sweet nothings

I'm in love with this sewing desk.

I want to make myself about 20 of the McCall's M5843 dress so I can live in them all summer. I've got all that great fabric with cupcakes and skulls and polka dots which are just begging to become cute skirts and sundresses.

I've mentioned before how much I love the Allsorts blog for inspiration, and that she's where I got the photo that I've been using as my color swatch for my living and dining rooms:

I bought yarn forever ago to make a Rogue hoodie. I loved the cables and the hood but by then I had a Ravelry account and was able to see what people were doing with their Rogues. There was a cardigan version that I loved (besides the zipper), but it seemed like almost everyone had weird looking hoods. Either they had problems grafting the cables across the top, or their decrease sections were bumpy and messy looking and I ended up falling out of love with Rogue (well, I do still love the picture on the pattern, but what are the odds?).

So I've had about 2 billion yards of Cascade 200 Superwash just waiting for a pattern and I haven't been able to find The One. I considered Central Park Hoodie, but it's kind of boring. Chic Knits has a couple of cute options; Cassidy (great cables), and Basic Chic Hoodie (top down raglan) but they weren't quite It. I love the hood and tassel on the Faery Ring hoodie and the cables are gorgeous, but the long flared bottom wouldn't really flatter my figure. Jade and BPT were closest, but the cables were a bit boring.

So now I'm designing my own top down cabled hoodie cardigan. And going insane in the process. I'm doing a 30 st cable down each sleeve and my sleeve cast on section is only 16 sts, so I had to make up some cabling and do lots of math to sort out where to transition into the real cable chart. I'm also doing a braided cable along the edge where I'll be picking up sts for a button band, but I want to carry it up onto the hood (which I plan to pick up later), so I had to figure out of I needed to mirror it on each side, or knit it as-is on both sides. And both of them are over a different number of rows, so I have to carefully keep track of what I'm actually knitting. Then, of course, there's the fact that I've never actually knitted a hood, so I've had to research that a bit.

BUT! If it all works out, I'll have exactly what I want with no compromises. And if not I'll probably have gone insane in the process, so I won't even notice. :)

Also, somewhat knitting related, I dreaded my hair and now it's too big to fit into any of my knitted hats. I need to come up with some good earwarmers/headbands. I did bookmark some patterns, but... well we all know where this is going. Wouldn't everything be easier if I weren't so particular?

A LONG time ago, I posted pics of the fabric I was going to use to make my crazy nine patch quilt, inspired by the one I loved so much on Allsorts. I even finished the squares, thanks to a tutorial she posted, which you can find here if you're curious.

After I finished the blocks, I put them all away and haven't picked them up since. See, those colors - the pink-yellow-brown combo - were the ones that I had originally picked out to redo our living room, and that quilt was going to sit on the back of the couch near the drafty window. Then after the squares were done, I found some new inspiration and started working toward the red-pink-white-robin's egg blue color scheme instead. Then I had no idea what to do with my squares, so they were abandoned.

BUT! I got my sewing machine serviced, and now I'm all excited about sewing again. Plus, I'm working on cleaning and organizing the craft room, which is kind of forcing me to finish some half-done projects. It's all very exciting!

So I'm back to the crazy 9-patch quilt again. I was thinking that the darker pinks in the squares match my bedroom walls, and that I do have an awful lot of them (and they're pretty large), so maybe I'd make a quilt for my bed. I have clearly lost my mind. I've only ever made 2 simple crib quilts in my entire life, but here I am planning out a queen sized quilt.

I mentioned that I've made some resolutions to get my life back in order a bit this year, but that got me thinking about crafting specifically and what kind of goals I might have.

I think I'm going to try to knit one pair of socks a month all year. I'm not going to make it a huge deadline type thing, because (besides at the holidays) knitting is supposed to be relaxing. But I'm going to have socks on the needles at all times, and try to build up my sock stash. I got a pair of super cute maryjane's for Christmas specifically for showing off the fun socks I've made, but in reality I only have a few pairs and they're all starting to get a bit fuzzy and worn. I need a few more so I can rotate. In fact, I'd love to be able to get rid of all the other socks in my drawer and only ever wear handknit socks...except to the gym, cause who wants to knit amazing socks and then ruin them on the eliptical?

Anyway, I'm working on a pair of Fred & George socks right now, kind of. I'm actually using The Yarn Harlot's generic sock pattern, and doing a top down sock with a heel flap, but I'm doing stripes and the reverse heel/toe/cuff part. I'm abut 75% done with the first sock and so far, so good. :)

Also, if I could make some pie-in-the-sky goals, I'd like to get better about taking (and posting) pictures of the things that I make. And I'd also like to spin enough yarn to knit a sweater. Both of those are unlikely, but a girl can dream.

I finally took my sewing machine in today to have the tension/timing problem taken care of. Sadly, the tune-up costs around $70, and he said it might be more if it needs any replacement parts or anything. That's way more than I was expecting. An oil change on my car only costs $30! Bummer.

I'm excited to finally have it back and working right though. 7-10 days. Which of course makes me want to sew really badly right now. Stupid waiting.

Wow, I just noticed that I haven't made a post here in the ol' craft blog since the end of October. I still read everyone else's posts nearly ever day, but I just haven't had much to talk about. I barely made anything for Christmas. Just a iPod cozy for the Cranky Teenager and some stockings for my sister's kids. I didn't even send out cards this year because I didn't have time to make any.

Anyway, my big resolution for this year is organization. Everywhere. The whole house is tidy, but there are lots of little nooks where things get stashed. Like that Buffy board game that I bought. Funny yes, but we played it once and it was not that great, yet here it is shoved in the coat closet years later. I need to make room for all the goodness and get rid of all the clutter.

This applies to crafting as well, because I've started my cleaning spree in the craft room. My sewing desk was piled so high with knitting projects and pictures to be framed, and spare rolls of ribbon that I didn't have any room to sew. My yarn was all spread out in different spots so I never really knew what I had to work with. SO right now I'm working on getting everything back in order, and then I'll be crafting like a madwoman.

I'm hoping that I can get my sewing machine in for some service soon too. It's got a problem with the tension or timing or something, because no matter what adjustments I make, I can't get correct tension anymore. I got a copy of "Sew What! Skirts" awhile ago and I'm dying to make myself some skirts out of some of this crazy fabric I have stashed (cupcake skirt and ghost skirt are on the top of the list), and I can't do any of it until I get the sewing machine back in top form.

Maybe then I'll have things to post about.

covet

I finished my first thrummed mitten and I'm about halfway through the second one. Sadly, I'm going to run out of yarn. I'm not sure why. I did use a different pattern, but I compared with the Fleece Artist pattern that the kit was for and they were pretty similar. Same gauge, same number of sts, etc. I'm thinking that I have enough yarn to make it most of the way up my fingers, but not enough to close the mitten or knit the thumb. Another skein of the BFL Aran costs over $30 to that's not an option.

I did notice that the cuffs on these are rather long though. It wouldn't be terrible to make them shorter... except that I don't want to unknit all of my work and start again. I've never really tried un-knitting from the CO edge, so I'm not even sure if that's possible but I suppose it's worth looking into.

Too bad, because I loved the first mitten so much I was wearing it all around and hugging it. I really want these to work because they're so warm and fuzzy.