a dress

I've always wanted to be able to sew. My life thusfar has consisted of little spurts of sewing, each spurt has lead to a lumpy twisted garment/bag/mess because there is something that I just can't seem to get about sewing. It's mysterious to me...just like math...sigh. Luckily, I seem to be blindly determined to learn, and continue to take on projects in spite of the string of disappointing items I have produced. My latest foray into the sewing world has been my most successful. Hooray!



On a whim (this is how I seem to do everything) I purchased a few patterns from the extremely dangerous purlsoho.com. My highest achievement in sewing previously was a laundry hamper liner, so you can understand the linear progression to a dress...or probably not. To make matters worse, the pattern is Japanese; not a word of English on the entire thing! This little sanity blip can probably be explained by my growing desire to live in Japan, speak Japanese and understand just how the happy iron in my pattern plans to guide me through the project (so cute). Luckily, working at a knitting store connects me with crafty folks from all disciplines, and a friend who is an extremely skilled seamstress volunteered to guide me through the dress. If it weren't for her, my fabric would certainly be in a helpless wad in the back of my closet by now...instead it looks like this...



...So far I have made bust darts, pleats, and some very cool seams (can't remember what they're called!) All that's left to do is put in the zipper, sew the side seams, hem and finish some seams on the inside. And I THINK that will all be pretty simple.
This project has really boosted my sewing confidence, and I'm already planning my next project; another Japanese pattern, this time a skirt. I am dieing to buy the fabric, but won't allow myself until the dress is done. I think it'll be pretty fun to go into the shop wearing my dress. I'm envisioning bolts of fabric and rulers clanking on the floor as everyone in the store drops what they are doing to admire my new dress, but I somehow doubt that will be the case.

IT'S FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, the epic shawl is finally done! I finished the knitting last Friday, and blocked it last Saturday! I gave it away last week sometime, and it was a hit! Hooray! Finishing that up made me feel great! Now I've been fighting the urge to cast on 20 projects at once...somehow that seems like a bad thing to do...



Since the shawl has been done I've finished 2 pairs of lingering socks,







I've returned to my spindle (it was feeling VERY neglected!) and I did all the seaming for my evergreen vest. More exciting than any of these projects is my paper dolls sweater...I started it a few days ago, and it is looking so pretty!



The i-cord cast on took a very long time, but was entirely worth it in the end; it is a beautiful way to finish the edge. I'm doing my best to power my way up the body at the moment, because knitting the paper dolls around the yoke is obviously the most exciting part! As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm using Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label, which is such a beautiful yarn! Her colours are mostly solid, but all have subtle tonal variations that make them so interesting and fun to knit. I'm knitting the entire sweater on 3.5mm needles, which I hope will give me a fabric tight enough that it doesn't become see-through, but loose enough that the garment isn't too stiff.

Yesterday, my knitting came on a little adventure with me...Jeremy is lucky enough to be given press cars every week, and this week he got this itsy bitsy convertible...




...we decided to take it for a spin in the country, so we packed a picnic and chose a destination. In the morning we planned our route to the Kawartha Lakes and drove off! We had a great time driving around once we made it out of the city...and it was a beautiful sunny day (I even enjoyed the sun, which is uncharacteristic). We had planned to take the scenic route up, but quickly got turned around and lost our way. Jeremy had brought along a navigation system, which had no idea where we were either! So it was up to me, our scribbled instructions and my I Phone. We made it there in one piece, but not without a few detours.

Once we were situated with our picnic alongside lake Scugog, we were finally able to relax. We spent a few hours just enjoying the beautiful day, and I got in some great knitting time!




Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later, but you never know...I'm getting a bit carried away with this paper dolls sweater (its just SO cute!) I may have it finished by my next post!