WIP Wednesday: Endings and Beginnings

So, I've been diligent this week in catching up on the Fuzzy Mitten Mystery KAL, and last night I officially finished all the current clues! My guy is in pieces, but I put him in his karate outfit to show what he will look like after this weekend. Headless amigurumi!

The final part I worked on was his suit, and that is the part I finished last night. Man, this outfit took just as long as the whole animal to make, but isn't it ridiculously cute? I'm still pretty interested to see how it all goes together (mainly how the tail sits in the pants).

The tail was the big piece included in clue #5, and I just had to share this photo to brag - the middle area of what you see in the photo is actually the seam on this piece! It's completely invisible! I impressed myself with that one, lol.

So, my little guy is all in pieces in his suit, hanging out in this basket until Friday rolls around with the final clue. I know what it is already, but the head is the final piece to really bring him to life. I can't wait!

I finished catching up with the mystery KAL pretty early last night, so I decided to officially begin my Christmas present knitting. I probably shouldn't show this here in case the recipient reads this blog, but I'm going to just hope they don't. I'm really excited to use this fancy yarn. It's Aarlan SwaLaine that I got at a thrift store for a steal - it's 100% wool that is a black mixed with burgundy. This is also the first chainette style yarn I've ever worked with and it's been pretty fun so far (aside from the fact that it's shedding like mad - anyone know if this is part of it being a bit older or if it's just the nature of some wools?). I think the chainette gives a neat texture and I really can't wait to see how it looks blocked.

I worked on these projects while listening to The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I just read The Secret History a few weeks ago and LOVED it, so I was very excited to give this one a read since it got so much acclaim. I'm halfway through and loving it so far. I love the way she writes.

So that's my world this week :) Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what other people are up to!

WIP Wednesday: Waiting and Mysteries...

Things on my Penelope Sweater have reached a slight stand still. I finished the knitting over a week ago, blocked it last week, then didn't get to sew the ribbon on the button bands until the last 2 nights. The crazy thing is that all my sweater lacks from being completely finished is 3 buttons...

I bought these buttons (La Petite #573 - good grief I've said that number so much I've committed it to memory) at Hancock Fabrics a month ago. They were just so perfect for this sweater, I had to buy them even though they only had 3 cards of them in stock. "No worries!" I thought, "They will certainly restock them again soon." Guys, I've checked back every Monday for the past month (Monday is the only time I am anywhere near the store and it is an hour away from my house) and they STILL have not restocked this button. Every time I ask about it, I just am told that they get shipments of buttons all the time but the store has no idea what is coming until it gets there. I've checked every other store around that sells buttons, and no one else seems to carry La Petite brand. I've even looked online, but by the time I buy the buttons and pay the shipping I would be paying 4 times as much on the one card of buttons than I paid for the other two combined. Thus, I wait ...

I don't like having to wait so long (obviously, ha ha), but it's worth it on these particular buttons. I mean, could these be any prettier with this sweater? It's like these were made to go with my blue yarn. So, hopefully I get this completely finished soon, but until then it is certainly wearable. I've still got til the end of this month for the knit along anyway :)

I started checking all of my Ravelry groups a few days ago (after a long absence in some), and I learned that I was missing out on a Mystery Knit Along! What?! It's my favorite one of the year too, so I immediately purchased the pattern and started catch up knitting. It's the Fuzzy Mitten Mystery Knit Along and 4 clues (out of 6) have already been released. The first 3 clues are all to make the animal's outfit, which was just fine but since 4 clues were available and the 4th started the animal itself, I decide to just start with the 4th and go from there. 

These are the legs, the front and back of the body (black front, brown back), and the beginning of a trouser leg. The outfit is a karate gi (which is what the outfit they wear is called, and yes I had to look that up, lol), so I'm thinking of East Asian animals that this little guy could be. I have a few ideas (one of the earliest guesses by another Raveler is the one I think is correct), but I'm just along for the ride and hoping I can catch up with getting his outfit made. The next two clues will be released the next two Fridays and I'm so excited!

So that's what's going on in these parts. I just made a huge yarn and fabric score at a thrift shop last week, so my brain is reeling with future sewing plans. I'm starting my holiday gift making, but hopefully I can squeeze a few makes for myself in as well. To see what others are working on, head over to Gracey's Goodies and look around :)

WIP Wednesday: Almost There ...

Now that my Halloween costume is all finished and in hand, I decided to devote some time to my Penelope Sweater this weekend. I managed to finished the first sleeve and the short row cap on the second sleeve this past Sunday, and I picked it back up last night after a really long and tiring day at work. I pushed through and finished the knitting last night! 

I really like how this sweater turned out :) At first I was contemplating making the sleeves full length and echoing the scallop pattern at the sleeve cuffs, but in the end I figured I'd try the 3/4 sleeves and just keep it simple. I stayed up a bit late to finish this, so I didn't manage to weave in the ends and get it blocked yet - I hope to do this tonight. I already have ribbon for the button band, and I'm still short 3 buttons, but I will just put it all together this week in anticipation of the full amount of needed buttons. I really love the yarns I used, which leaves me torn between wishing I had used it sooner and being glad that I didn't because I love how it worked for this project. I love the subtle variegation in the blue yarn (Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas) and the coral (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran) is just so soft and pretty. I've very excited to see how this yarn blooms after blocking and how it looks when everything is pinned out evenly.

In literary news, I am in full blown mystery mode. It started with The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, which I finished last Thursday and liked so much I immediately requested the second in the series from the library. In the interim, I decided to read Jekyll and Hyde which has been on my list for years. This was a super quick read, so I searched for another and decided on The Secret History by Donna Tartt (which was amazing). I just finished that last night and the next Robert Galbraith came available for checkout, so I just started it today. I'm starting to think I have a problem, lol. I guess I'm really in the Halloween mood with these creepy mysteries.

I'm sure just this one project seems a bit boring, but I'm pretty excited about it :) If you'd like to see other people's projects, head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others are making.

WIP Wednesday: Penelope-ing and Cat Sewing

I've been sailing right along with my knitting this past week. I had kind of an off week overall and was feeling really down for no good reason. Meaning I could barely force myself to do anything at all once I got home from work. Thankfully, knitting came to my rescue :) I didn't feel like do anything but knitting, so even though nothing got done around my house for a week I do have some crazy sweater progress to show for my time!

I finished the entire body of the sweater this past Sunday! I just started this sweater on October 1st to go with the knit along, and this is the most progress I've ever made on a sweater in that period of time. I think part of that speed is due to the incredibly simple nature of this sweater - it's all stockinette! I decided to just follow the size large this time and I'm really happy with the fit in the body. I did make the sweater about 4 inches longer than the pattern calls for, but I have a long torso so this still makes it hit me at the hip. 

Sunday night I realized that I had no idea what buttons I would use for this sweater, and the time for buttons is fast approaching so I scoured my stash and came up with nothing whatsoever that would even remotely work. Thankfully Hancock Fabrics had a big Columbus day sale and Monday was the last day. They had all their buttons 50% off, so I went a bit crazy and picked up 4 possibilities.

The bad part of my button excursion - they didn't have enough of the ones I like best. The blue iridescent ones on the top are far and away my favorites (they look like they were made to go with the blue yarn, don't they?!), and they only had 8 buttons in the store when I need 11. I bought them anyway in hopes that I can find another card of them. Just in case I can't get more, I bought the other sets as back ups. I think my next favorite set is the pink and yellow speckled ones, then the clear-ish iridescent ones. I swear my button stash grows by leaps and bounds with each finished sweater. Anyone else have this problem?

In sewing news, I did manage to get a project to almost completion before my funk fully kicked in. I made my first ever circle skirt (which has absolutely no hanger appeal whatsoever, lol) with this Gertie design cat fabric for the Put A Cat On It Sew Along. This was a big drafting experiment, and it mostly worked out except that my lining fabric stretched majorly and now the fit is distorted at the waist :/ I've concocted a few plans to fix the issue, but I haven't been home much to try them out yet. Hopefully I'll figure it out this week. After that I just need to hem this and it's finished :) I'm also hoping to muster up the courage to tackle my Halloween costume alterations. Ugh.

That's it for me this week! Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others have in the works :)

WIP Wednesday: New Sweaters - Yay!

In honor of finishing my Agatha Cardigan, I started two more, lol. The one that I've devoted the most attention to lately is my Penelope.

The knit along officially began on October 1st, and managed to finish the color work for the yoke pretty quickly. I just joined the pieces together for the body last night. I decided to use some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Coral from my stash for the yoke because I liked the color combo with my main yarn. The main yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas that I've had since 2013. It's high time this pretty yarn gets used!

The Cascade yarn is hand painted and has a lovely color variation of blues and a little bit of purple. You can see this better in this picture. I know it's an unconventional color combo, but I still like it :) Plus all of this yarn was from my stash! Yay for a huge stash when you don't have money to buy yarn, lol. I''m really excited to have this sweater for the winter.

Before the Penelope KAL started, I needed a new project so I went ahead and began another sweater, lol. I've always loved the Ginny Cardigan from Unofficial Harry Potter Knits and I kept coming back to that when I decided that I wanted a more outerwear type sweater this year. It worked out perfectly to make since I have this amazing yarn in my stash that worked perfectly for it - it's Limerick by Wisdom Yarns (now discontinued) and it's a DK weight 100% merino wool superwash yarn. The yarn is very hairy and varied in thickness compared to my usual standardized Cascade and cheapy acrylic yarns I tend to use. I was worried at first that it would look odd, but it's knitting up beautifully. I guess this is really my first "rustic" yarn. I love the color variation - it goes from kelly green to a more blue/teal color and back. Anyway, I just started the owls on the back before I set it aside for the Penelope, lol. I'm really excited about this sweater too though!

I also finally started sewing my Halloween costume this week. I think I cursed myself by thinking it would be a quick project. I got the  dress all put together only to discover that it's too tight when I tried it on. Ugh! I've let it out everywhere I can, but it's still too snug so I may add gussets to the side seams. I didn't want to think about it any more last night so it's just hanging out in the naughty corner for the moment.

I'm also pretty ridiculously excited about Sewing Indie Month and my submissions :) The voting is going on right now, so if you wouldn't mind voting for one of my projects over here. Sorry for all the vote begging. I'll lay off next week, lol.

That's it for me this week! Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see other fantastic works in progress :)

WIP Wednesday: So Close Yet So Far!

Well the good news is that I've finished the knitting on my Agatha Cardigan! I've got it all blocked and ready for button band stabilization.The bad news is that when I tried to put buttonholes in the ribbon with my sewing machine last night, it freaked out in a big way. My buttonhole foot is plastic and it seems that the needle has been hitting it on occasion, making a rough ridge that the thread likes to catch on and pull upwards in the stitch generally making it look like crap. I'm planning on sanding the piece when I get to work tomorrow, but until then my cardi must sit unfinished :(

I did manage to sew the ribbon onto the button side of the band, so at least there's that. I'm really pleased with how that finished side looks now and you can't see the black through the purple yarn at all - definite plus :)

In light of my sweater not being able to be finished, I finally started a project I've put off for too long. I'm making Giddy-Up the horse for a baby shower on Saturday. I used this marled black wool that made for the perfect color to mimic the intended owner's own horse she grew up with, so I'm hoping this gift is a slam dunk of sentimentality, lol. I'm working to finish it up today.

And I also cut out another project for Sewing Indie Month a few days ago - a denim Melissa skirt by Muse Patterns. I'm really keen to get started on this, but I'm not sure if my buttonholer will cooperate. We'll see. I'm sure that a denim skirt will come in really handy in my wardrobe.

That's about it for me this week :) I have to go make my signature butterscotch cream cheese swirl brownies now, so if you'd like to see more projects just head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others are up to!

WIP Wednesday: Second Sleeve Syndrome and A Gift

It is official - I have finished the first sleeve on my Agatha cardigan! This is the longest sleeve I've ever made, and I will admit that I couldn't wait to get it finished, lol. I've heard of second sock syndrome, but do you think there is a second sleeve syndrome? Equally as detrimental.

I do love the sleeves on this pattern though. I love the lace panels and I love how the decreases look on the underside. I also love how the sleeve looks cuffed (which is how it's designed to be worn). It's funny - I deliberately made the button and neck bands so that they wouldn't feel like a drudgery when the rest of the sweater was finished ... but now the sleeves have taken their place. I guess there's just no avoiding it. Now to make another sleeve :) I want to finish it even more at the moment because the weather is feeling ever so slightly fall-like. I've actually wanted a sweater about mid-day at work, which is unheard of for me. Anyway, I hope to finish this one up soon so I can start on my next projects.

On the sewing front, I've been a little wishy washy. I've cut out a muslin, and taped together a pdf pattern but I have yet to sew up that muslin or trace and cut out a muslin of the other pattern. I just haven't been in the mood to do much more than knit lately. I did have an evening where I made a long awaited gift I promised back in May. I told my mom that I would make her a t-shirt for her birthday since she liked my Floral Plantain so much. She wanted hers made from this red heavy ITY knit that she had a scrap of, but it wasn't enough fabric so the project has waited for a replacement. I stopped by a thrift store I haven't been to in several months last week and came across the exact same fabric but in a royal blue color. I grabbed it and made the executive decision to make the shirt out of this fabric :) I love making the Plantain pattern because it basically requires no brain power at this point having made it so many times.

I finished the shirt in maybe 1.5 hours, and then spoiled the surprise by asking my mom what type of neckline detail she wanted. I had several trims and sent her photos of each to choose from. In the end she chose these blue rosettes that seriously matched the color exactly - this was just meant to be, ya'll. Unfortunately she did not make her choice that evening, so I have not had a chance to sew the roses on yet. So this sits on my dress form waiting until I get it done. My mom tried the plain shirt on and likes it though, so at least I know it will be a success :)

So that's what's going on round these parts this week. Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others have in the works.

WIP Wednesday: Sweaters and Planning

So, having finished yet another sweater project this past week, I now have only one sweater currently in the works (a miracle, I know, lol).

I started this Agatha cardigan back in December of 2014 but I kept setting it aside to work on other projects. When the end of March rolled around, I had a good deal of the body done but I just had zero desire to work on a long sleeved worsted weight wool sweater in 80+ degree weather (especially when I knew it would be another year before I'd get to wear this even if I pressed on and finished). I set this project aside until I would actually have a prayer of wearing it. With all my sweater finishing, it's pretty safe to say I've caught the sweater bug again. There really is nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment that comes with wearing a freshly finished hand-knit sweater. It's addictive, I tell ya. Now all I can think about is turning all my stashed yarn into more sweaters.

I'm trying to make myself finish this Agatha before I start anything else. I really do love this pattern. I think it's one of the most interesting designs I've ever tried out - I love the different lace panels and I adore the sleeve design. The leaves going down the whole sleeve are just so so pretty. I also completely love this yarn and it's little twists of color. It's Cascade 220 Superwash Quatro in the Lupin colorway. This yarn is so springy and fantastic. It's just awesome all around! Since I finished the body last week, I started sorting through my button stash to see if I had anything appropriate - I didn't want to find myself ready to put the buttons on only to discover I needed to buy some (live and learn, I guess). At first, I didn't think I had anything. I modified the length of the sweater and ended up needing 11 buttons - not a number I have too many choices in, let alone of a particular size and color. I was resigned to making a trip to Joann's on labor Day to take advantage of their sale, when I dug out my stash buttons again and tried a set I wrote off at first. They are shank buttons that had little clips on the back to hold them onto the card, so I just used the clips to attach them to the button band and have a look.

Um... could these buttons be more perfect?! I can't believe that they work so well. They are the perfect size and just a little bit fancy. They are oval shaped black buttons with a faceted center and little black crystals around the outer edge. I bought them who knows how long ago in the clearance at Hobby Lobby and I happen to  have 12 buttons. Can we say meant to be? Sadly this busted my justification to go to the Joann's sale, but that was all for the best since I'm trying not to spend money. I even have enough black petersham ribbon left over from my Emelie cardigan to line the button bands of the sweater too :) Now I just have to actually knit the rest of it, lol.

In other news, I've had sweater planning fever. I've got about 10 sweaters running around in my head at the moment as well as the yarn to make them with in my stash already. It's ridiculous. If I am good at anything though, it's planning things to make, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite thoughts here.

This is the most tempting project at the moment - I've always loved the Ginny's Cardigan by Mari Chiba from Unofficial Harry Potter Knits. That owl lace pattern is seriously just so cool, and I've made several "dressy" sweaters now so I feel it would be nice to make a more "outerwear" style sweater to throw on in the winter. I also have plenty of this amazing kelly green/teal yarn in my stash. It's Limerick by Wisdom Yarns and it's a DK weight 100% merino superwash wool. Wouldn't those owls looks so cool in that slight color variegation?! I'm going to be making a swatch for this one tonight. I don't think I can help myself.

The other project that I just can't stop thinking about is the Zest Cardigan by Jennifer Thompson. It's a pretty complicated design with all over lace plus that cable section on the back. I love that it's a little more casual than the things I've been making lately. I'm torn between two colors of Knit Picks Palette yarn I have in my stash. I love the canary yellow in the example photo and I have the exact same yarn in my stash, but I also have an all over lace bright yellow cardigan in my wardrobe I got from Anthropologie a year ago, so I don't really need another. I also have enough yarn in the Macaw colorway and I do love a bright green :) This one may be a bit too complicated to start before Christmas since I will certainly have to set it aside for gift making.

I'm also super excited about my participation prize from the Nosegay Vest Knit Along - Andi is giving all the finished vest makers a copy of her latest design, the Penelope Cardigan. Isn't that nice?! She made a sweater like this for herself quite a while ago and I have always loved that little scalloped yoke detail. Now she's finally written up the pattern and it will be in my hot little hands in 2 days :) Obviously this is super tempting to make up as well, lol. I'll have to dig through my stash to see what I have that may work since this will be the next knit along in October.

Anyway - I've got the itch! lol I can't have just one sweater on the needles. It feels so unnatural. I really want to start putting my stash to good use, so I'm sure I'll be reporting starting one of these soon. I've also been doing a fair bit of sewing that will be reported here soon. Stay tuned!

So that's what going on with me this week :) Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others have in the works.

WIP Wednesday: Everything's Coming Up Roses

This project has absolutely fought me ever step of the way. I'm participating in the Nosegay Vest Knit Along and using it as my first intarsia project. I have to show how it looks now only to say that you wouldn't believe how it looked last night in comparison.

I finished the colorwork section on Sunday night and I was elated - it was quite the process and took me several hours to do, so when I reached the end I triumphantly posted it to instagram. Then I kept knitting and things started to look ... weird... The photo on the pattern showed very minimal space between the flower and the neckline, but suddenly mine had several inches of the main color in between. I started reading and re-reading the pattern, only to have it finally click that I was supposed to do the armhole bind off and shaping about 1/3rd into the color work - not after it. I was so depressed! The instructions are very minimal since the pattern was released through Knit Picks instead of by Andi herself (who always includes lost and lots of information - most of her patterns are at least 6 to 8 pages long), and it had to fit into the Knit Picks format - this pattern is only 3 pages long, one of which is the measurements and 3/4 of another is the color chart. So basically all the instructions are on one page. Now that I read it again, I see where I messed up, but I still feel like it was a reasonable mistake considering I've never done color work before and I've never made a vest so I'm not totally sure of their construction.

Anyway, this major error meant that I had to figure out how to fix it. Not only did I not want to pull out all that intarsia work, I was also pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to. It was a mess on the back with all my stranding, and I had already cut the excess yarn off. Instead I decided to put my Craftsy class  to good use and try dropping down to where the shaping needed to be and adding in the shaping. My nice edges quickly went from neat and tidy to a stringy mess, but after a few hours of work and lots of tugging at the long strands, I ended up with the fairly decent looking front that you see above. If this vest wasn't designed to be seamed together, this would not have been possible, but since it is I am fairly confident that I will be able to hide all that mess and end up with something at least wearable.

So here's a little trip down memory lane. This was when I first started the color. I had just discovered how to make butterflies of yarn so I didn't have a zillion skeins all twisted up, and things still looked nice and tidy.

Soon after, I ended up with this crazed mess, lol. I can't tell you how many times I had to untangle all this hullabaloo. But I endured, and ended up with this:

This was the picture I posted on Instagram before I discovered my mistake. At first I was very nervous about how much stranding I had to do. The Craftsy Intarsia class tells you not to strand but to make a separate butterfly of yarn for each section of color - I quickly realized this really was not possible for this design. I asked Andi how many balls of color she had used, and she wrote a whole blog post to answer my question! I thought that was so nice of her. She shows a photo of the back of her swatch in the post and I have to say it made me feel so much better about my own work. She had lots of stranding - granted it was quite a bit neater than my own, but once I get my ends woven in I'm sure it will be much better. 

So now my flower looks like this. I will say I did pull my changes a little too tight in a few places, but I'm hoping I can try to loosen things up as I weave in. I find that if I stretch the whole vest vertically, the stitches even out much better. This is good news since my issue now is that it's going to be pretty short. Ah well, at least it's supposed to go over something else when worn so I think it will still be ok, but you can bet I will be stretching this baby to the max when I block it.

So that's really been my whole focus craft-wise this week, which feels like total slacking compared to all the sewing projects I've posted the last little while. This has been quite a lot of work though! So if you'd like to get your fill of other people's projects, head over to Gracey's Goodies and check things out!

WIP Wednesday: It's All Happening!

Hello, All! It's been a pretty momentous week around these parts because ...

I finished knitting my Emelie cardigan! It's a miracle! To be real, I do still need to re-knit the bind off on the button band, but still - the main knitting is done and I'm so excited. I started this project last August (ugh!), so this has been a much anticipated sweater. This is my first fingering weight sweater, and I learned quite a bit in the process.

I included a more lightened version of the photo just so you can see what I mean. It's not awful, but the button band bind off just doesn't stretch quite enough, so I'm going to take it out and redo it. I'm not looking forward to this, lol, but after a year of work I'd rather not think I wish I had done something to fix it while I wear it. I'm hoping to buckle down and get this done this next week so I can get it finished before the one year mark (August 17th). We'll see ...

Also I completely lost steam on my project for the Ami-Along. It's really cute! I just lost all desire to crochet for some reason. He just needs to be sewn together and get ears and he's done, so this is seriously a half hour away from completion. Hopefully I feel up to it soon so he doesn't remain headless, lol.

 I also cast on a new project (I'm in a very "plan future projects" mood lately). This is the Nosegay Vest by Andi Satterlund, and I'm joining in the knit-along for this one. I loved this design when it was released, so when Andi announced the knit-along I decided it was a good opportunity to get this made up. This project will be a few firsts for me - it's my first vest and it's also my first colorwork. I've watched the Intarsia class on Craftsy, but I've still never officially used the technique, so I figured I would just go whole hog and have this be my first project. Another factor in making this vest is that I'm actually able to make it entirely out of stash yarn - yay! The color section on the rose will use Cascade 220 Superwash (in Strawberry Pink, Daffodil, and Salmon) and Lion Brand Wool-Ease (in Avocado). The body is where I ran into a smidge of a snag. I had two skeins of I Love This Wool yarn in Winter White from Hobby Lobby that I've acquired over the years - the two skeins are different dye lots, but close - the problem is that the vest requires a bit more yarn than just those two skeins. I went to Hobby Lobby to get one more skein ... only to discover that they have discontinued this yarn! They had other colors in the sale section, but none that I could use.

. 

So I returned to my stash and dug out all my skeins of white/natural colored wool to compare. The closest color I had was a skein of Patons Classic Worsted Wool in Aran, and I decided to just go with it and alternate skeins every two rows. This complicated my yarn pulling arrangement to be sure, but it's manageable as long as I stay on top of things. Now I'm just trying to decide if I like how the vest is looking. It's not just the color - the yarns are different plys, so it's coming out like a subtle stripe in the fabric. I included a blown up photo to show what I mean. I've only knitted the bottom ribbing so far, so I'm going to go a bit further into the stockinette section before I make my official Yay of Nay decision. I want to see if the stripe gives a "kettle dyed" look, or just looks silly, you know? Wish me luck!

On the sewing front, I've been very busy but with not much to show for it. I've had McCall's 6503 on my list for years - I really want to make view D in a navy blue cotton. I already have everything I need for the official dress in my stash. I made my first muslin in the size that I usually do for Simplicity patterns about a month or two ago and it was enormous (this is my first time with a McCall's pattern). I was frustrated back then, so I just kind of chucked the muslin aside and went on to the next project. I decided to try again in a smaller size this past week, so I checked the finished garment measurements before cutting and put together a smaller size. It came out too small! RRrrrrr.... I voiced my frustration on Instagram, and a few very kind sewing bloggers tried to help me out (thanks Gillian and Brooke!), sadly I was so not in the mood to work on it further at that point that I didn't delve that deep into the adjustments. I did try an experiment and used the midriff band from the previous larger size muslin on the new, smaller muslin and that actually seemed to solve the too small problem really well. Now I have my usual hollow chest adjustment to make, but on a bodice that has no darts I have no idea how to accomplish this. The other ladies told me where I could find the info I need, so I know for next time. I've just been distracted by the new and shiny things ever since, so I haven't bothered with this any further. Hopefully I get in a more "get this figured out" mood soon.

On my sewing table right now is a freshly traced Sorrel top pattern I just grabbed yesterday. I just couldn't resist the Sew Independent pattern bundle that's up for grabs right now (today is the last day if you want it). Of course the patterns I loved the most were in the highest price bracket, lol. Anyway, I really loved the Sorrel top with it's neat inset collars. I love a good t-shirt, and this one just has such neat options. I printed it out right away, put it together last night and traced off my size. I've already pulled out a dark teal interlock fabric for the body and a blue floral t-shirt for the collar - both of these were thrifted so I'm ok with using them as a wearable muslin. I've never made anything with inset pieces like this before, so I'm curious to see how I manage. Hopefully I can make this up after work tonight :)

I'm also REALLY excited that I finally have a copy of Butterick 6217. I've been trying to buy this pattern for months at the pattern sales, but it's always been completely gone or only available in the small size. My sister found this one and grabbed it for me this weekend and I was so so happy, lol. I have 2.5 yards of that same rose print swiss dot fabric just begging to be made int o this shirt. I can't wait! I also have about 3 other dresses floating around in my head that I really want to make up. If only I could just sew and not worry about working or any issues with fitting, amiright?! I would be so productive then. Anyway, I'm sure this pattern isn't far off in my future :)

Phew! That was a long one! That's what's happening over in my neck of the woods. Head over to Gracey's Goodies if you'd like to see what some other knitters have in the works as well :)