Burgundy Bliss?

I should not be in charge of titles. They rarely work out well… ie see the title for this post.

Anyways, I finally finished one of my knitted shrug plans though it is not in any way the shrug it was intended to be.

Remember last year how I said I was going to make a Cardilero?

That didn’t happen.

Did I tell you last spring that I frogged it?

I cast on early on in the summer, and honestly that one didn’t make it far either.

But then I got a library card. And visited the knitting section. And found this book. It intrigued me, as I very much dislike seaming and finishing knits.

The cable was actually from a shrug pattern, Serenity Shrug… but how often do I actually follow patterns?

Especially knitted ones.

So I took the lovely cable and followed nearly the entire instructions for the back… Maybe mixing up which size I was making. That happens a bunch. And then I got close to the sleeves.

Now I was making this in the heat of July. Yes I was indoors, and yes I had air conditioning, but anytime its super exhausting outside, you can feel it inside too, right? So why was I making a fall-weight shrug thing in July?

Don’t expect an answer for that.

I don’t know why I couldn’t understand what the pattern was asking me, but it just wasn’t working for me, so I decided to take out some circular needles and zip away on my own.

The cap sleeves were accomplished by short rows, though they looked terrible the first time around. I had to frog pretty much all the short rows of my first attempt, mainly because then (and realistically now) I had difficulties understanding how short rows were meant to work, and I was also attempting to correct the imbalance of the back of the arcscye being too far back on my shoulders. The second time around I ignored it. I’m never going to see it!

The second attempt was also created with the intention of almost creating an as-you-go-sleevehead.

After completing the cap sleeves on both sides, I decided that I probably would wear it even less if I continued to fiddle and make the sleeves longer. So I stopped and edged the sleeves and main body opening with my fuzzy German souvenir yarn and called it a day.

If it looks a little puffy from the back, well… I don’t have to look at it! And its warm, which resolves many looks related issues. It also doesn’t help that my tripod is short, even for me, so the views are all from below, adding natural puffyness (and the fact that my tiny bow on the back of my Nettie got in the way).

And there you have it!

P.S. In the pictures it does seem to blend well with my chocolate Nettie, don’t you think?

Knockoff

Have you ever heard of the pattern company Your Style Rocks?

It was a collaboration between fans/designers and patternmakers to create patterns created by the people! But it’s been dormant for a few years now. Some of the designs look great and some are not my cup of tea. The two I gravitated towards were the Eva Dress and the Our Own Pretty Ways shrug.

Back in the beginning of July I walked into a Hancock Fabrics and walked out with the remaining fabrics for my TARDIS costume, as well as some lovely turquoise rib knit. Or at least I call it turquoise… I’ve learned that the concepts behind blue based colors often vary between people.

I knew at that point that I wanted that shrug. Now, my fabric was obviously not sweatshirt material, being a rib knit, but now that I’m in the South I may not need heavier materials as much. So that wasn’t going to be a problem.

The real problem is that I don’t have easy access to a printer. And it costs 15 cents a page at the library. At least until I find a cheaper option or buy a printer, pdf patterns will be of little use to me. Which sucks cause there’s so many great ones.

So instead of printing out the pattern I decided to mod something I already owned.

I took the Plaintain pattern from Deer and Doe and copied it onto newspaper. I didn’t initially change the back, though later on I added darts when I experienced lower back gappage.

But for the front I raised the neckline to a crew neck style, and cut away the most of the bottom edges in an s-curve shape, to recreate the just over bust hugging style. Then I used a fabric band for the bottom hem.

The sleeves were as patterned, and I hemmed them by doing a simple foldover hem.

The hood was frankensteined from some scraps and more of the fabric (AKA I hoped to use just scraps then ran out of usable ones). I had a pattern piece for it, but it’s gone missing. I’ve cleaned my room several times since then, and it probably went the way of the trash can.

I sewed the hood on, and attached some hooks and eyes, and voila! Nice knockoff shrug!

And my first not in-my-living-space photoshoot! I took my new tripod out for a spin. With my simple point and shoot camera, though, I have to use the self timer. My options are 10 seconds and 2 seconds, neither of which are convenient, but I’m working with what I’ve got… And a DSLR and camera remote is going on my dream wishlist… and my to-scour-Ebay list.

Catching up!

Last time we spoke, I was making socks.

Scratch that, I succeeded at socks. And actually right now I’m working on another pair.

I’ve been working on stuff since then, but slowly. And at the same time quickly. I seem to have made a lot of stuff, but for some reason it just seemed to come out of nowhere. Blog posts, however, did not.

Individual posts should be coming up soon for these, but here’s a snapshot of what I’ve got:

And a few more that aren’t quite completed or photographed yet.

I’ve also begun Christmas presents early… as in the aforementioned socks. I know that most people say that and then promptly fall off the wagon, but I’m a woman on a mission… Objective: finish gifts before November, or at least before December. That really means before finals season. I wish I could show you what I’m working on, but then I run the risk of ruining what little surprise they’ll have left.

Cooking has also come up recently as a thing. I’ll admit, I love to cook and bake and candy-make, but rarely do my concoctions turn out pretty, or appetizing to people other than me, or at all. For instance, the last bit of bread I made turned out tasty, I guess, but dense… Having now watched the video on how to actually make a round bread loaf, I think I’ll do better next time.

Knowing that I’m not a food blogger, and that I have no interest in becoming one, I think I’m going to start occasionally highlighting recipes that I’ve used or want to use. Making food can be cheaper than making clothing and yarn stuffs. And therefore I’ve been doing quite a bit of that this summer, so I’ve already got plenty of fodder for these posts.

Well then… talk to you soon! Err… sooner than the last time I posted.