Sewing 101

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Well, I made another pair of baby shoes as well as a little tote bag - it ended up being purse size, it came out a lot smaller than expected, but it is perfect to carry around a single knitting project; you never know when you might need it. I made the bag out of the same tweedy fabric I made the shoes out of. No pics of that yet.

After all that, I realized I just HAD to get a new sewing machine and after a few days of shopping around, I bought a Singer 4166 at Costco. There was another model called the Brother 6000 I saw online with good reviews, but no stored we found carried any brother brand machines and I really wanted to purchase something I could touch and look at. So far I am really pleased with the machine and it is SUCH a nice change to all the frustrations of the old machine.

And so, I made my first piece of clothing since making some pajama shorts in middle school (Mom, do you remember the fabric we bought? White with little brown horseshoes all over?). I was in my wanna-be jockey phase. Anyway...I was invited to join a sew along blog by my old roommate and fav photographer Kelli at a blog she and her sister created called Presser Foot. It was a lot of fun and addicting, and I was able to finish it in a day! There are modifications that I would make in the future, but I am pretty pleased with my first attempt at clothing!

This is supposed to have sleeves, but for details on why it doesn't and what mods I would make, visit the Presser Foot blog (link above). Later today I am going to get a bit of neglected knitting in before my week on again because it will be back to dreaming about all the knitting and sewing projects I want to work on until next week!

Steal of a Deal

I found this dresser at a store that sells secondhand and surplus items, often from places like Pottery Barn and other expensive companies. They sell all sorts of things and I am particularly fond of their furniture. In fact, we purchased our dining room table there.

So anyway. Fell in love with this, and it was only $93!!! Regularly $400 or something...ding ding ding! A winner! So I put it on hold and went back the next day with Jon to pick it up. While loading it, they noticed that one of the front legs was broken. They said they would refund us or give it to us for half off. I took the deal and for $50 we have this beaut in our office.


Jon later sent me an email with a subject line, "Does this look familiar?". Lo and behold, the dresser was from West Elm (one of our favorite stores - the couches are from there...) and was "on sale" for $669. Yah. I am pretty darn proud.

In other news, read on for another 3 or 4 blog posts about my adventures in craftiness.

Shoes: Part I (Trial Run)

These were really fun to make and turned out well while not being perfect. No interfacing in these as the fabric was thick enough. I love the simple tweediness and thanks to Jon's sister for her donation from the button jar.






I did make the blue and yellow hat fur a nephew (I already made mittens for his brother so we needed to be fair...) but I have not mastered sizing yet and the hat ended up fitting his not yet 2-year old brother instead of his 8-year old head. Well, such is life and it only took me two nights to make it. I'll have to try again - this time we'll go twice as big!

I Love My Job

Because I have time to make this...


and go out with an old roommate and buy these...


and these too!


I'll be making shoes and a few bags out of the fabric. I am LOVING the little knitted dress at the top. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and it is super soft, squishy, and luxurious. It feels fantastic and has the right amount of stretch to make knitting a breeze.

Stay tuned for a trial run on the shoes...

Special Delivery!

My yarn came in the mail about a week and a half ago! Blue and yellow for hat, brown for a surprise, and the gray tweed for learning to make socks.



This leads me to a dilemma. Storage options. Do all knitter's come to the point where they need a storage solution? Behold.



Stashed neatly next to the couch and ready to satisfy any knitting craving. Or fuel it...

Spring Cleaning

I am finally donating my first and only stereo. I love this "boombox". It has a manual dial instead of a digital tuner for the radio, two tape decks, cd player which allows you to program a playlist from whatever cd is playing (I loved that...), detachable speakers, - it even has a "high speed dubbing" button for those who remember recording cassette tapes.

I have listened to many many many episodes of This American Life, Prairie Home Companion, Selected Shorts, hours of other NPR programming, and various other musical genres as my taste evolved from oldies and Broadway showtunes, to 90's hits like Third Eye Blind, through my ska rocking phase with Flogging Molly and Goldfinger, to punk music, emo-ish Brand New and Something Corporate, to my current mix of eclectic indie rock like The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, Blitzen Trapper, Okerville River...

I will miss this beast of a machine, but it is too big and sadly has not seen any use in a year or two. Sentimentality be darned; I'm purging.

But I'll always remember the good times.

I'm not addicted...I can stop anytime I want!

Behold - the part angora yarn that will one day become a sweater for Jon. It sheds like a bear and when I get up it sometimes make me look like a dog owner, but its super soft and I love the smokey color. We won't disclose exactly how much 9 hanks cost me at the yarn store, but I think it was worth it...right?



I also experimented with making some easy washcloth upgrades for a bridal shower I was going to and that due to some unforeseen events never occurred... They are nothing special, but when the craft bug hits, you just have to make something!


In other news, I am very anxiously awaiting my first online yarn purchase from Knit Picks! They are very inexpensive - I'm talking half as cheap as anything else out there and from the reviews still sell pretty good quality yarn. I bought yarn for a hat for a nephew, a "special surprise" for my sister's baby (Alicia, I can't tell you what is is...but it's for Christmas this year...), and some for a first attempt at sock making. I don't actually want to make socks...but I REALLY want to use all the fabulous sock yarn out there. For instance, ShiBiu yarn.


And those are just a few. They make more than just sock weight yarn, but no one seem to sell anything but sock weight and it is absolutely gorgeous! Like I could eat it type of good. I also found a couple of new knitting outlets I want to try. There is a knitting store I just discovered in Salt Lake that has open knitting sessions Thursday evenings and Friday mornings and I also found a group that meets in downtown on Tuesday evening from 7-9. I can't go tonight due to library duties at church, but I'm excited to try and attend. It's hard to learn EVERYTHING from books and the web...

Lastly, I want to read Friday Night Knitting Club which is a little more...well let's call it "female-oriented" than I typically would read, but I've actually heard a bit of buzz about it and thought it could be itneresting to check out. Thank goodness for the library.