Originally uploaded by teamkaty
So now you know why production was low around here this summer. (Oh, come on--why have kids if you can't blame them for your own shortcomings?) Between June and September I grew to dread the casual, "So, what have you guys been up to?" Because really, is there a more boring answer on earth than, "Well, I spend a lot of time on the couch, trying not to think about chicken or vegetables?" No, no there is not.
Not a lot of crafting got done, but of blogging there was even less,
so I find I do have a couple of FOs to catch up on. Like the Sporty
Shorties up there. This one little orphan skein of Froehlich Wolle
self-striping kept calling to me every time I stopped by Brooklyn General--I
think I had a Gloria Vanderbilt polo shirt in similar colors, circa
1982. Finally I broke down and picked it up on sale. There wasn't quite enough for the pair--see how the toes are different?
But I had some blue left over from my Snowflakes, and darned if it wasn't almost an exact match! Just for fun, I gave these socks a dedicated right and left toe...but not only can you not tell that from these pictures, but I actually had them on the wrong feet anyway. Oh well.
OK, and remember all the droning about the Debbie Bliss Lace and Bobble cardigan?
Well, I finished it. It's OK. Maybe not quite worth all the trouble
(bobbles really are like running in place: a lot of effort, zero
mileage) but wearable. It's a little small--I wish I had made a bigger
size, or maybe used Shine worsted
instead of the sport. I do have one pattern modification I would
recommend--after you cast on all those stitches for the sleeves, they
tell you to jump right back into the pattern for the first row. That
makes the edge really unstable and a bitch to seam. If I were doing it
again, I'd knit at least the first return row even. It's your inner
arm, no one sees it! Here's a back view:
Now, a very long time ago, I made this dress to wear to a spring wedding in New Orleans:
I was never very happy with it, even when it wasn't crumpled (as
above) from being balled up in my closet. Great fabric (Liberty!),
classy batiste lining, nice ribbon treatment--oh, a photo is required--
...but the neckline gaped in an unsightly manner despite repeated
adjustments. And the pleating was uneven, thanks to being a
last-minute rip-and-redo when the original gathered skirt proved too
unflattering for words. I wore it maybe four or five times, always
thinking what a waste of nice Tana Lawn it was.
Early this spring, I bought some cute polka-dotted linen from Purl Patchwork,
ostensibly to make myself a dress. Enter First Trimester: the dress
never got made. But the fabric sat around in a pile, as things tend to
do around here, and at one point the bum dress got stacked on top of
it, and I thought, "huh, cute." Then our niece Emma Rose's first
birthday rolled around, and chop-chop-chop, this:
...became a little reversible crossback sundress. And bloomers.
The
pattern is Butterick 5439. I'd come to think of our Emma as one
chubbalicious baby, so I made the largest size--of course, it was waaay
too big for her. Next summer! She can tear around in it and give the
monkeybaby all kinds of big ideas about mobility.
I'd
forgotten how much fun it is to sew for babies. The finer points of
fit are pretty much a non-issue, it's fast (this was cut and sewn in
oh, maybe two hours?), it's cute, and the recipients can't complain.
Perfection.
