Me Made May 2017: My Recap

Another May has come and gone, and I have an entire month worth of pictures to show for it :) I skipped photos on a few days, but those were total repeat outfits that were only worn about an hour before changing into grubby old clothes and doing lots of yard work and moving and other sweaty activities. I did manage to wear more than one me made outfit 4 days (those are the pics with a star on them), so that visually makes up for my lacking photos, lol.

So what did I learn this month? First off there's an extreme lack of dresses in my wrap up. I seriously never wear my dresses - I'm all separates these days. Skirts and knit shirts are just more comfy and practical for my life right now, and I have no problem with this. So while I like dresses in theory, I need to focus on making shirts and skirts. Some of the things I specifically needed this month are:

• new denim skirt to replace Melissa
• skirts with more body to withstand wind
• new brown skirt to replace Melissa
• knit lighter weight, cotton sweaters so they can actually be worn
• more vibrant colored tops
• white tops in woven fabric

My poor Melissa skirts are looking a bit rough these days - the jean one in particular, but the brown one is quite faded overall. I seriously wear these two skirts at least once a week, and I have since I made them. The only thing that keeps me from wearing them all the time is if they are in the wash. The jean one looks really shabby, plus given its light weight denim I tend to have occasional Marilyn moments with all the crazy wind where I live now. I love the brown version because the fabric is so sturdy it just feels nice and substantial so I don't have to worry about wind. I like my butt secured, thank you very much. Also given that it is SO.FREAKING.HOT here right now, I only was able to wear one hand knit sweater on one day. I took a photo in one other photo, but I didn't actually get to wear the sweater out because it was so hot. So yeah - I need some fingering weight sweaters with cotton in them. I'm still trying to come to terms with this need. I love knitting, but fingering weight sweaters just take me SO LONG to make. Hopefully I can get my rear in gear on that one. I also really wished I had more colorful tops several times - it's not that I don't have colors, but most of my shirts are in jewel tones (strange, lol) and sometimes a girl just needs something bright. I also really would like some white woven tops - I'm thinking something tuck-able like the Sailor Top, or other likewise loose-in-the-tummy type designs. 

What patterns did I wear most often? Unsurprisingly my Hollyburn Skirts and Melissa skirts got me through most of the month. The Sewaholic Hollyburn came in at 9 times (between 3 skirts) and the Muse Patterns Melissa came in at 8 times (2 skirts most of the time, 1 worn only once). Skirt-wise I also wore most others I have in my me-made wardrobe: Style Arc Sally - worn twice, Blue GInger Doll Peggy Skirt - 2 skirts worn once each, Self Drafted - 3 skirts one time each, Refashioned (2 skirts) worn 3 times. All of this is typical of what I wear all the time, to be completely honest. I love comfy skirts and wear them all the time. I need more to replace my shabbier ones. In the tops category, the winner is my combined Sewaholic Renfrew/Deer + Doe Plantain match up. I wore a version of this pattern 5 times this month - all different tops. I've just really narrowed this pattern down to how I like to wear it, so it fits in my wardrobe really nicely. It may not be the most exciting pattern out there, but you can't argue with a pattern that is that comfy and such a great basic to show off a fun print. The next most worn pattern is the Seamster Patterns Sorrel top (again - no surprise there). I'm actually surprised this pattern didn't get more wear, but I haven't felt as cutesy this month as I have in the past, and most of my Sorrel tops are very cutesy fabrics. Other tops I wore are: Christine Haynes Patterns Marianne top - worn twice, Fancy Tiger Crafts Sailor Top - worn twice, Go To Patterns Parisian Top - worn once, Indygo Junction Gathered Back Top - worn once, Cecelia Theresa Designs Boogie Retro Top - worn once, New Look 6150 - 2 tops worn once each. I love comfy knit tops.I only wore one dress, and it was Simplicity 2444. I did love this pattern, and I have a lot of fabrics that would make great versions, but I really want to get a shirt dress going. I also find it interesting that I wore items involving a refashion 10 times this month. Some were total remakes that I used a new pattern for, some were greatly altered to fit me but be a similar style, and some were just used as elements for a new item when combined with other fabrics. I find that pretty neat :) I could go further if I added up how many of these involved thrifting in some way, but if you've read this blog for any amount of time you already know my love of thrifted materials. Yay for repurposing AND saving money at the same time :)

Another interesting realization I had during May - if it's not hanging in my closet, I won't wear it. I've kind of known this, but this month really made it obvious. I have several other shirts that I could've worn, but in my rush in the morning I go completely from my closet. Does this make me lazy? Probably by some people's standards. But I just need to get the things I want to wear into my closet so I can get things worn.

Conclusion - So that's it for Me Made May this year! I can't lie - I'm excited to not need to take pictures of myself everyday, lol - but it was also fun to participate with everyone. And I did notice some wardrobe gaps (or quickly developing ones like my worn out skirts), so it was a great exercise. It's not difficult for me to wear my me made items anymore, but it's still nice to have this visual proof of just how much they get worn. I really didn't feel burdened by my lack of clothing choices like I have in past years, so that's proof that I'm getting better at making things I like to wear. Yay for personal growth!

Did you participate in Me Made May?

A Year In Yarn: 2015

Here we are again with another run down of my knit and crocheted projects from the year. This year saw a serious drop in actual finished items, though I managed some bigger projects plus I spent a good deal of time on home improvement (not to mention increased my sewing productivity). I'm not beating myself up about not having as many cute things to show, but I did want to highlight the things I did make. 

1. lovebot747 - I made this as a Valentine for my husband. Isn't he so cute?!
2. Lacey Knee Socks - These were my first ever socks, and apparently I didn't blog them? What's up with that? I mentioned them while I was making them in my WIP Wednesday posts. Anyway, I really love the design and the yarn, but they came out a little too short to be knee socks on me due to yarn constraints - this means they won't stay up when I wear them :/ Such a shame. I also made a size too big, so they scrunch up even on my actual foot. They were a good experience and I learned to make socks though.
3. Huggable Borgelorpe - I only just discovered that I never blogged about this project. I know exactly why this is the case though: I designed this pattern and wanted to blog about him when I released it into the world! I even had test crocheters make him up and check my pattern. They were wonderful and told me things I needed to fix (thanks ladies!), and then I had life drama happen and this cute guy was put on the back burner. Getting this pattern finished and released is one of my big goals for the new year, so stay tuned for more :)
4. Timmy Turtle - Another Fuzzy Mitten Mystery Knit Along animal and he's just as adorable as ever. He stands by my ironing station in my sewing room.

5. Hearts Washcloth - I made this as a sample to see if I could teach a knitting class with the pattern. Turns out following this basic chart was confusing even for me, so I didn't want to set the newbies up for disaster. I did finish the cloth though and gave it to my mom for Mother's Day (she loves red).
6. Feather and Fan Washcloth 1 - This was this winner for my class I taught since it uses knit, purl, yarn over and knit 2 together in a simple way. This pattern is so quick to knit up! It worked great for my class.
7. Tesla Blanket Square - This was when I was gung ho about making a blanket for the Geek-Along. I was so pumped at the beginning of the year and figured I would just pick and choose the patterns I liked for my own blanket. As more patterns were released though I made a discovery about myself: I'm not truly a geek. I had no clue who some of the mad scientists even were (they were from comics and video games and such), so why would I want to make a blanket square of them? I love the idea of the Geek-Along, but since they changed the rules so that you have to make up that year's patterns and complete so many squares of them, yaddah yaddah I just lost all desire to make more.
8. Bunsen and Beaker Blanket Square - The other Mad Scientist blanket square I made before I lost steam. Maybe I'll make a pillow or something out of it. Who knows. I did learn how to tapestry crochet with these though, so there's that.

9. Feather and Fan Washcloth 2 - This was the project I started during my class to show how to make the stitches. I liked the other so much I decided to finish this one too :)
10. Sunshower Cardigan - I like this pattern and that it's white, but it doesn't get as much wear as I thought it would due to bad yarn stretching (see top 5 misses).
11. Shermy the Sheep - This little guy was made in celebration of finding myself some dippity dots yarn in a thrift store for 25 cents after denying myself buying it at Joann's for so long, lol. My sheepy is fuzzy and cute and even won me a prize in the Ami-Along on Ravelry. He sits out in my sewing room now as a decoration :)
12. Emelie Cardigan - I love this sweater. I wish it was a little longer, but I still wear it and it's a great length for dresses. Definitely a good one.

13. Super Shannon - This was a little pick me up for my sister during a bad time, and it was very well received :) My first ever teeny tiny knitting too (it started an addiction).
14. Nosegay Vest - Definitely learned a lot on this one. It hasn't been cool enough to wear it yet, but I definitely will make a point to do so just for the sheer satisfaction that I finished it, lol.
15. Rattling Shadow - This was a huge hit! I'm still told by my coworker that this was the most thoughtful baby gift they received.
16. Agatha Cardigan - I really love this sweater and it's come in handy just when it's cool at work in the ac. I can't wait til it's actually cold outside so I can wear it more.

17. Bing Bong - Another big hit here. Making Bing Bong really elevated my Halloween costume and all the kids loved him. My nephew still asks if I can bring my Bing Bong over for him to play with :)

18. Red Bee - Luke requested this one and he sleeps with it (and the blue version) every night.

19. Penelope Cardigan - This was my favorite sweater of the year. I love so many things about it, but I particularly love the great fit. Bring on the cold weather! Please!

20. Tower of Owls - More owls for Luke's birthday. He likes to line them all up together in random places around his house, lol.

21. Zhixin the Red Panda - I came into this Fuzzy Mitten Mystery Knit Along a little late, but I still managed to finish this adorable red panda. He hangs out on a shelf in my sewing room.
22. Wings and Cables Scarf - The first of my Christmas knits, this one went to my sister in Oklahoma and she really loved the color.
23. Simple Beanie 1 - A quick hat for my brother-in-law in Oklahoma. He says he really likes it.
24. Simple Beanie 2 - Another quick had for my other brother-in-law in West Virginia. Hopefully it keeps his head warm.

25. Brainy Beanie - Good gosh this one took me way too long to complete. I gave it to my brother unfinished last Christmas because I ran out of yarn on Christmas Eve. I ordered more but put it aside and didn't pick it up until a week before this Christmas. It's finished now and he loves it so that's all that counts, right?
26. Belle Toilet Paper Cover - This one was a funny gift, but it's being put to use :)
27. Humping Deer Hat - This hat won me another contest! lol My sister specifically requested this pattern and color and everything. I put it up on the Kollabora Holiday contest and won. Marisa was happy to know her hat was a prize winner.
28. Foxy Basket - This was made for my mom because she saw it on Knitting Daily TV and mentioned how she liked it.

29. Little Lumberjack - This was a last minute gift for a friend who has a "thing" for lumberjacks. He thought it was pretty awesome.
30. Simple Beanie 3 - Another quick hat for my OTHER brother-in-law. He lives here though, lol. He's out of town now so I still haven't had a chance to give this one yet.
31. Mounted Bass - Another not yet gifted item. This was for my father-in-law and I'm hoping he gets a kick out of it.
32. Ginger Bearded Beanie - This was my brother's request this year. It's turned into a tradition that he gets a silly hat made by me each year. He wanted a purple beanie (his school color) with a ginger beard that he could swap with his other beard I made 2 years ago. It's pretty hilarious looking and everyone liked trying it on.

33. Reflective Sweatbands - These were a bit of a gag/practical gift for my brother-in-law Nick. He runs when it's dark out and wears a reflective vest. I thought he might like to accessorize further, lol.

I'm doing really well on actual "works in progress" too this year. I technically only have 3 plus one that I promised as a Christmas gift so I'm counting it too. My active wips are:

1. Baby Doll Set from Itty-Bitty Toys 
2. Feather and Fan Washcloth 3 
3. Ginny Cardigan from Unofficial Harry Potter Knits 
4. Chilly Podsters Mittens for Justin

The first 3 of these were just set aside as I need to finish other projects. The washcloth is just kind of silly - I lost one of my 10" size 7 needles I was using in my sewing room and haven't found it yet, lol. The baby doll gets worked on in small spurts when I run out of other portable projects. The Ginny cardigan needs me to do some math to decide what shaping to do and I just haven't buckled down to do it yet. I would've made the mittens for Justin if I hadn't needed 4 more additional gifts in the last week before Christmas. He was ok with it, and it hasn't been cold enough for them yet anyway. I'll be making them up in the coming weeks.

So this is what 2015 looked like in yarn for me :) I can't help but be pleased to see it all together like this to reflect on. I've got several sweaters planned, so here's hoping 2016 keeps up the sweater momentum.