green gable - I got my yarn!

I still haven't blocked the lace for my purple tofu jacket yet, I had school until 10pm last night and just didn't feel like messing with it. I'll do it tonight and then I'm going to get started on Green Gable!

Today at lunch, I went to Jimmy Beans and bought the yarn. The pattern calls for Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and they have such a great color selection and it feels like it will be perfect for summer that I went ahead and decided to use that rather than make a substitution. I fell IN LOVE with the Robin Egg Blue color, it's the same color as a Tiffany's box!! My local store only carries it in 9 colors, but they had Robin Egg Blue!


So I bought enough to make the XL, although I've read a ton of reviews that indicate that making the next smaller size is sometimes better. The color is much more vibrant in person - the photo makes it look a little dusty.

I'm going to play around with gauge tonight and hopefully cast on. We'll see how far I get.

lace is done

I finished up the lace band last night at about 10:30pm. I thought about blocking it then, but changed my mind because I was sort of brain-dead for the last few inches of lace. There are a few mistakes where the pattern doesn't line up properly and while I tend to be somewhat of a perfectionist, I decided to call it good. It won't be noticeable with my dress and I'll just wear dark colors underneath it when I wear it after. Overall, I am very impressed with my first foray into non-scarf knitting.

My next project is Green Gable. I loved Adrienne's version and wanted something suitable for both the Reno summer and an air conditioned office. I think this should work well. I am going to cast on while I'm blocking the lace.

On the sewing front, I have my sewing room almost put back together with my new tables and will get started both on the dress for my mom's wedding and a couple of UFOs that have been sitting around waiting for me to finish them. I have a couple of tops and some skirts that just need things like hems!

progress

I've made a lot of progress on my purple tofu jacket. I'm almost done (I have about 6" left) of the lace portion. The lace portion gets blocked and then I can start on the rest of the body. I'm hoping I'll be done with the lace portion today so that I can block and then start the rest of the body next week. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures:

And a closeup of the lace:

purple tofu

I've been doing some reading about this Soy Silk yarn and the process that is used to make it. Basically, it's made from the byproducts of making tofu. Interesting really...you can read more about it here.

So in the spirit of the process used to make the yarn, I've dubbed my jacket the "Purple Tofu Jacket".

I had some pictures of my progress so far, and the yarn with the fabric, but I'm having issues figuring out how to make the flash work properly on my new point-and-shoot. I think I figured out what I was doing wrong, so I'm going to try it again tonight. If it still doesn't work, I'll take the pics with my Nikon.

my next project - Mom's wedding outfit

Actually, there will be multiple posts about this as I get through the process. The title is a little misleading - I'm not making my mother's outfit, I'm making my own to wear to her wedding. My mother is finally getting re-married after being divorced for the past 15 years. The wedding is in mid-June and will be outdoors at my aunt and uncle's (Mom's sister and BIL) house. It's up in the mountains of Northern California, so the weather won't be as hot as it is down in the valleys, but will still be warm. The top of the mountain where they live tends to be breezy and cool at times. Mom wants her two sisters and me to wear purple. Obviously, I will be making the dress - if I have time I'll also make shirts for hubby and Drew.

I have the fabric picked out - it's a really pretty purple and lavender floral chiffon burnout I picked up at Joanns. It will be underlined with a lavender matte satin. I haven't quite picked out the dress yet, but I want something that's pretty and a little festive and although there are some BWOF dresses that I could absolutely see this fabric in, I'm thinking something a little more simple will be better - don't want to outdress the bride after all! I'm thinking this New Look:

I'll make the view in orange in the lower right corner of the envelope. The fabric speaks for itself, so I don't need too many additional details. I'll try and take a photo of the fabric with the pattern and my immediate next project this weekend so you can see how it all goes together.

That brings me to my upcoming project. Because the weather tends to be breezy at my aunt's house and I get chilly easily, I wanted to make a shrug to go with it. I couldn't find any fabric that I liked, so I decided I would take advantage of all of the time I've put into practicing my knitting skills - I'm going to knit it! I found the pattern and a perfectly-matching dark purple yarn at my local shop and after working out the gauge, I cast on last night.

The pattern is the Little Lacy Jacket from Blue Sky Alpacas:


The yarn is Pure from Southwest Trading Company - 100% soy silk. The color is #073 - Vivid Viola.

It's the only appropriate purple I could find, but it's really soft and light and with the gauge I finally decided on should make for a great light summer sweater.

I should have more this weekend!

I really need to post some pictures

There is so much going on and hopefully I'll soon have time to share some of it with the world! Over the past week, while I have been slaving away at work and school, my husband has been revamping the front yard. Our house is now 4 years old and we still had the original "dry" or "natural" landscaping. Because Reno is considered high desert, most of the landscaping consists of sagebrush and other native types of plants. The problem is that the landscapers hired by the builder were not paid to make it pretty, just to plant the plants. Half of them died the first year and half of the remainder have died over the past 3 years. There are three houses in our cul-de-sac and the other two have fabulous yards. We decided this year we would join their ranks. Here are some pictures of what he accomplished in just a few short days.

Here is the front porch - that's honeysuckle on the lattice and tulips in the planter boxes


A couple views of the strange triangle-shaped planter in the front of the yard. Our front yard is long and skinny since we are on the edge of a small cul-de-sac. He put a little brick wall up along the edge and we'll probably plant some shrubs in the little area behind it



In fiber-related news...I am now the proud owner of a Speed-O-Knit knitting machine by PASSAP. I don't have a picture of it yet, as it is still sitting in pieces on my dining room table, but as soon as I get it set up in the sewing room I'll post a picture of the actual machine. For now, if you click on this link, it will take you to an eBay auction of the exact same machine (although because mine was purchased by my pack-rat grandmother in the 1950s, I still have the book and the original receipt!).

I have also been practicing my knitting and doing some planning. My mom is getting re-married in mid-June and she wants her sisters and me to wear purple. I found this really pretty purple floral chiffon burnout at Joann's over the weekend and I'm going to underline it with a lavender matte satin. I still haven't figured out what dress I'm going to make, but it's going to be sleeveless or strapless and I plan on knitting a lightweight shrug to cover my shoulders. I have a few ideas, but I need the dress plan finalized before I decide. In the meantime, I have decided to practice my knitting skills. I'm halfway done with a cable scarf and then I want to do some swatches of some different lace motifs that I found on the internet to practice more intricate work. It's been more than 10 years since I last attempted to knit, and this time I think I finally got it down...we'll see if I'm being overly-confident. I'll post pictures of the fabric as soon as I figure out what dress I'm going to make.

I also realized that I never did post a picture of me in my Galaxy dress. I will try to post those pictures soon too.

holy toledo!

It's been a while since I've posted anything. And sadly, I have nothing new to share sewing-wise, but there has been a whole lot going on life-wise.

Baby Andrew turned 1 on February 11th. The next day at 4:30am I had to call an ambulance because my husband collapsed on the floor trying to take himself to the ER.

Now for the backstory:
He's been dealing with a lot of lower back and leg pain since before Thanksgiving. He had been seeing a doctor who insisted it was muscular and not skeletal and had been drugging him up with pain killers, muscle relaxants, steroids and diuretics. Nothing helped. A few days before the ambulance incident, he was FINALLY sent in for an MRI which came back negative. The doctor said the only other option was pain management. I had made him an appointment with my chiropractor since they take extensive xrays before starting any adjustments. I figured that would be the best second opinion we could get since the doctor wouldn't authorize it (damn HMOs!).

Anyway, fast forward to February 12th and the paramedics and fire department are in my living room trying to get my husband (who can't walk and is in so much pain he can barely breathe) onto the gurney. Once in the ER, they proceed to try and figure out what's wrong with him. After a little bit of conversation, they got his MRIs from the diagnostic center and then came the shock of the day: The stupid doctor requested an MRI of HIS LEG!!!!! No tests on his back, just his leg. Because the pain was radiating down his leg (even though it started in his lower back), the doctor assumed the issue was in his leg. We know he had ruled out blood clots and some other vascular and muscular issues, but we figured after a few weeks of nothing in that arena he would start looking at his back! Nope, just the leg. The ER ordered an MRI of his back and found he had a severely herniated disk between his L5 and Sacrum. So bad, that they couldn't actually let him leave the hospital for liability reasons since they were afraid it was about to rupture.

A few hours later they got him into surgery and now he's almost back to 100%. But since he is currently a stay-at-home dad and was unable to do any sort of lifting, bending, pulling or anything else that could cause post-surgery complications, my in-laws came to help out. They happened to be in southern Nevada (they live in southern California), so they were several hours closer than they would typically be; however, they were also on a vacation on a lake in their boat. So they cut their vacation short and towed the boat to Reno and here they have been since mid-February. They went home today.

It was great that they were able to come and help out, and it really helped Nate to get better, but it is stressful when there are other people in your space for an extended period of time. What made things more difficult was that I have a very long list of things I wanted to accomplish sewing-wise and the mojo to begin it...but no space since the sewing room doubles as a guest room in the infrequent occasion that someone stays with us - and because the situation surrounding their staying with us was unexpected, there was no time to plan. So no extracting sewing machines, fabric, patterns and notions to another part of the house so I could work on projects while they were here. I just didn't have the time to plan for that.

Now that I have my workspace back, I really hope that my mojo will remain in full swing and I'll be able to get some new garments done. Now, more than ever, I need to really ramp up my wardrobe to be more business professional and less casual or business casual. Wish me luck! I always seem to be needing it!