Outfit Along 2019 - Hello! I'm Still Alive!

Hello, All! Man has it been a long time - I've never gone so long without blogging since I started in 2009, and while the initial reasons for the absence are still unshareable (but getting ever closer to the epic share post), I've also bought a house and moved in the interim putting many of the things I love on hold for months and months just to keep myself going forward with all the "have to dos" of my life. BUT I am in my house and look forward to not moving for at least 5 years or so, meaning I can start thinking about making things again. In fact, all I can think about lately is making things since my wardrobe is getting pretty tatty and/or ill-fitting. I'm spoiled now - I can't go back to hours of shopping only to have poorly made clothes that don't fit my body. Aside from the odd Target t-shirt or thrifted bathing suit here and there, I have had no new clothes in this whole time. Craziness. Anyway, I am ready to just back on this sewing horse and love my clothing again. Very apropos to the announcement of this year's Outfit Along today. 

If you've read this blog over the past few years, you'll know I've participated in the OAL since it's inception except that I skipped last year (again due to the wonderful but unshareable info I'm witholding, lol). Here are my finished posts from 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, all of which I still wear on occasion (or wish I could but are now too small). I've been trying to pick what project to start my sewing habit back with for a couple of weeks and just can't seem to decide with the vast choices available. Thanks to today's OAL announcement I will be able to narrow things down much better :)

In previous years, the Outfit Along has always had 1 group knitting pattern and 1 group sewing pattern the tutorials were based off of, yet you could still choose something different if the suggested patterns were not for you. The idea was just to complete 1 knitted item and 1 sewn item that coordinated from June 1st to July 31st and make yourself an "outfit". I've used the suggested patterns here and there but if that pattern wasn't my style I went with something that was more me. This year though, the overall theme has altered a bit. This year's focus is on finishing works in progress (wips). At least one of the items for your project must be an old wip and the rest can be new if you choose. This works out perfectly for me because I've felt guilty for a while about how long my poor Dahlia cardigan is taking.

In 8 days I can celebrate that project's anniversary - exactly 1 year since I started it :/ Disgraceful! I used to finish 5 sweaters a year. So sad. Anyway, I've really wanted to finish this up and now i will have a small fire lit under my butt to get it done and a reasonable timeline in which to do it. I may have majorly decreased/non existent knitting time but I only have the last 3rd of the front of the body, the sleeves, and the seaming left to do. Now that I have a deadline of sorts, I know I can squeeze out the necessary time.

I don't have my sewing projects picked out to make this an "outfit" yet, but I plan to work entirely from my stash on this project, technically making everything I make qualify as a wip by the new rules since I plan my projects when I purchase the fabric and patterns. So now I just have to narrow down what will go with the coral Dahlia cardigan and run with it. I'll report back once I've picked my projects :)

Now that this post broke the ice with my dusty 'ole blog, you can expect to hear from me every now and then., including the couple of projects I've made since last September but never blogged. Sadly my output won't be what it once was, but I plan to share some of my home improvement projects as well as other endeavors I've taken up in my absence. I hope you can stay in touch! And if you are still here after all this time, thank you so much for still keeping my little blog on your radar :)