Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Socks!

We used the long holiday weekend to drive to Iowa to visit David's side of the family. It's about a 400 mile drive each way, and I worked on some socks for Calvin. I'm using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted knit on 2s :


It was so nice to knit and listen to the iPod. This is the first sock. I used to knit socks quite a bit, and had a generic pattern in my head, but that's gone now. :) I used this sock calculator to come up with the pattern. I changed the heel flap directions to get the honeycomb effect. Turning the heel wasn't like I remember, so I need to look around and find a different one. Otherwise, everything else came back real quick. As you can see, I like to do socks on 5 dpns. I get all mixed up with 2 circs or that magic loop thing.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

One Hot Skirt (#2)

My One Hot Skirt review is up at Sew, Mama, Sew! There are lots of detail pictures, including how I bound the bottom of this skirt, and how I prickstitch my facings down. After you go look, read all the other reviews -- it's Skirt Month in May, just in time for summer!

I wore this one on Saturday with a cute white top, but didn't get a picture. Maybe next time. :)

Monday, May 21, 2007

100 Things About Me

In honor of my 200th post (!), here are 100 things about me. I would've done 200, but that's a lotta things to come up with! Just read it twice instead. :)

1. I am left handed. extremely.
2. My husband says the whole kitchen is set up backwards.
3. I can write backwards without having to think about it.
4. I weigh 10 pounds less than what my driver’s license says.
5. I’m 1” shorter than it says too.
6. I don’t really care for chocolate.
7. Potato chips, on the other hand …
8. Popcorn too.
9. I also love popsicles.
10. and ice cream (though I need to take it easy with all that milk).
11. I prefer pie over cake, but with NO ice cream (they need to stay separate).
12. Milk is for baby cows, not people. It's nasty stuff!
13. My favorite beverage is lemonade or orange juice.
14. My favorite cocktail would have to be a fuzzy navel or Framboise beer.
15. I could eat mexican food every day!
16. I could probably eat italian just about every day too.
17. Thai food is awful.
18. I don't drink coffee.
19. I make it almost every day for my sweetie, and love the smell.
20. I like grinding the beans too.
21. But it tastes like shit.
22. Hot chocolate is my coffee (yeah, I know about #6, but this is different).
23. My favorite color is purple, followed closely by red.
24. I don't like blue much, but people say it looks good on me.
25. I LOVE LOVE LOVE shoes.
26. really love shoes.
27. a lot.
28. Impractical ones are the best. :)
29. I love shoe shopping as much as fabric shopping.
30. Otherwise, I don't like to shop.
31. One of my fantasies is to never have to go to the grocery store.
32. I like comic books.
33. I'll go see any movie based off of a comic book.
34. I rarely watch television.
35. However, Caleb has gotten me hooked on American Idol this season.
36. Maybe I should say it's Blake that has gotten me hooked.
37. I like techno, euro-pop, dance, and electronica music.
38. Can't stand country music.
39. or Nascar.
40. I swam on the boys Varsity swim team in high school.
41. There weren't enough girls to make a swim team.
42. So we swam on the boys team.
43. I worked as a lifeguard in highschool.
44. I also worked as a swimming instructor.
45. I prefered teaching to guarding.
46. It's funny, because I hated swimming lessons as a child.
47. I used to hide from my mom so I wouldn't have to go.
48. Then she'd find me and I'd go kicking and screaming.
49. Now I force my own children to go to swimming lessons.
50. They actually like them, however.
51. I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was 8.
52. I flunked my first try at a driver's license.
53. I got it when I was 17.
54. I still don't like to drive much.
55. I don't like to go fast.
56. David says I drive like an old lady.
57. I had purple hair last summer.
58. I loved it.
59. I can't sleep with the bedroom door closed.
60. My closet door has to be closed, however.
61. I like the blinds open too.
62. I'm severely nearsighted.
63. I can't see the shampoo bottle in the shower, or the clock on the nightstand.
64. I'm chicken to get lasik surgery.
65. I like how I look with glasses.
66. I want some glasses with rhinestones.
67. I used to have cheetah cat eye glasses.
68. My father was a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
69. I've watched open-heart surgery for real.
70. More than once.
71. It's simply amazing.
72. I almost fainted the time I watched when I was pregnant.
73. My second child was accidentally born at home.
74. on the front staircase.
75. My husband and my mom 'caught' him.
76. Hey, at least he wasn't born in the car!
77. Can you imagine having to clean that up?
78. We made it to the hospital with #3.
79. Had about an hour to spare. :)
80. The resident didn't believe my husband when he told her she better hurry up.
81. He told her (at 9:15 am) that the baby would be born by 10 am.
82. She looked at him like he had 3 heads.
83. Connor was born at 9:48 am.
84. Our doctor made it on time.
85. The older boys were with us too.
86. They got to meet their brother minutes after he was born.
87. That's pretty cool.
88. I'd say strawberries are my favorite fruit.
89. Mangoes, peaches, and pineapples are very close seconds.
90. I pick about 20# of strawberries each summer.
91. I put up strawberry jam every summer -- at least 40 jars.
92. Peach-strawberry jam is my favorite.
93. I love scalding hot showers.
94. I take a shower everyday.
95. But I only wash my hair once or twice a week.
96. I have one aunt, one uncle, and three cousins.
97. They don't speak english.
98. I'm fluent enough in spanish that I can converse with them.
99. It's hard, though, and after a while I get a headache.
100. I can't crochet.

Friday, May 18, 2007

One Hot Skirt (#1)

I know I've been quiet, but I have been sewing! I made and reviewed a skirt for the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog. Here is the first one, and the review, with oodles of pictures should be up on Monday. (It's the One Hot Skirt from Betsy Ross Patterns) I'll let you know, along with pictures of the second skirt.

Yesterday Calvin and I saw I Henvry IV (the production that I built some costumes for) and it was FANTASTIC! Today I'm dropping in on the Canvasbacks sale. Hopefully I'll get another Jalie 2449 stitched up (it coordinates with the skirt pictured) too.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Jalie 2449 - otra vez

I really like how this one turned out (goes great with my skirt, no? ~G~). This fabric is some type of poly knit that I bought at The Cutting Table a few years ago. It has less stretch than the rayon knit from Canvasbacks, pictured in the previous post. It feels great on my skin, and shouldn't be too hot to wear, especially on overcast cool days like today. This pattern is a definite winner and will be a staple top. I'll probably make some with a straight hem also.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Jalie 2449

Tomorrow is my monthly pattern club meeting, and we'll be discussing Jalie patterns. Yesterday I made up 2449, the crossover top. I started with a size T, and did a small FBA (1"). Instead of stitching the newly created dart, I just eased it in. I constructed the whole thing, except for the hems, on the serger. I've never done that before, and boy was it fast!

Man, it's hard to take a self-portrait. Overall, I like the style. I'm not sure I like this particular fabric on me that much. I think it's a way cool print (a rayon lycra I picked up at Canvasbacks a few years ago), but probably not the best colors for me. It's REALLY stretchy too. I cut it out again out of a navy/brown poly knit, and I'll stitch that up sometime today. I also have Jalie 2445, and 2327, but I doubt I'll get either of those done by tomorrow in time for the meeting.

If you've never looked at Jalie patterns before, go take a look. They have lots of nice casual sportswear, activewear, and underwear, and every pattern contains EVERY size, from 2T to adult.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

How Did This Happen?

I'm mother to an ELEVEN year old? :)

Happy Birthday Caleb! I woke him up this morning with a pie in his face. I don't remember how that tradition (the pie in the face sometime on your birthday) got started, but it's pretty fun. After a birthday breakfast of bacon and pancakes, and opening one present (his new t-shirt) he's off to school. We made his birthday cake last night (raspberry), and I'll be bringing it to school for a treat this afternoon.


Tonight we'll have his birthday dinner (pork roast, mashed potatoes, gravy -- he always wants the same thing), more cake, and more presents. We'll finish the evening with me telling him his birth story, which inevitably leads to me telling all the boys all their birth stories.

Wow, eleven.