flap was diffrent for me, as my first sock was done with a short row heel.

This is how it turned out! I am really pleased, as this was my first project using in any type of lace patterning, and chart reading. Although, let me tell you, I sure am glad all this was written out long-hand…..I really don’t like trying to read charts….it’s so hard for me and I kept losing my place. I also really have a hard time with charted cross stitch as well….I’ve only been working on the same cross stitc project for the last 8 years .

I haven’t started the second one yet……I did start a different sock entirely. I needed a bit of a change of pace sock wise, and am working on the Cedar Creek Sock by Kaci Kyler Hays. This one is a much more simple pattern, that I have been able to memorize. I’m already 4″ into this sucker, so it’s going quickly. I guess I have the Second Sock Syndrome that I have heard so much about I don’t have any pictures of this one yet, but will post as soon as its recognizable. The yarn is a great Socks That Rock yarn in the Hard Rock Colorway

So in other news. We went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park last week. What a fun day! It was only in the mid 90’s so it was a good day to go out there. We hit it in the afternoon, with the intention of doing “The Park at Dark” which was just them staying open late. It ended up being a smart move, as many of the animals were a lot more active. Since we received a membership to the park as a gift (Thanks Mom and Dad!) we had some money to put towards one of the additional activities. We went ahead and sprung for the Photo Caravan Safari. It was a great move on our part, they take you out in a truck and actually drive through the enclosures….additionally, you get to hand feed an animal! We hit the Giraffe feeding which was awesome…..but I must warn you, giraffes have the longest, stickiest, and bluest toungues I have ever seen.

Mr. Nemesis got lucky and managed to lure this little (in relative terms) cutie over to feed.
This guy was one of the baby giraffes, he was about 8 feet tall! Here are the two of us with the Mama giraffe. Please ignore the really awful tan lines!

Here I am with the Mama Giraffe. She was not shy about nosing around you to get at those yummy yummy leaves. One of the other girls on the tour got her ear licked by the baby…..She needed about 4 wet wipes to get off all the giraffe spit.

We also got a lovely close up view of these guys too. Cape Buffalo….Unfortunately, I couldn’t talk to the guide into going out and staring it down a’ la’ Crocodile Dundee. This one was definitely giving us the stink eye. I have some other great shots of an ornery ostrich, the cutest little baby rhinocerose and his mama, and various and sundry other critters. They may make appearances here from time to time.

Hope everyone is having a great end of summer!

 

Heaven on a plate!

Ok, anyone who knows me, knows that I love to bake. It has been said that I single-handedly support the C&H Sugar company, and that my dentist must send me personal Christmas cards for using so much sugar.

Normally, the recipients of my baking are Mr. Nemesis’ coworkers……who are definitely appreciative. But this one was all for me. I found this recipe for Pioneer Woman’s Apple Dumplings. Oh man, these things are to die for!

My normal family recipe for Apple Dumplings is to peel and core apples, fill the empty core with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then wrap the whole shooting match in pie dough and bake them. Well, there is more to the recipe than that…..but you get the general idea. Pioneer Woman’s recipe is really different. It has a different flavor than mine, but still, the recipe is amazing.

Her’s are made with Pillsbury crescent roll dough, apples, butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and a can of Mtn. Dew. Yes, you read that right…..Mtn Dew. I don’t know quite what it does to it, but it sure does make an out-of-this-world sauce. So head on over to Pioneer Woman’s Blog, and check out her Apple Dumpling recipe. She also has a bunch of other awesome recipes…..some that have been in my recipe box for many years.

Happy Baking!

 

French Market Bag Finished!

Well after moving, I finally found my USB cable so I could download my pictures! I got my bag felted yesterday.

Wow, it’s finally finished! Nearly a year later, I have finally got this beast done. While not a particularly difficult pattern, it was a long term project for me. This has been such a busy year, that I have been working on several knitting projects simultaneously.

The French Market Bag on Knitty was designed by Polly Outwhaite. The bag itself on Knitty wasn’t particularly inspiring to me, but after seeing this version by PA KnitWit, I was inspired to make my own. I loved her use of Paton’s Soy Wool Stripes.

So my version is Paton’s Soy Wool Stripes; 6 balls. After looking at the pattern I was puzzled why such small needles were used for a felting project. That really kind of worried me, because I like a really tight felt….and it always seems like the tighter I knit, the less it really felts up the way I like it. So I did go up from the recommended size 7 needles to size 10’s.

Despite making it about 4 inches taller than the pattern called for, it still was smaller than I expected, but I am guessing that might be due to how tight I got it felted.

I did notice that the yarn felted up really nice and tightly, but it had an awful lot of fuzzy halo around it. The fuzz was so long that it kind of ended up matted and sticking up funny. I wasn’t so happy with that, but a good once over with a set of Barber clippers set on No. 2 fixed that.

I am definitely pleased with the outcome, and can always use knitting bags and totes, so this works great. I would certainly recommend the pattern, it is quite easy using simple increases, decreases, and stockinette stitch. It’s a good introduction to Kitchner stitch used to graft the handles together, especially given that it’s felted, so if you goof it like I did, no one will ever know

Thanks for reading! Monkey Sock pictures coming soon!

 

Some Knitting Progress!

Hi Everyone,

I think I have finally gotten into the groove with my knitting. I have had The French Market Bag from Knitty on the needles since last October. It’s not a particularly complicated pattern, it just was rather tedious to knit through the miles of stockinette stitch on the body of the bag.

I haven’t been able to felt it yet, as I only have access to laundromat style machine at our temporary housing. But here is a picture of it unfelted.

I think we will be moving into permanent housing next week, with hopefully our own washer and dryer, I will be able to do the felting. If not, then it will just have to wait until I get home this winter.

I have also been working on the ever so popular Monkey Sock by designer Cookie A. This is my second pair of socks, and these have also been on the needles for a long time…..Over a year in this case! I like the pattern, but got sidetracked with other projects, and kind of lost my vision for them. Mine are in my favorite Socks that Rock yarn, in the Rolling Stone colorway. I am nearly finished with the first sock. I think now that I have the pattern down, and have gotten through the heel (this is the first time I haven’t done a short row heel, so it’s a little different for me) the second sock will be a lot smoother.

I will have pictures of the sock soon! In the meantime here are a couple more shots from our San Diego adventures!

From  the Shamu show “Believe”  I don’t remember which whale this one was, but its not Shamu.

 

The whale trainers really have to be in great shape for this to work.  In order to do this stunt the trainer had to dive to the bottom of the really deep tank so the whale could get a good momentum going to get the trainer up.  They are under water for quite a while!

 

This lady trainer was great!  She actually “surfed” around the tank on this guys back.  Boy, were these whales spoiled rotten!

 

The elusive Mr. Nemesis!  I finally got a picture of him, he isn’t too big on pictures……This is right before the dolphin show Ignite.  Fireworks and Dolphins OH MY!  Actually it was a good show, but very difficult to photograph.  Since it was full dark, I didn’t really get any good shots of the dolphins or pilot whales that were performing, the back lighting from the pyrotechnics was too brigh for my little camera.  I got smart and took my little one with me, it fits in a ziplock bag so it doesn’t get splashed

 

Silk Sack

Hi all,

Here is one of the items that I created in preparation for my trip. I made up this nifty purse/handbag from a pattern from my friend Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio . This nifty hands free handbag is just the trick for my upcoming adventures and the inevitable trips to major theme parks that my husband has in mind.

This silk version, is not necessarily great for the water rides at Magic Mountain, but it has been just the ticket for toting around all the essentials for dry days at the zoo…camera, sunscreen, cash, husbands junk (I volunteered to make him one, but he declined the offer). The silk base of the bag is an embroidered silk found at Pacific Fabrics in Bremerton The flat fold tables are a treasure trove of different fabrics. If you take the time to root around you can come up with some lovely treasures. The rest of the fabric was also purchased at Pacific Fabrics.

The contrasting strap and top of bag are made of a marvelous silk duppioni. The bag and strap are fully lined in a fun asian themed quilting cotton. I was really pleased how the whole project turned out. The inside of the bag has plenty of pockets (one zippered, and one divided) for carrying around the essentials, and keeping the sunglasses from getting scratched up when they float around the bottom of the purse with my keys.

Check out this fabulous organization:

The pattern instructions were easy to follow, especially regarding the option to make two different sized bags. I made the kids sized bag (since I’m not a big purse type of gal) but with an adult length strap lengthened even further to traverse the terrain so to speak . Also, the instructions for the optional zippered pocket are good even for a beginner to learn on.

I made another one of these bags, that I will share in a later post. In the meantime, I leave you with……..You guessed it! More meerkat pictures!

Digging a hole to China perhaps?

Just kicking back…and kicking a stick

Talk to you all soon!

 

Where Have I Been???

Sorry for the long delay between postings.  The last couple months have been an absolute whirlwind.  I have been doing some sewing and knitting……but its been so hectic I haven’t really had time to write about it.

About 3 weeks ago, my husband and I left for an extended temporary duty assignment in San Diego.  He’s working down here at North Island until he finishes.  So, in preparation to leave home for several months, I needed to get quite a bit of sewing done.  So I will have several blog posts worth of new sewn items to show off.

In addition I’ll post a few snapshots of us doing our thing down here in the sunny weather!  Just to kick this off here are a couple snapshots from this mornings trip to the San Diego Zoo.  I’m a meerkat fan from way back, so these little guys are at the top of the list for me to see.  The meerkat pups were absolutely darling, and only about 5″ long.  I would have snuck one in my purse to take home but the zookeeper was watching.

Feeding Time!

Little Chow Hounds!

Babysitting?

Quick, Mom’s not looking!

 

Baby Bolero

Ok,  Next up, the Baby Bolero from One Skein by Leigh Radford.

 

This was another sample for work.  Since we don’t carry the recommend Blue Sky Alpaca’s yarn, I used Lion Brand Organic Cotton in the “Bark” colorway.  It was a reasonable substitution, but I remember that I really don’t care to knit with cotton all that much.  All the cotton yarns I have worked with shed and split a lot.  This was really no exeption.  But it did block out much nicer than I had thought it would.

I have discovered, despite sewing for many many years now, that I really hate seaming my knitted garments.  Its not second nature for me like hand sewing is.  The blocking definitely helped with the poor seaming job, but I’m still not really happy with it.  I probably need to break down and take a class on finishing, since once I see how things are done, I can usually copy them with reasonable success.

Despite my issues, I am still thrilled with how nicely this turned out, and I’m ready to jump into more knitted garments.  I’m not quite ready to do sweaters for myself yet…..I wan’t to work out my issues with finishing before I try that.  But still. this was a fun little knit, and only ended up taking about 8-9 hours of work.  Someone faster could certainly turn this out in a day. 

*Note – There are errata for this pattern listed at the designer website.  I also increased the number of sleeve stitches by 2 on the sleeve increases.  I don’t think I could have gotten them to fit otherwise.

 

Amy Butler ~ Kimberly Bag

Well I guess Amy Butler improves a bit upon reflection.  I made up another of her patterns, the Kimberly bag as another store sample for my employer. 

Here is the pattern cover and made up sample from the pattern.  As is normal for me, I really dislike the fabric choices for the bag.  I find the floral prints she uses are really not to my taste, and really cause the patterns to look like they were made for someone 3 times my age.

 

                                                           

This was a significantly easier pattern to manage than the Weekender.  There was no piping to fight, and there was hardly any Timtex.

The supply list for this project included:

Exterior fabric, lining fabric, thread, zipper, small peice of timtext for base, and fusible interfacing.  I chose a home decorator faux suede in lime green, and another Alexander Henry home decorator weight cotton in white and lime.  I lucked out and found a matching zipper in our “Make a Zipper” zipper by the yard selections.

                         

I still have the same complaint as before as far as the quality of instructions.  The pattern instructions are still overly verbose, but knowing the issues, I just went through them ahead of time with a highliter and marked the critical parts.

This was a super fast bag to make.  It only took about 5 hours from cutting out to finish.  I did do a little additional trimming of bulk that wasn’t called for in the original pattern instructions.  But everything else worked out nicely this time.  The larger challenge for me, was doing all of the construction without pins.  This is the first time that I have worked with sueded fabric, and I had noticed as I was laying it out to cut out, that pin holes were showing somewhat.  So I broke out the trusty binder clips that I used while making the weekender, and they worked fine.

 

While I think the bag turned out nicely.  I was not very happy with the scale of it.  Once finished it is so long and squatty that it looks like a loaf of french bread.  I like the overall shape, but it either needs to be shorter in length or taller in height to be a good scale for me.  At the moment, its not a really good size for me.  Despite carrying a rather smallish purse myself, this really is so short that my wallet wouldn’t really fit in here, and with the length of the bag, all my stuff would slide forward or back and cause it to look lumpy.  A scarf or tassel might help the scale a bit, but at the moment my fellow staff members at work have been teasing me about it being a case for a lady’s pool cue.

                                       

Needless to say, despite my issues with the scale of the bag.  I still liked how it turned out.  There are definite possibilities for this bag, and it wouldn’t be to challenging to remake this pattern to better fit me.  I liked how easy to construct it was, and a different fabric choice would let me use pins, which would really make this quicker.  While I still wouldn’t call this an absolute beginner pattern, it is simple enough for someone with a few sewing projects under their belt, and is a good introduction to putting in a simple zipper.

 

A quick knit top

Hi everyone,  new content is coming, I promise.  I have plenty of stuff to update you on.

 

First is this super simple Kwik Sew sleeveless tee from  Womens pattern 3277.  This was made from Sophia knit in black and red.  I decided to use the black just for a little fun and contrast.  This is to be a sample for a class at work.  We shall see if it actually happens….so far no one has signed up.  It was definitely a challenge to come up with a project that could be completed in 3.5 hours of class time for relatively new sewers….that would accomodate both misses and plus sizes.  If I am teaching someone how to make clothing I want them to have a reasonable chance at finding a suitable pattern that will fit.

Kwik Sew is an excellent pattern company catering mostly to the intermediate sewist, and folks who want lingerie or athletic clothing.  Unfortunately Kwik Sew as a company has not yet realized how badly their photographed models, and artists renderings of their patterns portray their patterns.  They have very little current styling, and most patterns tend to look pretty frumpy in the pattern books.  Look beyond this and their can be marvelous rewards.  They have excellent swimwear, dancewear, outerwear, and lingerie. 

 

  

 

 

Coming soon:  another Amy Butler bag

 

Cute Pattern; Miserable Fabric

I have finished another sample for work.  This one was a request from my co-workers, definitley not something I would normally choose to undertake on my own. 

While the disco look certainly isn’t my style, its a style that could be adapted in many types of fabric in the other pattern views to meet most lifestyle clothing requirements.   I have been disappointed in the last 5 years or so in the patterns available for pre-teens and young teens.  Most pattern books trend towards the early elementary school set then jump straight to older teen looks with an emphasis on prom dresses.  It can be frustrating finding patterns that are tasteful and age appropriate for that middle group.

This Hannah Montana pattern from Simplicity was chosen.

I made the version that the live model is wearing, in a similar fabric seen under the trade name of confetti dot.  I wanted something similar enough to the pattern that would attract the little girls.  It did turn out very cutely:

Despite the fact that this is pretty see-through, I think this could make a very cute little outfit for a pre-teen girl.  Put a little pink tank top underneath, and wear it with a cute little pair of jeans jazzed up with some pink rhinestones or other embellishment.

The only specific difficulty I had with the pattern was applying the bias neckline binding.  The fabric did not have a terribly high degree of stretch, so getting the bias stretched around the neck was difficult, and caused the fabric to pull and start raveling.  Because of the raveling issue, I would reccomend anyone trying this pattern at home, cut out a wider neck binding.  If there is too much extra once its applied, it is simple to trim shorter.  But that would certainly alleviate the issues I had. 

The sleeves are really the main feature of this garment.  They are self lined for a cleaner look.  The pattern instructions were reasonable clear and illustrated everything well.  I think they really do make the pattern in this case. 

I used my serger to clean finish the inside seams.  This is particularly important since the fabric was fairly translucent.  I just did a very narrow three thread serged hem stitch.  Alternatively, one could increase the width of the seam allowances and do french seams….but that seemed like it would add too much bulk with the metallic dots on the fabric.

The only place I made any major deviations from the pattern was to do a rolled hem on the bottom.  Since I couldn’t really press confetti dot to make a nice hemline, that seemed the best alternative.  I really can see a difference that pressing makes in how a garment hangs…..if this had been pressed the handkerchief hem would certainly be more visible…..but I am ulitimately happy enough with how this came out.

Here is a view of the sleeve stretched out a bit more to show the construction: